I Spy
The brothers walked around the campus, looking at the buildings surrounding it. Some were small businesses and others were homes. They eyed everything carefully, trying to spot a camera that could be pointed at the campus.
Sam caught sight of something in the corner of the porch on this older home deserving of a face lift. As he looked at the home, there were potted hanging plants near the front steps and one rocking chair by the door. He guessed an elderly person lived there.
"I'm going to check this one out." Sam said, pointing at the camera in the corner. "You wanna keep searching?" he asked Dean as he glanced at him.
"Sure." He said and continued. Sam wasn't stupid. He knew his brother adamantly thought this wasn't a case they needed to solve. If he had it his own way, he'd go back to the Men of Letters' bunker to deal with Crowley, to find a way to open Heaven. And then the next thing on Dean's agenda is to deal with Abaddon. What is it going to take? For the snake to come out of hiding and attack Dean?
Sam rolled his shoulders back, shaking off the frustration. He walked up the front steps and then knocked on the door. He could hear a dog bark and some shuffled footsteps. When the door opened, the dog greeted him first.
With teeth.
"Down Buddy." The old man said, looking like a retired professor, to the boxer. When he met Sam's gaze, he gave a friendly smile. The boxer backed off, but stayed by his owner. "What can I do for you?" the man asked.
Sam flipped out his fake FBI badge and pointed to the camera at the corner of the porch.
"Is that angled at the college campus? Specifically the back door?" Sam said, not even bothering to beat around the bush about it. The old man glanced at the camera and then grinned at Sam.
"No, just my porch. I had a few kids that would knock at my door and leave, or vandalize my pots." He said, looking at the handing pots of plants.
"Thank you. Sorry to bother you." Sam said and before he could turn around, the old man spoke.
"Is this about that snake thing?" he asked and Sam nodded his head.
"Have you seen it?" Sam asked. The old man shook his head, but there was something in his eyes that Sam found interesting. He knew something. "Is there something you want to tell me?" Sam asked and the man hesitated, but then nodded.
"Might as well come in." he said, turning back into his house. The boxer sat still, watching Sam as he walking inside. The dog even followed them to the living room that was nearly covered in books. Didn't the man own bookshelves? There were books on the sofa, on the tables by the chair, even on the old box of a television.
The old man grabbed something that was on one of his piles of books, giving it to Sam. It was a Polaroid photo. The guy still had a Polaroid camera? How did he live with the new technology supervising his porch?
"Buddy was barking one night at the window. I couldn't see what he was barking at, but then I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I grabbed my camera." He said and Sam was speechless as he looked down at this Polaroid of a very large snake just outside of the house, on the sidewalk, staying mostly in the shadows where the street lamps couldn't highlight its presence.
All Sam could really see was the middle of its long body, but that was enough to tell him this really was a large monster.
"Could I keep this?" Sam asked and the old man looked hesitant. "Never mind. I'll take a picture with my phone." Sam said and the man seemed content. He pulled out his phone and took as good a picture as he could to show Dean.
The man took the Polaroid and placed it back on his pile of books.
"If you don't mind me asking, are you trying to research about this snake?" Sam asked and the old man turned, looking hesitant once again.
"I'm a retired scientist. Researching habits don't die easily." He said and Sam gave a slight smile.
"Thank you, Dr." Sam said and the old man smiled.
"Dr. Manderly." He said and Sam extended his hand, taking this as a formal introduction. "Thank you Agent…" he added and Sam's smile grew.
"Agent Leary." He said and the old man shook his hand firmly.
"So this old scientist isn't off his meds?" Dr. Manderly asked with a slight grin.
"You'd be surprised at the things I've seen." Sam said, wholeheartedly honest. The old man smiled and thanked him for coming by, then gave him his contact card, saying he'd be more than welcome to share his research findings if he isn't as crazy as he thought he was.
Sam walked down the sidewalk, trying to catch up to his brother.
He eventually caught up to Dean who apparently got sidetracked with an elderly woman asking for help in getting her cat out of the tree in front of her house. Sam tried not to grin at the image of Dean getting a cat out of a tree. Last time he was in contact with a cat, he yelled like a little girl when it jumped out of a locker, affected by ghost sickness that made him paranoid and jumpy, to say the least.
