Eve heard the bone snap.
The other two boys who were blocking Eve’s path parted like the Red Sea and ran, leaving Larazo and Martinelli on the ground.
Martinelli was moaning and trying to crawl toward the street, but Larazo was still slumped, silent.
“Did you kill him?” Eve whispered. “You’d better go quickly. The people who live here never come out to help, but they do call the police. The cops don’t care who’s to blame; they take everyone in and book them.”
“I know. He’s not dead. I wouldn’t let a bastard like that ruin my life. I’ve got plans. He should be coming around in a few minutes.” The dark-haired man who had taken down Larazo and Martinelli came toward her. “You okay?”
She felt dazed, and her head was still spinning. “Yes.”
He was younger than she had thought at first glance. She had thought he might be in his twenties. He was tall and powerfully built, but was probably no more than eighteen or nineteen. Olive skin, dark hair, dark eyes, full lips, and an indentation in his chin that made him look vaguely exotic. He was wearing a blue-and-white jacket, jeans, and black T-shirt. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you around the neighborhood.”
“John Gallo. My uncle just moved into the project two blocks down two days ago.” He was close to her, and his hand reached out to touch her cheek. “Bad bruise.”
She instinctively moved away, and his hand dropped.
She hadn’t wanted to move away, she realized in surprise. Why…
“I’m fine.” Then the shock left her as she remembered Rosa and the baby. Manuel had been lying so still… “But Rosa’s little boy may not be fine.” She whirled and was hurrying up the steps. “Did you see what they-”
“I saw everything.” John Gallo was behind her on the steps. “It might be okay. The kid could just have been stunned.”
“Yeah.” But babies were so fragile. It hurt her to think of how easily they could be hurt.
Bastards.
Rosa was sitting on the landing, holding Manuel, and rocking back and forth. “He’s dead.” Tears were pouring down her cheeks. “He won’t wake up, Eve.”
“Shh.” She looked down at the baby. He was pale. Those impossibly long lashes were lying on pallid cheeks. She bent her head close to his lips. “I think he’s breathing.”
“Really?” Rosa’s face was suddenly luminous. “I couldn’t tell.”
“Stop rocking him. I’ve heard if he’s hurt, you’re not supposed to move him.” But it was probably too late. The damage would have already been done. They’d had to get Manuel inside and away from those scumbags, and afterward, who could blame Rosa for holding and rocking him in her agony. “I’ll go use the public phone downstairs to call for an ambulance.”
“No, I’ll do it.” John Gallo ran down the dozen steps to the first floor, picked up the receiver of the phone on the wall, and deposited a coin in the slot. “I’ll make sure you have help coming, then I’ll take off. I don’t want to have to answer questions if I don’t have to. They’ll probably take him to Grady Hospital. Are you going with her?”
“Please, Eve,” Rosa whispered.
She should go on to work. She’d probably lose her job. Then she looked at Rosa and nodded resignedly. If Mr. Kimble fired her, she’d find another job. “I’ll go with her. What else can I do?”
John Gallo smiled. “That’s how I felt when I saw them hurting you. What else could I do? Sometimes you just have to do what you feel is right.”
And right for him had been breaking bones and coming close to killing Larazo.
And saving her from being raped and maybe murdered.
“Thanks,” she said awkwardly. She knew she should be grateful, but she wasn’t accustomed to anyone stepping in to help her. “You didn’t have to do that for me. I’d have found a way out.”
“I bet you would. You were really something. Hell, maybe you wouldn’t have needed me at all.” He started to dial the phone. “That’s what I kept telling myself while I was watching you take them all on. Don’t get caught up in this mess. It’s not your business. She might be okay. You’ll end up in jail or the hospital.” He looked over the phone at her, and his eyes held hers. “It didn’t do any good. I had to do it anyway.” He began to speak into the phone as the operator answered.
She gazed at him while he spoke, watching the play of expressions on his face. Why couldn’t she take her eyes off him? He was just a guy. Yeah, good-looking and kind of… different, but that shouldn’t matter.
Why couldn’t she stop looking at him?
Grady Hospital
Three hours later
“They say Manuel is going to be all right, Eve.” Rosa’s face was wreathed in smiles as she hurried down the corridor to the waiting room, where she’d left Eve. “They said it was a minor bump, a possible concussion or something, but he’s going to be fine.”
“Great. When can we take him home?”
“When my papa comes. They won’t let him go with me. They say they need to ask him questions.” Her expression clouded. “He’s going to be mad at me. He said I could only keep the baby if he didn’t cause trouble.” She frowned. “And those doctors were asking me all kinds of funny questions. If I ever shook Manuel or maybe threw him in his bed when I got mad at him for crying.”
“You told him about Larazo and the others?”
She nodded. “But none of them were still there when the ambulance came. The police said none of the neighbors had seen anything.”
Of course they hadn’t, Eve thought bitterly. It would make them targets of Larazo and his gang. “Well, your papa will tell them how well you treat Manuel.”
“He’s never home. He works all the time. He might tell them he doesn’t know.” She moistened her lips. “And he doesn’t really want me to keep Manuel. He doesn’t like babies. They cry too much. But I know after Manuel gets a little older, he’ll like him much more.”
Providing Rosa got to keep her son, Eve thought. DEFACS sometimes yanked a kid at the first sign of abuse. Though she’d seen them give the child back with equal speed if their budget was cut.
But Rosa didn’t deserve this kind of hassle. She was a good mother and loved that baby. “Talk to your papa as soon as he gets here. Tell him what happened.”
Rosa nodded doubtfully. “But how can I prove it? They won’t believe me. They’ll say I made it up.”
“Tell them to ask me.”
“But you’re my friend.” She paused. “And you’re the same age as me. They won’t believe you, either.”
Eve knew that was true. Not only was she sixteen, but a check would show that her mother was on drugs. She’d be tarred with the same brush. “Then we’ll find another way to convince them. I’ll go to every apartment in the development and talk to the tenants. Someone will be willing to tell the cops the truth.”
“Will you do that?” Rosa’s face lit like a sunrise. “You’ll keep them from taking my baby?”
Eve gazed at her helplessly. Simple question from a simple, loving girl. But nothing was simple in the slums where they had been born and raised. Sometimes the people who were trying to help blundered and managed to destroy every chance of happiness. “I promise, they won’t take Manuel. If they do, we’ll get him back.”
Rosa gave her a hug and whirled. “I’ve got to go back to Manuel. They won’t let me stay in the same room with him without a nurse being there, but they said I could watch him through the window.”
Eve watched her running down the corridor. What were they afraid she’d do to her baby? Smother him? Anyone could see that she adored Manuel. It was a crazy world.
“Hi.” John Gallo was coming toward her from the direction of the elevators. “How’s the kid?”
“He’ll be okay,” she said curtly. “It’s a miracle. They could have killed him.”