Sal Gabrini: Just The Way You Are

by Mallory Monroe

  “Sal, calm down,” Reno said. “We know she comes first.”

  “But why are they taking the baby right now?” Sal asked again.

  Reno and Jimmy looked to Trina to answer those kind of questions. Trina didn’t know what to say either. But she tried anyway. “The fact that she fell caused the baby to become distressed,” she said. “They don’t want to take any chances.” She began rubbing Sal’s big upper arm. “But Gemma’s strong, you know that. She’ll be okay. Her and the baby will come out of this just fine.”

  But fine was the last thing Sal was feeling. He ran his hands through his already ruffled hair. He began looking around as if he was seeking reason to the unreasonable. “I don’t understand how this happened. Gemma’s not clumsy. She never fell down any stairs before. Why would she all of a sudden start falling down stairs?”

  Now Trina and Jimmy were looking at Reno to answer those kind of questions. Reno exhaled. “She either fell,” he said, “or she was pushed.”

  Sal frowned. “Pushed?”

  “We don’t know, that’s all I’m saying. We don’t know what we don’t know so we’re ruling nothing out.”

  “Why didn’t you mention this before, Reno?” Sal asked. “I could have had my men working it.”

  “I’ve got my men working it,” Reno said. “They’re at that courthouse paying off whoever they have to pay off to round up all the video they can. We’ll find the motherfucker if there’s a motherfucker to be found. We got it. Alright?”

  Sal felt reassured that Reno had it under control. And he was relieved. Worrying about Gemma was all he could think about. Gemma was all he wanted to think about! Riding on that plane to Vegas, he felt lost. He felt so alone not being able to touch her, and see her for himself. He looked at Trina. “Did the doctor say when we can see her? When can I see her?”

  “As soon as she gets out of Delivery,” Trina said, “you can see her. He promised us that.”

  Sal nodded. He was pleased that Gemma had advocates like Reno and Trina in her corner while he was out of town. But he hated himself for being out of town in the first place. “I should have stayed,” he said.

  “Don’t start blaming yourself, Uncle Sal,” Jimmy said. Sal was his first cousin once removed, not his uncle, but they had that kind of relationship. “All you did was take a day trip to Seattle. Just a couple hours plane ride away. You couldn’t foresee anything like this happening.”

  Sal looked into Jimmy’s big, hazel eyes. And suddenly the compassion he saw in those eyes, and that guilty feeling he was unable to dismiss, made Sal emotional too. He pulled Jimmy into his arms, and began to sob.

  Reno and Trina were thrown by this display. Sal almost never showed his emotions in front of people. Especially not in front of Reno. But now he was sobbing in their oldest child’s arms?

  But Sal couldn’t help it. He couldn’t help how he felt. But then he suddenly steeled himself, stopped sobbing, and pulled out of Jimmy’s embrace.

  “She’ll pull through, Unc,” Jimmy said, to reassure him.

  “If anything happens to her,” Sal said when he was back to himself, “I don’t know what I’ll do. I haven’t been the best husband to her.”

  “Sal, you have,” Trina said.

  But Sal was shaking his head. “I haven’t been the best husband. I’ve had too much shit on my plate too many times to be there for her the way I should have been.” Then he frowned, as if he was facing a profound truth. “I love her, you see,” he said. “I’ve never loved anybody the way I love Gem. If anything happens to her---”

  “It won’t, Uncle Sal,” Jimmy said, grabbing his arm and forcing him to look into those compassionate eyes of his again. “It won’t. Mom is right. Aunt Gemma’s strong. She’ll pull through just fine. Her and your baby.”

  Sal squeezed Jimmy’s arm and nodded. “I know you’re right. Gemma’s strong.”

  “She’s real strong. She’s a mule,” Jimmy said.

  Sal frowned. “A mule? What mule? You’re calling my wife an animal?”

  Jimmy and Trina couldn’t help it. They laughed. That feisty Sal they knew and loved was back. Not that they minded the emotional Sal. They just weren’t used to it.

