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bragged about what he did.
    â€œHe did talk about his religion and being on a mission to Australia. But it wasn’t overboard. He talked about wanting to go to college and about his family as well. He and his mother loved each other. Whenever she came into the restaurant, it was like the first time they had seen each other in a long time. There would be kisses and hugs.”
    A later police report stated that Gabe became a bartender during his stint at the restaurants. Other people who knew him then would say that this wasn’t true. In fact, it would have been out of character, with him being a devout Mormon, to be plying that trade. But then again, Gabe was never one to adhere to anything strictly. He seemed to devise his own rules in the way he wanted to live his life.
    Gabe certainly had a gift for gab and would have made a good bartender. One reporter who later spoke with friends of Gabe noted, “He could talk to you for hours without really saying much.” Talking, planning, dreaming, were all part of Gabe’s makeup. So was a restlessness he could not curb.

    Isabelle Anstey remembered about Gabe’s return to the Bandon area that he was very caring about others. She said later, “Bob was our elderly neighbor, and Gabe would go over and help him with anything he needed. Yard work, inside the house, moving things for him, whatever.”
    James Anstey also liked Gabe very much, and the feeling was mutual. James was a good guy and treated Gabe with a lot more respect than his own father had. Jesse McCoy said later, “Gabe called James ‘the father I never had.’”
    James recalled about Gabe, “He was a very caring person and very smart. He was compassionate with me. We shed tears together. We used to like to hang out and travel around together.” James said that Gabe was a very generous person—not only with his money, but with his time as well.
    James encouraged Gabe in whatever he chose to do, and the family of four got along very well at this point. But there was one incident that stood out for James during this period of time. Gabe was even-tempered, except for one occasion; he blew up far beyond what seemed necessary.
    James had bought some cans of peaches, and Gabe really liked the fruit. Unknown to Gabe, James ate the last can of peaches in the house. When Gabe found out about it, he blew up. Gabe’s face turned beet red and he yelled at James, “How dare you!” Gabe looked so angry—it seemed that he might strike James.
    That incident, however, was like an island in a sea of calm for Gabe. At the time, to James, it just seemed like a minor tantrum. For the most part, Gabe was likeable and friendly. His patrons certainly liked him at the restaurants and so did his managers there. In fact, many patrons actually asked for Gabe to be their waiter.
    It seemed as if Gabe had found his niche as a local, well-liked waiter in Bandon and in North Bend. But then, in a complete change of direction, he decided to attend BYU in Provo, Utah. Whether to meet up with Esther Eschler once again or because of other reasons, he did not later state. The main reason may have been, as usual, he just could not seem to settle down to any one thing.

CHAPTER 9
    Gabe may have entered BYU to see Esther once more, but something quite unexpected happened. He met a young woman named Jessica Pope, instead. Jessica had come from the small city of Blackfoot, Idaho, to attend college at BYU. She was a Mormon as well, and she was very grounded in the faith. Jessica was pretty and bright; and she had one more aspect that Gabe may have learned about early on. She was the beneficiary of a large insurance settlement because of an accident she had as a teenager. In fact, by the year that Gabe met her, Jessica had $100,000 in her bank account. To someone like perennially cash-strapped Gabe, that seemed like a huge amount.
    Jessica had received her insurance settlement because at the age