#Rankin #Saints of the shadow bible. Page 29.

'You're still on 'probation' (a period of time at the start of a new job when you're watched and tested to see if you are suitable for the job), remember? One screw up and you're back where you started.'

'So he's not taking you anywhere posh (expensive and high quality)?

Clarke jabbed (a quick hard push) a finger into his chest. 'Everybody has a breaking point (the stage at which your control over yourself or a situation is lost), John.'

Three and four stories high, the terrace had probably all been houses when built in the early nineteenth century, but now many of these had been subdivided into flats. Rebus had never been a huge fun of the New Town. For one thing, you had to climb a steep incline to get back to the city center.

Clarke offered by way of consolation (something that makes someone who is sad or disappointed feel better). But when she pressed the button, a voice crackled (to make a lot of short, dry, sharp sounds) through the intercom.

By the time they had climbed the first flight, he was breathing heavily, and Clarke was asking him to remind her how he'd passed the physical (an examination of person's body by a doctor).

  'Up here,' Alice or Alison Bell said. As she ushered the two detectives inside, Clarke decided to check.