I heard someone knocking on the door just when I was about to start reading a book. It surprised me, because I wasn't expecting anyone.
"Don't you know who it is?" - I asked Olivia as I was going towards door. She did not answer, but meowed loud and jumped on a counter to have a better look at the stranger.
The person on the other side of my door was the last human being I expected to stand there. The woman with blonde, curly hair and a colorful cap looked at me like an apologetic child. She was still a child to me, always running away and leaving everyone who cared about her with her own problems. At first, I wanted to close the door in front of my dear sister's nose, but something in her look told me to listen to her once again. I wasn't going to be nice, though.
"How dare you come here after the last time? Isn't that enough? For me, for Scotty? For that jerk from New York..."
"Lil, please."
I was very mad at her, but one her word, that "please" made me stop straight away. Christina never used this voice. I shuddered.
"What is it?" - my voice faltered, I guess.
"Could we... talk?"
I didn't want to let her in. Not so fast. Yeah, 5 minutes earlier I didn't want to let her in at all, so if I changed my mind, I could erase the previous resolution as well...
I asked her to take her coat off and sit on the sofa. Then I sat next to her and the awkward silence fell. The conversation had to be somehow started, so I finally asked with a cold voice:
"If you lie to me again, I promise, I will kill you."
"I'm not gonna lie anymore. I..." - she looked at her hands, covered deep in the sleeves - "That man was not a cop."
"That... Mark Phillips? What are you talking about?"
"Did he show you his badge? Or did someone call his superiors?"
"Chris, there... we all were there. I don't believe anyone could deceive us. That's nonsense!" - I got up.
"No, it is not..."
"For all my life I heard many things from you. Most of them were lies, but this is the worst! In your opinion what the hell did he want from you? Money? Or maybe you think he fell in love with you and pretended to be a cop just to kidnap you, huh!"
For the first time I saw Christina crying, really crying. I shouldn't have said what I said and yelled at her. Something was definitely wrong and all I had was Chris sobbing on my sofa and terrible pangs od conscience.
"I'm sorry for... for coming here..." - she muttered and she was about to leave - "I should've..."
"No. Tell me what happened when you left Philadelphia." - fortunately my voice softened a bit; I sat again. - "Christina, I am... I think, I'm going to give it one more try, but... I want the truth."
"The truth..." - she nodded. -"Lilly, they're gonna kill me!"
I saw the fear in her eyes. It was always me - I was scared, the worst and unloved one. Christina was being spoiled. At least when dad was home, or mother drank less then usually...
"Hey, nobody's gonna do anything to you when you're here." - she was shaking. I touched her hand and she didn't move back like she used to do when we were children. She was terrified. - "And who are 'they'?"
"After you had moved from us, there was a... a man. Another mom's one-night adventure. I mean... he was supposed to be, but he came back a few days later. They... did what they used to do and he, he... came to my room."
"Chris..." - I hugged her. I never ever thought about what could happend after I left. There were some situations when some drunk bastard tried to get one of us, but... it never happened. - "I'm sorry, girl. I had no idea..."
"I hated you for leaving me alone." - she moved and looked at me apologetically - "You wanted the truth..."
"It's okay. I know..."
Christina sighed.
"Then he told mom that he wanted to take me to the catholic school, because I was so beautiful and talented and that he would take care of me..."
"She believed in such a lie!"
I couldn't comprehend it.
"Fortunately, not. Probably she needed me to clean her up and that is why I am here..."
"So...?"
"This Phillips works for him. I don't know why, but he tagged along with me. Everywhere I try to get a job and live normally, he appears as a policeman from New York and accuses me of a fraud."
"Okay, but... how do you know it is him? That man from the house?"
"He left a note for me in mom's house."
"You still have it?"- I asked her and she took a small, crumpled paper out of her pocket. There was a short note: "Can't forget that night, I enjoyed every second. Hope you liked it as much as I did. I will see you someday in New York, watch out. M."
"'M.'?"
"I don't know what it is... But Lil, I have never taken any money!"
"Maybe it's just slander?"
"No, it's not! He mentioned the name of the local... it was 'Vacuumed Heart', wasn't it?
"Don't know... possible."
"I have never worked there. It's the name of the escort agency. The brothel."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes and... there is one more thing. That man, who... abused me. He had a tattoo with a caption 'Vacuumed Heart' on it."
That convinced me. I jumped to my feet and run to the phone.
"Where are you going?" - Chris asked with a falter in her voice.
"To call Scotty. We need his help."
PART II
Scotty was astonished when I called him. I didn't say anything about Chris on the phone. Who knows, maybe he'd throw the receiver...? The only thing I told him was that I wanted him to come as fast as possible to my apartment. Oh, it was so sweet when he asked if I was alright... Yeah, I assured him that nothing happened to me. Scotty promised to hurry.
Christina took off her shoes and shrank on the sofa, her arms around her legs. When she saw me coming back, she said:
"He hates me, too."
I couldn't deny it. For what she did, she deserved even more then a general enmity and even if the events which existence I have just discovered justified her behavior, Scotty did not know about them yet. I decided to fill her in on what happened after her missing.
"You can't expect us waiting for you with our arms wide opened..." - she nodded - "We had an argument with Scotty. I just want you to know..."
Chris lifted her head up and looked at me wanting more details.
"Well, I... wasn't a good sister, because I tried to warn him against you."
"You told him to stay away from me, didn't you?" - there was no resentment in her voice. That was strange, I remembered my sister screaming at me because of the chocolate ice cream instead of the strawberry one. It all had to change her, I couldn't believe it was the same person. She continued:
"I know it from him. He asked what happened and why you don't like me, but I didn't..."
"I did."
"You did?"
"Yep." - the silence fell again - "Detective Valens... was close to beating up that Phillips."
I watched her reaction. She was dying to ask if it was about her, but she resisted. Wow, that was surely hard. I thought, it was enough.
"Anything to drink?" - it called to my mind that she was my guest after all - "Tea or coffee or... juice?"
"Tea, please." - I went to the kitchen. 5 minutes later, when I came back to the sitting room with a glass of hot beverage, I found my sister sleeping just like she sat, only her head leaning on the headrest.
I let her sleep, she had to be very tired. If what she said was true, my apartment had to be one of the sparse safe places for her. I liked that idea, I liked my house.
I took a blanket from the closet and put it on her. I had mixed feelings about her. Maybe all she did was not her choice? Assuming that I am able to forgive her fling with Patrick , maybe we could finally face up...?
The thought of Patrick momentarily made me feel sad, but I chased away the tears before any of them fell down. I came to the window to wait for Scotty, so that he doesn't ring a bell and wake up Christina. I hoped, I would talk to him before it happens. When I said we needed his help, I was sure of this. But at that moment, standing next to the window-pane and staring at the darkness outside, I couldn't predict what he was going to do hearing about Chris. I could only keep my fingers crossed or pray that he won't leave us.