They went to the next location which was about half a mile away from Alice's disappearance. It was in an outside hand-car wash in a petrol station. Again, there were flowers and letters resting on the outside of the petrol shop. Walking over to the place where Ross Fletcher had disappeared, they found another man washing his car, water spilling off the car and joining in with the stream the rain had made and making their way to the drain, spilling down it like faded dreams into the gutter. The man looked at them in confusion as they studied him washing his silver Ford.
"Sorry pal." Dean apologized before they went to the petrol shop.
"Nothing seemed off here too." Sam answered. "It's just a normal place."
"Yeah, well I bet a thousand bucks it's not."
They walked into the petrol shop and went over to the man at the counter.
"FBI." Dean said, holding up his badge, followed by Sam and Emma.
"You here about that guy? That guy who went off vanishing?"
"Yes." Sam answered.
"Well I'll tell you what I told the cops a few days back. I was working here when he came, he was just washing his car like any other guy- well, who washes their car in the middle of the night- but then I heard a clash and the bucket and sponge was on the floor, he was gone and I have no idea where."
"And you're sure you didn't see anyone else here?"
"No, just him."
"Okay, thank you for your time." Sam smiled before they left the shop.
"Talk about difficult." Dean sighed.
"We still have one more place to go." Emma said, still hopeful of this last location having the answers to all of their questions.
"And that place better be fricken helpful." Dean warned before they got into the impala.
X
The last location was about a mile south from the previous, at the grocery store where Jake Goldberg was last seen. Like the others, there was a small shrine lying at the foot of the small shop. They entered the grocery store and went to the woman at the till. Holding up their badges, the woman soon realised what the boys had arrived for.
"I was working here when he disappeared." She answered. "He only came in here for a carton of milk, about a minute after he left, I heard a yell. Almost ran out of the shop but there was nothing there but the carton of milk on the floor."
"It was the shadow lady." A high-pitched voice said behind them. They all turned around to see a little girl in a green dress with pigtails.
"Sophia, what did I tell you last time?" the woman, who Emma suspected as the little girl's mother, snapped. "Don't tell lies to the police."
"But it wasn't a lie!" she said angrily.
Sam laughed slightly before kneeling down and smiling at the little girl. "What shadow lady?"
"She was outside, I saw her when I was playing with my dolls, she went behind that tall man and then turned into a shadow and grabbed him. It was scary."
"What did this lady look like?"
"She was really pretty and she looked like a princess. You look like Ariel!" she said in excitement to Emma, who burst into laughter. "And you look like Prince Charming." She said to Dean who gave a smug look in retort to the compliment.
"Thank you." Sam said before standing up and turning to his two colleagues and giving them a confused yet interested expression.
"So, this monster is a woman who can turn into a shadow?" Dean asked after leaving the shop.
"It makes sense, the CCTV showed a shadow grabbing Alice."
"Yeah but how would they get away, she grabbed them but then she disappeared?"
Emma stood on something that made her stop in her tracks. "Guys." She called to the two brothers, who were still walking.
"I don't know, maybe she-"
"Guys." She called louder, this time the brothers stopped and around before walking back to Emma.
"What?" Dean asked.
Emma answered by looking down at the thing she was standing by. A storm drain. Sam's face lit up in realisation but Dean's face was still crinkled in confusion.
"What?" he repeated.
"The drains," Sam answered, "amazing Emma!"
"There were drains by all of the places they went missing." The redhead acknowledged.
"What? We're chasing fricken Pennywise now?"
"Who?"
"I mean- cliché or not- it's a logical answer." Sam grinned.
"I think we've got our monster's getaway." Dean grinned before punching Emma on the shoulder joyfully.
"So, what do we do, explore the sewage system?" Emma asked, face creasing in disgust at the thought of that.
"No, not yet," Dean answered.
"So, we will eventually?"
"Yeah if we want to kill this bitch,"
"Great." Emma sighed in a sarcastic tone, knowing that sooner or later she would have to go exploring sewers.
"Aw, don't worry, sweetheart." Dean chuckled. "Why don't you stay on your happy greener side of the field."
Emma sighed tiredly. "So, what do we do?"
Sam answered by going to get his cell and dialling the man's number. "Hey Bobby." He answered a few seconds later.
"Hey Sam, how are the three of you these days? Emma still alive?" The old man replied through the receiver.
"Yeah she's fine." Sam said with a chuckle. "We're gonna need you to research something for us."
"No surprise there."
"We need to find out what type of monster lives in places like sewers and can turn into shadows."
"I don't think I've ever heard that combination before…but I'll give it a go."
"Thanks Bobby." Sam said before hanging up the phone before the man could say goodbye.
"What do we do, wait for him to ring back?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, but in the meantime, we eat. I'm fricken starving." The older brother announced.
X
They were at a pizza gourmet in town a matter of minutes later, hungry stomachs bellowing them to the closest food source possible.
"Just wait until you try Chicago pizza Emma, best frigging thing ever!" Dean said in excitement.
"Sounds fattening to me," Emma laughed.
"I don't care, it's heaven. Pizza and pie, it's worth dying for."
Sam laughed at his brother's food obsession before his smile turned stiff. Eliza had just walked into the restaurant.
"Woah Sammy, it's your girlfriend." Dean cooed jokily, Emma turned around to see Eliza with the same flirtatious look on her face.
"Dean shut up." Sam said nervously.
Eliza soon saw all of the eyes on her and walked over to the three agents.
"Fancy seeing you here." She said smoothly, eyes on Sam once more. "It's fate."
Sam laughed anxiously before Dean jabbed him in the side, making him yell and stand up to avoid his brother's cruel elbow.
"Can- Can I talk to you?" he asked Eliza.
"Yeah sure." She grinned.
He took her to the other side of the restaurant before asking "would- would you like to have a drink with me, soon? You- you know- cos I'm not going to be here for that long."
"And I thought you'd never ask." She grinned dangerously. "I would love to."
"Great!" Sam beamed.
"Meet me here, at midnight. But don't tell the other guy, I think he's jealous."
"I guess that I'll see you tonight." he said before being surprised with kiss on the lips.
"What did she say?" Emma asked excitedly once he returned to his seat.
"She has a boyfriend." He said in fake disappointment, knowing that Dean would only be envious if he found out about the chance of his brother having sex that night.
X
Sam left the motel at quarter to midnight that night, exhausted from that day's work, Emma and Dean went to sleep about an hour ago. He took the Impala and made his way to the pizza parlour where he and Eliza had decided to meet. He was excited to meet her, she seemed dark, sexy, secretive, hiding endless possibilities that could come out of tonight's encounter.
Parking the Impala, he stood outside the place where they both were a matter of hours ago. It had just turned midnight and it was freezing outside, the cold March air being cruel to his skin. looking around to see if she was in sight, it was clear that there was nobody there.
Suddenly, someone wrapped their hands around his waist and pulled him tightly, he used his legs to kick at the attacker, but there was nothing to make contact with. He then felt something bite the nape of his neck before his vision went black and he fell into a deep, thick unconsciousness. That wasn't a possibility that had excitedly rushed through his mind…
