Chapter Forty-Eight

THE BIG GUY closest to me gripped his neck and collar like he was choking on a piece of food. His face flushed red, the color spreading downward fast. I had just enough time to lunge forward and grab him as he collapsed sideways out of the bench seat. As I lowered him to the ground, I looked up and saw the other man beside him slump face-first into his plate of food, out cold.

Café diners were out of their seats all around me, chairs scraping, gasps of horror and surprise. As panic thrummed through me, I heard the innocent citizens of Gloucester offering up a gaggle of perfectly ordinary explanations for something I knew had come straight from the realms of impossibility.

“Oh God, he’s choking!”

“He’s having a heart attack. Someone call 911!”

“Does anyone know CPR?”

Others were making for the doors, their plates forgotten.

“OK, honey, let’s go. Grab your toys. Let’s give those guys some space.”

“He’s fine. He’s fine. He’s just playing a game. Grab your blankie. Let’s go.”

The man in my arms was convulsing and foaming at the mouth as I dragged him into the aisle and rolled him onto his side. Helplessly, I thumped his back, tried to clear some of the foam from his airway with my fingers. Even from my vantage point, crouched over the huge construction worker, I could feel the vicious, electric tension between Vinny and Driver as the two men were surrounded by helpful strangers.

Vinny backed his wheelchair into the next aisle. Driver exited the booth and crouched beside me.

“Get the other guy,” I told Driver. “Check if he’s still breathing.”

Driver didn’t move. He was so close I could feel his breath on the rim of my ear.

“What are you doing? Get help!” I yelled at him.

“I’m gonna kill everyone in your house,” Driver said.

He patted my back, two hard thumps, and rose to his feet. As far as the people around us could tell, he probably looked like he was telling me he was going to go flag down a car, the pats a reassuring gesture. But I knew what they were. They were loaded with the certainty of a man who’s as good as his word.

Norman Driver was going to kill everyone I cared about.

I had his personal guarantee.