Glass

Meeting Casey Cooke

Emma pulled up to the Cooke's house the next day, she hadn't been up here since that day she escorted her back to her house with her uncle just in case her attacker returned, she meant to come back to check on her but with everything going on she just hadn't found the time, she knew that wasn't a good enough excuse really and she felt guilty about not coming over sooner.

She took a deep breath before getting out of her car and walking up to the front door which had an enormous deer rack above it, it must have been a big animal to be able to support such a big rack Emma admired it a moment longer before knocking twice on the door with the old fashioned, iron knocker that was in the middle of the door.

The door opened and Caseys Uncle John stood at the frame, looking incredibly intimidating as he looked Emma up and down.

"What do you want?" he asked rudely in a gruff tone, the smell of alcohol on his breath made Emma's mind foggy as she stepped back to breath in some fresher air.

"John Cooke you probably don't remember me, Detective Price, I'm here to talk to your niece Casey about recent events" Emma said showing him her badge "may I come in? Emma asked when she wasn't given an invite.

John laughed nervously looking behind him before saying

"That's completely out of the question, she's upstairs doing her homework and you know the house is a complete mess I wouldn't recommend coming in today maybe we can arrange for another time" he said before trying to slam the door in Emma's face but she caught it just in time thankful for steel toe capped boots and started pushing the door with her hand.

"Oh I'm sure it's fine, you know I deal with murder cases I've probably seen worse than what the state of your house is in sir" Emma managed to say not taking no for an answer before making a gap in the door big enough to slip inside before John slammed the door which made a loud bang as it hit the frame.

Contrary to what John had told him the house was actually quite tidy, sure there were a few areas where bottles of whiskey had been thrown to one side, a few dishes were stacked haphazardly on a glass coffee table which were threatening to fall over at any given moment and empty shotgun shell boxes littered the floor but Emma had definitely seen a lot worse.

"Hey I said I didn't want you in here now I'm gonna ask you again to leave" John said his face turning a bright shade of beetroot red

"It's alright Mr Cooke all I want to do is talk to Casey about a few things then I'll be on my way" Emma said calmly despite the fact there was a much bigger and angrier man standing only a few meters away from her, Emma for the most part wasn't phased too much by him, he was intimidating that was for sure but Emma had been dealing with people like him for many years to be scared easily by him.

There was a silent tension that stood between the two of them before Emma heard a creak on the floorboards to the stairs she looked up to see a tall, beautiful, brown haired girl standing at the top of the stairs, Emma knew straight away that it was Casey she hadn't changed a bit since the ride home, she stood at the top of the stairs looking directly at Emma but avoided looking in her eyes.

"Ah Casey I don't know if you remember me.."

"Your the police officer who escorted us home I remember" Casey interrupted

"Is it alright if I ask you a few questions?" Emma asked calmly

"That depends on what" she said nervously her eyes starting to shift quickly.

"I want to talk about Kevin Wendell Crumb, it's okay we can take our time, you can tell me whatever your comfortable with sharing and I promise I won't force you to say anything if you don't want to" Emma reassured climbing up the first two stairs before John shouted

"Wait a minute this is my house I asked you to leave, I don't want no good for nothing scumbag cop snooping around my house" he yelled before grabbing Emma's arm and slamming her into a wall.

Emma not expecting the move was momentarily dazed, she put a finger to her nose and felt blood starting to drip out from her left nostril. Before she could get back up John had grabbed her hair and threw her into the sitting room, Emma managed to put her arm out so her elbow took the full force of her landing and she felt the skin tear.

Emma heard Casey yell at her Uncle and managed to lift her head in time to see her try to push him away from her earning her a smack along the face which echoed in the room as Casey collapsed on the floor. Emma managed to get up to her feet and was fueled with an intense new rage which she used to catch John's arm as he went to hit Casey again before letting out a primal sounding growl and flipping him over so that his body crashed onto the coffee table which smashed under his weight. It wasn't enough to knock him out but it was enough to both daze and startle him and he let out a groan before Emma put his hands in the spare cuffs she luckily brought with her before calling the station and chucking John into the back of her cruiser before locking the doors.

She walked back into the house to check on Casey who was still crouching in the same shocked position where her Uncle had slapped her.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked kneeling to take a look at the red mark that was forming on her left cheek. Casey just shook her head in response, tears rolling down her face "has he done this to you before Casey?" Emma asked in a calm, reassuring voice.

Casey nodded before gulping hard and saying in a quiet voice "I... I've just never had someone defend me like that before, how did you do it I mean he's so much bigger than you" she stammered.

"Well that's probably a story for another time, it's a bit of a long one" Emma replied wiping the sweat off of her brow with her jacket before smiling up at Casey who returned the smile.

"I don't think we were properly introduced my name is Emma Price" she said extending her hand to Casey.

"Casey Cooke, pleased to meet you Emma" Casey smiled amused at the normality of the conversation after what had just happened and shaking Emma's hand gently.

They carried on with this light conversation until the police showed up to assist with taking John to the station and to give Casey and Emma medical attention before they were escorted back to the station as well to finish the rest of their conversation.