Cincinnati, Ohio,
The Buckeye Arms,
January, 2006
"Yeah, okay, Bobby. I'll let him know. Bye." Sam punched the end button on his phone. The taller but younger Winchester brother turned from the picture window toward his brother cleaning his weapons on the bed nearest the door.
"What's Bobby want?" Dean asked, not looking up from oiling his Colt 1911.
"He's got a case for us. Two weeks ago a girl was abducted from a small college campus and later found dead. Get this, the same thing happened at the same college in the late 80's. The place also has a reputation for ghosts."
"Where is this college?" Dean asked, sparing his brother a glace as he lowered himself onto the opposite bed, his long legs sprawled.
"A place called Pippa Passes in Knott County, Kentucky but the county seat is a small town called Hindman." Sam answered, picking up his laptop.
"Huh, What's the name of the college?" Dean slid a full clip into his Colt with a quick 'snick' sound.
"Alice Lloyd College. Bobby's sending the enrollment papers overnight. We're supposed to show up for orientation in a few days." The two talked logistics for a while as Dean finished cleaning up after their previous case and Sam did research for the next.
Perry County, Kentucky …
"Freakin' coal trucks, throwing salt brine all over Baby," Dean griped, looking around the seventy foot long truck. He leaned to the left, trying to gauge the distance to the passing zone ahead. Laying the Impala's hammer down they cleared the truck just to get behind a Kentucky State Highway Department salt spreader.
"Shut up!" Dean snapped, hearing Sam snicker. Slowly, they chugged to the top of the hill to an intersection. Signs for Taco Bell and Big Lots glowed to the right and Wal-Mart to the left.
"Which way, smarty?" Dean demanded. Sam directed him to the left, toward Wal-Mart and Knott County half an hour drive over the hill on Highway 80.
"Bobby have any more info when you talked to him this morning?" Dean asked, settling into driving the four lane highway cut through rugged mountains harboring the life's blood of the region – coal.
"Just that he's got a job as a maintenance man with the college. Seems one of the usual maintenance guys slipped on the ice a few weeks ago and hurt his back. Bobby's staying on campus, perfect set-up for the investigation." Sam answered, toying with the heat vent blasting warm air.
"Good, that gives us an in with the faculty. Now we just have to bide our time as students. What cover did he set up for us?" Not that he'd tell Sam, but Dean dreaded going undercover as a college student. Textbooks and academics weren't his strong suit.
"Ha! You'll like this. You're a senior, a baseball player majoring in business." Sam shook his head as he looked over the file sitting between them on the leather covered bench seat.
"Baseball, I can do that." Dean shrugged, rustling his leather jacket. "Who are you? Basketball player, football?"
"The college doesn't have a football team. Bobby said rumor has it there's a donor who gives a cool million every year, providing they DON'T have a football team. Anyway, they'd have to level a mountain to have a field. No, I'm on the cross country team, majoring in history. Easy enough." Almost like picking up where he left off at Stanford. The thought made Sam miss Jess, the dull ache only lessening enough to let him breathe after a long moment.
"Too bad we can't stick around. I could be David Arquette from that movie Never Been Kissed."
"Dean, this is not a movie. A young woman went missing, then turned up dead." The two bickered back and forth until they came to a four-way intersection seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Straight ahead, more Highway 80, to the right Hindman and eventually the college.
"Hmm, a Mennonite bakery, think they'd have pie? I haven't eaten since breakfast in Maysville." Dean changed the subject to one of his personal favorites – pie. Sam shook his head. Some things never changed.
After a pie stop where Dean bought two; an apple and a molasses, the brothers headed down into Hindman. From the highway the road narrowed and funneled them into the center of town. Blink and they would have missed it. The usual staples of a courthouse, two churches and a gas station sat within sight of the one and only red light. Mountains surrounded the small town, giving it a bowl shape.
"This must be how Cheerios feel," Dean muttered, looking through the windshield almost straight up to see the midday sky, snow falling lazily. When the light turned red Dean steered the car to the left along a narrow, twisting, two lane highway. Sheer drops to the passenger side or unrelenting rock to the left, he hugged the double yellow lines along the center.
"Son of a bitch!" Gripping the wheel in a white knuckle death grip, Dean dodged an oncoming coal truck while navigating a hairpin turn at forty miles an hour; not that fast but enough to sling Sam into the passenger side door.
