A/N – In honor of Pie day, here's a brand spankin' new chapter. Sorry I didn't get around to review replies. Just know I appreciate each and every one. Mad love to my team Bean girls, MissJanuary and Spn-lost-twi.
Kripke and Meyers own it; I just decided to smash them together.
Chapter song: Islands by the XX
I don't have to leave anymore. What I have is right here. Spend my nights and days before, searching the world for what's right here.
Chapter 16
"Bella!" Sam pushed the door open wider and took her in his arms. He squeezed her tight against his chest before slowly releasing her. "Did Dean call you?"
Offering him a half-smile, Bella said, "Not exactly." She eyed the detective standing next to her and then turned back to Sam. "I saw his confession tape and took the first flight out. I think Detective Sheridan might be—"
The woman standing next to Bella looked on in disbelief. They knew each other? What did Sam Winchester, a supposed fugitive, have to do with an I.A. investigation? Was this just some elaborate setup to catch Pete in action? Detective Ballard knew her partner wasn't exactly a by-the-book cop, but he was a good person. She squeezed at the chain around her neck and closed her eyes. Everything Pete had done was to put the bad guys away. At first she didn't want to be any part of this. There was no way in hell she'd help them ruin Sheridan's career.
Detective Ballard shook off her initial reaction to accuse and then handcuff. Despite the rampant thoughts in her mind, her gut told a different story, as did the sore, red matching abrasions on her wrists. This was more than an internal affairs case, and the Winchesters knew something.
She interrupted Sam and Bella's interaction with a cough. "We have a more pressing issue at hand." She shoved her jacket sleeves up and exposed her wrists, looking at Sam with a worried face. Sam ushered the women into the motel room and closed the door behind them.
Sam raised his eyebrows. "These show up after you saw it?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."
"Alright, you're going to have to tell me exactly what you saw," Sam said in a calm voice.
Detective Ballard shook her head. "I must be losing my mind. You're a fugitive. I should be arresting you."
Bella stiffened at the woman's words, but Sam smiled softly. "Well you know what? You can arrest me later, alright? After you live through this. But right now you've got to talk to me. Okay?" She nodded. "Okay, great. Now this spirit. What did it look like?"
She turned toward Bella, a hesitant look on her face. "Please don't put this in your report for I.A. I don't even know why I brought you here. I just had this feeling like you could help."
Sam gave Bella a knowing look and she returned it with a smile. Maybe she could handle the con-artist part of the job after all. Sam and Dean had made it an art and she knew she wasn't quite there yet. She'd be lying if she said the thought of being someone else for just a day didn't send a thrill through her.
Detective Ballard warily looked between Bella and Sam, unsure if she really wanted an internal affairs investigator to hear what she was about to say. "Um, she was really pale, and her throat was cut, and her eyes, they were like, this deep dark red? It appeared like she was trying to talk to me. But she couldn't. It was just ... a lot of blood. "
During the flight to Baltimore, Bella had started working on her theory. Dean had cracked the spirit's message. Whatever was causing her to remain in their world happened on Ashland Street. Bella quickly gained access to Baltimore PD's report database and started flagging anything having to do with Ashland Street. By the time she arrived, she had several crime scene and booking photos. She was just about to ask Detective Ballard if she recognized the photos when Sam spoke.
"You know what? Here. I've been researching every girl that's ever died or gone missing from Ashland Street." He raced over to the table and picked up the photos, handing them to Detective Ballard.
Bella smiled with pride. She and Sam had thought of the same thing. Maybe Jody was right. Maybe she was born for this.
Detective Ballard shuffled the photos in her hands and gave Bella a wary glance. "Does I.A. know you're sharing crime scene photos with a civilian?"
Bella swallowed thickly, wondering how much longer she'd be able to pull off the internal affairs act.
"Can you look through those?" Sam asked. "Tell me if you recognize anyone."
She flipped through the stack and paused on the third picture. "This is her. I'm sure of it."
Peering over Detective Ballard's shoulder, Bella looked at the mug shot. "Claire Becker ..." She rolled the name through her mind and something stuck. "That sounds familiar. Didn't she disappear about nine months ago?" Bella dug out her phone and started scrolling through the police log.
