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“May I turn his seat around so I can see him? I adore little ones.” I try to smooth things over with her.
That was a lie. I like kids. I have two nieces and a nephew I adore more than anything. The two oldest are teenagers in high school, and the youngest, Carly, will turn ten at the end of this year.
“Oh. Sure, okay, I guess.” She forces another odd expression. This one a smile that’s as fake as her blonde hair.
Slowly, I rotate the car seat so it faces me.
He’s a little thing, can’t be very old; he’s tiny. When I tip the car seat backward to make it rock back and forth, his crying subsides.
He’s such a cute little guy. I smile, but it quickly fades as his face contorts and his mouth opens, a sob breaking free as the rocking comes to a stop.
“What’s his name?” I ask while beginning the rocking motion once more. It’s obvious the baby needs something. To be fed, a changing, attention maybe—something his mother isn’t giving him.
“Gabrielle.”
“Huh?” I question without thinking how dumbfounded it sounded coming out of my mouth. But surely, I heard her wrong.
“Not that.” She shakes her head, waving her manicured hand in the air. “Um... the boy version of it. The name that’s like an angel’s name or something.”
She stares at me as though she’s expecting me to know who she’s referring to.
“Gabriel?” I respond slowly.
“Yep!” She snaps her fingers. “That!” She smiles big, perking up in the chair.
I attempt to mirror her expression as red flags start to go up.
This girl doesn’t know her baby’s name?
“Is this your son?” I question.
“Well, yeah.” Now she is the one with a dumbfounded look marring her perfectly made-up face. “He’s why I’m here.”
“Okay, then why don’t we get to that. What brings you to the station tonight?”
“Right. The statement.” She oddly nods her head as if I’m supposed to know some secret of sorts.
“Yes. The statement. You tell me what it is. Then I’m going to need you to handwrite every detail you can on paper. Okay, Miss Carlisle?”
“Sure. Whatever you need.”
“Great. Start from the beginning.”
“Well, I hooked up with a bad man one night. An evil man—Drago Acerbi.” His name sends chills rolling down my spine, my head repeating his last name in slow motion as if to confirm I heard her correctly.Aa-ch-EH-r-b-ee
It’s rare anyone has the power to scare me, but the Acerbi family has a reputation I don’t take lightly. They’ve been known for their cruel ways for generations and not just in L.A.—Italy too.
“The result was him.” She waves her hand nonchalantly.
“Why do you say he’s an evil man?”
Her head drops a few inches, as does her bottom lip in shock. “Do you not know who Drago Acerbi is?”
“That wasn’t the question, Miss Carlisle. I’m trying to establish why you think he’s an evil man. Whether I know who he is or not is irrelevant right now.”
“Yeah, but c’mon... You do know who he is, right?” Her eyes are wide. Her bottom lip hangs open as she waits for my response.
“Yes, Miss Carlisle, I know of him,” I finally tell her after a beat.
