“It’s not okay. He’s not okay,” Decker scolded her. “He’s obviously hurt. You should have called me right away. What were you thinking?”

“Could you please not yell at me?” Hannah burst into tears.

“It’s all right, Chanelah,” Rina cooed. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”

Decker plopped down on the couch and held out his hands to his daughter. “You’re right. Now’s not the time. Come sit down, Pumpkin. Please.” Hannah sat between her parents. “Could you tell me what happened?”

“I don’t even know what happened.” She dried her tears on her shirt. “Gabe and I were closing the gate to the parking lot—”

“Why were you closing the gate?” Decker wanted to know.

“Because we were the last ones in the school to leave.”

“It’s not your responsibility to lock up,” Decker said. “I’m calling up the school—”

“Abba, no!”

“What do you mean, no?”

“Peter, can you just let her finish?” Rina said.

Decker clenched and unclenched his hands. “I’m sorry. Go on. You were closing the gate.”

“We were closing the gate. The next thing I knew, Gabe was on top of this guy, beating the crap out of him. I didn’t know exactly what happened until afterward.”

“What happened afterward?”

“He said the guy tried to steal his briefcase. Gabe fought back. He’s a scrappy kid.”

Rina and Peter exchanged glances. Decker said, “That’s how he hurt his hand?”

Hannah nodded.

“So the guy didn’t have a weapon?” Decker asked.

“Uh, he had a gun. He stuck it in Gabe’s rib cage.”

“He had a gun and Gabe attacked him?”

“Yeah, pretty stupid, huh. He should have just given the guy the briefcase. It all happened so fast. It was really scary. But don’t yell at him. I’ve already done enough of that for both of us. He feels pretty stupid right now.”

“He should feel stupid,” Decker exclaimed.

Hannah didn’t say anything.

Rina looked at her husband. “What should we do?”

“What do you mean?” Hannah asked.

“She means his stupid judgment could have gotten you both killed.”

Hannah said. “He just like…overreacted. You know how it is when adrenaline kicks in. Tell you the truth, Abba, I could see you doing that.”

“I’m a trained police officer, Hannah.”

“I bet you’d do it even if you weren’t.”

Decker didn’t address her statement. “You’re his defense attorney, all of a sudden?”

Again, Hannah felt her best option was to say nothing.

Decker turned to his wife. “What should I do?”

“Why don’t we talk to him and ask what happened.”

“I’m really not interested in a therapy session. Do we let him stay or do we send him to his aunt’s and wash our hands of this whole entire mess?”

“You’re worried that he’s violent?” Rina said.