MY NAME IS KEVIN

As soon as Pousant entered her cluttered apartment thoughts of the ATM perpetrator rapidly returned. She looked at the litter of newspapers, overstuffed waste baskets and cobwebs at every angle of the living room. “Screw maintenance work.” She went to the refrigerator and grabbed two cans of beer, pushed some magazines to the floor from the sofa for a place to sit and turned on the television.

A thought kept revolving in her head like a loop for a song. Dana Digby had implied habitual criminals were actually addicted to performing their illegal acts against society. She called Digby.

“Miss me already? You’re really getting my hopes up Dorie?”

“Remember what you said about crooks being habitual in the sense it became a pattern of living for them? I mean they can’t live without committing crimes.” Pousant touched a pencil to her blank phone note pad.

“And I thought this was going to be about us.”

“It is. Look Dana you’re an expert on addictive disorders from a criminal psychology point of view. How long can an alcoholic go without a drink?”

There was no hesitation with the response. “If motivated, most alcoholics can stay away from the booze until physical dependence withdrawal symptoms set in. They develop tremors, insomnia, sweats, abdominal pains, bowel problems and want a drink to shut off withdrawal. The answer to your question is about four-to-five days.”

“What if they’re really motivated? I mean their family might disown them, spouse may terminate the marriage, a job may go down the tubes or a Judge threatens jail?”

“Once detoxed, an alcoholic will still have cravings which will intensify on the 10th day from the last drink. At that time if he or she doesn’t get professional help or go to AA they’ll most likely pick up a drink again.” Digby delivered the response like a lecture.

“Now listen up Dana. I’m serious about the criminal stuff. And don’t think I didn’t pick up on your use of the word ‘she’. How much time will a perp take before he absolutely has to commit a robbery or whatever?” Pousant saw she had unconsciously taken notes on alcoholics. Why? I’m not one.