Breaking into Sky | Book Two

Twelve

Music: Cold water by Major Lazer ft Justin Bieber & MØ

Malcolm saw the exact moment Brian's blood began to boil.

He didn't know who this girl was and why he'd been asked to dig up everything he could find about her, but he could see, in his friends face, after this last bit of information he'd proffered, that whoever she was, she was important.

He leaned back into his chair as he watched Brian's frown smooth out to the point where one could've described the expression on his face as...serene.

Except, Malcolm knew the man, and he also knew what that expression represented, he'd seen it only a few times over the years, usually when a situation became personal or hit too close to home.

Most people became agitated, aggressive, rambunctious when they got riled, but not Cas. The man he knew settled into an eerie calmness, he became...still, methodical, strategic.

Much like the calm before the storm.

Malcolm shifted in his seat, this time was different though, this...adversary more dangerous than anyone his friend had ever squared off against, and he felt like he'd be remiss in his duties, both as an investigator and a friend, if he didn't fully brief him on this particular enemy, before he decided to go barking up this tree, because, this girl, whoever she was to him, was personal and as he watched his friend carefully, he could see that a line had been crossed.

Brian sat back into his chair and rested his head back against the comfortable leather, 'I see,' he said quietly.

'Hey, you okay man?' Malcolm asked.

'I'm good, go ahead.' Brian responded quietly, tersely.

Malcolm sighed and nodded gesturing toward the open file on Brian's desk, 'when you get a chance to read through that, you'll see similar reports of physical injuries that the little girl received care for,' he held up his hand, 'they were not as many as her mother's, and I know that kids can frequently get into dicey situations and come out with cuts and scrapes, but still, the doctors visits were too many and the injuries too severe to chalk it up to cuts and scrapes, even for a kid.'

Brian's voice was hoarse as he asked, 'no one ever called child protective services?' he cleared his throat.

'Well, as I said, the woman never frequented a hospital enough to raise eyebrows and she was even more careful when it came to her daughter.

She had a regular hospital for the child, where she would get treated for normal illnesses and minor scrapes, but, from what I gathered, she took the child to a different hospital each time there was something more severe, any injury she wouldn't have been able to explain away...'

'Wouldn't these hospitals have requested for a medical history from a previous hospital...'

'Sure, but it's easy to find a hospital that'll treat you without one, it's even easier when you have money to request treatment, no questions asked, money opens or closes doors that those who have it want opened or closed...as you well know...

...but,' Malcolm brows creased and he became pensive, 'after a lot of digging, I did come across a police report that was filed once when the child was about 5 years old,' he frowned, 'apparently the kid called the police, the 911 report said that she complained that her father had hit her mother, but the incident didn't amount to anything.

Her stepfather was taken into custody and released on bail the same night. According to the police report, the officers who were at the scene reported seeing bruises on the woman's face and neck, and she had seemed shaken up, but she hadn't talked much and had refused to press charges,' Malcolm shrugged, 'without her, there was no case.'