Part II-Chapter 6: NOT LOST, BUT TAKEN AWAY

 

Chapter 6

Not Lost, But Taken Away

(Ó 2009)

 

The next afternoon found David and Noel in a conference room at the University of Chicago Hospital where they were being brought up to date on the conditions of the three latest targets of the ‘Spinal Tapper’ vigilante. They were both briefed earlier that morning by Captain Xiang, in his office, informing them that the hospital is going to be required to make a log of all visitors to the three targets, hoping that maybe anyone who may have some sort of connection with the missing cash would try and pay Percival Wendell Higgins a visit.

In the room with them were the doctors and the staff that performed the surgeries on the three men and the reports were somewhat grim. These reports were substantiated to both David and Noel when they saw for themselves the three targets of the vigilante recovering in their separate facilities of the Intensive Care Unit. They would go to the bedside of each man, while holding in their hands two files that dealt with each. One file was that of their criminal history, the other was that of their existing medical circumstances. All three men had some major setbacks since they were first admitted to the hospital, however it appeared as they’ve been finally stabilized somewhat.

They started with Isaiah Jefferson Price, known to everyone on the street as “Bigguns”. At first sight of him both Noel and David found it hard to accept what was true. Price was a massive black man with cannonball shoulders and large biceps. His hair was done in tight corn rolls and it was spread to either sides of the pillow. The hospital bed looked as if it was on the brink of collapse under the weight of the enormous man who was motionless, except for the slow rise and fall of his chest as he was breathing. The medical report showed that Price had suffered substantial brain damage that was due from the interruption of the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. He was in a coma, and the doctors had no idea when he would come out of it … if he ever would. They were amazed that Price was breathing on his own considering the amount of brain damage thus far but, “The human body and brain mysteriously find a way to keep life going somehow,” as one of the surgeons stated.

David and Noel then looked again to his criminal history; they had been doing so since they received the records of all three of the latest targets. It turned out that Price, along with Darnell Spence, were in fact Gem P’s two main enforcers and bodyguards. Price was the stronger physically of the two, known for his sadistic punishing of all those who would either cross Gem P, disrespected him, or tried to harm him in any manner. It was widely known by all in the 4-S that one of Bigguns favorite punishments was to play “tackle”. This consisted of having the person who ordered to be punished placed in a small fenced in yard, free to run about, while Bigguns chased and viciously tackled him as he did in his days playing high school football. Sometimes he would even tie the victim up by his feet, hoist him up from the ground and use him as a live tackle dummy.

David and Noel looked down at the once gridiron hero turned gang banger, his huge arms crossed on his abdomen. “Those aren’t arms,” Noel said, “those are somebody’s legs transplanted on his shoulders.” They both then took turns looking at the rope burn around the large neck of Isaiah Price that was deep and swollen. They could tell by the sight of the scar that whatever it was around his throat had been clamped down very forcefully.

What seemed ironic to them both was that lying here was a man who once was feared on all the high school football fields around the state of Illinois. Who once would maul down the biggest and strongest young men on his opposing teams defense. Who could easily bench press over three hundred and fifty pounds. Who was greatly feared by those in opposing gangs. That this huge man with the enormous strength and reputation, was brought down with what appeared to be a piece of rope no longer than eighteen inches in length.

 

Next, they came to the bedside of Darnell Spence, known on the street as simply “D”. The medical report showed so far that Spence might be the luckiest of the three targets … so far anyway. He had severe brain damage, also from the interruption of the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. However, he would open his eyes every now and then. The doctors and nurses would try to communicate with him whenever he did open his eyes but with no avail. The doctors informed them that they would have to wait and see if Spence would recover enough to see how extensive his brain damage is to the normal functions of his body.

His criminal record though revealed that if Price was the stronger of the two, Spence was the more sadistic. If Isaiah Prices favorite punishment was his tackling, Darnell Spence also had his, it was rape. Spence would enjoy violating the women in the lives of those whom he was sent to do Gem P’s enforcing, most of the time right in front of their parents, husbands, brothers or boyfriends. However, his violation of these girls and women did not end there; he would always have to leave “his mark” as he called it. Darnell Spence would, after raping his victim; would then brand them, with a small special branding iron that he had specially made. He would brand them with a one inch sized capital “D”, which he would strategically place between one or two inches above his victims’ vagina. 

