One Fine Day You're Gonna Die by Gail Bowen Read Free Book Online Page A

shine even brighter when they get really close together.”
    Beside me, Robin folds in on herself like a broken doll.
    â€œOh god,” she says. “He’s going to do it.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
    N ova is on the phone in the control room. Suddenly her voice comes over the talkback. “Charlie, Danny’s on line one. He wants to talk to Gabe.”
    â€œDanny’s hanging on by a thread himself,” I say. “I don’t think he’s capable of…”
    I switch on my microphone.
    â€œGabe, there’s someone who wants to talk to you.”
    â€œI’m tired of talking, Charlie D.”
    â€œThen just listen. Remember Danny? He called in earlier about his brother’s death?”
    Gabe doesn’t respond. As the silence on the other end of the line grows longer, I wonder if I’m too late.
    â€œGabe?” I say. He doesn’t answer. The next time I call his name, I realize I’m shouting.
    â€œI’m here,” he says finally . “I’ll listen to Danny.”
    When Danny called in earlier, it was agonizing to hear him speak, but dealing with a problem outside himself seems to free Danny from his demons. The stutter is gone. His voice is heartbreakingly young and urgent, and his message is clear.
    â€œGabe, you have to listen,” he says, “because I’m probably the only person you’ll hear from who’s actually killed another person. Even if you only live one second after you kill that little girl, that one second will be too long. You’ll die knowing that you changed everything.
    â€œIn physics, we studied this thing called the butterfly effect. It’s about how if a butterfly in the Amazon jungle flaps its wings, that butterfly may eventually change the weather everywhere.
    â€œMy brother, Liam, was getting really good with his drums. He might have been a really great drummer. And he was smart—really smart. He might have been the person who found a cure for cancer or stopped global warming. He might have done all kinds of things. I think about that all the time.
    â€œI don’t know Kali, but you do. If you kill her, you change everything. Don’t do it. Let her have her chance to change the weather.”
    Robin reaches for her mike.
    â€œDanny’s right,” she says. “If you do this, we’ll never know what Kali could have been— what she could have done. Gabe, she might even have been able to help me.”
    â€œYou’ve never needed help.”
    â€œI do now,” Robin says simply.
    Gabe doesn’t respond. As the silence continues, I imagine the worst. Gabe pushing up Kali’s sleeve, touching her cheek, injecting the saxitoxin in her small arm. I look at Robin, and I know from the pain knifing her face that the movie playing in her head is the same as the movie playing in mine.
    Suddenly there are voices on Gabe’s end of the line. They are loud and commanding—the voices of police officers barking orders. I can hear only fragments of what they say, but the broken shards paint a dismal picture.
    â€œHe’s still alive.”
    â€œStay right where you are, Dr. Ireland.”
    â€œChrist, he must have already killed the girl. She’s not moving.”
    Robin begins repeating Kali’s name in a kind of lament.
    There’s more shouting and then… Gabe’s voice, very calm.
    â€œPut down your guns. Kali’s just sleeping. Midnight is late for a six-year-old, and this six-year- old has had a big day. I’m not a threat to anyone—not even myself. The hypodermic and the saxitoxin are on the other side of the room. Danny was right. Kali deserves her chance to change the weather.”
    All night, Nova’s body has been drawn in on itself with tension. Now she raises her arms in a gesture of relief and triumph. Robin rips off her headset and grabs her coat and briefcase. But instead of moving toward the door, she comes over to me