Chapter 4
Twenty minutes later, the Impala pulled up outside the town morgue; a small, dark and gloomy building that was added on to the Eureka equivalent of a hospital; a walk-in clinic. Not that the rest of the town would ever win a "Prettiest Picture" competition, but it was quaint to say the least.
It turns out that Dean hadn't been far off in his estimation of the town. Apart from the 7-Eleven, the clinic and the morgue, the town had three general shops, a restaurant/bar, a pharmacy, launderette, a library, a few other specialised shops and a police station that looked about the size of a bungalow. Vegas, it wasn't. Still what the town lacked in concrete, it more than made up for it in shrubbery. Wherever there was a patch of grass, it was completely covered with flowers of all types and sizes, though that wasn't the worst of it. Any grassy area large enough was home to an array of topiary beasts, ranging from normal rabbits and birds, to the not-so-normal tarantulas.
"Jeez, welcome to Stepford." Dean muttered in disgust. "I think old Ed got a little trigger happy with his scissors, don't you think?" He asked, nudging Sam and nodding over at the topiary animals.
"Those things should come with a government health warning." Sam replied, wrinkling his nose disapprovingly.
Dean laughed, turning off the ignition and putting the keys in his pocket. "Definitely. I think if those things suddenly started walking around one day, I'd be a hell of a lot more afraid of them than I am demons! They're just too creepy for words." He shuddered, throwing the topiary beasts one last evil look before getting out of the car.
"People think ghosts and urban legends are the stuff of nightmares. They obviously haven't seen these things." Sam inclined his head in the direction of the beasts as he got out of the car, giving them an evil look not entirely dissimilar from the one Dean had thrown them.
"You know I still think this is going to turn out to be some guy getting kicks out of chopping people's heads off." Dean said, winking at Sam.
"How about we bet on it then?"
"Bet?"
"Yes Dean, bet. Put your not very well earned money where your mouth is for a change. Hundred bucks says I'm right." Sam grinned, knowing his brother wouldn't dare turn him down.
"Alright Sammy, you're on. Although don't start crying like a baby when I say 'I told you so.'"
Sam followed Dean up the uneven path to the morgue that, if possible, looked even worse than it had done previously. Well we know where all their money goes, Sam thought, grinning at the thought of those hideous topiary animals. "So, who are we now?" He asked Dean, pulling out his fake identification and glancing over it.
"Well I don't know, Sammy. How about you decide for a change?" Dean grinned at his brother, taking his own identification out too. "Although you can't be the typical college geek and use boring names, they have to have some meaning or are a reference to something, okay?"
Sam scowled at the 'college geek' reference, but decided to let it pass for the time being as they walked into the morgue.
The cold air and smell of disinfectant hit them straight away. Better that than the smell of dead bodies, Dean thought, screwing up his nose and trying to prepare himself for the overwhelming stench of death. Mutilation he could take and demons were a walk in the park, but when it came to the smell of dead bodies, he couldn't quite hack it. Sam had the same problem, yet neither of them was quite ready to admit it.
They walked down a long cream coloured corridor, heels scuffing the immaculately polished linoleum. Pushing open the two dark grey swinging doors at the end of the corridor, they came face to face with a short, bald man who was wearing thick black glasses.
"Can I help you?" He asked with an unusually high voice, sounding a lot like Jack Nicholson coming down off helium.
Dean suppressed a giggle, shoving his hand into his mouth to stop any hysterical laughter escaping whilst trying to pull himself together.
"Err… Hi, my name's Agent Venkman and this is Agent Stantz." Sam replied, nodding in Dean's direction and flashing his badge, also trying to suppress a smile. "We're from the FBI, Sir. We'd like to see the latest decapitation victim."
The coroner eyed them suspiciously for a second, before nodding and walking over to one of the drawers over the other side of the room. "I'm Doctor Albert Hargreaves, the senior coroner. Which is just a posh way of saying the only coroner." He rolled his eyes, and Dean had a strange feeling that he'd like the coroner if it wasn't for the fact that he couldn't look him in the eye without wanting to burst out laughing.
"There's not really much I can tell you, or in fact show you, that wasn't already written in the papers. But…" He opened the drawer and rolled the tray out, beginning to unzip the body bag. "You're welcome to see for yourselves." He finished unzipping the bag, and both brothers gasped as it's occupant was revealed.
"Umm.. the head… it's still…" Dean stammered, looking slightly confused and disgusted.
"It's still disconnected?" Albert replied, smiling the smile of one who'd seen something like this many times before.
"Disconnected….yeah, that's the one." Dean gulped, stepping a little closer and eyeing the head suspiciously.
"The head can't be reattached until the you've finished your investigation, so until then I'm afraid Miss Pearson will be one body part short." Albert answered regrettably, smoothing the girl's hair down which Sam found completely unnerving.
Sam moved towards the drawer, trying to get a good look at the neck wound without getting too close. "What can you tell us about the weapon used?"
"Weapon?" Albert asked incredulously. "Son-" Earning himself an evil look from Sam. "-there was no weapon. At least none I've ever seen before. Something cut her head off alright, but it's with no weapon that leaves a recognisable mark. So far as I can tell, no-one has ever seen a weapon that could do something like this and not leave a mark. Quite a mystery you have on your hands, boys."
For once, the 'boys' remark went straight over the top of their heads as they exchanged confused glances. "Are you sure nothing could have done this?" Sam asked, frowning.
"I'm positive. I've even consulted with big city coroners. They concur that they've never seen anything like it." Albert sounded amazed, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Sir, is there anything else you can tell us about the state of the body? Anything out of the ordinary?" Sam inquired , folding his arms over his chest and looking searchingly at Albert.
Albert paused for a second, and then nodded. "Yes there's one last thing, though I'm surprised you folks don't know about it. It might not have been in the papers, but that's only because you lot made sure it didn't get released." He pulled the drawer out a little further and pulled the bag down so the girl's torso could be seen. "Rightly so too." Albert added, as he put his hand in the small of the girl's back so they had good view of her shoulders. Right in between her shoulder blades, the number 11 had been carved into her skin.
The Winchesters stood amazed for a second, shocked at the sight in front of them. The number was carved there, as clear as day yet neither of them could completely believe in what they were seeing.
"What…what was used?" Dean asked quietly, managing to recover himself first.
"Again, I'm not quite sure." Albert replied solemnly, shaking his head in exasperation. "It looks like it was made by a pen knife, but I can't be certain. Whatever it was didn't cut very deep though…" He trailed off, staring into space for a few seconds before pulling himself together and beginning to zip up the bag. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."
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A few minutes later, Sam and Dean emerged from the morgue to bright sunlight and both breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, that was.. weird." Sam stated, looking over at Dean as they made their way back to the car. "What kind of being or demon-"
"Or human." Dean interrupted, at which Sam rolled his eyes at before carrying on.
"Or human, could decapitate someone without even leaving a mark and then start a body count?"
Dean looked at his younger brother and shrugged. "I don't have a clue. But I bet I know a place that does."
"The library. Man, I never thought I'd hear you actually want to go to a library before." Sam grinned teasingly at Dean.
"It's all to satisfy your curiosity little bro. I'm just tagging along for the ride, as I still think it's a human killer." Dean replied, rolling his eyes.
"Sure…you do realise you're going to be a hundred bucks down by the end of today?" Sam retorted, grinning and speeding up a little as they got to the car.
"Whatever, dude." Dean said, shaking his head. He paused and dropped behind as they walked to the car. "The library!" He muttered, smacking his hand against his head. "God help me, I'm turning into a geek."