A dram with a young minister

The young minister sat alone at the bar.  His long, thin fingers trembled as he reached for his glass of malt.  A middle-aged man entered the room and took the seat to his right.

'I knew you were telling the truth, at least you were saying what you thought was true.'

'Inspector…'

'Call me Len.'

The young minister didn’t finish his statement and there was an anxious silence as he stared with catatonic eyes at his drink.

'It’s a shame when men of the cloth fall into this shite,' Len corrected his words immediately, '...stuff.  It's all too common these days.  In the end we’re only human.'

'That’s what makes this whole thing so devastating for me – we’re human.  Inspector,' the young minister corrected his words immediately, 'Len.  This isn’t supposed to happen.'  His eyes remained fixed on his drink.  'To be human is to be something profound…'

'I only know what I know.  Do you know what percentage women have been victims of rape in this country in the past decade?'

'More than fifteen per cent...'

'Aye, it’s awful.  When I first started with the police, the first rape case I took kept me up for days.  I had to take a statement from the victim.  She was about the same age as Ms Flynn.  She couldn’t look me in the eye and she couldn’t stop shaking.  Why they had a bloke interview a rape victim, I don’t know.  And the man was her fucking father.'

The young minister remained silent.

'It’s an awful mess, but you learn to live with it.  In the last fifteen years I had two fellow officers go down for this.  These were men I knew and trusted, but they were still men. … Listen, Alan, James did what he did and it isn’t right, but you’ll have to move on some day.  Not today, but at some point you’re going to have to move past it if you want to keep on living.'

'James was my mentor.  I didn’t think he could do such a thing.'

'Alan, you’ve only been a minister here for six months.  Things are moving so fast for you, a talented young minister.  You’re still that – a young minister.  Eventually this idealism will wear off. … What are you thinking?'

'I’m distraught, to be honest.  My heart’s broken for Izzie Flynn, my heart’s broken for James’ wife and kids, my heart’s broken for my congregation, my heart’s broken for the Kirk.  My heart’s broken for James.  My heart’s broken even for me.  I believed him.  I gave him the opportunity to confess so many times and I remained on his side because I believed him when he looked into my eyes and told me, “Alan, I couldn’t do such a thing.”  Well maybe he couldn’t do it, but he did, if that makes sense.  I feel deeply betrayed by one of the few people in this world I absolutely trust.'  The young minister corrected his words immediately.  'Trusted.'