Page 20 of Sal Gabrini: Man on Fire

Mason picked up the phone.

“What are you doing at a time like this?” Elsie asked. But Mason wasn’t answering her.

CHAPTER TEN

Gemma was asleep alongside Sal when her cell phone rang. Sal was still asleep as she checked the Caller ID. When she saw it was Mason, she was surprised he had her number. And equally surprised why he was phoning her when she told him to essentially take a hike. But she answered anyway.

“Hello Mason,” she said.

And as soon as she said that name, Sal’s low-grade snoring stopped and his eyes flew open. The man had a radar detection system up his ass, Gemma was convinced!

“I know you didn’t expect to hear from me,” Mason said over the phone.

“No, I didn’t,” Gemma responded.

“Put it on Speaker,” Sal said, and he wasn’t trying to whisper either.

Gemma didn’t even respond to Sal’s sleepy ass. It was already on Speaker.

“I need your help, Gem. Real talk.”

“You need my help to do what?” Gemma asked him.

“I’ve been arrested.”

Gemma was surprised. “Arrested? But I thought you said that assault happened over a decade ago. The statute of limitations would have run out by now.”

“Not that case. Same girl, but a different case.”

Gemma was lost. Sal was too.

“What do you mean same girl, different case?” Gemma asked Mason.

“They found her body in the Santa Ana river. I’ve been arrested for her murder, Gemma. They think I murdered that girl!”

His voice sounded shaky, and scared. Gemma was shocked too. Even Sal understood the stakes had risen and the tables had turned. He looked at Gemma.

“I need you, Gem. They said I could get Life without parole if this shit sticks. I need you like I’ve never needed another human being before. I need you!”

And this time, Gemma couldn’t compromise. Mason wasn’t perfect, and she knew Sal didn’t like him at all, but he was still somebody she remembered as a good person. She couldn’t for the life of her see him killing anybody. And especially not killing somebody and tossing the body in a river as if it were trash. Or even paying somebody to do something that sick. That just wasn’t the Mason she knew. She had suddenly run out of options.

“Where are you now?” she asked him.

“I’m still in Vegas at my hotel. But the cops are downstairs. They’re ready to take me to lockup, and then they’ll extradite me back to California.”

“Do not waive extradition, you hear me?”

“I won’t.”

“Don’t. I’ll meet you downtown,” Gemma said, and ended the call.

And then she looked at Sal. Would he be what she needed him to be in that moment? Or would he just be same old Sal?

“I’m going with you,” Sal said, and got out of bed.

It was same old Sal. And Gemma loved him for that.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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