Got Your Six

Chapter 29

Calvin

"I'm sorry?" Mrs. Dukie says as if she didn't hear me correctly. "What do you mean by that?"
"Uhh, no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that," I tell her, trying to save myself from what I've just gotten myself into. What I really mean by that is that I might just be one step closer to finding Gavin and then who knows what might happen. All I know is that it probably won't be anything good if no one is there to hold me back.
"Calvin, if you think you might do something to someone, you can tell me. I can help you before you get yourself into some sort of trouble," she tells me, desperately trying to get me to open up more than I have in the past thirty minutes.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know what I'm talking about," I say, standing up from my chair. "It's just been a long week."
"Calvin, please," she says, standing up right along with me.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. Thank you for your time," I blurt out as I rush out of her office. I need to get out of her before she does something to try and stop me. Is she even allowed to do that? I don't know but I don't want to find out either.
"Calvin, please don't," Mrs. Dukie calls out but I make it out of the building before she can finish her sentence.
What a stupid mistake, telling her I thought I might do something bad. I was just so focused on Christina's text that I didn't know what I was saying. All I knew is that I had to get out of there before I said anything worse than that. I'm lucky they didn't try to tie me down and stick me in the looney bin for having crazy thoughts or something.
I look in my mirror as I drive away and try to think of how I'm going to tell Kayla that I probably will never be going back there again. I guess I've got the whole drive home to think of an explanation to give her. Maybe I can tell her she came on to me. No, that probably wouldn't end well either. Kayla would probably try to go down there and confront her and then I'd get myself ratted out anyway. I'm sure I'll think of something by the time I get home.
I click a few buttons on the touch screen radio and navigate the screen to my messages with Christina and click on her name.
"What would you like to say?" Asks the little voice inside my truck.
"Where's the party?" I say into the speaker and then listen to the little voice repeat my words.
"Would you like to send it?" Asks the little voice.
I reply by clicking the 'send' button on the screen and then listen to the voice say, "Okay, it's sent."
It doesn't take long before Christina's name pops up on my screen, letting me know I've received another message from her. I click on it and listen to the message as I drive down the road.
"Your message from Christina reads, 'He didn't send a location this time. He said he would send someone to pick me up and bring me there.' Would you like to reply?" Asks the voice in the speakers.
"I can follow you there," I reply and then send the message.
Her next message comes almost immediately, saying, "Too risky, I'll just let you know where it is when I get there."
I don't bother replying to this message. She's got a point, even if I don't like it very much. I'd rather follow her there and put an end to this but if they notice they're being followed, it could ruin the whole plan. My only choice from here is to just wait at home and trust that she'll send me the location when she gets there.
I feel a sense of relief when I pull into my driveway, glad to not be at the therapist's office anymore. As of right now, I don't have any plans to go back. I've go to admit, I'm surprised Mrs. Dukie didn't call me after I left to try and convince me to come back. I'm sure after the way I rushed out, she won't be expecting me to come back.
Something catches my eye as I get closer to my front door. A single envelope sticking out of the mailbox. The mailman never leaves anything sticking out, and neither do we unless we have to return something that was addressed wrong, which rarely happens. I just have a bad feeling that's not what this is.
I peel open the mailbox and confirm my gut feeling. It's a plain white envelope without an address, just my last name written in thick black letters. With shaky fingers, I rip open the envelope and remove the piece of paper from inside.

"Be careful who you trust - G.M."

I stare at the words for a moment, trying to figure out who he might be talking about. The therapist? No, that can't be it. How would he have anything to do with the therapist? Then it finally clicks, he's talking about Christina. Is he warning me not to trust her? Why would he do that? He's got no reason to try to help me when I'm trying to track him down. Unless he's trying to throw me off. Although, what if it's not a warning for me? Manny trusted Gavin and he still killed him. This is a warning for Christina.
My hands fumble with the letter as I shove it back into the envelope and stuff it into my pocket. I don't want Kayla knowing about this. If she found out I was receiving letters from Gavin, she'd probably do something crazy like tell my boss. I'm lucky she didn't find this letter before I got home. It's just better if she doesn't know.
"Hi, honey," Kayla says when I walk through the door. "How was your first therapy appointment?"
"Probably my last," I say without thinking. I've really got to get myself under control, I'm just digging myself into a hole that I won't be able to get out of.
"What? Why do you say that?" She asks shockingly.
Great, now I've got to think of a quick lie to tell her because I can't tell her exactly what I told the therapist, that would only make her worry. She probably wouldn't let me leave the house if I told her what I told Mrs. Dukie.
"I just don't think it really helped all that much," I tell her, hoping I sound convincing enough.
"Well, it was only your first visit. Just give it some time, I'm sure it'll get better," Kayla assures me.
"Yeah, maybe you're right," I tell her, knowing very well that I won't even be making another appointment. "I've got to make a phone call," I say, excusing myself from the conversation and closing myself in the bedroom.
"Hey," I say urgently as soon as Christina answers the phone.
"Yeah?" She responds, sounding somewhat irritated.
"I don't know if you should go to that party tonight," I tell her, hoping she won't ask too many questions.
"Why?" Christina asks, as if she's shocked that I would even say such a thing.
"I just don't have a good feeling about it. I don't want anything bad to happen to you," I admit.
"Suddenly you're concerned about my wellbeing?" She says in an accusing tone.
"I know we don't get along but you're still my sister and I don't want to see you turn up dead in a ditch," I say, annoyed that I even have to explain myself.
"Why are you backing out all of a sudden? What happened?" Christina asks and for once, she doesn't sound sarcastic.
"Look I can't say," I tell her. It's not that I can't say, it's that I don't want to say. I don't want to sound crazy by saying 'Gavin has been sending me letters'. I also don't really want to cancel our plan tonight, it may be my only chance to find Gavin. "I just want to make sure you'll be careful tonight."
"Yeah, sure, you don't have to be so weird about it," she tells me, resorting back to her sarcastic tone.
"I wasn't being weird," I say, trying to defend myself.
"Dude, you called me freaking out," Christina points out.
I'll admit, the letter from Gavin might've set something off inside me and make me freak out a little bit. But at the end of the day, Christina is going to do whatever she wants anyway, especially for the chance to go party.
"Whatever, just let me know the location as soon as you get there," I say and then hang up the phone before she can make another smart ass comment.
I don't want to see anything bad happen to her, but she can't say I didn't try to warn her. My hand slides down into my pocket, tucking my phone away as I turn around and find Kayla standing in the doorway.