Guru Bob tapped his fingers on the side table, making me realize how upset he was. He rarely expended useless energy like that, rarely showed so much emotion. He always said that negative emotions pulled us out of the moment. Gabriel’s injury had shaken him badly. I wondered if he knew something we didn’t know.
Well, of course he knew things. He was all-knowing. But my mind immediately went to some worst-case scenarios. What if Gabriel was more badly injured than we were being told? Or what if he was hiding out in Dharma? Maybe killers were after him. He wasn’t exactly a paragon of virtue, after all. Let’s face it, he stole things from people. Had he taken the wrong possession from the wrong person?
Was Guru Bob in danger as well? Were we all in danger? Was my imagination running wild?
Derek jogged back from the nurses’ station less than a minute later. “They’ll allow two of you in to see Gabriel today, and for a very brief time. Sandy will let us know when he’s settled.”
Once again, Derek Stone had worked his magic.
The group decided that Guru Bob and I should be the two people to visit with Gabriel. Guru Bob went in first, and after three minutes he came out and it was my turn.
I walked into the room and saw Gabriel in bed, hooked up to an IV. His eyes were closed, his head heavily bandaged, and his skin more pale than I’d ever seen it. I almost whimpered. I didn’t even know the man that well, but I knew that he was too strong, too full of life to be brought down like this.
I wanted to know what he was doing in Dharma. Why was he seeking sanctuary? Who was after him? But I knew this wasn’t the time or place to ask.
I approached, took his hand in mine and whispered, “Gabriel.”
His eyes flickered open and he gave me a tired smile. “Hey, babe. You look hot.”
My eyes swam with tears. “Yeah, so do you.”
He tried to laugh but it took too much effort. “I look like shit. But I’ll be okay. I heard you took care of everything.”
“I just did what I could to keep you from bleeding all over the clean streets of Dharma.”
“Good little citizen,” he whispered.
“That’s me.” I fiddled with his sheets, pulled them a bit tighter. “You’re going to be okay.”
“Yeah.” He closed his eyes, exhausted by the brief exchange. A few seconds later, his eyes still closed, he whispered, “Babe, do me a favor.”
“Of course,” I said, leaning closer.
“Get me the hell out of here.”
“I’ll do my best.” I hesitated, then said, “Gabriel, did you see anything? Do you have any idea what happened out there?”
He shook his head back and forth slowly, his forehead wrinkled in pain. “Don’t remember much. They told me I was shot, but I don’t remember being hit. Don’t remember falling.”
“Do you remember me waving at you?”
“No,” he whispered. “Did you wave to me?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes. “I should’ve remembered that.”
“That’s okay, don’t worry,” I said, squeezing his hand lightly. “We’ll find out what happened.”
“Babe,” he whispered, opening his eyes as much as he could manage. “Be careful out there.”
“I will. You sleep for a while and we’ll have you out soon.”
I got to the door and turned around to wave good-bye, but he was already asleep. I walked out and saw Derek talking to a Sonoma County deputy sheriff. Another uniformed officer was speaking with Guru Bob.
Mom pulled me aside. “The police are interviewing all of us. They’ve confirmed that Gabriel was hit by a bullet.”
My stomach sank. I mean, I’d already concluded it was a bullet, not some stray flying pebble. But having it confirmed didn’t make me feel any better.
Mom continued, “Derek says they’ll leave a guard here tonight.”
“Good,” I said, even though it was awful to think Gabriel might still be a target. On the other hand, I was relieved to know that the police were taking his safety seriously.
When it was my turn to talk to them, they jotted down my information and promised to do everything they could to find out what had happened. As we spoke, it occurred to me that some of the stores on Shakespeare Lane had security cameras, so I mentioned it. I was happy to hear them say they’d already begun collecting the tapes and might be able to piece together a likely scenario from the evidence.
I wanted Gabriel’s assailant found.
I stared at my hands, where no trace of Gabriel’s blood remained. It was disturbing, to say the least, that within the span of one week, three people I knew had been attacked. One was dead. Did anything connect them? Layla and Minka, definitely. Both of those attacks had taken place at BABA. But now, some fifty miles away in Dharma, Gabriel had been hurt. He could’ve died. Was there anything linking the three? Besides me?
I brushed the thought aside. There was no way they were connected, especially because if they were, it meant that I might be the only common denominator.
One way or another, I was determined to find out why the people I knew were being targeted for murder.
Chapter 12