W is for Wasted (Kinsey Millhone Mystery)

time.”
    “I may take you up on it,” he said. “Meantime, what else can I tell you about Terrence?”
    “Do you know where he was from?”
    “Bakersfield. I don’t know if he was born there, but the way he told it, that’s where he lived most of his life.”
    “You met him at Harbor House?”
    “That’s right. He arrived here in January on a Greyhound bus. He’d been in prison up at Soledad. He said it was a life sentence, but that’s all I know. He didn’t like to talk about it. He slept a couple of nights under a freeway overpass and figured out it was a bad idea. The panhandlers with cardboard signs aren’t as nice as the rest of us. You stand by the road begging, that’s a different work ethic. Terrence tried the Rescue Mission, but they wouldn’t take him unless he swore off alcohol, which he wasn’t about to do. He heard about the shelter and when he showed up, the first person he met was Pearl. She introduced him to Felix and me. Harbor House, you don’t have to be sober, but you’d better not be obstreperous. Make trouble and you’re out.”
    “It seems like a cool place,” I said. “I stopped by the day before yesterday looking for you.”
    “Sunday, we throw darts. Sports bar down the block has a weekly tournament.”
    “Are you any good?”
    “Depends on what day it is and how much I’ve had to drink.”
    “I noticed the woman in line ahead of me had a shelter ID card. At least I think that’s what it was. I wondered if Terrence had one. I ask because he didn’t have any identification on him when the coroner brought him in.”
    “Oh, he had a card. I’m sure of it. Harbor House issued one so he could take his meals with us. Someone walked off with all his stuff, so maybe it was in his cart.”
    “He wasn’t a Harbor House resident?”
    “Not him. He didn’t want a bed. Nights, he didn’t like to be around other folks. He spent most his time drunk and he hung out with another fellow in the same sorry shape. Now and then he tried cleaning up his act without much success.”
    “So he was in Santa Teresa, what, eight or nine months?”
    “Sounds about right. He loved it here. He said he was never going anyplace else. March, the other fellow died and Terrence went on a bender that landed him in jail. After that he sobered up for a couple weeks. Then he started in again and one day collapsed in the street. He was lucky he didn’t die that round. Pain meds and alcohol are a bad mix.”
    “No fooling. Pain pills? What was that about?”
    “Up at Soledad, some fellows went after him with lead pipes. Busted up his leg bad, leaving him with a limp and a load of agony. He didn’t sleep well because of it. He had to get up now and then and walk around so it wouldn’t seize up. That was another reason he preferred to be outdoors, so he wouldn’t bother any of the rest of us.”
    “I saw the damage to his leg when I was at the morgue. What triggered the attack?”
    “He wouldn’t say. Some things you’d ask and all he’d do is shake his head. When he spiraled down the second time, he ended up in St. Terry’s. They put him through detox and then into rehab. Next thing I heard, he was on the street again. I didn’t think he’d last a week. I figured it was just a matter of time before his demons got ahold of him and took him down.”
    “Is that what happened?”
    “Naw. He got into a program that put him back on his feet.”
    “Apparently not for good.”
    Dandy smiled. “There’s no such thing as ‘for good’ when you’re one of us. It’s ‘for good’ until the first drink or you’re back to chipping heroin. Meth, if you’re really on a downward slide. Terrence went back to his old ways and that was the end of him. Pearl didn’t want to believe he’d started drinking again. Broke her heart, if you want to know the truth. He finally got clean and then he couldn’t maintain. Might sound odd coming from me. Nobody knows better than another drunk how hard it is to quit. Pearl believed he’d cleaned up his act. He gave her his word and she took it seriously.”
    “Do you know when he was last seen by a doctor? It would help if the coroner’s office found a physician who’d sign off on the death certificate.”
    “There was a doctor headed up the program. He’s the one terminated Terrence for disobeying the rules. I know he wasn’t feeling well the last couple of weeks. Much as he drank, it wasn’t any big surprise. He was a wreck of a human being