“I want to leave them more than just a couple of ounces of “D” juice.” he would sarcastically say to Isaiah Price, who would never participate in the rapes themselves, because he personally found the act “immoral“, however he would hold down and restrain the victims during their branding.

David and Noel then came to the bedside of Percival Wendell Higgins, known on the street and to everyone else as “Gem P”. He of course suffered the worst of the injuries that were sustained from the attack. Paralyzed from the shoulders down, however he may have complete control and movement in his right arm. He had to though be sent back twice for some additional emergency surgeries because of some internal bleeding and hemorrhaging in his spinal column. Something that the surgeons were suspicious of that may have come about from his attempts to set himself upward after the police initially found him.

Upon looking at his police record, which was rather extensive, David and Noel could see the history of his rise in power in the 4-S up to the point where he became the head of the street gang. That point came when he was the Number Two man in charge, then took over after the arrest, conviction, and life sentencing of his predecessor. 

Percival it seemed was always an angry and troubled youth. He had, what is to be unfortunate, the stereotyped story of a man in his position. Raised by a single mother, his father being unknown to him. His mother tried to put him on the righteous path when later in his boyhood she “found Jesus” and was “born again.” However, in Percival’s mind, Jesus was not around much to help pay bills and buy groceries, no matter how many Sundays he would go to the Church and watch his mother pray for it.

Therefore, at the age of thirteen, Percival found the South Side Stone Soldiers and quickly learned the art of surviving on the mean streets. To rob, steal, pimp, enforce the will of the 4-S, and yes, and even kill for them.

Percival’s mother, in the beginning, was incensed and dissatisfied in her son for becoming involved with such “riff-raff” as she called it back then. However, Percival started bring home money, lots of money, more than she had seen in years. Bills were being paid, groceries where then in the pantry and refrigerator, and the lifestyle of Ms. Higgins began to progress considerably. As her lifestyle improved, so too did her naïveté towards her sons “occupation”. She would cover her hypocrisy by telling him and everyone else that she would “Pray to the Lord Jesus to help him to find the right path and get saved”. She would then take the envelopes filled with cash that her son would secretly place in the drawer of the table next to her bed.

Moreover, subconsciously she knew that nobody would ever bring into question her taking of the money or bringing to her attention the double standards. She was after all the mother of “Gem P”, the soldier and now leader of the 4-S.

“It says here,” David said reading from the criminal record, “that the Gemster here is known for his anger and his temper.” He then closed the file, “I’d be pissed off at the world too if my mom named me Percy.” David said this though without his usual sense of humor. No laugh or smile, and Noel noticed this. In fact, Noel noticed that his partner seemed to be in a somber mood all day; he never smiled or made one of his usual wisecracks, not once. Noel figured that there might have been something personal going on, maybe an argument with Regina or something, so he didn’t pursue anything. 

He did though try his own attempt at some humor, “Is anyone around?” He asked.

“No … why?”

“Good.” he said and stepped right up to the right side of the hospital bed bending over Percival’s face which was straight upright and secured by a halo brace.. He was in a very deep sleep due to all of the painkillers and sedatives that were slowly being dripped into his bloodstream. Noel bent down and his face was just a few inches from the lips of Percival Higgins.

“What the hell you doing?” Asked David.

“I just gotta see for myself man.” Noel answered. He then placed his fingers on the lips of Gem P, being extra cautious as to not disturbed the halo brace. The fingers of his right hand above the upper lip, and those on his left hand just below the lover one. He then gently pulled Percival’s lips open and looked at his gold filled, jewel-encrusted teeth. “Holy shit Dave, you gotta see this.” He whispered enthusiastically to his partner.

“Ah man, you’re sick.” David said, however, he stepped up to the bedside and looked anyway.

“You think those are real diamonds bro?” Noel asked.

“I understand they are.”

“Looks like a diamond encrusted watchband or something.” Noel said, and then he released Percival’s lips. He saw no reaction from David, so then he asked, “You okay man? Something on your mind?”

“What? What do ya mean?”

“You seem kinda down today. You and Regina didn’t have a fight or anything did ya?”

“Regina and I fighting? No, it’s nothing like that. In fact, she and I are just great.”

“What is it then man?”

