The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove

why Bess Leander might
    have hung herself. She had only seen Bess once, and then for only half an hour. Val had made the diagnosis, written the script, and collected a check for the full hour session. Bess had called in twice, talked for a few minutes, and Val had sent her a bill for the time rounded to the next quarter hour.
    Time was money. Val Riordan liked nice things.
    The doorbellrang,Westminster chimes. Val crossed the living room to the marble foyer. A thin tall figure was refracted through the door's beveled glass panels: Theophilus Crowe. Val had never met him, but she knew of him. Three of his ex-girlfriends were her patients. She opened the door.
    He was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a gray shirt with black epaulets that might have been part of a uniform at one time. He was clean-shaven, with long sandy hair tied neatly into a ponytail.A good-looking guy in an Ichabod Crane soft of way. Val guessed he was stoned. His girlfriends had talked about his habits.
    "Dr. Riordan," he said. "Theo Crowe." He offered his hand.
    She shook hands. "Everyone calls me Val," she said."Nice to meet you. Come in." She pointed to the living room.
    "Nice to meet you too," Theo said, almost as an afterthought. "Sorry about the circumstances." He stood at the edge of the marble foyer, as if afraid to step on the white carpet.
    She walked past him and sat down on the couch. "Please," she said, pointing to one of a set of Hepplewhite chairs. "Sit."
    He sat. "I'm not exactly sure why I'm here, except that Joseph Leander doesn't seem to know why Bess did it."
    "No note?" Val asked.
    "No.Nothing. Joseph went downstairs for breakfast this morning and found her hanging in the dining room."
    Val felt her stomach lurch. She had never really formed a mental picture of Bess Leander's death. It had been words on the phone until now. She looked away from Theo, looked around the room for something that would erase the picture.
    "I'm sorry," Theo said. "This must be hard for you. I'm just wondering if there was anything that Bess might have said in therapy that would give a clue."
    Fifteen percent, Val thought. She said, "Most suicides don't leave a note. By the time they have gone that far into depression, they aren't interested in what happens after their death. They just want the pain to end."
    Theo nodded. "Then Bess was depressed? Joseph said that she appeared to be getting better."
    Val cast around her training for an answer. She hadn't really diagnosed Bess Leander, she had just prescribed what she thought would make Bess feel better. She said, "Diagnosis in psychiatry isn't always that exact, Theo. Bess Leander was a complex case. Without compromising doctor-patient confidentiality, I can tell you that Bess suffered from a borderline case of OCD, obsessive compulsive
    disorder. I was treating her for that."
    Theo pulled a prescription bottle out of his shirt pocket and looked at the label."Zoloft. Isn't that an anti-depressant? I only know because I used to date a woman who was on it."
    Right Val thought. Actually, you used to date at least three women who were on it. She said, "Zoloft is an SSRI like Prozac. It's prescribed for a number of conditions. With OCD the dosage is higher."
    That's it, get clinical. Baffle him with clinical bullshit.
    Theo shook the bottle. "Could someone O.D. on it or something? I heard somewhere that people do crazy things sometimes on these drugs."
    "That's not necessarily true. SSRIs like Zoloft are often prescribed to people with major depression.
    Fifteen percent of all depressed patients commit suicide." There, she said it. "Antidepressants are a tool, along with talk therapy, that psychiatrists use to help patients. Sometimes the tools don't work. As with any therapy, a thirdget better, a third get worse, and a third stay the same. Antidepressants aren't a panacea." But you treat them like they are, don't you, Val?
    "But you said that Bess Leander had OCD, not depression."
    "Constable, have you ever had a stomachache and a runny nose at the same time?"
    "So you're saying she was depressed?"
    "Yes, she was depressed, as well as having OCD."
    "And it couldn't have been the drugs?"
    "To be honest with you, I don't even know if she was taking the drug. Have you counted them?"
    "Hm, no."
    "Patients don't always take their medicine. We don't order blood level tests for SSRIs."
    "Right," Theo said. "I guess we'll know when they do the autopsy."
    Another horrendous picture flashed in Val's mind: Bess