"What did you find?" Dean asked and Sam showed him the picture he took of the Polaroid. "So?" he asked.
"So?" Sam said. "The guy saw this thing. It's huge and it's real." He added and Dean didn't look convinced.
"I was about to check out the convenience store just behind the campus." Dean said, disregarding the picture, which frustrated Sam. Besides that, which he tried really hard to brush off, Sam frowned, not having really seen a convenience store, but as Dean pointed out, it looked like some bungalow in a "L" shaped format with a very high ceiling. The only thing giving it away was the sign out front.
When the brothers stepped in, it was indeed a convenience store in a cottage type setting.
The young man behind the counter immediately took interest in them and waved them over. He looked like a college student that decided a higher education was too high to reach; much like the cat in that woman's tree. Although, Dean said he used a ladder to get it down.
"Hey, Feds?" he asked with a grin. As on cue, both brothers brought out their badges and the young guy smiled. "Cool. What can I do to help?" he asked and they approached the counter.
"Does the surveillance video cover the back door of the college?" Dean asked and the young guy kept smiling, like his day just got a Hell of a lot more interesting; awesome tales to tell his friends.
"Totally." He replied and waved them to the "Employees Only" door behind the counter. They followed him in and it wasn't what they expected. It was a short corridor with two doors on both sides. One was an employee lounge and the other had televisions showing different angles of the store, inside and out. "We had lots of thieves and break-ins." He added and crossed his arms over his chest, like he personally installed the cameras.
"We'd like to rewind to a specific night." Sam said and the guy grinned as he nodded. He quickly began rewinding one of the camera angles, the one pointed directly at the back door. It took some time, in which the guy thought he could talk about one of the times someone charged in wearing a mask and waving around a gun. He was so scared, he nearly pissed himself, until a customer attacked from behind, grabbing the gun. The hero looked confused and when he pulled the trigger, it sprayed water. It was hilarious.
Sam and Dean exchanged glances, both feeling that time could not go faster and that the story was not that hilarious.
"Oh, here." The guy said and pointed at the screen. "What is that?" he asked.
Sam and Dean leaned in to have a closer look. There was something moving along the fence. There was a brief moment of illumination of some kind, and then the object moved, getting into the bushes. There was a person that stepped out and a moment later, ran into the darkness. They expected to see the monster follow who they knew that to be as Stacy, but instead, it immediately began slithering up the wall, trying to stay in the shadows and out of the camera's view.
It was unbelievable. Not only was it smart, but it was very big. They weren't sure just how long this thing measured, but it could compete with an anaconda to say the least. If Dean still didn't think this was a case they needed to solve, he probably changed his mind now.
"Is it that snake thing?" the guy asked, and suddenly it was like he was the first to discover it. "Oh, man. I thought that was just an urban legend!" he said, nearly grabbing Dean's suit. He frowned and stepped back, looking at Sam as if to ask if they're done; he'd really like to get away from this guy.
"Thanks for your help." Sam said and they left before the guy could get any ideas of selling T-shirts that read I saw the Maple City Snake Monster and survived.
When they walked out of the convenience store, Dean hadn't said a word. Sam eyed him suspiciously, knowing his brother was rethinking the case. When his brother's silence continued, his curiosity couldn't take it anymore. He had to prompt his brother into talking, like it or not.
"Believe me now?" Sam asked and Dean cast him an annoyed glare.
"Don't start." He replied, the annoyed rough tone in his of voice. "We still don't know how Rowan McKinley fits into all of this." He added and Sam tried not to smirk. So not only was he convinced, put he was determined to solve the puzzle that is the girls on campus. He ought to know his brother would take special interest in that subject.
"And Stacy never told you why you should talk to Rowan." Sam said, stating rather than asking. "She obviously thought you'd discover something." He added and Dean raised his eyebrows for a brief second.
"Yeah, these girls are hot." He replied and Sam tired to ignore that typical Dean Winchester comment.
"So let's talk to the sonority." Sam said and could have sworn his brother had a little smile on his face. While, at least he was taking an interest in the case rather than wanting to go extract information from a very obdurate demon.