Person of Interest
Dean opened the door to the security office where he left Sam to look over the cameras. He had said to come by as soon as he was done at the sonority house. He had expected Sam to have found something, but so far all they had was what Gary, the night security guard, had shown them.
"We don't have proof that this snake is using the campus as its hunting grounds." Sam said as he returned to the footage of Stacy freaking out, as if something would show itself if he stared long enough at it.
"Nothing pops out of the bushes? It couldn't have stayed there after Stacy ran." Dean said and Sam glanced at him with his eyebrows knit together.
"There's nothing else on the tape, but maybe we should look at the fence." Sam said and Dean fought against rolling his eyes. Now his brother wanted to play Nancy Drew. Freaking perfect.
"I spoke to Stacy." Dean said, driving the subject around the stupid fence. "She looked right at it. But she told me that we should talk with a Rowan McKinley up at the dorms." Dean said, sharing a possible lead to what might be a dead end case without proof.
"Did she say why?" Sam asked.
"No." Dean replied and he could see the wheels turning in Sam's head.
"Okay, but we have to check the fence first." Sam said and Dean decided to give him this one. But if his little brother suggests they go checking all the bushes and fences on campus, he's on his own.
They walk out of the college, going through the same back doors Stacy had used that night. They turned to the fence and the bushes, realizing the shrubs were much bigger than what was shown on the video. A large snake could have easily turned and gone back where it had come without being spotted on camera.
They walked over to the fence, jumped over it with a small start, and once on the other side, Sam's jaw dropped, glancing at his brother who looked on in slight disbelief. There was a large hole in the fence, like something torn through it; like the metal wired fence was made out of paper. There were some chinks of the fence poking out and pointing inwards, making it difficult to tell on which side something broke out.
Sam crunched low to analyze the fence and touched the chinks that pointing out. The tips were charred, like something burnt the metal away. He glanced up at his skeptical brother and then at the street behind them, and the back lane that lead to the sonority just a couple of houses down.
"And this Rowan McKinley lives on the other side?" Sam asked, looking at the dorms on the opposite side.
"Let's see how she fits into all of this." Dean said and they hopped back over the fence and made their way over to the dorms.
As they got to the building, it was busy; students gathered just in front of the door, smoking and talking. As they walked up, the students stopped and eyed them suspiciously. Dean took out his badge and flashed it, and the crowd began walking away. Sam arched his eyebrow, knowing that wasn't drugs they were smoking, but it might have been Dean's not-taking-your-shit approach and body language that encourage them to leave. By now, he's learnt to just accept it.
They walked into the building and there was a small front desk off to the side before the stairs and the elevators. It was a young woman, brunette and glasses, but not like the one at the sonority.
"Hi?" she asked, smiling at them.
"We're agents Leary and Taggart." Sam said as they showed their badges. "We'd like to talk to Rowan McKinley." He added and the girl just frowned at them.
"Is this about that snake business?" she asked and Dean just looked at her, like he didn't have much patience and rather not waste it on her. "You know that's hocus, right?" she added and Dean exhaled, which she noticed.
"Where can we find Rowan?" Dean asked and she exhaled too, like he was being rude and she didn't approve.
"Dorm 306." She replied and watched them enter the staircase, as some students came out of the elevator, but then decided to discuss the fact that they may or may not have forgotten something upstairs. Apparently the sight of FBI agents scared everyone.
The brothers climbed three flights of stairs just to avoid students unable to make up their mind about getting off an elevator. They looked down the hallway of dorm rooms and found 306. Sam knocked and silence answered them, but then they could hear footsteps. The door opened and a pretty face looked at them sternly with her dark eyes and dark hair. She was wearing hipster jeans and a small white t-shirt that made Dean momentarily forget the brunette Head Girl at the sonority house.
"Rowan McKinley?" Sam asked and the girl looked over her shoulder. Another girl stepped into view, shoulder length golden brown hair, equally pretty with hazel eyes dressed in black yoga pants and a light purple spaghetti strap.