  But Reno had a different take. He was shaking his head. “I knew it wouldn’t last,” he said. “All of this touchy-feely Sal. I figured it would last a day, maybe even a few days. But not Sal. It didn’t last a few minutes.”

  “Fuck you, Reno.”

  Reno smiled. “Now that’s the Sal I know and love.”

  Trina and Jimmy looked at Reno when he said he loved Sal, but Reno and Sal behaved as if he didn’t say any such thing. Reno wasn’t exactly touchy-feely either.

  “I called Tommy while you were in flight,” Reno said.

  “Yeah, I know,” Sal said. “He called me.”

  “What the fuck is he doing in Calcutta?” Reno asked.

  “It’s not Calcutta anymore,” Sal said, remembering the geography lesson Gemma had given him. “It’s Kolkata.”

  “Whatever,” Reno said.

  “He’s looking to buy some property there,” Sal said. “He hopped his plane as soon as you called him. He’s on his way now.”

  “Good,” Reno, Trina, and Jimmy said in unison. Tommy was in the unamiable position of being both Reno and Sal’s best friend, often refereeing their war of words, and both men often jockeyed against each other to be Tommy’s number one. But even Reno conceded that Tommy was exactly what Sal needed right now.

  They all settled down at the hospital, as the minutes felt like hours. Sal and Reno took turns bugging the staff to get them more information, but there was just no more information to be had. Gemma Jones-Gabrini was in Delivery, and that was all they could report.

  But after nearly three hours of more waiting, the doctor, with a nurse at his side, finally came out to see them. All four stood up quickly, with Sal not waiting for the doctor to arrive at his side. He met him halfway. “How is she?” he asked nervously.

  The doctor nodded. “She’s good. She’s going to be just fine.”

  “And the baby?” Trina asked as she and her family hurried over too. Sal stared at the doctor. His number one priority was Gemma’s wellbeing, but the baby was on his mind too.

  “The baby’s fine also,” the doctor said and Sal leaned down, placing his hands on his knees in relief. Both mother and child were fine. He could not have received any greater news. Reno and his family were thrilled too.

  Then Sal quickly stood back up. “Can I see them?” he asked the doctor.

  “The baby is being cleaned up and carefully checked out.”

  Sal was concerned. “Checked out how?”

  “Just physically,” the doctor said quickly. “Just extra precautions being utilized given the fact that your wife had taken that tumble. But he looks to be just fine. As for your wife, yes, you may go and see her now. Nurse Humphreys will escort you.”

  Sal gladly followed Nurse Humphreys, with Reno, Trina, and Jimmy right behind him.

  And when they arrived in Gemma’s private hospital suite, and saw her lying there, they all smiled. Although she was easily battered and worn, her eyes met Sal’s and stayed on him. It was as if she could tell how everything went by looking in his eyes.

  “Hey, baby,” he said with a grin as he walked to her side. “The doctor says you’re going to be just fine.”

  But her eyes still looked worried. Sal knew what she was worried about. “The baby is fine too,” he said, and it was only then that Gemma managed to smile.

  Then Sal said excitedly: “You did it, Gem. You did it!”

  Reno looked at Trina. “He make it sound like she just won the lottery.”

  “To Sal,” Trina responded, “she did.”

  And when the nurse left to go get the baby, they all gathered around Gemma. Reno recounted how Sal was so emotional that he was sobbing in Jimmy’s arms, causing Sal to give Reno the eye, but mainly they wanted to know about that fall.

  “Was it an a
ccident,” Sal asked, “or did somebody push you?”

  Gemma nodded. “Pushed,” she said.

  Sal’s jaw tightened. Motherfucker. “Do you know who?” he asked.

  Gemma nodded again. “Tim Dunclave,” she said in a very hoarse voice.

  “Tim Dunclave?” Sal asked. “Who the fuck is he? One of your lawyer friends?”

  “Judge,” Gemma managed to say.

  Sal and Reno looked at each other. “A fucking judge?” Sal asked.

  “At least we know who to look for now,” Reno said, pulling out his cell phone.

  “Tell them to find his ass and take him to a safe house,” Sal said. “Tell them to get him there as fast as they can.”

  “Will do,” Reno said, as he made that call.

