Her mom shook her head. Her dad didn’t have any reaction.
“She’d been in contact with him by cell phone numerous times in the days prior to the robbery,” Clements said. “A neighbor also thinks he saw Sanchez at her building one day last week, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet.”
“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense,” Marissa said. “If she had a restraining order against him, why would he’ve been at her building?”
“We’re not sure,” Clements said. “Her sister said their father in Ec ua dor is ill and needs money for an operation, so that may’ve been the motive.”
“Tell her about the AIDS,” Dana said.
“Her father had AIDS?” Marissa asked.
“Not her father- Sanchez,” Clements said. “And he didn’t have full- blown AIDS. He was HIV positive.”
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” Marissa’s dad said.
“We all have to get tested now,” her mom announced.
“That’s ridiculous,” her dad said.
“His blood was all over the staircase,” her mom said, suddenly looking and sounding maniacal. “It could’ve splattered on you.”
“Oh, stop it,” her dad said, waving a hand at her dismissively.
Marissa couldn’t believe her parents were actually arguing about HIV transmission. They’d officially hit a new low.
“The risk for HIV transmission in this type of situation is minimal if not nonexis tent,” Clements said. “The virus dies almost immediately when it’s exposed to air.”
“See?” her dad said to her mom, like he was so proud of himself. “I don’t care,” her mom said.“The blood was everywhere, I want to get tested.” “If you want to get tested, get tested,” her dad said. “I can’t stop you.”
“Okay, so let me get this straight,” Marissa said to Clements. “You think Gabriela took the code to the alarm so she and her ex- boyfriend could rob our house?”
“It seems logical,” Clements said. “Your mother says she believes Gabriela had access to the code.”
“What about the keys?” Marissa asked.
“She could’ve copied them at some point,” Clements said. “We’re talking to area locksmiths, and my guess is we’ll find out that she copied the keys to the back door.”
“I don’t believe it,” Marissa’s mom said. “If Gabriela robbed the house, then who killed her? Explain that.”
“It’s too early to speculate,” Clements said.
As Marissa’s mom rolled her eyes, Marissa said to her dad, “I thought you heard another guy in the house.”
“I’m not sure about that,” he said. “It could’ve been a woman.”
“According to your parents,” Clements continued to Marissa, “Gabriela wasn’t aware that you’d canceled your trip to Florida, so she may have believed the house would be empty. Did you tell her you weren’t going to Florida?”
Marissa didn’t say anything, just shook her head.
It was starting to set in-Gabriela had been involved in the robbery of their house. She’d actually been involved.
“Oh my God,” Marissa said, “I don’t think I can handle any more of this.”
Her dad, suddenly all protective, said, “If you don’t have any more questions for her, why does she have to be here?”
Ignoring him, Clements said to Marissa, “I understand you were close with Gabriela.”
“Yes,” Marissa said, trying her hardest not to cry. “I was.”
“Did you talk to her at all during the last few days?”
“Monday,” Marissa said. “I saw her Monday.”
“Did she mention anything to you about how she needed money, or about how she’d gotten back with her old boyfriend?”
“I had no idea she even had a boyfriend.”
“So there was nothing unusual in her behavior?”
“Nothing at all. She was her usual happy, smiley self.”
“Well, she was apparently very good at keeping secrets,” Clements said. “Did she ever mention anything to you about drug use?”
“Gabriela?” Marissa said, shocked. “Are you kidding? She was totally antidrugs.”
“Sanchez had a history of heroin addiction,” Clements said. “It’s likely that since he had a relationship with Gabriela she was using as well, at least when they weretogether.”
“That’s hard to believe,” Marissa’s dad said.
“I can’t believe that either,” her mom said. “The money’s one thing. Anybody can get desperate, make a mistake, but drugs? I don’t think she’d be able to hide that from us.”
“You’d be surprised what people can hide when they put their minds to it,” Clements said.
There was an awkward silence in the room for several seconds- Marissa noticed that her mom and dad both seemed uncomfortable- then her dad asked, “So’s that it?”
“Yeah,” Clements said, getting up. “For now.”
Marissa and her dad stood, too.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” her mom said, remaining seated. “That’s it? There’s a killer out there, a killer who was probably inside our house last night, and you say that’s it?”
Her dad said, “You don’t know-” and her mom shouted at him, “We do know! Why do you think she got shot today? Because somebody was trying to shut her up, that’s why! And you shot the other guy! You killed him and you think he’s not gonna come back here?”
“Okay, try to calm down,” Clements said.
“Why the hell should I try to calm down?” her mom said. “Do you have any leads? Do you have any idea, any idea at all who shot Gabriela?”
“We’re working on it,” Clements said.
“Oh, you’re working on it,” her mom said. “That makes me feel so much better. You’re just so good at reassuring us. Meanwhile, you could’ve saved her life. Last night, if you weren’t here asking us about my daughter’s bong you could’ve talked to Gabriela sooner, stopped her from getting killed, and found out who the other guy is. Now you’ll never find him, and he knows who we are, he knows where we live, he’s been in our house!”
“I’m sorry,” Marisssa’s dad said to Clements.
“You don’t have to apologize for me, you son of a bitch!” her mom screamed. “You caused all this- you and your stupid gun! How many times did I tell you to get rid of that stupid thing?”
“Here comes the blame,” her dad said.
“I’m blaming you all right!” she screamed. “Who else should I blame?”
“See? I knew you couldn’t hold back forever. You’ve been dying to blame me. Go ahead, keep going, let’s hear all that rage.”
“I told you if you had that gun in the house something horrible would happen someday. You didn’t listen to me, and, what do you know, something horrible happened. What a shock!”
“Horrible!” her dad shouted. “That’s a good one, I love that. No, horrible would’ve been if you and Marissa got killed, that would’ve been horrible. You should be thanking me instead of yelling at me!”
“You wanna be thanked? Okay, thank you! Thank you for fucking up my life!”
“Can both of you just stop it already?” Marissa screamed as loudly as she could.
Finally there was silence as Marissa’s parents remained glaring at each other, breathing heavily. Then Clements announced, “I’ll keep you informed, and you let me know if anything comes up on your end.” Then he looked at Marissa’s mom and said, “And despite what you think, Mrs. Bloom, we do know how to do our job, and I think we do it very well.” He put his pad away in his pocket, then said, “Sorry again for your loss,” and left.
Marissa remained with her parents in the dining room, watching them exchange looks. Then her father said,
