Marge nodded. “And you’re at Starbucks?”
“Yeah. The place was empty! He’s playing mind games. Asshole. So he just tells me to move it, and I pretend not to hear him. So he tells me to move it again, and the second time around, he shows me that he’s packing.”
“He shows you a gun?”
“You betcha, as the lieutenant would say. Now I know that if I accede right away and I see this guy again, I’m screwed. I’m a target. But I’m not about to take him and his gang on. There were three guys.”
“So there were three of them?”
“And also two girls—a blonde, Cameron, and a brunette—same girls as this morning. Anyway, they’re not gonna do anything to me inside the place, but I know they’re gonna jump me the minute I walk outside if I don’t do something clever. So instead of backing off, I like pull open the dude’s jacket to take a better look at the gun. It was a Beretta 92FS.”
“You know guns, Gabriel?”
“I know some guns and I happened to know that gun. So I start giving him my opinion on the weapon he’s packing, and then we start talking guns. He’s still standing up and I’m still sitting in his chair, but in the end I get up and offer him my seat. But I’m doing it on my terms.”
“Okay.”
“So the dude invites me to sit down with him and his buddies. Not wanting to be antagonistic, I sit. That’s when I found out his name was Dylan. Then he starts asking me how do I know all about guns.”
“What’d you tell him?”
“I told him the truth. I told him about my dad, and I told him I was living with a police lieutenant. I did it because both Chris and Peter are impressive dudes and I wanted to scare him a little.”
“Go on.”
“Then Dylan asks me if I want to hang with them. Like they’re so ‘cool.’ ” He rocked his open hands back and forth. “I say thanks but no thanks. And that was that. And I stopped going to that Starbucks because I didn’t want to run into any of them again. So I started going to the Coffee Bean near Rina’s school. That’s where I met Yasmine. She came up to me.”
Gabe looked up at the ceiling. His voice got soft.
“She had these tickets to the opera. She loves opera.” Gabe’s expression became pained. “She was supposed to go with her sister, but her sister crapped out on her. She offered them to me. I took one of them, but I could see she was disappointed. So I asked her if she wanted to come with me.” He smiled at Marge. “I think initially she just wanted a ride. But then I told her I didn’t drive, so we went by cab. It wasn’t even a date or anything. I was just doing her a favor.”
He stopped.
“It was a wonderful day.” His eyes got far away. “I mean Rina and Peter are like the nicest people in the world, but they have their own lives and that’s really good. I don’t need a second set of parents. But I do spend a lot of waking hours by myself.”
“It must be lonely.”
“It has its good points. I practice all the time. As a result, my skill set took a quantum leap. I’ve expanded my repertoire tenfold. I’m far better than I should be.”
“I’m glad something positive came out of it.”
“The only positive thing until Yasmine came along. It was just a weird confluence of things that drew me to her. My parents deserted me, and I didn’t have any real friends anymore. I certainly didn’t want to hang with those idiots in Starbucks. I guess I didn’t realize how lonely I was until she came into the picture.” He paused. “She’s such a cutie. Every time I see her, something inside of me just . . . melts.” He stopped talking, his eyes moist. “I’m rambling. Sorry.”
“Nothing to be sorry for.” Marge waited a moment, and then went back to business. “So you’re at the table with Dylan and his friends at Starbucks.”
“Yes.”
“Did he tell you his last name?”
“Nope. Just Dylan.”
“And then you talked to him about guns, and your dad and the lieutenant.”
“Exactly.”
“How’d you excuse yourself?”
“I just said, I gotta go home. Sometimes Rina worries if she doesn’t hear from me. It’s nice that someone cares enough to notice if I’m alive or dead.” His thoughts were far away. He snapped out of it. “I ran into the girl, Cameron, maybe a month or two later. I remember the day was Tuesday because it was the day that I auditioned for Jeff Robinson. He’s my agent. I could get you the exact date if you need it.”
“Yes, that would be helpful.”
