Chapter 16 Summary

After a couple of days of takeout food, tender sex, and sleeping in, Sughrue takes Stacy back to Selma's. Selma thanks him for rescuing Melinda, and Sughrue says his goodbyes, heading for home. There he finds Trahearne has again shown up, again drunk and again complaining that he can't work. This time, however, he seems determined to end his life (by walking into the river), and the only way Sughrue can stop him is by punching him cold and taking him to the hospital. A few days later, after Trahearne has sobered up, he tells Sughrue of his determination to help Melinda get the forty thousand dollars by getting an advance from his publisher for a new book. He also says he needs to be sober to write, and offers to pay Sughrue to help him stay sober, adding that he doesn't know...