"Dean! Slow down! Geez," younger brother warned, bracing his feet while he clutched at the dash. They rode in silence, Dean easing off the accelerator. They passed Knott Central High School and it's football field. The plain, brick building seemed to set down in a hole. A few miles later brought them to another turn. A small sign indicated that Alice Lloyd College lay to the left. The road seemingly narrowed even further as it hugged a swiftly moving creek. From his research Sam surmised that it must be Caney Creek which also ran through the campus. Rugged rock faces crowned by overhanging trees lined the road between houses which lay along the floodplain of the creek. After a particularly vicious downhill turn to the left with a dip for good measure they passed a small convenience store. Surprisingly, the road widened and a large, stone sign signaled they'd arrived at Alice Lloyd College, established 1923.
"'Bout damn time," Dean grumbled. A small, white church sat to the left as well as a few houses. Across from the church sat the first building on campus and it's adjoining parking lot. Cars of every description sat covered in snow and ice. A sign, leaning to the left, indicating that the narrow passage between the creek and the stone wall on the opposite side was one-way.
Sam scanned the campus eagerly, the tan stone buildings, walls and rock lined creek banks all lay between mountains. It reminded him of terraced gardens he'd seen in books as a boy. Students turned to watch the classic car as the exhaust rumbled. Girls filing out of the three story dorm to the left gawked as guys to the right played it cooler but just as interested.
"Call Bobby and see if he's around while I figure out parking." Dean let the car carry itself over the first speed bump and along the street. Sam pulled out his trusty cell and began dialing only to find he had no service whatsoever.
"Huh, no service. Wonderful," the younger Winchester frowned as he stared at the digital device now of no more use than a watch.
The Maintenance Building …
Bobby flipped the collar of his Carhart coat up to protect against the falling snow and dampness. He hefted an aluminum ladder onto his shoulder and followed another maintenance man outside into the January flurry. Salt spread hours before at 5 AM by work-study students on the Grounds Crew crunched underfoot.
"Remind me why they haven't called classes off again?" Bobby grumbled.
"Ain't no need to cancel classes when everyone walks to class," the other man shrugged.
Bobby's ears picked up the familiar sound of a certain, classic Impala.
'Bout time, them idjits showed up. Shoulda been here hours ago, he thought silently.
Bobby and the other maintenance man walked along the sidewalk running parallel to the creek that bisected campus. When the Impala stopped at the Student Center he turned to his co-worker.
"I'll be right with you. Think I'll see if Miss Edna needs anything." Everyone on campus knew and liked the elderly woman who worked part-time at the bookstore. She knew every student, faculty and staff member by name.
Bobby set the ladder down in front of the Work-Study Office and crossed the street to meet the boys. He walked into the Student Center without glancing over at them, a sign to stay silent. A moment later the boys parked roadside and followed the older Hunter inside.
"C'mon, catch up," Bobby groused to himself as he lagged on his way to the men's room at the end of the hall beyond the Student Center's foyer.
Once inside the men's room Bobby turned to them.
"Hey, Bobby. What've you got for us?" Dean began once Sam had checked the stalls and locked the door.
"EMF around here's higher than my cholesterol. Where you been anyway? I was expecting you last night."
"Have you seen the weather outside?" Dean hitched a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the snow and ice. Bobby only eyed him.
"What's the word on the missing girl, Bobby?" Sam redirected.
"She was found a couple days ago, cause of death is multiple skull fractures. Same as the girl in the 80's and the one in December." All three stood silent for a moment, lost in thought.
"Cops have any suspects?" Dean broke in.
"Not yet. They're locking down the campus at dark and telling everyone to travel in pairs. Common sense stuff." Bobby shrugged.
The three talked for a bit before Bobby left. Dean and Sam found their way to the Admissions Office. They'd missed the first day of registration, leaving them to fall in with the freshman registering. Ordinarily, students registering late had to take whatever classes were left over but thanks to Bobby's excellent hacking skills, the brothers managed to squeeze into a variety of classes. The farther they spread the more people they met and the more potential evidence to go on. He'd also graciously forged their financial aid papers.
Hustling from one end of campus to the other in the snow allowed them to get the lay of the land and observe as they went. It seemed that most of the student body either knew each other or were at least familiar with one another. Students carried on conversations all around them, catching up on gossip and what happened over the holidays.