"I don't even know her. Why would she come after me?" Detective Ballard asked.
Sam started to explain. "Well before her death—"
"She was busted for dealing heroin, twice," Bella finished with a smirk at Sam.
Sam's eyes lit up and he let out a laugh. "Ever work narcotics?"
"Yeah …" Detective Ballard answered carefully. "Pete and I did before Homicide."
"Did you ever bust her?" Sam asked.
She furrowed her brows and frowned. "Not that I remember."
Bella looked up from her phone. "Well, it says here she was last seen entering 2911 Ashland Street. Police searched the place, didn't find anything. Guess we gotta check it out ourselves. See if we can find her body."
"What?" Detective Ballard gulped.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Sam explained. "Well, we gotta salt and burn the bones. It's the only way to put her spirit to rest."
"Of course it is," she grumbled with a nod.
Bella raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty shocked at how well you handled that."
Detective Ballard let out a huff and rolled her eyes. "You have no idea what it felt like to be touched by that spirit. I froze. I was surrounded by cold air, but that wasn't what chilled me. It was my fear. My heart felt like it would beat right out of my chest. I was paralyzed. I couldn't scream, I couldn't move, and the whole time I was drowning in desolation. So until you experience something like that, you can take your snarky comments and head back to Internal Affairs with them, because I don't need you here if you're not going to help."
Detective Ballard was a straight shooter, and Sam liked that about her. Even when he was being questioned by her in the holding cell, Sam knew she was a good person to have on their side. He also knew Bella's patience was wearing thin. Detective Ballard's snippiness was a surefire way to get her on Bella's shit-list. He was waiting for her to throw out some fiery retort of just how well she knew that feeling. Maybe a witty remark at how that Winchester snark rubs off on you. There was a long pause and when a quick comeback didn't follow, he furrowed his eyebrows. Sam glanced over at Bella and took in her appearance for the first time. The bags under her eyes were a darker shade of purple, her cheeks a little more hollow. Her clothes were wrinkled and her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in a while. Regardless of what Bella and Dean labeled themselves as, their feelings ran deep and he knew Bella wouldn't eat or sleep until she was back in his arms.
Sam was ready to intervene and stop the inevitable catfight about to ensue, but Bella surprised him. Hell's Bells—a nickname Dean had coined—was nowhere to be found. If she was already this broken from being without Dean for a few days, what will happen when he gets dragged to Hell? It only cemented the fact that they desperately needed to find Dean a way out.
Her shoulders slumped and she pressed her lips into a thin line, lowering her head. "You'd be surprised," she mumbled.
~o~
Sam and Bella led the way into a dark, creepy building. It had long been abandoned with its deteriorating facade and boarded up windows.
"So what exactly are we looking for?" Detective Ballard asked, carefully walking over fallen wooden beams.
Turning over his shoulder, the flashlight still directed forward, Sam said, "I'll let you know when we find it."
The warehouse was so large they decided to split up. Bella took the left wing while Sam and Detective Ballard took the right. A rat scurried across Detective Ballard's foot and she let out a shriek before stumbling backwards, bracing herself against a storage unit. She turned around and saw Claire standing next to her by the window with her ghastly face, slashed throat, and bruised wrists. The ghost struggled to speak but no words came out.
"SAM!"
Hearing the scream carry through the empty building, Bella raced over to the other end and found Sam holding Detective Ballard.
"Hey, hey, calm down. I'm here. What is it? What happened?"
Bella shined her flashlight on Detective Ballard's face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was twisted with panic. "Claire," Detective Ballard said slowly.
"Where?" Sam spun around, searching the room with his flashlight.
"Here, by the window ..."
Bella walked over to the window, which was slightly obstructed by the storage unit. "Help me move this, Sam."
Sam and Bella moved the unit to reveal the building across the street. Ashland Supplies.
Detective Ballard grimaced. "Our little mystery word."
"Makes sense." Sam reached into his jacket pocket for his EMF reader.
"What's that?" Detective Ballard asked.
"It's an EMF reader. Spirits and certain remains give off electromagnetic frequencies," Bella explained.
"Someone's been paying attention." Sam smiled as he waved the reader over the brick wall.