  When he ended the call, he looked at Sal. “They’re on it,” he said.

  “Good,” Sal said, and returned his attention to his wife.

  After several more minutes of visiting with Gemma, the door to her hospital suite swung open, and Nurse Humphreys hurried in. What they noticed was twofold: her face was as white as a sheet. And her arms did not carry their baby.

  Sal was the first to see her distress. “What’s wrong?” he asked, looking suddenly distressed himself.

  “He’s gone,” the Nurse said.

  “Who’s gone?” Reno asked.

  “The baby. The baby is gone!”

  Sal, Reno, and Jimmy didn’t wait for explanations. They tore out of that room. Sal held back, told Jimmy to guard his wife, and while Jimmy stayed back, Sal and Reno took off. They were going to tear that hospital apart with their own bear hands if that was what it took to find Sal, Junior. Even Gemma was trying to get out of that bed, to help in the search too. But Trina held her back.

  “No, Gem,” she said. “You hold on. They’ll find him. Don’t you worry. They’re find your son if it’s the last thing they do.”

  Across town, in a small house on a quiet street, the two-car garage door lifted, and a car drove through. When the garage door went back down, Nalla Moss, carrying a newborn baby wrapped in a blanket in her arms, was about to get out. But the man behind the wheel shook his head.

  “This is crazy,” he said. “This is like kidnapping the Lindberg baby. Only it’s worse. This baby’s daddy’s got guns.” He looked at Nalla. “Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?”

  But Nalla was looking at the small, biracial baby. “It was your job to drive. You drove.” She looked at him. “Now shut the fuck up.”

  She got out, with the baby in her arms, and headed inside the house.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  They turned that hospital upside down, but found not even a trace of the Gabrini baby. They attempted to view the video at the hospital, as well at the courthouse. But by an odd coincidence that Sal nor Reno would ever believe, both cameras at both locations were off at the crucial times and neither camera captured what happened in that stairwell at the courthouse, nor in that examining room at the hospital. Whatever was going on, it was deep and wide, and Sal and Reno knew they needed reinforcements.

  But while reinforcements were on their way, the two men dropped by the safe house to find out what was going on with this push-happy judge.

  But before they walked in, Reno pulled Sal back. “Don’t kill him, alright?” he said. “We need information.”

  “Do I look like I’m stupid?” Sal asked.

  “No,” Reno responded. “You look like a man who’s madly in love with his wife and baby, which makes you insanely angry with this judge we’re about to meet. Just keep your cool until he tells us what we need to know.”

  Sal took a deep breath. He knew Reno spoke the truth. He nodded, and then they walked in.

  Judge Tim Dunclave was sitting on the sofa. Four men were guarding him. Reno ordered them to stand down as he and Sal sat on the table in front of the judge.

  “I’m going to tell you right now,” Reno said. “Sal Gabrini is not interested in bullshit. He wants answers and he wants them straight, no chaser.”

  “Why did you push my wife down those stairs?” Sal asked.

  The judge wanted to deny all, Sal and Reno both could see it in his eyes, but he was too smart to play that dumb. They would not have kidnapped him, and brought him to this safe house, if they didn’t already know what went down.

  “Years ago,” he said, “before I came to Vegas, I had some dealings with mobsters. Loan sharks. Lowlifes like that. And I racked up a hefty bill. Money I could never pay back in my lifetime. When I became a judge, they forgave the debt provided I handle certain cases certain ways and made sure I did whatever they wanted. Then they wanted me to do what I did to Gemma.”

  “Why?” Sal asked.

  “He didn’t tell me why. He just told me to push her down those stairs or the debt would be due in full. It was either try to kill her, or get killed myself.”

  “So you chose yourself?” Reno asked.

  The judge didn’t respond.

  “Who’s the mobster?” Sal asked.

  The judge hesitated.

  Sal pulled out his gun and shot the judge in the arm.

  Reno was shocked, and nearly stood up. The judge, shocked, grabbed his arm in pain. “What did you do that for?” he complained.

  “Who’s the mobster?” Sal asked again.

  “Scorsese,” the judge said quickly. “A guy they call the Barometer.”

