Death Will Get You Sober by Elizabeth Zelvin

Author:Elizabeth Zelvin
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Contemporary Fiction, kindle ebook, Mystery, series, legal mystery, recovery, 12 steps, amateur sleuth, series books, cozy mystery, mystery novels kindle, Twelve Step Program, Elizabeth Zelvin, thriller and suspense, kindle read, murder mystery, mystery series, Detective, contemporary mystery, thriller kindle books, Suspense, literature and fiction, kindle, New York fiction
ISBN: 9780312375898
Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur
Published: 2008-04-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

“So what do you think?” Barbara asked us. “Was it worth it?”

We were on our way to a meeting. Two meetings, in fact, that met at the same time in the same church and drew a lot of couples in recovery. Families, even. They had an Alateen meeting for the kids. I couldn’t imagine what our lives would have been like if Jimmy and I had known about Alateen and been able to talk frankly about our drunken dads.

“To know if it’s worth it, you have to know the price,” Jimmy said. “What did your little talk with Marlene cost you?”

Barbara laughed.

“Just the arm and a leg they charge for two coffees—not even Starbucks latte or espresso, just plain old greasy spoon joe in a thick white mug—in the East Sixties.”

Jimmy draped his arm around her shoulders.

“I’m glad it didn’t cost you your beautiful nose.”

Barbara snuggled up to him with a little wriggle as they walked.

“The most wonderful guy in the world—he thinks my nose is beautiful. No, I got to keep my Ashkenazic schnozz.”

“Your nose is beautiful,” Jimmy said stoutly.

“And my mother thinks I should have picked a nice Jewish boy. They all go for blondes with thighs like Emmie Weill’s and no nose at all.”

“You’ve seen Emmie’s thighs? When did this happen?”

“No, but I can tell. It’s genetic.”

“You always say I have no nose,” said Jimmy fatuously.

Barbara reached up to caress his minimalist Irish snoot.

“You have a good no nose. Those shiksas have bad no nose. Noses.”

“When you folks are quite through being terminally cute,” I said, “maybe we can talk about what Barbara learned that’s relevant to the murder.”

“Okay, okay,” Barbara said. “I wrote it all down afterward so I wouldn’t forget.”

She fished in her bag and brought out a little lined notepad with a spiral binding. She flipped through its dog-eared pages. “Here it is. January 2, God dropped in on Dr. Weill, who gave him a cup of coffee. Dr. Weill keeps psychotropics in his desk drawer. Marlene mentioned Fioricet and Valium. Fioricet is a headache pill with a barbiturate in it. Suggestive, isn’t it?”

“Barbiturates can be lethal combined with alcohol,” Jimmy said.

We alkies know all about it. Ask us anything.

“The doctor could have hoped that God would drink,” he added.

“But he didn’t,” I said. “Because if he had, they wouldn’t have let him back into the detox, at least not without a fuss.”

“I still think it’s stupid,” Barbara said, “to throw people out for noncompliance. They never want to take the revolving door guys, even though those guys are their bread and butter. But I digress.”

“When do you not?”

“Smile when you say that.”

“I am smiling,” Jimmy said. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the two of them do that routine, I wouldn’t have to temp.

“Back to the murder, guys?” I pleaded.

“Valium by itself won’t kill you,” Barbara said, switching gears effortlessly. She’s had lots of practice.

“But it’s cross-tolerant with alcohol,” Jimmy said.

“Addiction docs know this,” said Barbara, “but did Dr.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.