“So it’s like six-thirtyish in the morning and I was waiting at the bus to go to SC. And this drop-dead gorgeous blonde comes up to me saying, ‘Chris, Chris . . .’ ” He looked at Marge. “I told Dylan that my name was Chris. It seemed convenient at the time.”
“Smart.”
He shrugged off the compliment. “So the girl says to me, like, ‘Do you know who I am?’ And I didn’t know except that she called me Chris. Then it came back to me. So I said, ‘Yeah, you were with Dylan.’ And we start talking. I’m like half asleep. And I don’t want to tell her anything about me, because I just have this weird feeling about her. So I ask her what she’s doing up so early, and she shows me that she just bought some pot.”
Marge nodded.
“So she says, ‘Come to my house and we’ll smoke it together.’ Then she tells me that her parents aren’t home. And she starts like . . . flirting with me . . . rubbing my neck . . . telling me I need to relax.
“She’s really good-looking, you know. In another world, it would have been a big turn-on. Instead, the girl gave me the willies. I ran with a fast crowd back in New York so I know the type perfectly. She’s a druggie and an easy lay, but also a mean girl. I’ve had enough of crazy people in my life. I wouldn’t have done her even if Yasmine wasn’t in the picture. But you don’t say something like that to a mean girl—especially one who hangs with a guy who likes guns.”
“I see your point.”
“Yeah, so I’m trying to get out of it without pissing her off. So I tell her I have a band audition, which for the most part was true. And then I make this big point of adding her phone number into my contact list in my cell so she won’t feel rejected and pissed off.”
“Do you have her number?”
“Nah, I erased it as soon as I got on the bus. I also gave her my number. But I mixed up the digits. She asked me for my last name and I told her Donatti because if she googled the name she could see for herself what a badass my dad is.”
“And she told you her name?”
“Cam . . . short for Cameron. I didn’t ask her last name.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“Nothing more to say. I forgot about her—until today.”
“Tell me what happened today.”
“I was supposed to meet Yasmine at Coffee Bean. That’s our regular spot. We’ve been together every school day morning for a long time. Maybe not every morning, but most weekday mornings.” He got quiet. “I lived for those mornings. It turned waking up from a chore to something I cherished. This particular morning I was supposed to meet with some bigwigs from a record company in New York at SC. It took my agent a month to arrange this. Lord only knows what Jeff is thinking now.”
“I’m sure his best wishes are with you.”
“Nah, that doesn’t sound like Jeff. And I doubt that Nick is horrified.”
“I’m sure he’s concerned about your condition.”
“That’s true. Neither he nor Jeff wants a lame racehorse. I know, I know. So young yet so cynical.”
Marge patted his shoulder. “Tell me about this morning.”
“I forgot to put in my contacts when I left the house, so I went back to the house, which made me late in meeting Yasmine. I’m, like, texting her, telling her I’ll be late, but she’s not answering me. And that’s a little weird because she usually does answer me. So I get to Coffee Bean and she’s not there. Yasmine is chronically late, but usually not this late. And I still can’t reach her, so I’m
, like, getting a little nervous. So I call her, which I usually don’t do because we text. But she doesn’t answer, and now I’m getting really nervous.
“In the back of my mind, I’m thinking that her parents found out and she’s in real trouble. And I’m feeling awful and nervous. So I leave Coffee Bean and I’m outside the door. I call her again. And then the fucking ground starts ringing. I look down and it’s her phone. I also found the watch I gave her. I’m thinking she wanted me to know something was wrong. Why else would she leave it, you know? So now I’m really starting to panic.”
Marge nodded.
“I’m thinking maybe her parents dragged her out of the place or she got robbed or mugged or whatever. So I pick up her phone and watch. And I decide to go back to her house to check up on her. I just want to make sure she’s okay.”
He put his hand over his mouth.
“I’m getting a little ill thinking about it.”
“You want to stop for a moment.”
