the Wild Turkey with the bow: sober after all, no
He quit drinking in January, Hal. It was something Joelle was real specific about. She called even after we’d agreed not to call and told me about it even after I said I didn’t want to hear about him if she was going to still be in his things. She said he hadn’t had a drop in weeks.
Context
The claimed sobriety and its refutation set one against the other: Joelle's insistence that JOI had quit in January, "hadn't had a drop in weeks," made a condition of her work with him — and the half-full Wild Turkey with the giftwrap bow found on the counter beside the oven. The relapse revealed at the exact bottom, the bottle staged like a present; the failed quit is the theme's shadow over the whole suicide scene.