Grave Love Affair

The sound of the stalled Impala purring played through the air, a sound all too familiar to Sam. He had just been inside the Wawa convenience store stocking up on some essentials, such as salt and Dean's favorite snacks, while Dean waited in the car looking through their dad's leather journal. They were in the small town of Limerick, PA working a job. In the past two weeks, two victims had been found in fresh graves, dead of course, but medical examinations on the man and woman showed that they were still very much alive and breathing when they were buried. There were also signs of a struggle in both cases.

After loading the boxes of salt into the trunk, Sam got in the car and tossed Dean the bag of snacks, shaking his head with a mocking sigh at Dean's childish cravings. "Find anything in dad's journal?" Sam asked with a bit of skepticism in his voice. "Or was I right about this not being supernatural?" So far, they had not been able to make any connection between the two victims or form an idea of what the attacker could be. Sam was adamant that they were wasting time looking into the whole thing, but Dean's instincts were telling him otherwise.

"I think so," Dean replied after swallowing a mouthful of chips. Sam was rather surprised by the fact and looked at Dean with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Dad had started an entry about this place a while back, but all he got written down was the name 'Kelly Daw.'" He sounded confident as he spoke about his meager findings, but Sam was left confused. It did not take long for Dean to catch the drift. "Come on, Sam. Pay attention. I thought it was your specialty to remember all the facts." Dean let out a single laugh, but Sam was not so thrilled with the comment.

"Just tell me already." Sam said while rolling his eyes.

"The first victim was Rodger Daw." Sam's face lit up with understanding, but confusion swept back in with only a matter of seconds.

"But what about the other victim? Wasn't her name Katherine Zales?"

"Yeah. My bet is she's somehow connected to this family or something." Dean closed the leather journal and shoved it in his inside coat pocket. "I say we go give the Daw residence a visit." A smirk appeared on his face as he pulled out of the parking spot and sped off down the street.

The Daw's lived just a few miles away, and as the two Winchester brothers arrived on their street, they parked the car and formulated a plan. Having learned that Rodger worked at an insurance agency, they decided that the best thing to do would be to say they were two of his coworkers dropping by to show their condolences. Dean particularly liked the plan for it didn't involve much effort in thought or any changes in clothing. It was simple.

But nothing was really simple for the Winchesters. As the two approached the door, they shot each other a reassured glance. Dean rang the doorbell and they waited as the sound of footsteps came closer and closer until the door was pulled open just a foot by a tall, red-haired girl, perhaps twenty or so in age. She looked taken back a bit as she eyed the two men at her doorstep, the shorter one giving her a large smile.

"My name is... Todd and this is my friend, John." Dean said, still smiling. Sam forced a smile of his own, but the girl still seemed unsure. "Uhh, is your mother home?"

The girl stepped back into the house and hollered for her mom, waiting until she appeared before leaving. Holly, a middle-aged woman with blonde hair and overall "normal" features, opened the door all the way and greeted Sam and Dean with a pleasant expression. "Hello, can I help you?"

"Yes, are you Holly Daw, Rodger's wife?" Sam asked.

"Yes. Yes I am." Holly's warm mannerism faded away at the name of her deceased husband. The change in her mood almost seemed to emphasize the wrinkles that were starting to form on her face, making her appear older and worn out. "Is there something I can do for you two?"

"We worked with your husband at the insurance agency. We just wanted to stop by and say we're sorry for your loss. Could we come in, if it's not too much trouble?" Dean answered smoothly but with an underlying tone of empathy. Both of them had grown to become pretty good actors. They could sell almost any part they needed.

"I don't recall my dad working with anyone named Todd or John." The red-haired girl had returned, and she was more skeptical than ever. Sam did his best to hide his panic while Dean remained perfectly calm and collected.

"Kelly," Holly said disappointedly. "Don't be so rude." Dean's face tensed as he heard the girl's name. This Kelly had to have been the Kelly Daw from their dad's journal. Sam was just as alerted as Dean was, and confused. Why was this girl's name written in the journal? What was her connection to their father? Could it be a lead on their current case? Despite all of the questions and concerns running through their heads, they had to remain on task.

"We just started working there recently and we didn't get to know him that well up until a few weeks ago." Dean said reassuringly. Kelly took a step back and went into another room. Relief rushed through them both.

"Don't worry; you don't have to explain yourselves. She's been a bit... on edge recently. Please, come inside." Her warm demeanor returned, and she led them into the living room where they all took a seat. The inside of the house was just as "normal" looking as Holly. Everything was neat and in order, pictures hung on the wall, and there was even a dog who behaved perfectly well. Nothing about the whole thing raised red flags, but that did not shake Dean's certainty that there were answers to be uncovered here. With Kelly's name being in the journal, probably nothing could shake it.

The questioning went rather well, without any bumps that is, but not too much was ascertained. Holly said that Rodger was not acting peculiar or out of the norm in the weeks before he was murdered and that no one she could think of would have had enough of a grudge against him to take his life, not even those who have already passed on; she found that particular question a bit odd and seemed hesitant to respond at first but answered despite the fact. That ruled out spirits. This left them both stumped. Neither was sure what else would do such a thing.

Sam thanked Holly for her time as she led him and Dean to the front door. She assured them that it was no bother and that she was thankful for their condolences. As the door shut behind them, Sam shook his head and turned to his brother. "Dean, really I don't think this is our sort of thing."

"Sam, dad's journal-"

"I know what his journal says. I'm just saying that maybe it's just a coincidence. You heard what she said." Sam stared at Dean, trying his best to get him to agree, but he would not budge. "I know you know it's not a spirit, what else could it be?"

"I don't know, Sam, a demon? And we don't know for sure yet that it's not a spirit. I say we go to the place where Rodger was first buried and check for EMF." Sam let out a long sigh and shook his head again.

"Fine, but don't be surprised when we don't find anything." Just as Sam was about to open the passenger-side car door, Kelly called for them from the yard. She looked back to make sure her mom was not watching before joining them beside the car.

"My mom wasn't being completely honest with you back there." Dean raised his eyebrows and shot a glance at Sam and then back at Kelly.

"I thought you didn't believe us or want us around." Sam interjected. "What changed your mind?"

Kelly turned away for a second, her eyes shifting as she contemplated something in her mind. "Well I still don't believe that you worked with my dad, in fact, I know for sure you don't, but... like I said- she wasn't being completely honest."

"How so?" Dean asked curiously.

"My dad wasn't really himself the few days before he was killed." Dean's eyes grew wider, knowing that this was a possible lead, while Sam's face was stern as he waited for her to continue. "He didn't leave the house much except to go to work, and he always seemed... I don't know, anxious, when he got home. It was like he was worried for some reason. I heard him talking to my mom one night, actually the night before he was murdered, saying something about someone being after him, but she told him that he was just stressed out and over thinking things."

She fell silent for a second as she went inside her head. "I'm not sure why you care about this, but I thought you should at least know the truth."

"And we appreciate your cooperation, Kelly." Dean said with a smile. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a receipt and a pen from the clutter of lint and change and wrote down his cell number. "Let us know if anything else comes to your mind." He said as he handed the paper to her. She stuffed it in her pocket and eyed the two of them for a minute before walking back to her house, going in through a side door.

Sam turned to face Dean who was already staring at him with a smug look. "Okay, so maybe you're right about this, but we still aren't a hundred percent sure yet."

"Then let's go visit some graves."