Got Your Six

Chapter 26

Calvin

My fist pounds against the door three times. I don't intend to be so aggressive about it, I think it's just a habit I've picked up from being a cop. You have to knock on the door loudly to ensure whoever's inside knows you're there. Well, I think Christina will know someone's at the door after that knock, she just won't be expecting me.
Christina and I haven't talked to each other for over a year. We've both gone down completely different paths. I've become a police officer while she's continued down a dark path of drugs. I try to steer clear of her simply because I don't want to go through the awkwardness of having to arrest my own sister someday.
The door opens up in front of me, revealing a very confused Christina. She looks like she's about to say something and then closes her mouth.
"Can I come in?" I ask her. Maybe it's weird of me to act like everything is normal but I'd rather just put our differences aside for now so I can find out what she knows about Gavin.
"What are you doing here?" She asks me, hiding halfway behind the door. I catch her trying to look past me, maybe to see if I've brought anyone with me.
"Look, I'm not here to arrest you if that's what you're thinking," I assure her. I thought that would be pretty clear, given that I'm not wearing my uniform, but I figured I should say it anyway.
"Then what are you doing here?" Christina repeats herself.
I can understand the hostility, I just wish she could put it to the side for just a second so I can talk to her.
"I'd like to talk to you about something important," I tell her. I don't want to say exactly what about until I'm inside. That way she can't slam the door in my face. I need some answers and I can't risk saying the wrong thing and having her shut me out. "So, can I please come in?"
She doesn't say anything, she just moves a few inches to the side, giving me just enough room to squeeze inside. I walk past her and wait in the kitchen for her to lead the way. I've never been here before so I don't really know where to go and I don't really want to walk around aimlessly until I find the living room.
The place is a mess. There's dishes pilled up in the sink, overflowing onto the counter. Some of which still have leftover food in them. I don't even want to think about how long it's been sitting there.
"Don't mind the mess," she says as she walks past me, leading the way into the living room. "I haven't had a chance to clean up today yet."
That could be the truth, but to me it looks like this mess has been accumulating for a few days. The living room isn't much better. There's clothes lying all over the floor and the place reeks of marijuana. I watch Christina take something off of the end table and put it in a drawer. Some sort of drugs I assume. Even if I wanted to arrest her for it, I couldn't because of my suspension, but I won't be mentioning that to her.
"What did you need to talk to me about?" She asks impatiently, planting herself in a plushy chair.
I look down at the couch and notice all the stains and burn holes. My mind tells me to just forget it and leave but I need to know. I ignore my instincts and reluctantly sit down on the couch, refusing to lean back. I don't want my clothes to smell like this place when I leave.
"I'm sure you've heard about Cameron," I say, not really sure where to start this conversation.
"Yeah, thanks for the heads up about the funeral," Christina shoots back.
I wince at the dig and try to act like I didn't hear it. I know it was wrong of all of us not to tell her about the funeral, she is Cameron's sister after all. "I'm sorry," I say, knowing it doesn't fix anything.
"Whatever," she mumbles and then lights a cigarette. I'm sure if I wasn't here, she'd be smoking something else.
"He was killed by," I start to say before I get interrupted.
"I know who killed him," she says quickly, as the smoke from the cigarette escapes her mouth.
"Oh, well, what do you know about him?" I ask, treading carefully as to try not to upset her any further.
"Why should I tell you?" Christina says disgustedly.
"Because I'm trying to find him," I admit.
"Are you here as my brother or for police business?" She says accusingly.
"No, Christina, I'm not working right now. I want to find the guy that killed our brother and get justice for him," I say, trying not to sound like I'm begging, but if it comes to that, I just might have too.
"Then you should've gone to someone else for help," Christina says angrily. It's clear she's not willing give me the benefit of the doubt, I guess that just means I have to push a little harder to get her to help me.
"No one else can help me, Christina. I wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case," I admit, hoping that doesn't sting too bad. "I know you get your shit from Olivia and I know she works for Gavin. So, I need to know what you know about Gavin."
Christina stares at me for a moment, probably shocked that I know so much about her. Now she probably thinks I've been keeping tabs on her or something, which couldn't be farther from the truth.
"How the fuck do you know who my dealer is? Did she sell me out?" Christina asks, sounding a bit worried.