“No, let’s just get this over with. So I’m thinking, do I go back or do I look for her? . . . It’s like all in a space of a minute. And then I just flash on Dylan and Cameron. It was like the most nauseating feeling in the world. I start running for the bus stop because Cameron told me she lived near there. And in the distance I see this group of kids walking together. And I see Cameron’s long blond hair. And I’m thinking holy shit! And I start running and running. You know, pure adrenaline. And I catch up to them and bust inside the inner circle. And that’s when I see Yasmine. And I also see that Dylan has a gun to her back—a .22 Smith and Wesson.”
Gabe blinked several times.
“The bastard looks at me and says something like I raped Cameron so he’s going to rape Yasmine. Which is absurd. I never touched the bitch. And then I hear the click and feel the gun at my head.”
Again, he put his hand over his mouth.
“Dylan’s gun?”
“No, no. Some other dude with long hair. Dylan still has a gun on Yasmine.” He swallowed hard and turned to Marge. “If you show me a photo thing like the one with Dylan, I could pick out all of them. I looked at their faces enough.”
“I can do that.” Marge said. “What happened after someone put a gun to your head?”
“It was weird.” Gabe stared into space. “I became supercalm . . . not like my life was flashing before me, but all the panic just . . . evaporated. I was completely focused on how to get Yasmine and me out of this.”
“What did you do?”
“First, I guess I tried to stall . . . acting supercool while he accuses me of raping the bitch.” He paused, and then pointed a finger in the air. “I remember. I told him that I didn’t go home with Cameron because I had an audition with a record company. Dylan bought it. Deep in his heart, every dude wants to be a rock star. And she’s calling me a liar and I’m like ignoring her in the way guys ignore girls who are shit to them. And Dylan can tell that I don’t care what he thinks even though I’m like shaking inside. I kept thinking to myself, I have to get the gun away from my head.”
“How’d you do it?”
“I stopped suddenly and ducked, throwing the dude behind me off balance. As soon as he pitched forward, I grabbed his wrist and twisted, got the gun away. My dad taught me how to do it. It was simple. And with all that adrenaline inside, it was really easy. That gun was a Luger 9 mm semi.”
He stopped talking.
“It gets a little blurry at this point. I think Dylan shot me, but I was so pumped up, I didn’t feel it. Somehow I got behind him . . . Dylan . . . I’m taller than him . . . and I put a gun to his head. I must have taken his gun away.” He looked at Marge. “I wound up with the Luger in my left and the .22 in my right hand, which I kept on Dylan’s head.”
“You’re left-handed?”
“No, right-handed but almost ambidextrous. Oh, now I remember. I wanted the 9 mm in my left because it had more ammo and I was holding the group off with a single weapon. I kept pointing it at them, one by one, telling everyone not to move.”
Decker had swiped Gabe’s hands, residue on his left. Now was the time to test his truth gene. She said, “Did you discharge any of the weapons, Gabe?”
“The Luger. One of the dudes made a move into his pocket. I fired a shot or two to scare him off . . . near his arm. I mighta grazed it. I remember thinking, just nobody move so I can organize my brain.” He was breathing hard. “That’s all I wanted. For them to keep still with their hands visible while I thought of an escape. Lord knows that I didn’t want to shoot anyone, but they had to know I was serious.”
Marge said, “How many times did you fire the gun?”
“I really don’t remember, Sergeant. I’ll say twice, but I’m not sure.”
“Okay. So . . . you have the .22 to Dylan’s head.”
“Yeah . . .” Gabe had his eyes open, but mentally he was replaying the scene. “I have the .22 on Dylan and I’m like . . . threatening the others with the second gun. And I’m thinking how to get out of this. And then I remember Yasmine.” He looked at Marge. “I told her to run away but she’s . . . like frozen. She just won’t budge.”
“Fear does that.”
“Fear does do that.” He smiled. “And maybe she didn’t want to leave me. ’Cause when I needed her help, she sure as hell moved.”
“How did she help you?”
“All this time I’m thinking about the bus. It pulls up at around seven and I figured if we could just make it on the bus . . .”
He paused.
“Looking back, I suppose we coulda just left or called 911. I had the guns. Maybe they wouldn’t have chased us. But I didn’t know. I made like split-second decisions.”