“I’ll tell you later outside, this ain’t the place for anything.” David then looked to the medical chart, “He’s pretty fucked up, he’s somewhere in between Jared and Divic.”

“Yeah,” Noel answered, “and his two home boys in the other rooms, I don’t think that they are going to be any better off.”

“We’ll have to see what’s in store for them when, and/or if, they come out of their comas.” David said, they both now stood facing Percival’s hospital bed, looking at both medical and police files.

Suddenly a woman’s voice spoke from behind them, “Just who in the Lord’s name are you two?”

David and Noel turned to see the source of the voice. Standing there was a woman of African decent; she looked to be in her early forties, quite an attractive woman in fact, with slightly graying hair that she wore in a tight bun. She was dressed conservatively in a blue dress that went below her knees with a black belt. In her arms was a Bible, which she clutched to her chest with both arms. David spoke, “Detectives David Todd and Noel Jaworski ma’am, we are here investigating the assault on this patient.”

“You? You two?” the woman said and her voice began to break while tears began to form in her eyes, “You two are the ones investigating just who did this to my baby?”

“Excuse me ma’am,” David then spoke sympathetically, “the patient is your son?”

“Yes, yes he is. That’s my baby boy.” the woman answered with her lips quivering, “And I know who you two are.” Her voice now had a tone of contempt for the both of them; she also wore expression on her face to match her emotion. “You the two cops that’s after that crazy man. That crazy man making it so that some people can never walk again. Puttin’ them in wheelchairs and such for the rest of their lives, aren’t cha? Aren’t cha both?”

“Yes ma’am, we are.”

“You think that this crazy man that you lookin’ for is the one who did this to my baby?”

“We have our suspicions ma’am,” David answered, “but we can’t confirm anything until we both are able to speak with your son. And from what his doctor informs us of, that may not be for another ten to fourteen days, maybe longer.”

“Ten to fourteen days huh?” Percevals mother said, her tone slightly more angry, “Sure, we’ll see about that.”

“I’m sorry Miss …?” David now asked somewhat confused at her attitude.

“Higgins. Leticia Higgins, and that’s my baby boy lyin’ there behind you all with tubes and needles runnin in him.”

“Well I’m sorry Ms. Higgins, but we don’t seem to understand what you mean.”

“You know good and well what I mean officer.” Ms. Higgins said sternly, “We’ll just see how hard you and your friend here work to find this crazy man who do this to my boy. He ain’t no rich mamby pamby white boy from the north side no. My baby is a hard workin’ black man from the poor neighborhood, he’s not goin’ to get any priority whatsoever outta you two.”

David looked at her dumbfounded, and then an emotion of disgust with the woman overtook him. He set his files down on the table next to the bed, placed his hands on his hips, turned his back on her and said with revulsion, “Aw … shit.”

“Don’t you go saying no swear words around me you hear?” Ms. Higgins said now raising her voice.

David snapped himself back around, stepped right up to Ms. Higgins, and said sternly to her face, “And don’t you dare play that race card bullshit with me lady.” His teeth were now clenched “Jeez, that shits getting so old that it squeaks. You want to know why your baby is here? Well here’s a reality check for you. If this is the work of our ‘crazy man’ as you call him, then he had a reason to do this to your boy, and that’s because your boy is a hard worker all right. Hard working at pimping someone’s’ daughter, selling drugs to addicts and exploiting his own people.”

Noel was stunned to see such an outburst from David, which for him was unusual and extremely rare, and to a woman no doubt. “Hey Bro, cool your jets a little man, were in ICU for Christ’s sake.”

“Don’t you dare defend me by taking the Lord’s name in vain, don’t you blaspheme!” Ms. Higgins said pointing at Noel with a rigid index finger.

“Lady … back off of us.” David said to her firmly, yet serenely. “Your ‘baby’ is also here because he’s the leader of one of the most notorious street gangs on the south side of Chicago. He’s responsible for hundreds of people being beaten, robbed and raped, and even killed. And now he’s in an elite group of people. The other people that have been attacked? Two were rapists, one liked to have sex with preteen boys, and the other was in the sex slavery business. The ‘crazy man’ targeted your ‘baby’ for a reason. Don’t you go trying to defend that shit to me while holding a Bible to your chest because that won’t shield you. God doesn’t like ugly.”

