"When did you learn to pick a lock?" Ben asked incredulously.

"I thought it might be a useful skill to have."

"The Devil would be proud of you, Sam."

Sam stopped what he was doing and turned around to glare at Ben. "That was low, Ben. I didn't deserve that."

"Sorry." Ben actually looked contrite. He raised his eyebrows when he heard the click, and Sam opened the door to Melissa's apartment. Obviously impressed, he complimented Sam with a "Niiice."

"Thanks." But before Sam could go in, Sock swaggered past him and started to enter the main room.

"Let's get this show on the - oh." He stopped when he saw Melissa's body lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

Sam turned serious. "Sock, I think you should wait outside."

"Why?"

"Does 'a bull in a china shop' mean anything to you?" Ben asked flippantly.

Sock looked like he was about to argue, but then looked back at Melissa's body. "Yeah, okay. I'll keep watch in the hall."

"Good idea," Sam agreed. "Ben and I'll do the scouting."

Sam turned to Ben and warned him. "Remember, don't touch anything. We don't want to leave any evidence we were here." Ben nodded, then entered the room.

"Anything in particular we're looking for, Sam?"

"I have no idea. Anything that will tell us what happened to her."

They walked around the room. It was a two bedroom apartment. To Sam's eye, while it was a little messy, nothing really looked out of place. But then again, Sam's mind wasn't entirely on the job.

"Hey, Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Andi was happy tonight?"

Ben didn't answer immediately. "Why are you asking, Sam?"

Trying to put a voice to his thoughts, Sam explained. "When we left, I went to kiss her goodnight and it just," he paused searching for the right words, "it just wasn't the same as earlier today."

"Well, Sam, you did kinda dump her at the restaurant tonight. You left early, and you used a pretty lame excuse to do it too. I mean, you told her you left your keys at home. Then you told her Sock left his at his mom's. How stupid is that?" Ben turned back to his searching. "She mentioned you also missed dinner last night too. She was probably upset about that."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I'm gonna have to think of something really special to make it up to her."

Ben didn't answer. Instead he indicated the second bedroom. "Look, she's got a kid. A little boy."

Sam walked over to look. "Huh." He looked around. "There's no kid here."

"Do you think maybe the soul took him?"

Sam shook his head. "She was supposed to work tonight. He's probably with a babysitter."

Suddenly Sock ran to the door. "The cops are here."

Sock, Ben, and Sam stood outside in the gathering crowd, watching the police set up their crime scene investigation. "The restaurant must have called them when she didn't show up for work." Sam reasoned. Looking around, he scanned the people who were milling about. His attention was caught by a rough looking man standing several yards off to the side.

"That's him." Sam didn't know how he knew, but he'd bet his life that was the soul he was after.

Sock looked at him. "Huh?"

"The soul," Sam pointed. "He's right there." To his surprise, the soul looked directly at him. Then he started to run. Without thinking, Sam took off right after him.

"Wait!" Ben yelled after him. "You don't have a vessel!"

Sam lost the soul after about a mile. He cursed to himself.

"Not one of your brighter moves, eh sport? Going after him without a vessel. What were you planning to use to catch him? Your amazing powers of sarcasm?"

At the sound of the mocking laugh, Sam closed his eyes and sighed. "I thought you said I could have the day off."

"You did have the day off." He pointed up to the sky. "In case you haven't noticed kiddo, it's night now."

Sam sighed again. Exasperation didn't begin to describe how he felt about the demon standing next to him.

"Sooooo….."

Sam knew what was coming and tried to head it off. "Tell me about the soul."

"C'mon, Sammy." The Devil put on his best charming smile and tilted his head in amusement. "Was it your first time?"

"We are so not having this conversation."

"I bet it was your first time."

"Knock it off." Sam gritted his teeth.

"A young man's first time, pretty special. How'd it feel?"

This was so unfair. "It was nice, alright? Now leave me alone."

"Sam," the Devil chided, "if it was just 'nice' then you weren't doing it right." He grinned. "Let me give you some tips…"

"No."

"There's this one that drives women wild. Get some - "

"Stop it."

" - whipped cream - "

"SHUT UP!" Sam always felt like he needed to walk around with a wall just so he could bang his head against it. "I am not talking about sex, sex tips, or Andi with you."

"Fine." If Sam didn't know better, he'd swear the Devil was pouting. "Work it is. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised you're already on the job. I just got the file myself."

"I saw the dead girl when we went out to dinner. She was once a waitress there. You told me to follow the dead, so I followed the dead." Odd. Sam could have sworn the Devil seemed unnerved when he mentioned seeing the ghost. But the look passed quickly, and Sam told himself he must have imagined it. "The soul showed up to watch the police find her body."

"Yeah, and this bad boy was bad." Sam wasn't fooled by the sympathetic tone in the Devil's voice. "He was killed almost two years ago in a stand off when he took his girlfriend - the girl you met - hostage. Threatened to kill her in front of them. Looks like he came back to finish the job."

"How'd he die?"

"Shot at the cops, and the cops shot back. Managed to take one of them with him."

"That's awful."

The Devil shrugged. "His name was Frank Gainer. In life he had a rap sheet a couple of miles long. Not the petty stuff either. Mainly assault, some battery. Attempted murder. Rape. Lots of domestic violence calls."

"So he didn't like women?"

"He thought they were beneath him. Pretty much put on earth to do his bidding. He didn't know Melissa was pregnant when he died."

"You know," Sam said thoughtfully, "Having a son would really stroke his ego. I bet he came back to the scene of the crime to see if he could find the baby. Maybe he thought he'd learn something from the police."

The Devil considered that. "Maybe." Then he gave a mischievous grin. "Or maybe he wanted to congratulate you on finally becoming a man."

"Shut up," Sam groaned. But the Devil was gone.

Sam shouted at the ground. "Wait! What about the vessel?" Getting no answer, he stomped the grass. "Dammit!"