Part 13: Gabriel Knight vs. Reasonable Expectations

Chapter 13: Gabriel Knight vs. Reasonable Expectations



Once again, Day 3 opens to the same morning routine. We've got our slightly pretentious quote...



...the paperboy...



...Grace arrives...





...and some time later, Gabriel thrusts himself into the mercy of the brightly-lit shop as Grace cheerfully mocks his sleep patterns.




Wow. The phone book. Thanks, Grace, you're a lifesaver.

(I think there's supposed to be an animation of Grace handing it over to Gabriel, but instead she just leaves it on her desk and it eventually disappears.)





Gabriel says this about as as you can get.





Gabriel fails to mention the slightly important detail that he got turned down flat.






"Aww, Gracie gets so cute when she's overprotective. I think I'll play with her a little more."






Yecchh. Grace decides it's best to pretend Gabriel isn't even there, while Gabriel moves on to check today's newspaper.




Definitely gonna have to check that out. Gabriel checks the time; it doesn't start for several hours yet. There's plenty of time to get stuff done.




Sheesh, what a downer. Moving on, Gabriel rouses Grace from her fascinating book repairs to check his messages.





Oh, shit -- Gabriel never did return that badge yesterday. Hope this isn't some sort of cover story for an arrest.




That guy just doesn't let up. Well, might as well get his number, if only to tell him off.






Time to go make some phone calls; Grace went to all that trouble tearing out a single page from one phone book, so we might as well make use of it.



Looking at the phone book page, we see that ... um.



JESUS CHRIST



Yeah wow good luck getting customers with that fucking ad. Anyway, as promised, we have several Cazaunouxes to choose from. Gabriel starts by calling the first one on the list.



A husky male voice answers. Maybe a relative?








No dice. Gabriel starts to dial the second number on the list, then decides to buck tradition and calls the third one instead.





A French-accented old lady voice with a tiny dog yapping incessantly in the background? We've got a match.







Cazaunoux quickly hangs up, leaving Gabriel in a bit of a quandary for a moment. He takes another look at the phone book page and suddenly has an idea. It's a bit of a long shot, but Cazaunoux does seem like the kind of lady to have her dog registered with every vet in the parish.





Bingo. Melissa is awfully helpful; maybe we can get a little more out of her.








And this, ladies and gentlemen, is a case study in why you should never give out customer information over the phone.




Gabriel makes his way over to 345 Dauphine. The place is a relic, caught somewhere between historical preservation and gentrification. She's probably been living here her whole life.






Gabriel knows this probably isn't going to work, but he has to give it a shot.







Cazaunoux slams the door in Gabriel's face.



No matter. Gabriel has a couple ideas brewing on how he might get her to answer some questions. Hopefully she's crazy enough she won't even remember him later today.

All right Gabriel, we have the whole day ahead of us! What do you want to do first?



Dammit, Gabe.





"Oh, we'll see about that!"



Cue one of the weirdest scenes in the game.



Gabriel arrives at the Gedde tomb just as Malia is leaving. He catches her off-guard.





Well, it's not a total lie. That's something.





Suddenly, Gabriel breaks the tension and grabs Malia's arm.






That's ... that's really just classic stalker talk, Gabriel.







...neither can anybody else.





Actually, that does sound like a musical plot.

It's worth noting: It doesn't really come across in these screenshots, but both of them speak in the same sort of whispered, longing tones; it's not just stalker vs. stalkee. There's absolutely some interest on the part of Malia, but she fights it much more than Gabriel here.






Somewhat frenzied that she looked into him, Gabriel grabs Malia's arm again.



She quickly shakes him off.






With that, she runs away as fast as she can in that dress, disappearing into the maze of the cemetery.





Next time:

Mosely bemoans due process in Chapter 14: Gabriel Knight vs. Interrogations!

Videos!
22. The exciting beginning of Day 3 (Dailymotion) (Youtube)
23. Star-crossed love in a graveyard (Dailymotion) (Youtube)