Part 7 - Complications
The ride out to the grove was made in silence. The deputy gripped the steering wheel of the truck tightly and stared at the road ahead. Jones didn't bother trying to get more information out of Dean, which suited the elder Winchester brother just fine.
Dean hated riding in cop cars - it didn't matter that this time he was in the front seat of one. Cops just made things more complicated. It was much better for Dean and Sam to do their job without involving the law whenever possible.
In this case, though, involving the law was in their best interests. Frank Lawrence's body would be found and buried properly, and he would no longer run people over with ghost cars.
Dean was all for that.
Still, there was something unusual about that ghost. Lawrence, by all appearances, hadn't even bothered to show himself before Dean's night-time walk. That fact bothered Dean more than he wanted to admit.
He knew that he and his brother attracted supernatural beings. It wasn't anything unusual as far as he knew, it was simply that the Winchester boys noticed things other people passed by. Noticing paranormal things, in turn, resulted in one being noticed by paranormal things. In the case of a ghost, however, it was very odd for isolated manifestations to occur.
Dean tapped his fingers on his knees. Maybe it was simply that he was the first person to walk the road at night following Lawrence's death. Maybe Lawrence knew he could help. In the end, he supposed it didn't really matter. Frank Lawrence had made his presence known and now it was Dean's problem to manage.
He glanced at Stuart Jones once again. The older man was another element that felt out-of-place. Dean couldn't help but feel something was not right with the deputy. Jones hadn't really wanted to drive out to investigate the wallet, or the possibility of a body in the woods. Dean was bothered by that fact. Most small-town lawmen were tripping over themselves to show everyone that they were in charge. There was bravado and threatening and marking of territory before anything was actually done.
In addition to that, with every minute that passed the older man grew more agitated and tense. The deputy was starting to push the speed limit and swerve slightly on the road. Dean was starting to have serious misgivings about being in the passenger seat. He pushed aside the notion that his brother probably felt like this every time he got into the Impala.
Jones let out a curse as he turned a corner and the sun shone into his eyes. He reached up and flipped down his visor, sending a small piece of paper falling to the floor between the seats. Dean reached over and picked it up.
It was a picture of a woman. It was a recent photo, but Dean recognised the smiling face.
Dean held it up so Jones could see it. "Pretty lady," he commented. "Wife?"
Jones snatched the picture out of Dean's hand, tucking it into his shirt pocket. "Fiancée."
"Susan Morris," Dean nodded, watching Jones' reaction.
No surprise crossed Jones' features.
"You already knew that I knew that, didn't you?" Dean asked shrewdly.
"Your brother is at her house right now," Jones replied. "He's got a picture of her from Frank's wallet."
"You don't sound happy about that," Dean commented dryly, but inwardly he cursed. This sucked. There was no reason why that would upset Jones unless the deputy had something to hide.
"You had something to do with Frank's death, didn't you?" Dean winced as soon as he said it. Damn! There were things you said out loud and there were things you kept to yourself until you were out of the moving vehicle.
Jones' face took on a hardened expression. "You should have left it well enough alone, kid. You should have dropped off the wallet and left town. Now I have to take care of a new mess."
"Killing me won't stop people from asking questions," Dean replied calmly. "My brother will make sure of that. What will you do when Susan finds out the truth?"
Jones smiled. "She already knows. She helped me hide the body."
He turned to face Dean. "As for your brother, he's on his way here right now. Pretty soon Frank'll have company in those woods."
Dean felt the anger rising in him. Who did this guy think he was? It wasn't far to the grove now. Dean had to do something quickly.
He silently cursed the fact that he didn't have his gun. He had three knives hidden on him, but he'd been worried a gun would be spotted by the sheriff and land him in jail again.
Now he wished he hadn't been concerned with keeping a low profile.
Dean glared at the deputy and was about to retort when he saw Jones' grin evaporate to be replaced by an expression of sheer horror.
Jones' slammed at the breaks and swerved the car to the right. Dean caught only a glimpse of what appeared to be a human figure standing in the road before his world literally turned upside down.
The truck left the pavement, heading straight into the ditch. Metal screeched in protest as the truck rolled. The battered vehicle finally came to a stop on its roof, the tires spinning in the air.