Chapter 4
The police station was located near the courthouse in a two story, brick building with a large parking lot. Dean found the visitor spaces and pulled the Impala into one. He shut the car off and got out, pausing to slip on his jacket and button it as he rounded the car to meet Sam who was doing the same. They headed toward the front door and stepped into a room that had a long counter with a deputy sitting behind it on the phone. There were plastic chairs sitting across from it and bulletin boards on the walls.
Dean walked toward the deputy and stopped in front of him, waiting to be spoke to. The deputy hung up the receiver and looked at Dean and Sam for a moment, sizing them up, before speaking.
"May I help you?" the deputy asked.
"Yes, Agents Shaw and Marsh, FBI, to see who's covering the recent murders you've had," Dean replied flashing his fake id as Sam did the same. They only held them out long enough for the deputy to see the large letters FBI, before putting them away.
"I'll get someone to help you agents, take a seat." The deputy waited until they sat down before picking up his phone and making a call. He spoke softly for a few moments before hanging up and going back to his paperwork occasionally glancing at the two agents.
It was not long before the door behind the counter opened and an older, stately man stepped out dressed in a uniform with sheriff patches on it.
"Good afternoon agents, I'm Sheriff Harper. My deputy tells me you're here to investigate the recent murders we've had."
"Yes, Sheriff, I'm Agent Shaw and this is my partner Agent Marsh," Dean introduced them holding his hand out to shake the sheriff's hand.
"I think you guys made a wasted trip. We already have the killers in custody, and they confessed to the murders."
Dean looked at Sam for a moment as he decided how to play this.
"That's interesting, and did they say why they did it?"
"Well, there's where it gets a little vague and sketchy. None of the suspects elaborated on that. They just stopped talking. All they'd tell me was they killed them."
"Sheriff, would you mind if we talked to the suspects?" Sam asked as he racked his brain over what could cause that. Was it some sort of hypnosis? Or were they under a spell? Or maybe controlled by someone else?
"Since we're here, it wouldn't hurt, would it?" Dean added.
"I guess not. I'll take you to the interrogation room and have one of the deputies bring the prisoners up one at a time."
"Could we get copies of their files?" Sam asked.
"And could we see the suspects in a neutral place instead of your interrogation room?" Dean asked not wanting to be recorded talking to the suspects or spied on when they interviewed them. "Like maybe a conference room? I've found it makes the suspect more at ease and willing to talk."
"Alright, but it will take a few minutes to copy the files. Follow me and I'll set you up in our conference room." The Sheriff led them through the door behind the counter and down a side hall to a room that had a table with six chairs around it. "I'll have the files brought to you as soon as they are ready."
"Thank you, Sheriff, we appreciate your cooperation."
"Agents," Sheriff Harper replied before closing the door.
"Any clues of what this could be?" Dean mumbled to Sam as he took a seat in one of the chairs.
"It could be any number of things Dean, we need a little more information before I can narrow it down."
"So, you don't think they just went bonkers and ganked the victims? What was it? One guy killed his wife, and another killed his father."
"Yeah, and there was one more, the first one, a guy killed his brother. The locals thought it was a tragic accident until they found evidence to the contrary."
"That sounds fishy to me and to have the three killings happen so close together. I think you were right to suspect a case for us here, there's more here than the locals know about."
The brothers fell silent as each pondered what information they had as they waited for a suspect to be brought in and the file copies. They looked toward the door when it opened, and a young guy in handcuffs was brought in by a deputy.
"You can wait outside deputy, we'll be fine," Dean told the deputy when he started to stay in the room.
"I'll just be outside if you need me."
"Have a seat Mr…."
"Carter, Jason Carter," the prisoner introduced himself as he took a seat across from the brothers keeping his head down and not looking at them. "Who are you?" he asked in a dull, monotone voice.
"We're with the FBI, doing some follow up on your case."
"Why? I did it." he said. He looked down at his cuffed hands, a look of defeat on his face.
"Mr. Carter, you killed your wife, is that correct?" Sam asked pulling out the notes he had made from the articles online.
"Yes."
"So, what's the deal here?" Dean asked. "If you didn't love her, why not just leave her instead of killing her?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"Was she having an affair?" Sam asked.
"No, we met in high school and went to the same college. We loved each other until…" Jason started and let his sentence trail off as he looked away with a pained expression on his face.
"Who was she?" Dean asked. "Don't bother denying it, you were having an affair, weren't you?"
Jason let his head drop as the guilt washed over him. He drew in a couple of slow breaths before answering.
"It just happened. She was everything I could have ever dreamed of in a woman. Smart, funny, gorgeous, caring…It was like she was made just for me…"
"Where did you meet her?"
"Of all places, the grocery store. Mandy called and wanted me to pick up a few things on my way home from work. There she was standing in the produce section picking out some bananas. Her name is Holly. We started talking and before I knew it, I asked her out for a coffee and one thing led to another. I couldn't get her out of my mind. She's all I thought about…"
"Again, why didn't you leave your wife instead of killing her?" Dean asked getting a little impatient.