Leticia Higgins was struck silent, even the expression on her face showed that she was at a loss for words, and that she was looking for some sort of comeback line. Finally she said, “My Percival is a good man, he worked very hard all these years to support his mama.”

David’s face now showed an appearance of complete repugnance for the woman in front of him, he crossed his arms and laughed slightly. He then looked at her and said calmly, “You know, Percy here is also known to commit bribery from time to time. I guess his bribery has no borderline.”

“And just what do you mean by that?” Leticia demanded.

“He’s managed to bribe his own mother away from her Lord and Savior to blind herself to what a real scumbag her ‘baby’ is. Lady, you‘re all bought and paid for.” David then looked to Noel, “C’mon Ski, let’s leave ‘mommy” here with her ‘baby’, besides the smell of bullshit is mixing in with the other smells from this bed and if I don’t leave now, I’m gonna puke.”

David retrieved his files then stepped quickly past Leticia with Noel directly behind him. They then heard her shout to them “My boy don’t like it when people show me any disrespect!”

David stopped and turned to her and said to her, “I’m afraid your son is in no position to do anything about that anymore … MA’AM!”

Leticia Higgins became more incensed, “You just wait! You ain’t heard the last of this!”

David now had a sarcastic smile come across his face. He was about to make another wisecrack to the mother of Gem P when he felt Noel suddenly grab him by his shirt at the shoulder and give him a harsh tug, “C’mon Dave, Jeez it’s enough, she just a stupid old broad.” David turned his face to his friend, Noel then continued to say in a more subdued manner, “C’mon man, you’re making yourself look like a friggin idiot in front of these other people. Let’s go man, now.”

David saw the concerned look on his partners face and then broke from his grip. He then headed towards the elevators. Noel was right behind him, concerned for his friend. David pushed the button to summon the elevator, then began to pace as he waited for it to arrive. “Fucking bitch.” he said under his breath.

“Dave, what is it man? I’ve never seen YOU have such a short fuse in my life dude.” Noel said trying to consol him.

“Can you believe that bitch?” David asked more calmly. “She dares to question what we are doing? While that piece of shit son of hers has gotten away with what he has? Shit!” The elevator door then opened and David abruptly stepped in with Noel following. The doors shut behind them leaving them both alone in the elevator car. Silence then came in the small compartment, David leaned his back to the side of the car, and within two seconds, both men felt it moving downward.

Noel let his friend calm down for and didn’t say a word to him until the elevator doors opened and they stepped out onto the main lobby. “C’mon Dave,” he said calmly, “what gives? What’s bothering you man? Dumb bitches like her never got to you like that before. As, a matter of fact, dumb assholes never did either. C’mon, you can tell me. What is it?”

David stopped for second, and then motioned with his head for Noel to follow. They both then began to make their way to the entrance of the hospital. “He had to come back didn’t he?” David said, “He had to come back. Why couldn’t he just stay gone? You know what I mean don’t ya?”

“Yeah I do.”

“I mean you feel it don’t you?”

“Feel what?”

“C’mon Ski, it’s like it was shut off then just turned right back on again, the craziness. You know how crazy this thing made us right?”

Noel nodded slowly in agreement, “Not only us, but the wives as well.”

“Exactly,” David said, “well, that insanity just switched itself on again in me last night, it’s like as strong as before, and like it’s never gone away. I’m back to the way I was before man, and it’s making me nervous.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you bro, I’m feeling the same way.”

“Yeah, but now there’s something different.” David said as they reached the large glass door that was the entryway of the hospital. Soon the stepped out in the warm humid air. David took a few steps out and then began to walk to where their car was parked. He stood close to the side of his partner and friend and said, “Last night, and the night before, some things seemed to be making some sort of sense to me, and it’s kind of strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think lately, over the past couple of nights, that I may have had some sort of revelation or something.”

“Revelation?”

“Yeah,” David said, now more calmly, “Take for instance the other night when I had the thought about the money, the idea that he’s trying to communicate and tell us something.” Then he began to speak a bit more agitated, “Hey there’s a thought. Why don’t we go back up there and ask mom if by any chance she knows where all that cash ended up at.”

“Relax there partner.” Noel said, placing his hands on David’s shoulders as a way to tell him to stay put where he was. He then quickly brought the subject back to the vigilante, “You really believe he’s trying to tell us something? Trying to lead us to something else?”

