Thread: Google and Tortured

Isla Brooks had never known much about her father. Her mother Caitlin had always been circumspect about him. Isla had never been told about the abuse her mother had suffered at his hands or how Caitlin had to move to a different state in order to escape Patrick's determination to make her abort his unwanted child. There was no restraining order in existence that would keep Patrick Burns from her but once Isla was born and there was no hope of avoiding child support, he finally gave in and let Caitlin get on with her life. Caitlin had dated nice guys after that but they bored her and none of them lasted. Isla grew up the only child of a single parent and when she was eight years old carbon monoxide poisoning dispatched her grandparents. Isla had never met her other grandparents. Her mother had made it abundantly clear that Patrick and his family were a closed book. So Isla made do with the few photos her mother had kept of him and tried to accept that she must have good reason for keeping him out of their lives. She had often thought about tracking him down when she was older. Everyone was on facebook and surely her mother must have some idea where he was? She knew he was a lawyer, which impressed her because she naively imagined her father as a defender of crime victims, an upstanding citizen who wouldn't defend people who were guilty. Isla had been at school when cops had arrived to tell her that her mother had died in a road accident. Caitlin had been cycling from Isla's school to her job at a nearby factory when a negligent truck driver had knocked her down. Isla just sat there, numb with shock as the female cop and the school counsellor tried and failed to help her process what had happened. Then the cop started asking gently about her other relatives and Isla simply came up blank... except for her dad. Yeah that's what we figured. We tried finding an adult relative to inform first and our system just came up with nothing. Nobody in this state. Isla retreated into herself as the authorities quietly tidied away the remnants of Caitlin's life, emptying her tiny rented apartment, putting her meagre assets in Isla's name and arranging for her to make the journey to her father. She packed up a suitcase and put aside things to be sent on, furniture from her room and everything from their tiny apartment that she wanted to keep. Before she really knew what was happening she was on a plane to her father's city. The in flight staff made a huge fuss of her, which helped pass the time. When she landed, her dad wasn't even there. He had emailed her instructions and an address but it hadn't really occurred to Isla that she would have to get a cab all by herself. People stared at her as she stomped dejectedly through arrivals, out of the airport and flagged down a taxi. Soon she was outside his fancy apartment building, with a bemused cab driver asking her if she was sure this was the right place. How the hell should I know? If it isn't I'll just get another cab. He pulled away swiftly, offended by her bluntness but Isla simply wasn't capable of social niceties right now. She dragged her suitcase up the steps and into the lobby, where a doorman took pity on her and showed her up to her father's floor. Isla swallowed hard and then rapped loudly on the polished wood.