The EMF reader started to purr and he gave Bella a knowing look. "I'll grab the sledge hammers."
Once they broke through, Sam shined his flashlight in the hole. "There's definitely something here." He reached an arm through and turned to face Detective Ballard and Bella. "You know, something's bothering me."
"Well you are digging up a corpse," Detective Ballard deadpanned.
Bella let out a laugh. "Well, that's actually how we first met. But it's really par for the course."
"Not exactly true." Sam lifted his head and smiled at Bella. "We actually met you when Dean was looking into …"
"Into what?"
Sam shook his head, trying to brush off his slip. Luckily Detective Ballard saved him from his stupid mouth. Obviously she and Dean hadn't reached the honesty portion of their relationship quite yet. There were a lot of things Dean hadn't told her yet.
Detective Ballard narrowed her gaze at Bella. "You're not with Internal Affairs, are you?"
She gave her a thin smile. "No, I'm not. Sam, Dean, and I are hunters. We—"
"And as a hunter, when have you ever come up against a vengeful spirit that wants to be wasted?" Sam interrupted.
"Never," Bella said hesitantly.
Sam reached deeper into the hole and pulled out a decomposing body wrapped in plastic. He carefully placed Claire's body on the ground in front of them. "So why the hell would Claire lead us to her remains?"
He knelt down and cut the plastic away revealing Claire's body, bruised wrists and all. "Her wrists..." he looked up at Detective Ballard "...they're bruised just like yours."
The detective was silent and Bella noticed her in her line of sight. She was staring at a necklace that Claire wore. "That mean something to you?"
Detective Ballard swallowed thickly. "I've seen it before. It's rare. Custom made over on Carson Street."
Bella took a step forward and stared the woman down. She reached into the neckline of Detective Ballard's blouse and pulled out a gold chain. "And you have one exactly like it."
She gasped. "Pete gave it to me."
Everything had clicked into place after their trip to Ashland Street. Claire wasn't a vengeful spirit. She was a death omen. She was trying to warn people, not kill them. All she wanted was justice for her murder. It was why she led them to her remains. She wanted them to know who her killer was.
Bella side eyed Detective Ballard. "How much do you know about your partner?"
"You're not I.A. so why do you care?" she snapped.
"Because he's got my boyf... He's trying to pin a murder on Dean, which you and I both know he didn't do. And judging by that confession tape, he plans on doing a lot more than just that to him."
Detective Ballard sighed, relenting. "About a year ago, some heroin went missing from lockup. Obviously it was a cop. We never found out who did it. But whoever did it would need someone to fence their product."
"Someone like a heroin dealer. Someone like Claire," Sam added.
~o~
Headlights of an armored van illuminated the darkened highway. Sheridan was behind the wheel while Dean was handcuffed in back.
"So I'm being extradited to St. Louis, huh? And you just decided to transfer me yourself, eight hundred miles? At two in the morning? This can't be good."
~o~
"What do you mean he's been transferred?" Bella seethed from the front seat as Detective Ballard sped down the road.
"I don't know. Dispatch has been calling but he won't answer ..."
"If anything happens to Dean, I swear—"
"Bella, calm down. Nothing is going to happen to Dean. Detective Ballard, did you say he took a county vehicle?"
"Yeah." She gritted her teeth as she drove down the road.
"Then they must have lo-jack. We just need to have it turned on."
~o~
Sheridan pulled the van off onto the shoulder and turned the engine off.
"Pee break? So soon? You might want to get your prostate checked."
He got out and slammed the door, coming around back to get Dean. "Son of a bitch," Dean hissed. Sheridan opened the door to the back and Dean smiled. "Hey, I'm cool in the van. You go do what you gotta do."
Sherridan reached in and grabbed Dean by the collar of his jacket, hauling him out onto the ground. "You're a cocky son of a bitch. You think those people in St. Louis are gonna buy that crap you're peddling? Here's the thing. You're not gonna make it to St. Louis. You're gonna die trying to escape." He pulled out his gun and aimed it at Dean's head.
"Wait! Wait. Let's, let's talk about this. I mean, you don't want to do something that you're gonna regret later." Sheridan cocked the gun. Dean shrugged and gave him a nervous smile. "Or maybe you do."