“Yes,” David answered and then he stopped walking. He looked into the eyes of his friend and then said, “Because last night, I got home around eleven thirty or so. I get out of the car, and I’m the only one outside in the neighborhood, and then I stop dead in my tracks because I got the most overwhelming feeling that … he was there … somewhere in the shadows … and he was there watching me.”

Silence fell between them, and then Noel asked, “Watching you? Really?”

“Yeah, really.” David answered, “I don’t mean a funny feeling, I’m talking something real strong, I felt him, and I would stake my life that somewhere in the neighborhood and he was there watching me, looking right at me from somewhere. Where? I don’t know. But he was there, I know it. I even stepped out to the sidewalk to look up and down the street. I still felt him watching me, while I was standing there looking for him. I must have stood there, looking for him, straining my eyes, up one end of the street and down the other, I must have been there doing that for about ten minutes.” He then looked at his friends’ emotionless face, “Yeah I know, after a while I waved it all off saying that I’m starting to go nuts all over again with this thing.” He then started again to make his way to where the car was parked, Noel staying right next to him. “So then I went into the house. I went into the den to put my files away and then I was going to go to bed. But, I just couldn’t do so without taking one more look outside, so I checked around again by looking out the window.”

“So, that’s why you got your ass all tied up in a knot with Gem P’s old lady?” Noel asked.

The then came to their car and David leaned up against it, he put his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and then he looked downward to the black asphalt, “No, that’s not it. After I left my office, I went upstairs to check on the kids. I looked into my boy’s room and there they were, sleeping as if the only bad thing in the world is the Cubs bullpen. Then I looked in on Nadine Rose, and looking at her made me forget how crazy I was just going. Then … I looked a Regina.”

David went silent and gave out a sigh, it appeared as if he were about to cry. Noel then stepped up, leaned on the car beside him, and said, “Hey bro, you okay? What is it? What is it man?”

David took in a deep breath and composed himself. He raised his head and looked around; he wanted to be sure that he and his friend were alone at that moment. “Tell me something Ski, and be totally honest with me.”

“What’s that bro?”

David looked at his partner right in the eyes and asked him, “Just how much do you love Mariola?”

Noel was taken aback, he then answered, but he stumbled through his answer, “Why I love her very much Dave, you know that.”

“No Ski,” David said, looking very seriously, “I mean it. I don’t want the generic answer, think about it for a few seconds and tell me. Speak to me through your heart. How much do you love Mariola?”

“Why are you asking me this man?” Noel asked solemnly.

“Okay man, I’ll help you out.” David said, now with a slight smile on his face, “After I checked on Nadine Rose I start to make my way to my bedroom. The door is ajar slightly and I see Regina asleep in the bed. I don’t know what it was, the dim lights or whatever, but I had my hand on the door knob and I was just about to open the door when I looked at her, and I just froze there in my steps. Because right there at that second, she was the most beautiful that I have ever seen her. Really man, I don’t want to sound mushy or anything like that. She looked so beautiful to me right there. Then I started thinking about us, about she and I being … you know … us. Memories firing in my head, and how she gave me my boys and my little girl. It was like I was in a rapture or something, and it all was so overwhelming that I actually had to wake her up to tell her that I love her.”

Noel raised his head up however he was speechless.

“So well, then we, you know, did it.” David said somewhat timidly, “and afterwards I was holding her close there in the dark of our room, in the security of our house, when then … I thought about him. The Tapper.”

Noel then had a confused look come to his face, “What in the hell made you think of him?”

“I started thinking about our initial theory about him, that he’s doing this because someone he cared for was hurt by someone, or maybe even killed. I started thinking as I was holding my Regina, I was asking, was this what was taken from him? Was there someone that he loved like I do Regina that was taken from him?” David then stood up from the car and faced his friend, “And then a terrible thought came to me, what if that’s what happened to him? What if that happened to me? What would I do if someone came along and … and … it’s just as hard for me to say it as it was to think it … what if someone came along and … killed Regina? What would I do?”

Noel stood there tightlipped and silent; he too now was starting to think about Mariola.

“Because I tell you Ski,” David said with some tears forming in his eyes, “I think I would be able to handle anything else but that. I mean you know, like a car accident, or getting sick, but hopefully old age. I know I could be able to handle losing her that way. But I’m not talking about losing her, but rather having her taken away. Someone coming along and in one motion, taking her from me. I don’t think I could have it like that, I think I would go as crazy as he has, and be doing what he does.”