  Sal was floored. He had pegged Nicky Cass as his enemy. Not Angelo Scorsese. Reno looked at Sal. “You know him?”

  Sal nodded. “I know him,” he said.

  “He’s looking to take over Chicago,” the judge said, still holding his arm. “He says he needed to keep you distracted while he finished off your crew chiefs. I guess I was a part of that distraction.”

  Sal stood up quickly.

  “What is it, Sal?” Reno asked, standing too.

  “I’ve been having trouble in Chi-town. I figured it was an inside job. I was just fingering the wrong inside guy.”

  “You think they snatched the kid too?” Reno asked.

  “That would give him ultimate power,” Sal said. Then he looked at the judge. “What about the kidnapping?” he asked.

  The judge looked at him. “What kidnapping?” he asked. “He never said anything about any kidnapping.”

  Sal was about to shoot him again.

  “I swear!” the judge said. “He didn’t say anything about any kidnapping! He told me to push Gemma Jones down that stairwell. And I did as I was told.”

  Then the judge frowned. “Why did you shoot me?” he asked. “I was telling you all you asked of me!”

  Sal frowned too. “What? Are you retarded? You think you’re going to push my wife down a flight of stairs and walk out of this bitch alive? Who the fuck do you think you’re fucking with?”

  “But I’m cooperating,” the judge insisted through his pain, as if his cooperation, not his act, was the prevailing point. “What reason did you possibly have to shoot me in the arm when I was cooperating?”

  “I didn’t have a reason to shoot you in the arm,” Sal said. “It’s what I felt like doing. However,” he added as he lifted his gun again and, to protestations from the judge, shot him between the eyes, “I’ve got plenty reasons to kill your ass.”

  Then he shot him again, just because.

  And then he and Reno left, and headed to Chicago.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  The private jet touched down at the Vegas airstrip and Money, one of Sal’s men, searched for the number on his clipboard and then talked into his walkie talkie. “Mick Sinatra just touched down,” he said. “The big man has arrived!”

  A convoy of SUVs drove from the back of the tarmac toward the landed plane. A security detail got out of the SUVs and awaited Mick’s appearance.

  Lacey, another one of Sal’s men, stood beside Money. He was supposed to be his assistant, but Money was handling everything. “It must be big,” Lacey said, “if Mick the Tick showed up.”

  “Th
at’s none of our business,” Money said. “You don’t speculate about it; you just do your job.”

  “I was just talking to you.”

  “Don’t talk to me,” Money said. “What are you talking to me for? I have work to do.”

  Lacey rolled his eyes. Money was one of those guys who took his job way too seriously. But when the door to the plane opened, and the steps dropped down, Lacey got serious too. Mick Sinatra, in his black pants, black turtleneck, and long, flowing white coat, walked down the stairs, across the tarmac, and headed for the SUVs.

  “Hello, Mr. Sinatra,” Lacey said nervously as Mick walked past them, and Money nearly died. Mick gave Lacey a glance, but didn’t speak. He got in one of the SUVs, and then all three took off. Money looked at his assistant.

  “Are you nuts?” he asked. “They don’t know you from a hole in the wall. Don’t speak!”

  “Okay,” Lacey said. “Damn.”

  Just as Money was about to say more, to continue to set Lacey straight, another plane was landing. He looked at the number on the plane and then quickly searched his clipboard. Then he spoke into the walkie talkie again. “Tommy Gabrini just touched down,” he said into his walkie talkie. “Dapper Tom has arrived!”

  A second convoy of SUVs drove from the back of the tarmac and waited beside Money and Lacey. But unlike Mick, who walked briskly off of his plane, Tommy ran down the stairs of his plane and ran across the tarmac. Even if Lacey wanted to speak, he would not have had a chance. Tommy was in the SUV and whisked off so fast, there was no time for any conversation.

  “What is this?” Lacey asked jokingly. “A mob convention?”

  Money looked angrily at his assistant. “Get away from me,” he said.

  “Why?” Lacey asked, confused.

  “Because when they kill your ass, I don’t want to take a stray bullet!”