Dean left Sam in town with relief. Their dad hadn't rung. He'd been in a hospital bed staring the Grim Reaper full in the face and not a word, not even a text. What was so important that he couldn't have done that? Or was it that he just wasn't so important?
'Are you that desperate for Dad's approval?' Sam hadn't been himself when he'd said those words, but Dean knew they'd come from somewhere. And may be Sam was right, but with the way Sam went on, he felt unable to say a bad word about him himself. The balance had to be maintained he guessed.
The poor weather that had dogged the morning had cleared by the time he reached the hotel. Before entering, Dean looked out on the now sparkling sea. They should get to the coast more often.
"Ah, my only guests," Tim, the manager, said expansively when he realised he didn't have fresh blood at the counter.
"Yeah," Dean replied with a small frown. "What's with that? The town's humming with activity, you should be full."
Tim tidied up the tourist leaflets along side the guest book.
"Until all this happened I had only one guest and his retinue here. They came and just took over. Were here nearly three months. I never saw the cops in my life as often as I saw them then."
Dean couldn't believe his luck. Things never went this easily.
"There were thefts, rapes, even a disappearance. Not to mention what ever Mr. Treve was actually in to. They never could find any evidence to prove anything though. I'd have done anything to get rid of them, even if he did pay well. Then, the day the black ship came, he packed up and left. Half an hour, I swear, and you wouldn't have known they were there. But it's done my business no good. It's like I'm being blamed for what they did. No one will recommend me any more."
That didn't say much for the mechanic who sent them this way.
"Tell me, did they do anything strange while they were there?" Dean asked in inspiration. "Anything that didn't make sense, I don't' mean..."
"Yeah, they did come to think of it," he replied, now scratching his thinning hair. 'The day they came, Mr. Treve sent two men down the cliff with something."
Dean turned and pointed through the glass door at the cliff directly ahead.
"Just over there?"
"That's right. Whatever they took down, it didn't come back up with them."
ooooooooooooooOOOOOOooooooooooooooo
The Impala pulled up along side Sam and he got in, carrying a sheaf of print-outs.
"What did you find?"
"Treve's a big time smuggler," Sam told his brother as he settled in. "He deals in anything, drugs, antiquities, people - you name it he'll do it. They think he uses ordinary fishing trawlers to pick up from freighters that stay out in international waters, but none of the men caught will give Treve up."
"Too scared?"
"Way too scared," Sam agreed, rubbing his eyes. Somehow he'd ended up with all the screen work on this one. "People go missing when he's around. Or found in unpleasant ways. One guy up in Jersey they found upside down in a new concrete pylon, they only knew who he was because his hands and legs were sticking out."
"What a charmer," Dean murmured as he took the road out of town.
"Where are we going?" Sam asked.
"Evie's cooking for us, remember?"
"One other thing, Treve's a Cornish name."
ooooooooooooooooOOOOOooooooooooooooo
Alone in the first field on the left was a camper van. The tent extension was up, a faded blue and yellow, but the van itself, though old, was in good condition. Evie was outside, cutting up salad stuff at a table, she'd dug a fire pit to one side where she was getting ready to barbeque what looked like a tonne of meat.
"Sweet," she said appreciatively as the car drew up. "Haven't seen one of those in while."
Dean, in the mean time, was peering around the side of her van.
"That a Harley?"
She nodded. "With a life like mine it's nice to have a mobile home, but it doesn't exactly move like the wind. I need something that'll get me from A to B in a hurry."
Suddenly there was a growl. The brothers turned in time to see a huge beast of a hound leap, snarling, at them.
"Friends!" Evie shouted.
The dog melted away into the air.
"What was that?" Dean demanded.
"That's Caleb. He's my dog."
"You have a thought form for a dog?"
She shrugged. "Doesn't make him any less effective as a guard as you can see. Plus, I don't have to feed or walk him. I don't have a brother to watch my back, remember, I need all the protection I can get."
"So you do this full time?" Sam asked.
"Yup, just like you."
"How'd you make your money?"
"She sings," Dean answered from beside her bike.
"Actually that's a side line," she said. "I'm an electrician. There's always work when I need it. And there's some family money, but that comes with strings," she said evasively. "So, what did you find out?"
Evie was silent while Dean and Sam told her. Her eyes, always so expressive, even when her face showed no emotion, were in turn deep, then pale.
"We need to get down that cliff then," Evie said.
"How's your head for heights?" Dean asked.
"I don't mind heights," she replied. "It's all that air between me and the sharp rocks below that unsettle me. Have you got climbing gear?"
"No," Sam told her.
"Me neither. We'll have to make do."
"Your turn," Sam said.
Evie started to cook the chicken and ribs.
"I haven't got all my replies yet, but it looks like my hunch is right. I think he's a distant family member, there are some of us who just can't bear to be away from the sea for long."
"Are you one of them?" Dean asked.
"I don't like being away from water, it doesn't have to be the sea. Anyway, that's why he's not doing the sensible thing and moving inland. Now, we're hoping..."
"We?"
"I do have family, Sam," she answered. "They may be across the water, but they're still there for me. They're hoping to dowse for him, that's the call I'm waiting for. Oh, and my reporter guys came up with Treve's name too. He's definitely the common denominator, he was in every town when an attack happened."
Sam spread his hands. "So we just have to find him?"
Evie handed him a plate. "And figure out how he's doing this."
Dean looked momentarily lost that somehow his brother had got a plate but he hadn't. Evie passed him a second plate with a sigh. "I only have one pair of hands, boy."
"Then there's the matter of what to do with him." Dean said, before stuffing a chicken leg in his mouth.
"You do realise he's going to have to die?" Evie said, watching Sam carefully.
Her phone rang. Flipping it open, Evie put it on speaker so she could keep cooking.
"Hello bird."
Hello love. How are you?
"I'm good. Got a couple of new friends."
- So I heard. They like their father?
Evie looked at them with a twinkle in her eye.
"Better looking. Not so grumpy either."
- Decided which one you're going to make a play for?
Sam choked on a bit of salad.
"I swear, you must be the only woman left in Britain who can't tell she's on speaker phone!"
The woman seemed undisturbed.
-Oh, are they there?
"I'm cooking them supper."
- Ah, going for both?
"You seriously need to get laid, Mum! Get yourself off to The Barn, find a nice young man and shag his brains out!" She stifled a laugh at the brothers' faces. "Have you got an answer for me?"
- Not yet. With so little to go on it could take weeks.
"We don't have weeks. We may have something more for you tomorrow, but he won't be far, and he'll be next to water. I'll speak to you soon."
-Going already?
"Well, I have guests, and you seem about ready to give them apoplexy, which I don't fancy explaining to their dad. Love you.
She put the phone back in her pocket.
"Sorry, Mum's usually a bit of a shock to people."
Dean nodded. "So, you're not gay?"