"Okay, so Aders is saying something made him do it," Sam repeated what Dean had told them over breakfast. "That it was like he was outside his body watching."
"Demonic possession?" Amanda wondered.
"Could be," Sam said with a shrug.
"What's out there that could push you out of your body?" C.J. pondered. "I mean if that's what he literally meant. It would have to be pretty strong, I would think. Maybe something like an angry spirit. What else did he say?"
"He said that it felt familiar," Dean recalled. "and whatever it was it felt angry and betrayed."
"Someone calling up demons or spirits? You'd have to be pretty pissed off to be calling up stuff like that," Amanda stated. "That's pretty damned dangerous."
"Okay...who or what is behind this? Did he mention anyone that might be angry or upset with him?" Sam wondered.
Dean shook his head. "Nah, he was pretty much 'Cuckoo's Nest' crazy by then."
"So, who do we have that could that angry with him? Did you two come across anyone who seemed out of sorts?"
C.J. stood up and crossed the room to the desk where a steno notebook sat. She flipped through it before replying, "Couple of disgruntled people that Aders had business dealings with that went south. Couple of ex employees. Though there was a woman, Carolyn Jackson, she used to work as a sitter for the Aders about seventeen years ago. She had nothing but kind words about him, but..."
"What?" Dean said.
C.J. shook her head. "I don't know, there was just something off about her. She seemed jumpy. Paranoid, even."
Dean nodded. "So, maybe you and Sammy could make a follow up visit? See if you can get something out of her."
C.J. nodded, as did Sam.
A couple of hours later, C.J. and Sam found themselves on the beat up porch of a rather dilapidated house. The house was on the outskirts of town, what the locals called the dregs of the otherwise nice town.
C.J. rapped on the screen door as Sam stood next to her. "Just hopes this doesn't come off as too suspicious," she said, casting a side glance at Sam.
Sam opened his mouth to respond, but the storm door opened to reveal a somewhat gangly teenage girl, no more than sixteen, standing there. She was dressed in baggy cargo pants and a too big t-shirt; her hair was done up in 'Heidi' braids that fell to her shoulders. The look she was giving them was less than friendly.
C.J. flashed her best smile. "Hi. I'm Beth Anderson - I was here the other day asking questions for a paper I'm doing. I'm looking for Carolyn - is she around?"
"She's out," the girl plainly announced.
Casting a look Sam's way, C.J. then turned back to the girl. "Damn. I was really hoping to talk to her," C.J. said, "I lost some of the notes I was doing on the Aders murders and needed to ask her a couple more questions."
Still standing in the door, the girl gave Sam a look as if sizing him up. "Who's he?" Nodding her head Sam's way.
"This is Danny Rodgers - he's the editor of the paper I write for," C.J. answered for Sam. "He came in to help me out."
The girl looked back to Sam, who gave her a nod and a quick grin. "You're Isabelle, right? Carolyn's daughter?" C.J. questioned.
"Yeah," she answered, still not quite sure of C.J. and Sam, glancing back over her shoulder to something in the house.
"Do you know when your mom will be back?" Sam asked.
"She didn't say," Isabelle told him.
"Well, could you tell her that I dropped by?" C.J. wondered, sounding disappointed.
Isabelle nodded. "Yeah." Promptly shutting the door in their faces.
Taking their cue, Sam and C.J. made their way down the steps and down the walk to where the Avalanche waited on the street.
"Delightful girl," C.J. sarcastically replied, resting her forearms on the bed of the truck, looking over at Sam.
"Yeah," Sam said, with equal sarcasm, glancing back to the house.
C.J. moved and was climbing up on the runner to get in the cab, when Sam wondered, "If her mom's not at hoe, then whose car is that?" His gaze directed towards and old beat up hatchback sitting in the driveway.
Standing up on the runner board, C.J. propped herself up and looked over the roof of the truck to where Sam was looking. She cocked her head to the side and replied, "Could be Isabelle's."
"Maybe," Sam said, not sounding so sure.
"You think Carolyn's in there? Having Isabelle cover for her?"
"Possibly."
Stepping down, C.J. climbed behind the wheel as Sam climbed into the passenger's seat. "We could come back tonight - see if she's here." She half stated half questioned.
"I don't know. Something's not quite right here," he told her.
"So what the plan?"
"Some research on Carolyn. Check things out." He glanced over at her and sighed.
"Whoo-hoo!" She smirked and rolled her eyes. "Research. You certainly know how to sweet-talk a gal, Mister Winchester."
"I haven't heard any complaints yet," he said as she leaned over in the seat, her hand caressing the side of his face and gently kissed him. He gladly reciprocated and they let themselves get caught up in the moment for a bit before breaking apart.
"Guess we should go before we give the neighborhood a free show," C.J. joked, starting the truck.
"Yeah," Sam agreed with a goofy grin, a bit reluctant to end a good thing, but not really wanting the world to see their business.
C.J. put the truck into gear and they made their way back to the motel.
"Okay, so the excursion was a bust," Dean stated. "This whole job has been nothing but a wild goose chase."
"Not entirely," C.J. chipped in. "Sam and I did some research when we got back..."
"I'll bet you did," Dean smirked. Amanda could barely contain the snort of laughter as he words as Sam and C.J. cast the same 'shut up' glare Dean's way.
'Wonderful. As if wasn't bad enough with just Sammy... They're perfect for each other,' Dean thought, casting a smile Amanda's way.
C.J. walked over to the desk where the computer and printer were. She pulled several pieces of paper from the tray.
"Anyway," C.J. continued. "Seems that Carolyn used to babysit for the Aders - which we already knew," C.J. began. "She was sixteen when she was hired on not long after the son, Aiden, was born. A year later she was fired for undisclosed reasons."
"Yeah, so..." Dean said, arching an eyebrow.
"So..." C.J. said, casting a disgruntled look Dean's way before continuing, "Okay, now according to some very juicy town gossip Carolyn was fired for messing around with some boy in the house when she should've been watching the baby. But I've also heard that Missus Aders caught Carolyn messing around with daddy Aders, who was thirty at the time. She was fired with some bogus excuse for the rest of the world and moved away. Sixteen years and about eight months later she comes back into town with sixteen year old Isabelle in tow."
"So you're saying the girl is Aders daughter?" Dean figured.
"Yep," C.J. nodded.
"So maybe mom's pissed about being shamed out of town all those years ago," Amanda stated.
"Maybe," Dean threw in. "What about the daughter."
"Just a normal, angsty teenage girl," Sam answered. "Not terribly friendly, but nothing out of the ordinary."
"So...now what?" Amanda said, exhaling in a bit of frustration.