Okay, here we go with the next episode. Please don't sue, I don't own anything. It's been a bit crazy this week so bare with me, I am working on the rest.

Enjoy.

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Chapter 26 – Dead in the Water

Sophie pushes her long hair behind her ears and her nose wrinkles up at something she's reading in the newspaper and I try and fight the smile that I can feel tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"Can I get you anything else"? the waitress asks. Hot.

"Just the check, please" Sammy says sitting back down next to Soph.

"Okay" she says, walking away and I shake my head at him.

"You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while...." I say, pointing to our hot waitress ".....That's fun". Sammy just rolls his eyes and Sophie looks up at the waitress and checks her out, shrugs and goes back to reading the paper.

Well, I thought she was hot.

"Here, take a look at this...." Sophie says pushing the paper over to me and leaning across the table "....I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton walks into the lake but doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged the water and came up empty".

Her hair falls forward and my brain stops working, she's changed her shampoo and now she smells of Oranges. My heart beat quickens, chill Dean.

"Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either, says they had a funeral two days ago" she continues, pulling me from the orangey haze.

"A funeral"? I ask

"They buried an empty coffin for uh, closure I guess" Sophie says, pushing her hair behind her ear and sits back down next to Sam. He lifts his arm and rests it along the back of the booth and Sophie leans into him and I can feel my fists balling....chill, freak.

"Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear Soph, other people just stop looking for them" Sam says snippily, glancing up at me.

"Something you want to say to me"? I ask and I can see Sophie stiffen up. I don't wanna start another fight in front of Soph, she hates it.

"The trail for dad, it's getting colder every day" he says and Soph squeezes his arm and I can feel my blood getting hotter.

"Exactly, so what are we supposed to do"? I say through gritted teeth, trying to stay calm for Soph.

"I don't know. Something, anything" he says sighing loudly.

"You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I wanna find dad as much as you do"? I say, trying to keep my voice down.

"Yeah, I know you do, it's just...." he starts

"I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find dad, but until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Okay"? I say trying to sound authoritive. Sammy rolls his eyes and a pair of long legs catch my eye.

I can hear Sammy talking but God knows what he's saying, damn, those legs!

"Hey"! Sammy yells and Sophie giggles.

"Huh"? I ask. Sammy rolls his eyes and Sophie pulls out the map and looks at it hard.

"How far"? Sammy asks, Sophie wrinkles up her nose.

"Aaaaaaaabout 600 miles" she says and takes a sip off her coke.

"We'd best hit the road then" I say. Sophie shoves the map back in her duffel bag, Sammy throws a twenty on the table and we all leave the diner and climb into the car.

The car is suddenly filled with ringing and Sophie fishes around in her jeans pocket for her cell. I look up into the rear view mirror just in time to see her look down at the caller's id. She wrinkles up her nose and hesitates to answer.

"Hi Dan" she says and instantly my heart beat quickens, my grip on the steering wheel tightens making my knuckles go white.

I look up at Sophie in the mirror again, she's got a guilty look on her face and is chewing on her bottom lip. Whoever it is on the other end is chewing her ear off, I can hear the muffled yells from the front seat!

"I know, I know...." she says "....I should've told you, I'm sorry. It's just, it was an emergency and I just, didn't think" She says apologetically.

"Ummmmmm, I'm not sure where we're headed yet"

She's a terrible liar.

"Yeah, we, umm me Dean and Sammy" she says hesitantly and I can feel my blood start to boil inside me. Whoever this guy is, he's giving her a hard time and I really just wanna grab the cell and tell the guy where to go!

"Yeah, I've known them for like, forever. Really Andy, it's fine" she says glancing up into the rear view mirror at me but then quickly looks away.

Sam looks over at me with a who's-that kinda look and I just shrug, trying to keep my eyes on the road.

"Okay, I'll call you later" she says and hangs up, throwing the cell down on the backseat.

The Impala's silent for a little while.

"So, who was that" Sam asks and I roll my eyes.

"Oh, um, that was Dan. We're kinda seeing each other I guess" she says quietly and my heart is thumping out of my chest.

"Any you didn't tell him you were going on a road trip"? Sam asks, hanging over the back seat to look at her.

"Not exactly...." she says "....I mean, you know I' a terrible liar. I figured if I just didn't say anything then I wouldn't be lying to him, so I kinda just took off and didn't tell him" she says quietly.

Sam's looking at her like she's crazy.

"Does he know, you know about why you took off" I ask hesitantly, looking up at her in the rear view mirror. She looks a little scared.

"No, I never told anyone" she says with a sigh and then her nose wrinkles and I can almost see the fire building in her eyes.

"I mean, I don't even know why I gotta tell him 'bout everythin' I do!? We're not even that serious so why the hell should I have to run this by him anyway"! she yents.

"Chill Soph...." Sam says smiling at her "....he's probably just worried 'bout you".

Gimme a break. He just wants to make sure she hasn't run off with another guy, he doesn't actually care 'bout her! If he did, he would've called before!

I take a deep breath and try and calm down.

"Yeah well, it's just stupid" she says and sinks into the backseat. Sam tries to hide his amusement.

"Anyway, tell me the story about this lake again Sammy" she says, changing the subject.