comforting
Mya when she went through the agony of rehabilitation and coping with the murder of her father by the same man who'd tried to end her life.
When you give yourself to someone, you carry the responsibility of not just being a friend or confidant, or even a lover, but giving yourself to them when they need it most. I knew Mya had desired for us to get back together, and perhaps the most difficult part of those weeks was being a friend while keeping my distance. Physical pain went away, or could be stunted through medication. It broke my heart to deny her my affection when she probably needed it most. But she would have been hurt more later knowing my heart still belonged to another woman.
Seeing Jack lying in bed made me wonder just what I could, or would, give the man. Perhaps I'd been too emotionally reserved. Or perhaps not given enough.
The doctors had measured Jack's blood alcohol level at an astonishing. 19, well over double the legal limit in New
York.
An IV was hooked into his right arm, tubes in his nose pumping oxygen, his breathing slow and steady. A bag dripped fluids into his veins as they attempted to flush out
Jack's poisoned system. The doctors also informed me they would be testing for cirrhosis of the liver. They guessed-correctly-that this kind of drinking binge was not limited to last night.
A doctor entered the room. He was middle-aged, wore thick glasses on his thin nose. His eyes were red, tired. He flipped through the chart at the foot of Jack's bed, then checked out the readings on the monitors by the bedside.
He scribbled in the folder, then placed it back.
'How is he?' I asked. 'Dr…'
The doctor turned, then said with a faint smile, 'Dr. Brenneman. I've seen worse.'
'You didn't see him before they cleaned him up.'
'There's always a worse, trust me. But he's lucky you found him when you did. The biggest danger with alcohol poisoning is aspiration and asphyxiation. He could have literally choked to death on his own vomit.'
'Ordinarily, I'd say he owes me a drink for saving his life, but…'
'I don't think that's the wisest course of action,'
Brenneman said.
'When will he wake up?' I asked.
'Well, that's all up to him. We're going to keep him for a few days and monitor his fluid levels, make sure his liver functions are all up to par, but he's not unconscious or anything like that. Just sleeping.'
'Got it. Thanks, Doc, I appreciate it. And I'm sure Jack does, too.'
He waved his hand, dismissing any gratitude. 'I'm actually a fan of Mr. O'Donnell's work,' he said. 'I followed his reportings on the mob wars a few years back.
All that violence with Michael DiForio and his murder, it's all so tawdry and terrible, but I just couldn't turn away.
They never did find the man who killed DiForio, did they?'
'No, they didn't.'
'Scares you to think there's someone out there walking the streets dangerous enough to kill the head of a major organized-crime family, and slippery enough to get away with it.'
'I know what you mean,' I said. 'So did you recognize
Jack right away?'
Brenneman laughed. 'Are you kidding? The man's a New
York legend.' Then his brow furrowed, as concern melted into his features. 'To be honest, that's what upsets me the most. I've been around enough alcoholics not to judge, but you never expect to see such a, well, legend suffer like he has.
To do to his body what he has. For some reason, and forgive me for saying this, but I guess I expected more from him.'
'Yeah,' I replied. 'I guess we all did.' Brenneman nodded, turned to leave. 'Hey, Doc, mind if I ask you one more question?'
'Absolutely,' he said, clutching his clipboard to his chest.
'What could cause a person to lose their memory? Not permanently, but, like, a chunk of it. A few years. What could punch a hole in someone's life?'
'Well, a few things. I assume you're referring to a kind of anterograde amnesia. Most of the time amnesia is the result of some traumatic damage to the brain, specifically the hippocampus and the medial temporal lobes. Anterograde, in which there is usually what's called a 'hole' or
'blackout episode,' happens as the result of a chemical imbalance. It's commonly referred to as Korsakoff syndrome.'
'What happens when someone is a victim of Korsakoff?'
'Basically, it's a degenerative brain condition that's brought on by a severe lack of thiamine-or vitamin B1- in a person's brain. Thiamine helps metabolize fats and carbohydrates in the body.'
'Thiamine-is this a natural substance? Does the body produce it?'
'No, it's like any other vitamin, it has to be absorbed in the system from outside. There's vitamin B1 in dozens of everyday foods, from bread to meat, vegetables, dairy.
You'd almost have to go out of your way to deprive yourself of it.
'Is there any way this chemical imbalance-or Korsakoff syndrome-could be induced?'
'Absolutely. Have you heard of GHB or GBL?'
'Date-rape drugs, right?'
'That's the lay term for them, yes. In effect, what those drugs do is induce a form of retrograde amnesia.
Ironically, GHB is sometimes prescribed to help combat alcoholism.' Brenneman looked at Jack. He figured I was asking these questions because of him. 'GHB and
Rohypnol, especially when mixed with alcohol, can be a potent and often lethal mixture.'
'But aren't the effects of those drugs pretty shortterm?'
'Assuming they're not ingested in lethal amounts, yes, they generally only cause memory lapses of four to ten hours. And though that's not a tremendous amount of time, in the grand scheme of things, people who use them for nefarious purposes can accomplish an awful lot of evil in that time.'
'What about long-term anterograde amnesia? Are there any ways to induce Korsakoff syndrome in a way that could affect the brain for months or even years?'
'In severe cases, people either born with dangerously low levels of thiamine, or whose levels are brought down to a certain level, can experience a form of long-term anterograde amnesia. The damage is done to the medial thalamus, and if left untreated, if thiamine levels are left below a certain level, the memory loss can be long-term, or even permanent.' Brenneman eyed me. 'Ironically again, alcoholism is one of the most common causes of long-term anterograde amnesia.'
Again he eyed Jack. And while Jack would face a tremendous struggle in his battle against the bottle, the more pressing fight was to uncover what had happened to Daniel
Linwood and Michelle Oliveira. Jack was in good care. I couldn't say the same about Girl X.
Suddenly I heard a buzzing sound, and Brenneman's hand went to his coat. He took out a small pager, clicked it, then said, 'I've been summoned. Nice to meet you,
Mr…'
'Henry Parker,' I said.
'Mr. Parker.' He looked at Jack. 'Please, take care of him. More important, get him to take care of himself.'
Then Brenneman left.
I stayed with Jack for another half an hour. I just watched him breathe, waiting for him to wake up. Half wanting to go over there, shake his drunken ass until his eyes opened, letting him have it about how he was throwing his life's reputation away. How he was in danger of throwing his legacy away. Instead I sat there,