Noel stood quiet; he had David’s words, thoughts and feelings swirling around in his head. He then said, “Dave, you sound as if you have sympathy for the guy.”

“If, and I do mean if, he had someone he deeply loved taken away from him, not lost like the ways I said before, but taken away, I mean killed, murdered, then I have to honestly tell you, yes, I have sympathy for him.”

“If that’s true, don’t you think that your sympathy could make things a bit complicated when we finally find him?”

David then took a deep breath through his nose and sighed, “Do you really think that we’re ever going to find him?”

Noel looked at his friend and answered, “No, but you never can tell what could happen.” He then looked to the ground and went quiet for a few seconds. He then said quietly, “And to answer your question from before, I’d be totally lost without Mari. I mean, hell yeah, I love her with every fiber of my being. If somebody came along and … did what you said, I’d be driven totally insane. Yes, I love her so much. She’s everything to me, the love of my life.”

David smiled at him then said, “I know you do man. But, that’s what’s been bothering me. That’s what’s been on my mind the past couple of days. He still may be communicating something else.”

“And what’s that?”

“If this is what’s motivating him, if the someone in his life was murdered, killed, or whatever, then it’s made me appreciate more what I got, what we got. I now want to hold it closer to me and protect it with everything that I got.”

“And you think that he may have lost … I mean had this person taken away from him by people with the likes of Gem P, Divic and the rest?” 

“Yes, but I can’t be sure, we’ll never know until we catch him,” David said, “but, it’s the best theory I got. When I sit and think about all this, I can see no other motivation why. I can see no other reason for him to be initially triggered off. Unless he’s completely nuts and just decided to go out and break people’s backs.”

Noel looked to the sky and said, “That’s one thing that has been driving me nuts about this whole thing, I mean it’s obsessing me. If, I mean when we catch this guy I want to know his story, I want to hear it, you know what I mean?”

“Of course I do.” David answered, “You don‘t think I want to know it too? But, this is what I think it is, and if it’s true, not only do I want to know his story, I want to know who she was.”

“Or he.”

“Yeah that’s true, you never know.”

“Jeez,” Noel said looking around their surroundings, “All this talk about this, if what you’re saying is what has happened to our guy, well, now you got me sympathizing for him.”

“It’s not that I am sympathizing, it’s just that, if this is what it is, I understand why he’s doing it.” David then looked to the ground and gave out a short laugh, “You know, my dear mother-in-law keeps telling me that God will tell me things through strange messengers.”

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“I mean it took some psycho vigilante to make me, and now I mean make us, both realize what a couple of really lucky bastards we are with what we both have at home.”

“Let’s get going man.” Noel said smiling.

Both men then got into their car, Noel on the driver’s side and David, the passengers. After David shut his door, he placed his hands on top of his head with his fingers interlaced. His head was tilted back to the headrest and he said aloud, “Oh Shit man.”

Noel, looking for the ignition key in his hand looked to his partner and said, “What’s the matter now?”

“I feel like I’ve just been on one of those dumb ass daytime talk shows that are on Regina’s women’s networks, you know what I mean?”

“No I don’t.”

“Oh you should see them man.” David said, “These ladies come on there and of course every problem in their lives has to do with a man of some sort. And if the guy happens to be there with his wife or girlfriend or whatever the case is, the show is designed so that the hostess, and in some cases the host gang up on the poor schmuck until he breaks down and promises to be a better man, and it’s all such bullshit. The weepy guys that are on them. I feel like that right now, getting in touch ‘with my feminine side’ as they would say.”

“Wait a minute, yeah; I’ve caught Mari looking at a few of those.” Noel answered laughing, “They will start talking about how this husband won’t do this, while that husband will do that, and she looks at me with her arms crossed giving me that look.”

“Then you know what I mean.”

“Sure, I guess we did have a ‘sensitive type o’ guy” moment.” Noel said as he started the engine.

“You want to stop off for a quick beer or something?” David asked with his hands still atop his head.

Noel placed the car in Drive, and with his foot still on the brake he turned to his friend and said, “No … I don’t think so tonight. After this discussion, I just want to go home and be with Mari.” He took his foot off the brake and proceeded to drive home.