The car wasn't even in park when Bella jumped out and had her gun aimed at Sheridan. "Detective Sheridan, put the gun down."
Sheridan gripped Dean harder. "You must be the little I.A. bitch that's been snooping around."
Dean glared at Sheridan. "What did you just call her?"
"That's right. And I know what you did. You killed Claire because she was going to talk. Let me guess, Anthony Giles laundered the money for you. You figured he must have told his wife, so you offed them both."
He smiled at her. "You're good."
"Put the gun down," Bella ordered.
"Not a chance. You might be fast, but I'm faster," he said, moving his finger to the trigger.
"Pete!" Ballard finally stumbled out of the car and raced over to her partner. "You don't have to do this. How many more people are going to die over this?"
"Diana, listen to me," he pleaded. "We have a way out. This Dean kid's a friggin' gift. We could pin the whole thing on him. Right? No trial, nothing. Just … just one more dead scumbag."
"Hey!" Dean scoffed.
"Diana, please. I still love you."
"And the girl?" Detective Ballard questioned.
Bella looked at her incredulously. She knew love could make you do some crazy things—just look at her—but letting a known murder go …
"We'll get rid of her too. No one will question it. I love you," Sheridan said.
Ballard lowered her gun and Sheridan sighed in relief, turning his back to her to face Dean. Suddenly a shot went off. Dean rolled out of the way as Sheridan fell to the ground, a bloom of blood appearing on his shirt.
"Then why don't you buy me another necklace, you ass!"
Sheridan grabbed his stomach and lunged at Sheridan, tackling Ballard to the ground. She'd lost her gun in the scuffle and Sheridan was getting the upper hand on her. Bella aimed her gun at the back of Sheridan's head. She had a clear shot but felt someone grab her shoulder. Sam and Dean were standing at least five feet from her.
"Don't," a voice whispered.
A chill set deep in her bones as goose bumps broke out all over her skin. She had felt this before, back when she encountered Holmes' spirit. She turned around and faced a beautiful blonde with startling green eyes and a smile that was oddly familiar.
"This man can't die by your hand."
Bella cocked her gun, ready to fire. "And why the hell not?"
"Because then you won't be able to save Dean ..."
The woman faded along with her words into the darkness. It was surreal and Bella wondered if the late nights had finally caught up with her. Who was that woman? Obviously no one else had seen her, but her presence was enough to keep her itchy trigger finger at bay.
Sam had helped Dean out of the handcuffs, and they rushed over to help Ballard, cuffing Sheridan and throwing him in the back of the van.
Dean slammed the door shut and faced Detective Ballard. "So, uh. What now, officer?"
The detective nodded and pursed her lips. "Well, Pete did confess to me. He screwed up both your cases royally. I'd say that there's a good chance that we could get your cases dismissed."
Sam shook the shock from his face and smiled. "You'd take care of that for us?"
Detective Ballard smiled back, looking hopeful. "That's the plan. But the St. Louis murder charges? That's another story. I can't help you. Unless … I just happened to turn my back, and you walked away. I could just tell them that the suspects escaped."
Bella, still feeling strange from her encounter, managed to be the voice of reason. "But you could lose your job."
"I don't really know what happened back there ..." Neither did Bella, if she was being honest. "What I do know is that you're the good guys. I want you out there doing what you do best. I'll take care of this mess. Pete will go along with it if he knows what's good for him. Besides, I'll sleep a lot better at night knowing you're not locked up in a cell."
Detective Ballard kept her promise. She managed to get the charges thrown out, and Pete was serving time in a maximum security prison. She even slept easy at night. Bella, on the other hand, spent several sleepless nights staring up at the ceiling wondering who the mysterious woman in white was and how she could help save Dean from Hell.
E/N – Oh, Mary, Mary, quite contrary! I've got some big things coming up in the next few chapters. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Also, I've been thinking about making a blog for the story. Anyone interested? And by interested, I mean helping me because I'd rather write than pull my hair out trying to navigate a blog. I'd be forever indebted, and you'll be an honorary member of Team Bean … and privy to some upcoming plot twists!
