Page 39 of Tommy Gabrini: All Fall Down
“They say the entire mainframe of the schools’ command system was disabled,” said Tommy.
“And their dumb asses think TJ did all that? Not possible,” Hammer said.
“Thank you!” said Reno.
“When was the system disabled?” asked Hammer.
They all looked at the chief. “Just seconds before the shooting began,” the chief said.
“Which means it was a remote disable,” said Hammer. “Whoever did it wasn’t on campus.”
“Now you see how crazy this is for them to even think TJ did this shit?” asked Reno.
Then the deputy chief returned. “What did they say?” Grace anxiously asked him.
“What did who say?” asked Hammer.
“You remember when Grace and TJ were arrested on Saturday?” Tommy asked Hammer.
“I remember. Millie told me about it.”
“Grace wanted them to check on TJ’s arrest,” said Tommy. Then he looked at the deputy chief. “What did they say?”
“They said they have absolutely no record whatsoever of a Thomas Gabrini, Junior or a TJ Gabrini or anybody that remotely resembles him at their facility on Saturday, let alone being booked into it. They only had one arrest that day, and he was a Hispanic kid with a Hispanic name. It wasn’t your son.”
“What is going on here?” asked a confused Sal.
“But it doesn’t prove anything,” said the deputy chief.
Now Tommy, who was always Mister Cool, was getting hot. “It proves that when my son was in police custody on Saturday, something happened to him. Somebody got to him and put terror in his soul. That’s why Jaden saw those stitches. They did something to him. That’s what it proves!”
“I know that’s right,” agreed Reno.
“What stitches?” Hammer asked.
“Tell him, Jaden.”
Now Jaden’s voice was shaky with nerves. He knew how powerful TJ’s father and uncles were. But Hammer Reese was a legend in America. He read about that man in his History books. “I saw stitches on TJ’s lower arm earlier today, sir, and when I asked him about it he turned white, like he was scared or something. Then he hid it from my sight and said he fell and hurt his arm.”
“Did he?” Hammer asked.
“No,” said Grace. “He wasn’t injured at all. At least nothing that we knew about.”
There was silence on the other end.
“What is it, Hammer?” Tommy asked.
“Am I on Speaker?”
“Yes.”
“Take me off!” he ordered.
Everybody looked at each other. They knew then that Hammer Reese knew something they hadn’t even thought about.
Tommy took Hammer off of Speaker and then moved away from the crowd to listen to what he had to say.
And what he said to Tommy gave him his first ounce of hope since that phone call from Trina, and turned that entire nightmare upside down.
