Ch 37
The brothers arrived at the Erie morgue a few hours later, Fed suits on and started questioning the coroner on details of the case.
"So, where the liver was ripped out did you happen to notice any teeth marks?" Dean asked, glancing down at the body on the exam table.
"Can I see your badges again?" the coroner, an older man with stark white hair asked. The Winchesters flashed their fake ID's. "So Feds and morons, what a combo.
"We're smart, very smart…Top of our class at Quantico," Dean muttered.
"Did you even bother reading my report?" the coroner huffed.
"Yeah, doc it was riveting." Dean retorted.
"If so then you would have read where I clearly wrote that the liver was cut out surgically."
"Surgically?" Sam asked.
The coroner moved to the side of the body and indicated the perfect incision on the lower right flank, "Text book incision and closure. Too bad the patient was probably wide awake when it happened. Are we done here? Please go away."
The brothers nodded and retreated from the morgue. "Riv says the babies are perfect, doc was upset she lost 10 pounds. I knew she hasn't been eating right…" Dean said checking the text messages River had sent him.
"She's been stressed out Dean. She hardly sleeps anymore; maybe a few hours in the car sometimes. Her nightmares have been getting worse…"
"Yeah I know. She's just trying to keep it together," Dean muttered as they walked down the cold hallway.
"So the surgical removal punches a hole in the zombie theory, right?" Sam said moving the conversation back to the case.
"What? Yeah, I guess. So what?"
"So maybe we should look at other possibilities," Sam retorted.
"Like what?"
"Like this isn't zombie-picnic left overs this is organ theft. We should look for survivors," Sam said as they exited the building and walked towards their black car. Sam quickly scrolled through local news stories and zeroed in on their next stop. A local man reported waking up in a motel in a bathtub full of ice and missing a kidney. The only details he could recall, after delicate prodding from Good Cop Sam was that he had been jumped from behind and woke up strapped to a table. The visit to the hospital had been short and difficult as the recovering victim had been in a pretty sour mood since getting his kidney cut out.
"So I talked to Mr. Sunny dispositions doctor," Sam said as Dean sat across from him at the small table in their motel room. The older Winchester immediately begin digging into a huge, greasy cheeseburger and washing it down with sips of beer. Sam made a disgusted face and continued, "His wounds were sewn up with silk."
"Hmm, I'm guessing thats weird," Dean said around mouthfuls of food.
"Well, it didn't used to be. Back in the 19th century it was common practice but had horrible outcomes for patients. Use of silk sutures led to massive infections and crazy high mortality rates," Sam turned his laptop for Dean to scroll through the info he had pulled up. "One way to prevent the infections was the use of maggots to eat away the dead tissue; which just so happened to also be in happy-go-lucky's wound."
"Dude, I'm eating!" Dean said scrunching his nose, "Wait, why does this sound familiar? People getting ganked, antique roadshow surgeries, missing organs…"
"We heard it before. When we were kids…from dad," Sam pulled out John Winchesters journal and set it in front of his brother, "Doc Benton, real life surgeon from New Hampshire. Obsessed with finding eternal life so he started his own experiments to find the cure to death."
"Right, right, right. Guy disappears for a few decades then people start showing up dead, organs missing, skin, other parts...Jeepers Creepers type of thing," Dean said remembering the story their father had told him.
"Yeah, so what ever the doctor was doing it was working. He kept living, just replaced parts as they wore out," Sam said.
"I thought dad ganked this guy back in the late '80's. Ripped his heart out or something."
"Well, the guy must've replaced it," Sam said. They continued reading their fathers notes on the not so good doctor to try and locate possible locations for his surgical suite of terror.
"Riv's gonna be disappointed there's no zombies," Dean said as he sent her a quick text message before he and Sam turned in for the night. She replied with a quick, "Boo," and unhappy face.
The next morning the hunters gathered their weapons and reviewed a local map of fresh water access points near abandoned buildings. According to John Winchesters notes Dr. Benton used the running water to wash away the waste from his macabre surgeries. There were four possible locations that they decided to check out. Dean's phone rang just as he and Sam were gathering the land surveillance maps, "Hey, Bobby. Everything ok with River?"
"Yeah son, she's fine. I think I finally got a lead on Bela," the older hunter answered.
"I'm listening," Dean said.
"I dropped some lures a few months back and got a hit with Rufus Turner," Bobby said.
"Rufus Turner, who the hell is that?"
"He's an uh, well I wouldn't say buddy more of an associate…well anyways he mostly deals with selling now, occult items, haunted or cursed stuff," Bobby told him, "She got in contact wanting to buy some pretty specific items."
"He thinks it Bela?" Dean said, Sam glanced up watching his brother pace.
"Thinks it might be, British accent calls herself Mina Chandler," Bobby said.
"She used that alias before when River dealt with her the first time," Dean replied, "That's kind of sloppy don't you think. She reaches out to one of your old contacts."
"I doubt she knows I know him, Rufus aint exactly on my Christmas card list, he's more likely to call me if needs help burying a body then just to chit chat, " Bobby answered.
"Where's he at?" Dean asked.
"Canaan, Vermont. River's already on her way," Bobby told him.
"Alright, we'll meet her there. Thanks Bobby!" Dean told him.
"One other thing, bring a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue." Bobby said before Dean hung up.
"Alright, lets get the hell outta here," Dean grabbed his duffle bag and headed for the door.
"Dean, wait. Where are you going?" Sam called.