“I understand.”
“I figured we just needed to be at a public place. So I asked Yasmine for the time. The bus was coming in fifteen minutes and I figured I had to stall them until it came.”
“Okay. So it was about a quarter to seven?”
“Around that time. I told Yasmine to just dump out their shit all over the place . . . the purses, the backpacks, the wallets . . . I wanted something to keep them busy so they wouldn’t be tempted to follow us.”
“And Yasmine did what you told her to do?”
Gabe snapped his fingers. “Like that. The girl just moved. She was incredible.”
Marge nodded.
“Finally I see the bus pulling up and we’re about a half block away. At that point, I just grab Yasmine and we take off. We barely make it aboard. And then that’s when I called Peter . . . the lieutenant.” His blood pressure suddenly spiked.
Marge pressed the nurses call button.
Gabe was trembling. “I’m okay . . . really. I just think how . . . lucky we were and I become unglued.”
Rina walked into the room and saw Gabe shaking. “I’m going to get a nurse.”
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Gabe insisted. “Just stay here, okay?”
Marge turned off the tape recorder and stood up. “I think I have what I need for now. Sit down, Rina.”
Rina sat and took Gabe’s hand. As soon as he felt her touch, his heartbeat slowed. “Tell the nurse it was a mistake. Please? I don’t want to be sedated. I hate feeling out of control.”
“I’ll tell them.” Marge packed up. “I’m sure I’ll have some more questions, but for now this was very good. Thank you, Gabriel.”
“No problem.”
“Heal up quickly.”
“Sure.” He turned to Rina. “Did you get my glasses?”
Rina pulled them out of her purse. Gabe took out his contacts and wrapped them in a tissue and gave them to her. He slipped his glasses on. “Wow. Better already. Do you think I can call Yasmine now?”
“You can try.”
He punched in the hospital’s outside phone line and called her. The cell rang and rang, and when her voice mail kicked in, he said, “Hi, it’s me. Give me a call. I love you.” A moment later, he called back and gave her the room number. Then he sighed. “She i
sn’t going to call me. Her mom’s gonna take away her phone.”
“I’m sure her mother will let her visit you before she sends her to her aunt.”
Gabe sat up and winced. “What?”
Rina realized that she had spoken out of turn. “I think Peter’s concerned for her safety. She’s going to live with her aunt for a while.”
“Where does her aunt live?” Panic in his voice.
“In the city.”
Gabe threw back his head. “God, then I’ll really never see her again.” He was silent but his eyes were windows to his brain. “Maybe after I’m done with my lesson at SC—”
“Gabriel, you know you can’t do that.”
“I can’t help it.”
“You’ll just get yourself into trouble. You don’t want to do that.”
“So let them throw me in jail for stalking her. I don’t care. I love her. And she loves me.” He tried to fold his arms in front of his chest but he was hooked up to an IV. “It’s not like I’m a delinquent or a loser. I mean a lot of mothers would love me for their daughter’s boyfriend.”
“You’re wonderful—”
“Jesus, I put my life on the line for her. Isn’t that worth something?”
“No one is doubting your heroism—”
“So what’s wrong with this picture?”
Rina didn’t bother to argue.
Gabe said, “You think I’m an idiot teenager, but I’m not. I am capable of very deep feelings, you know.”
“Gabriel, I know your feelings are real. And her feelings are real as well. No one would ever call you idiotic.”
“Except my dad.”
Rina said nothing and forced out a smile.
Gabe regarded her face. “What’s going on, Rina?”
“Pardon?”
“Something’s going on. Please tell me!”
Rina sighed. “If Peter thinks that Yasmine is vulnerable, he also thinks that you’re vulnerable. I think he wants you out of the picture for a while.”
“Oh . . . okay.” He paused. “If it’s a safety issue, I’ll leave Yasmine alone. I’d rather be heartbroken than to have something happen to her, you know. I really do love her.”
Rina nodded.
Gun Games Page 29