Got Your Six

Chapter 3

Cameron

"Hey buddy!" A wide smile is present on my face as I walk into the house and see Richie running across the kitchen towards me. "I'm gonna get ya!" I say in a deep playful voice.
Richie smiles wide and turns to run the opposite direction. I drop my coat and lunchbox on the dinning room table and chase after him. His little one year old legs are no match for my long strides and I catch him before he makes it to the living room. The sound of his giggles fill the house while I tickle his stomach and laugh right along side him.
"Can I have a hug?" I ask him after I let him have a break from the tickling. He turns around to face me and tucks his head in the crook of my neck as he struggles to wrap his little arms around my shoulders. Then he looks up at me and plants a big sloppy toddler kiss on my cheek.
Most people say he looks like me, but he's got a lot of his mother's features like his dirty blonde hair and those stunning blue eyes. If you ask me, I'd say he's the perfect mix of the two of us. It seems like just yesterday we took him home from the hospital and now he's running around, learning new words everyday, and getting into everything he's not supposed to. He'll be turning two in just a few months and his mother is already cooking up plans for the party.
"Let's go find mommy," I tell him and he's on his feet in an instant, running towards her at-home office.
I get to my feet and follow him the short distance to her office and poke my head in. She's leaned over her computer, typing away like usual.
"Book anyone new today?" I ask. My wife Brooke has been building her wedding photography business ever since I bought her a camera for Christmas three years ago. Despite moving from Louisiana, she was able to build a new client base fairly quick and now she's ranking second in our area.
"One new inquiry today, they want to schedule a consultation for later this week," she says while she finishes up typing something into her computer.
"That's great!" I say enthusiastically, then I take a few steps into the room to give her a kiss.
"How was work?" Asks Brooke as she closes her laptop and gets up from her chair.
"It was good, nothing too exciting today." It's been a little over a week since Calvin questioned me about Gavin. I haven't heard anything from him since that morning, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about if they're going to catch him or not. Of course, I couldn't wait to tell my wife about it as soon as I got home that day. She enjoys keeping up with any drama that happens at my job. I figure that's probably because she doesn't exactly have any coworkers for herself. Unless you include me because I work a few of her weddings with her to DJ for the reception.
"Did your brother tell you anything new about Gavin yet?" She asks, as if reading my mind.
"No, not yet. I'm curious if they're going to arrest him soon."We made our way to the couch in the living room while we catch up on the day we've had. Meanwhile, Richie is playing with his giant building blocks while Cars plays on the TV.
"Well, let me know when he says anything," Brooke says with genuine curiosity in her voice.
"You know I will, honey," I say with a smile. "I'm gonna go start dinner."
Tonight was taco night, it just made sense, it being Tuesday and all. I went into the kitchen and Richie quickly took notice and followed close behind me. After I got out everything I needed and placed it on the counter, Richie began pulling on my pants saying, "Up, up," and that's how I ended up cooking dinner with one hand while Richie occupied my other arm and watched on.
After dinner was made, we made our plates and took the food into the living room to eat at the coffee table. Richie, of course, sat in his highchair. I prefer to eat in the living room most nights in order to keep up with our latest TV show, Parks and Rec.
Richie, I would say, wasn't like most kids. He would eat nearly anything. If we tried making him something that we weren't having, we would look at our plates and stick his hand out towards us until he got the same food as us. So, because of that, he was eating tacos tonight too. I made him a loosely made soft shell taco and now he was tearing it up, quite literally. He seemed to be enjoying it though, which is all that mattered to me. The mess would be taken care of later, it was bath night after all. For now, I just enjoyed the time with my family.
Once the episode of our show was over, Brooke cleaned up the dishes while I took Richie to the bath. Splashing was his favorite thing to do during bath time and it was up to me to contain the water in the tub, which proved to be quite the challenge. I picked up one of his toy fish and squeezed it under the water so it would fill up. Then I squirted it on Richie's tummy and he immediately began laughing hysterically. We kept this up until Brooke felt provoked to come into the bathroom asking what was going on.
"Just having some fun," I told her, watching the smile get bigger on Richie's face.
"Clearly," Brooke says with a chuckle.
After Richie was done in the bath and tucked into bed, Brooke and I relaxed on the couch for a bit longer until it was time for us to get ready for bed. It was only 7:30 but we went to bed at eight because I had to get up and four in the morning. Brooke always got up with me too, in order to keep me company while I got ready for work.
My phone dinged just as I began brushing my teeth. I slide it out of my pocket and read the one word text from Calvin, Busy?
Getting ready for bed. I reply, then set my phone down on the countertop and go back to brushing my teeth. My phone starts ringing before I'm able to finish and I catch Brooke looking at me as if to say, "Who's calling you right now?"
I tap the green button and answer the phone with a muffled, "Hello."
"Hey," Calvin says quickly. "You got time this week to come down to the police station?"
A confused look washes over my face as I clear the toothpaste from my mouth. "Why," is the only thing I can think to say after being caught off guard with such an odd question.
"Because the captain would like to talk to you about Gavin. He wants to know if you might be able to tell him anything more about him since you worked with him," Calvin's voice seems rushed and maybe a bit nervous.
"Uhh, I'm pretty sure I already told you everything I know about the guy but," Calvin cuts me off before I can finish.
"Can you come by this week or no?"
"Well, I got Friday off."
"I'm off Friday too but I can go in, it's whatever."
"Okay, well what time?"
"Can you be there by eight a.m.?"
I agree reluctantly, not quite sure what I might be getting myself into, but Calvin ends the call before I can get another word out. Something seemed off about him during the whole call but I just can't figure out what it might be.
"What was that about?" Brooke asks me, obviously seeing the look of confusion on my face.
"I don't know exactly," I say hesitantly. "Calvin just asked me if I could go down to the station on Friday morning to talk to his captain about Gavin." I'd never been down to the station for any reason, not even for a tour after Calvin had gotten the job.
"Huh, that's kinda weird," Brooke says and then shrugs it off to keep getting ready for bed.
It was a bit more than just weird to me. The way Calvin sounded over the phone was like he was nervous for some reason. The biggest issue for me was that I had two more days of work to get through before Friday arrived.