"You heard Bobby, we got a lead on Bela. We need to check it out," Dean replied.
"River's on her way, if it pans out to be anything she'll let you know. We're working a case here."
"What case? Doc Benton? Who cares, let someone else come deal with him."
"We're working your case, Dean," Sam asserted, "What good is finding Bela gonna do? She's not going to have the Colt, you know she sold it as soon as she stole it. This Benton guy is as close as it comes to immortal, the way I see it you only go to Hell if you die. If we can find a way to keep you from dying you can't go to Hell."
"Did you know this case wasn't about zombies? Did you lead me here to find this, no, study this freak?" Dean turned on his brother, "What if he is immortal, Sammy. At what cost? I gotta rip organs out of living people to keep myself going. Come on." Dean walked to the door, waiting for his brother to follow.
"I'm staying Dean. You go, be careful, " Sam told his older brother.
"You too," Dean left the motel and Erie, Pennsylvania in his rearview mirror.
He only stopped long enough to gas up Baby and buy a bottle of Johnny Walker per Bobby's instructions and arrived at Rufus's in the later afternoon. Rufus's house was surrounded by a chainlink fence, dotted with numerous signs indicating trespassers would not be tolerated. Dean ignored the signs as he climbed the front steps, more signs hung at the boarded up windows and on the steel reinforced security door. "Paranoid much?" he muttered to himself as he rung the doorbell.
"What do you want?" a gruff voice range out from the intercom above the doorbell. The security camera mounted above the door swiveled to view Dean.
"I'm Dean Winchester."
"So?"
"You called Bobby Singer saying you might have some info on a British chick I'm looking for."
"So?"
"Can you tell me where she is? It's important."
"No."
"'Course not. Look Rufus, man, I know my girlfriends already in there, her cars parked down the street. Unless you shot her or dumped her in your weird torture dungeon or something."
A moment later the security door was swung open, an irritable middle aged African American man stood in the doorway angrily eating a bowl of cereal, "Don't call me man, you come knocking at my door. "
"Sorry, sir," Dean shuffled his feet.
"I'm sittin' down enjoying a snack with a pleasant, polite young woman who requested I share some information I may or may not have on Bela Talbot. Says it important because the life of the father of her unborn children may depend on it," Rufus continued taking another surly bite of his cereal. Dean looked up hopefully.
Rufus continued, "Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, a few months back Bobby Singer asked me to keep my ear to the ground for any rumblings on Ms. Thorne and to let him know if I caught anything. Which I did this morning and now your scruffy ass is here so I can only assume Bobby sent you and you're also the jackass that got that woman in my dining room pregnant knowing you had a contract out on your soul. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir. How'd you know about my contract? " Dean mumbled.
"Because I know things. You can wait out here and I'm sure if you ask nicely you're girlfriend will share the knowledge I'm going to bestow upon her," Rufus said stepping back inside and closing the door.
"Well, sir. That would be a shame, I'd have to sit out here by myself with this," Dean pulled out the bottle, "Looks like a mighty fine bottle of Scotch and I sure hate drinking alone." Rufus smiled an actual real smile at the sight of the Johnny Walker Blue.
"Well, son if you had led with that we wouldn't have had to go through all that unpleasantness," Rufus stepped away from the door and ushered Dean inside. Rufus slammed the security door shut and locked the three deadbolts, Dean noticed the line of salt on the inside of the door as well as the devils trap painted on the floor. He followed Rufus down a short hallway and entered the dining room where they found River sitting at the table finishing her bowl of cereal.
"Hey, baby," She stood up and kissed Dean quickly, "Perfect timing. Rufus and I were just going to get down to the business of Bela Thorne."
The two men joined her at the table after Rufus grabbed a couple of glasses for him and Dean. He spared no time opening the bottle of Scotch and pouring them each a healthy serving. River sat silently sipping her lukewarm tea. "So how'd you sweet talk your way in without a peace offering?" Dean asked after he took his first mouthful of the alcohol.
"I introduced myself and asked nicely, Dean." She smiled sarcastically at him, "Rufus you have fantastic taste in Scotch. The swill Dean usually drinks comes out of plastic jugs."
Dean smiled and raised his glass to salute Rufus, "So Rufus, Bela was here to purchase some things from you?"
"Yeah, told her it'd take me some time to round 'em up," Rufus said glancing between River and Dean, "Can I ask you something?" Dean nodded.
"You got three weeks left, what are you doing wasting your time chasing that skinny, stuck up British bitch when you got her carrying your sons?"
"How'd the hell you know we're having boys?" River asked.
"I know things," was his cryptic reply,"Lots of things about lots of people."
"Is that so?" Dean said swirling the scotch in his glass.
"I know there ain't no peashooter gonna save your ass," Rufus continued.
"You can't be sure, you don't know that," River said.
" 'course I do. That's the life kids," he took another sip of scotch, "Even if he does mange to scrape out of this one. You both know it'll be something else down the line. Maybe take you instead," he indicated River, "or your boys or all of you. Folks like us, there ain't no happy endings. We all got it coming."
River furrowed her eyebrows and blinked several times, trying to control the influx of emotions, "I need some fresh air. Are there any boobytraps I should know about at the backdoor?" Rufus shook his head and she walked out of the dining room.
"You shouldn't have said that to her," Dean said darkly.
"Someone has to say it. I'm what you've got to look forward to if you survive," Rufus smiled slyly, "But you won't."