Before Jason could answer the door was opened and a deputy stepped in with three folders. He handed them to Sam and left. Sam found the one for Carter and opened it to scan the contents.
"Jason, why did you kill your wife?" Dean questioned.
"Holly said the only way we could be together forever is if I killed my wife. She stood between us and would keep us apart. I couldn't let that happen. After I killed my wife, we were to meet up and go away together. But she never showed, and I couldn't find her. I was going to kill myself, but the cops arrested me first."
"What did Holly look like?" Sam asked.
"She was slim, with wavey auburn hair that framed her face and huge green eyes. When she'd look at you….It was like nothing else mattered. I knew she was meant for me…" Jason buried his head in his hands as he began to softly cry.
Dean stepped to the door to have the deputy take him back to his cell and bring the next guy out. He looked to Sam who was reading the next file, deep in thought. It was like he could see the wheels turning in his brain as he gathered all the intel and worked on a solution.
The deputy escorted another male suspect into the room and left him to take a seat at the table.
"Agents Shaw and Marsh, FBI and you are…" Dean started glancing at the page Sam held up for his to see the name. "Jonah Nelson."
"Yes, why am I talking to the FBI? I confessed," Nelson stated.
"You killed your brother," Sam started as he glanced up from the papers he was reading. "The locals thought it was an accident, but then found evidence you did it. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"What happened? Did you have a fight about something?" Dean questioned watching the body language of Nelson. "What could be so bad that you wanted to kill him?" He did not wait for Nelson to respond before continuing. "Was it about a woman?"
Nelson looked away with a guilty look on his face.
"Let me guess. She was perfect, everything you could want in a woman."
"She was and I loved her." Nelson snapped. "She was all mine, but Steve had to get between us. I told him to back off, she was my girlfriend."
"So, when he didn't, you killed him?" Sam asked.
"Jennie said we couldn't be together if Steve was around. I needed to make him go away and then we could be together forever. It was the only way. Afterwards, I went looking for her, but she was gone, no one knew where she went. It was like she just disappeared."
"Where did you meet her?"
"I was jogging in the park and she was too. We stopped near each other and started talking."
"What did this Jennie look like?"
"She was gorgeous, long, straight, blonde hair, deep blue eyes and a shapely body. She liked the same things I did, and we hit it off the first time we met." Jason stopped talking as his eyes glazed over lost in his dreams.
Sam and Dean looked at each other for a moment knowing that was all they were going to get from him. Sam closed the folder and picked up the last one to skim through it. Dean got up to get the deputy to return Nelson to his cell and bring the last suspect out. He was starting to see a pattern here and wanted to see what this last suspect had to say.
The last suspect was an older man who looked haggard and worn. He dropped into the chair and his body sagged forward. He did not look up at Sam or Dean.
"You must be Mr. Joe Thomas," Dean started. "And you killed your father, whom you had been taking care of for the past what…Six years."
"Yes," he whispered in a quiet voice.
"Because you met a woman who said you could be together forever if you got rid of your Dad."
"How did you know that? I never told the cops."
"Seems like it's a recurring theme here," Dean snorted looked to Sam.
"Mr. Thomas, where did you met this woman?" Sam asked giving Dean a frown.
"I was picking up medicine for my father and ran into her in the pharmacy. She was so kind and really seemed to care about me. I saw her every chance I could when I could get away from Dad. I was consumed with her. She became my life, my reason for living…"
"And you were supposed to meet her after the dirty deed, but she never showed," Dean ended for him.
"Yes."
"What did she look like?" Sam inquired.
"She was my age, striking appearance, warm brown eyes and brilliant smile. She would light up a room when she entered. She was everything in a woman I could ever want…"
"Thank you, Mr. Thomas, I think that is all we need." Dean got up and opened the door for the deputy to escort him back to his cell. Once they were gone, Sam gathered the folders and got up to leave with Dean. They headed back toward the front but was stopped by the sheriff.
"Did the suspects tell you anything?" Sheriff Harper asked.
"Maybe, we need to check some things out first before we will know," Dean told him. "If it does pan out, we will let you know."
"You do that. I don't think any of them are getting released or the charges dropped."
"It was nice to meet you Sheriff," Sam told him, trying to end the conversation so they could leave. He shook hands with him, and the brothers headed out to the Impala.
"I say we go check into a motel and go over everything we know," Dean offered as they got in the car.
"Yeah, I wanna call Bobby and run something by him. I may know what we're dealing with but want to be sure."
"Guess we can grab dinner and not have to go back out."
Sam looked to his jacket when it chirped and dug his cell out. He pulled up his messenger app and read the text.
"Dom is here, he was going to check the deaths out himself. Says he's staying at the Motel Six if we want to meet up there."
"That's as good a place as any. It'll be good to see him and get the help. If we're dealing with three different women, maybe it's a coven of witches who cast a spell and made those men kill for them."
"I'll text him back and let him know we're on our way and have already been by the sheriff department." Sam started to type on his cell as Dean pulled from the parking lot and headed back toward the interstate to where the motel was located.
A/N: The brothers join up with Dom again for a hunt. Will he notice anything wrong with Sam? Thanks for taking this journey with me. Reviews would make my day. NC