"Yes?" the girl asked while her roommate stepped out, ignoring Dean completely. Suddenly he remembered the Head Girl at the sonority house.
"We're agents Leary and Taggart." Sam said and the girl looked at their badges, then up at them.
"What's this about?" she asked.
"Know Stacy Jolys?" Dean asked her and she gave a slight nod.
"She was in the news. Everyone knows who she is, by now." Rowan replied. "Is this about what she saw?" she asked, glancing from one brother to the other for some clarity.
"She said we should talk to you." Dean replied and she seemed stunned.
"Why?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, but it just emphasized her assets, which distracted Dean.
"We were hoping you'd tell us." Sam said and she looked at him, letting out a small laugh.
"Codeword for you didn't ask and she didn't tell." Rowan said and rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't know anything. Maybe Stacy meant my roommate Veronica." She added and Dean frowned at her, not catching on to this game of tag. Why were college girls so complicated?
"No, I was there. She said you." He said and Rowan shrugged her shoulders.
"I don't know what to tell you." Rowan said, glancing at Sam as if asking for help with dealing with his insisting partner.
"Why do you say Stacy meant Veronica?" Sam asked and she gave a slight nod, as if in thanks.
"She made fun of Stacy. Like, no one knew it was Veronica. She was just posting papers around campus making the snake story Maple City's urban legend. It wasn't until Veronica and some guys did a sort of re-enactment that Stacy found out Veronica was behind it." Rowan said, but Dean failed to see why Stacy had mentioned Rowan in the first place if this prank was Veronica's idea.
"You sure it wasn't you?" Dean asked and Rowan looked insulted.
"No. And I don't know what Stacy's trying to say, but I had nothing to do with it. Veronica hates sonorities. If Stacy has a problem with me, it's probably because I thought of joining the sonority, but decided not to. She thinks Veronica and I hate them." Rowan replied with a bit of anger brewing in her hazel eyes.
"Why didn't you join the sonority?" Sam asked and she was clearly irritated with all the questions.
"Because I don't need a sisterhood; I'm fine on my own. One friend is all I need. I don't need a house full of hormones to get up in my business and ask to borrow my shit." She replied, the expression in her eyes telling Sam that her reasoning behind her decision was none of their business, but she just wanted them gone.
"Thank for your time." Sam said and before they could say anything else, Rowan stepped back and slammed the door as her response. Dean glanced at his brother and raised his eyebrow as if to say it wasn't so much the sonority that was full of hormones.
They passed Veronica on their way down the stairs and she stopped, which got them to do the same, out of curiosity. Why not? Maybe they'd get some more information, since they had nothing.
"Stacy Jolys sent you over here?" she asked and Sam nodded. She let out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Her phobia of snakes is what started all of this. She sees one little snake and suddenly, it becomes a blood thirsty monster ten times its normal size." She added and looked at the brothers like they were stupid to believe the little sonority drama queen.
"Any reason why Stacy would suggest we talk to Rowan?" Dean asked and she glanced at him with an eyebrow arched.
"Didn't you talk to Rowan?" she asked and before they could answer, she puffed. "Look, those girls want all pretty faces to live under that roof. The minute one says No thank you, because they're independent women, they act like someone blew fire up their skirts." Veronica added, crossing her arms over her chest. "Rowan is cool. You know what you hear in the word sonority? The word snore. It's boring and stupid. Rowan walks into a room and owns it. She's strong, confident and fearless, which makes little miss Scared-y-Cat Jolys envious. The guys like Rowan and since the sonority decided the guys were beneath them, they've all come crawling to us." Veronica concluded and headed back upstairs with a swing in her walk, like she was proud of everything she had said.
As Sam and Dean left the dorms, they weren't sure what this little trip was about. Did Rowan have useful information to this giant snake on campus or was that just girl drama?
"We should see if there are other cameras in the area. Something must have captured the snake entering Maple City, heading to the college." Sam said and Dean nodded his head.
"Something other than girls pointing the finger at another girl." Dean said, shaking his head. Right now, he needed a little evidence, not just a hole in a fence or she said and she said, to convince him.