It sounds like kind of a dumb question to me. Why would her dealer rat her out? Wouldn't it usually be the other way around?
"I told you already, I'm not here for work. I'm here because I thought you'd be willing to help me," I say, standing up from the couch. It was pointless coming here. I should've known she wouldn't help me of all people. "I just thought you would want to help Cameron," I say softly.
"Okay," she says, taking another drag of her cigarette.
"Okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, okay, I'll help you," she says reluctantly.
I sit back down on the couch, even if I would rather continue standing. I don't want her to feel like I'm trying to be intimidating or disrespectful by standing over her.
"Gavin is in charge of every dealer in town, even Olivia, like you had said," Christina tells me.
"I know," I say without thinking.
"Do you want my help?" She asks, already knowing what my answer is but with waiting for me to respond.
I look at her with a blank expression, not wanting to open my mouth and upset her again. It's a miracle I haven't been kicked out already.
"Don't interrupt me," Christina orders me after not getting any response to her question. "Gavin runs everything but he does most of it from behind the scenes. He doesn't show his face very often, especially recently," she says, looking me dead in the eye.
She doesn't have to say why. Every police officer in the city is looking for him. He'd have to be stupid to show his face.
"Has he ever dealt to you?" I ask, nervous that she might think I'm interrupting again. "Or has he ever been there when you were getting stuff from Olivia?"
"No, he doesn't do ride alongs with his dealers," Christina says with a laugh.
"Okay, but have you ever met him?" I ask, getting a bit impatient. It's beginning to feel like she's just beating around the bush.
"Yeah," she says, and then pauses as if to keep me in suspense. "He has parties every so often, the type that are by invite only."
"Okay, so you get invited I take it?" I ask, wishing she would just spit it out already.
She answers my question with a simple nod up and down.
"Well, when was the last party you went to?" I ask her.
"Saturday," Christina says casually.
"You mean the night of Cameron's funeral?" I ask, somewhat shocked at her answer.
"Yeah, well, you guys didn't invite me to the funeral so I didn't exactly have any other plans," she says.
I can tell that's supposed to be another dig at me but I choose to ignore it again. I'm more shocked that she would go out partying the night of her brother's funeral. Although, she has a point, no one told her about it. I force myself to put that all aside and get back to the matter at hand.
"Okay, so he had a party on Saturday. Where was it at?" I ask her eagerly.
"It doesn't matter," she tells me.
"What do you mean?" I ask, suddenly confused. "Of course it matters. I need to know where he's hiding."
"It doesn't matter because he has the party at a different location every time. He's not hiding out where he hosts the parties," Christina assures me. "That'd be pretty stupid. Kinda defeats the whole purpose of hiding, doesn't it?"
She's got a point. It would be pretty stupid to host a party at the same place you're trying to hide. On another note, it's kind of stupid to host a party while you're trying to hide. I guess he thinks that making the parties 'invite only' keeps him safe.
"Okay, yeah, you've got a point," I admit. "Do you know when the next party is?"
"No, he doesn't send out invitations until the night of," she informs me.
"He actually sends out invitations?" I ask her, feeling stupid immediately after the words leave my mouth.
"It's a text, stupid," she says bluntly.
I ignore her petty insult and continue with the next question that pops into my head. "So, you have his number then?"
"Yeah," she says casually.
"Okay, great! Then text him and tell him you want to see him or something," I blurt out.
"I can't do that," Christina says as if it's the dumbest thing I've said since I got here.
"Why not? I thought you wanted to help," I say accusingly.
"You wanted my help," she corrects me. "Besides, I can't just text him and ask to see him. How sketchy would that look to him? He'd probably go further into hiding and you'd never find him."
"Okay, do you have a better plan then?" I ask her, not expecting her to actually have one.
"I want to be clear. I'll help for Cameron, not you," Christina says with all seriousness in her voice.
"Okay," I say hesitantly, unsure of where she's going with this.
"I'll let you know when I get another invitation to a party. Then I can send you the location when I'm there. But that's as much as I'm willing to get involved in this," she tells me, making it clear there's no changing her mind. "So, is that good enough for you?"
I'm not sure what I was expecting to get out of coming here. Maybe for her to tell me exactly where Gavin is hiding. Of course I couldn't get that lucky though. Having no other leads to go on, I see this as my only choice. I can't afford to turn down her offer.
"Yeah," I say. "That works."