Page 36 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
“That’s good news,” said Trina.
“Uncle Mick said this was above any of our paygrades,” said Reno. “We need Hammer’s political muscle behind us, not to mention his kind of connections, if TJ was ever going to get a fair shake.”
“Hammer is coming,” said Grace, shaking her head. “You know it’s horrific if he’s coming all this way.”
Tommy put his arm around Grace’s waist. He couldn’t hide his anguish the way he usually could.
“What did that chief say about TJ?” asked Reno.
“Same thing he’s been saying all along. He’s unharmed and they don’t want to agitate him.”
“What was all that shooting about?” asked Grace. “They wouldn’t even tell me what was going on.”
“He said they sent a SWAT team on the roof to enter the classroom and take out the shooter that way.”
“But they said TJ is the shooter.” Grace was mortified.
“That’s who they planned to take out,” said Tommy. “But they entered the wrong classroom and instead they took out students that had barricaded themselves in their classroom.”
“Geez,” said Reno. “Could they get any more incompetent?”
“What are you talking?” asked Trina. “Thank God they’re incompetent or TJ would have been dead.”
“Oh right,” said Reno. Then he shook his head. “This is like a nightmare!”
“Those poor students,” said Grace. Then she looked at her husband. “What are we going to do, Tommy?”
Tommy looked into her beautiful eyes and he knew she wanted him to fix it the way he always fixed their problems. But this was beyond even what he could do. He pulled her closer. “We wait,” he said. “There’s nothing more we can do.” He didn’t mention his request to go inside. He didn’t want any blowback.
But there was commotion at the entrance door. “Who is it?” Chief Browne called out when he saw his Deputy Chief go to the door.
After the deputy got the information, he looked at the chief. “Kid claiming to be Thomas Gabrini’s best friend. He says he has some information. He says Gabrini didn’t do it.”
When they heard those words, every Gabrini in that room stood up.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Is it Jaden?” Grace called out after they all stood up.
“That’s the name he’s giving me, yeah,” said the deputy chief.
“Let him in,” Tommy said. “He’s one of my son’s best friends. Let him in.”
The deputy chief looked at the chief, who gave the okay. The deputy chief stepped aside and allowed a young black teen to enter the command center. When Jaden Jefferson saw the Gabrinis, his anxiousness relaxed a little more.
Tommy and Grace, along with Reno and Trina, hurried over to him. The chief went over to him too.
“Hey Miss Grace. Hey Mr. Tommy.”
“What do you know, Jaden?” Tommy asked him.
“They’re saying TJ killed those students. That TJ was the one who shot up the cafeteria. But that’s not true.”
“How do you know that?” asked the Chief.
“Because I was there. I saw the whole thing. It was three white guys. They all had assault rifles and they all did the shooting. They thought everybody was dead, but I was hiding in the broom closet and was able to peep out and see them as they were running out of the cafeteria. That’s when I saw one of them give a rifle to TJ. He didn’t have any weapon before they gave him that rifle because he and I were eating lunch together. I had to go get a broom to clean up a spill I made, which is the school rules that you clean up your own mess. And that’s when they came in shooting.”
“So Thomas Gabrini left with these people you claim did the shooting?” asked Chief Browne.
