So if it's gonna kill me, the hell with it, right? I walked out of that doctor's office and resolved to stop drinking. And eight years later that's just what I did.'
A drunk kept interrupting the qualification. He was a well-dressed man and he didn't seem to want to make trouble. He just seemed incapable of listening quietly, and after his fifth or sixth outburst a couple of members escorted him out and the meeting went on.
I thought how I'd come to the meeting myself in blackout. God, had I been like that?
I couldn't keep my mind on what I was hearing. I thought about Octavio Calderon and I thought about Sunny Hendryx and I thought how little I'd accomplished. I'd been just a little bit out of synch from the very beginning. I could have seen Sunny before she killed herself. She might have done it anyway, I wasn't going to carry the weight for her self-destruction, but I could have learned something from her first.
And I could have talked to Calderon before he did his disappearing act. I'd asked for him on my first visit to the hotel, then forgot about him when he proved temporarily unavailable. Maybe I couldn't have gotten anything out of him, but at least I might have sensed that he was holding something back. But it didn't occur to me to pursue him until he'd already checked out and headed for the woods.
My timing was terrible. I was always a day late and a dollar short, and it struck me that it wasn't just this one case. It was the story of my life.
Poor me, poor me, pour me a drink.
During the discussion, a woman named Grace got a round of applause when she said it was her second anniversary. I clapped for her, and when the applause died down I counted up and realized today was my seventh day. If I went to bed sober, I'd have seven days.
How far did I get before my last drink? Eight days?
Maybe I could break that record. Or maybe I couldn't, maybe I'd drink tomorrow.
Not tonight, though. I was all right for tonight. I didn't feel any better than I'd felt before the meeting. My opinion of myself was certainly no higher. All the numbers on the scorecard were the same, but earlier they'd added up to a drink and now they didn't.
I didn't know why that was. But I knew I was safe.
Chapter 26
There was a message at the desk to call Danny Boy Bell. I dialed the number on the slip and the man who answered said, 'Poogan's Pub.'
I asked for Danny Boy and waited until he came on the line.
He said, 'Matt, I think you should come up and let me buy you a ginger ale. That's what I think you should do.'
'Now?'
'What better time?'
I was almost out of the door when I turned, went upstairs, and got the .32 out of my dresser. I didn't really think Danny Boy would set me up but I didn't want to bet my life that he wouldn't. Either way, you never knew who might be drinking in Poogan's.
I'd received a warning last night and I'd spent the intervening hours disregarding it. And the clerk who gave me Danny Boy's message had volunteered that I'd had a couple of other calls from people who'd declined to leave their names. They might have been friends of the chap in the lumber jacket, calling to offer a word to the wise.
I dropped the gun into a pocket, went out and hailed a cab.
* * *
Danny Boy insisted on buying the drinks, vodka for himself, ginger ale for me. He looked as natty as ever, and he'd been to the barber since I last saw him. His cap of tight white curls was closer to his scalp, and his manicured nails showed a coating of clear polish.
He said, 'I've got two things for you. A message and an opinion.'
'Oh?'
'The message first. It's a warning.'
'I thought it might be.'
'You should forget about the Dakkinen girl.'
'Or what?'
'Or what? Or else, I suppose. Or you get what she got, something like that. You want a specific warning so you can decide whether it's worth it or not?'
'Who's the warning come from, Danny?'
'I don't know.'
'What spoke to you? A burning bush?'
He drank off some of his vodka. 'Somebody talked to somebody who talked to somebody who talked to me.'
'That's pretty roundabout.'
'Isn't it? I could give you the person who talked to me, but I won't, because I don't do that. And even if I did it
