‘Every night! And not just the night, sometimes the afternoon too. I think he was verging on a problem with it. That’s why I’m asking if he’s all right. I did try and say something, you know, it’s part of the job if you think you need to intervene … I care like that.’ He smiled at DS Rose again.

‘You still served him though?’ she said and his smile dipped away.

‘He’s an adult. A grown man comes in here and orders a drink and I serve him. He comes in and orders drinks every night until he’s steaming and it’s not my business to stop him. I tried to find out a bit about him, to see if there’s a place in there for me to maybe suggest he ease up on the sauce.’

‘And did you? Find a place, I mean?’ Joel took over again.

‘Not with him. He didn’t like the small talk. Any talk really. That’s why I say he might be getting a problem. He just came in here for a drink, no other reason.’

‘He ever come in here with anyone else?’

‘I never saw anyone else.’ Darryl finished the coffees and put them on the bar and stood so both his palms rested on the counter top. His right hand trapped a cloth. He looked away from them both to wipe it over the counter.

‘That’s the second lie you’ve told,’ DS Rose said. ‘The first lie was when you said how you cared about him.’

Darryl shrugged and stopped his wiping for just a moment. When he started up again it suddenly seemed more fraught. ‘I don’t like to see anyone do themselves harm. He seemed all right. I think he was trying to sort his life out.’

‘’He’s dead, Darryl.’ Joel leaned in to up the pressure. ‘So, who did he talk to in here? If you really do care.’

‘Dead! But he was just in here like two days ago!’ The lad’s shock seemed genuine.

‘On his own?’

Darryl’s lips parted then slammed shut. Whatever his first reaction was going to be he had changed his mind. ‘I don’t take much notice, I—’

‘Who, Darryl? Or do I need to bring you in on suspicion of involvement in his death? You don’t know how serious this all is.’

‘Involvement! I just served him his beer! A rum chaser, that was it. That was all I did.’

‘Who?’

‘Some bloke, OK. But he gave me like a hundred notes and the old “you ain’t seen me” treatment, you know what I mean?’

‘No. Tell me.’

‘You ain’t seen me. He was never here, you know!’

‘What did he say, exactly?’