Somers Point, New Jersey
Dean sat in the driver's seat of the Impala watching the girls saunter by. He was so tired he wasn't even interested in the looks he drew. The two hunters had left Massachusetts around four o'clock in the morning and Dean had once again driven the six hours back to Somers Point. The brothers had called ahead and set up to meet Paul.
Sam and Dean had entered the shop and found nothing more sinister than a mouse that Dean had scared out from under a table. Just as the boys had been about to take there leave though something unusual had happened. Paul had asked Sam what he owed the Winchesters. Sam's jaw had actually dropped; Dean had simply grinned and took his leave. He left it up to Sam to determine a fair amount. Besides, Dean was so tired he probably would have turned down the payment.
Dean allowed his gaze to wander again, as before he watched the ladies strolling along the street looking into the local shops. Dean's eyes suddenly focused on one such woman, it was Jill. Dean was sure of it. However, he was scared by her appearance. She wore a pair of jeans and a tee shirt. Her face was bleeding and bruised, her hair hung in a ragged braid and he could see she was covered in dirt. Dean was out of the car so fast he almost lost the door to a passing car.
He was down the street in moments, only to see Jill moving ahead of him. Dean whipped out his cell and called Sam. Within moments he had given Sam the details telling him to meet him at the Owl Motel.
Dean followed the injured girl calling out periodically for her to stop, every time he did though she simply gestured at him to follow her. The only thought Dean could manage was that maybe something had happened at the Motel and she needed help.
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Sam hung up the phone and stared for a moment at the check he held in his hand. He began moving in a moment. "Paul, I have to go. I'm glad everything worked out." Sam started for the door, practically running.
As Sam left the shop he heard Paul call out thanks. Sam simply lifted one hand in salute and headed for the Impala. He didn't understand what was going on; Dean had called and explained that Jill was injured. For the life of him though Sam couldn't remember any one named Jill. He briefly wondered if Dean meant Julie the manager at the hotel they had stayed at.
Sam put the car in gear and pulled out. The other thing that kept nagging at him was the amount of static that had been on the line. Sam felt a shiver of fear run up his spine; he quickly made his way to the Motel.
As he approached he found Dean staring at the front of the office. Sam could have sworn as he parked the car and then approached Dean that he was talking to someone. As Sam got closer he could hear Dean's voice, soothing in its tone.
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Dean didn't need Sam's shocked look to realize what was happening. Dean had realized what was wrong as he had approached the Motel. Dean now stood talking to the young girl. "Please Jill you need to tell me who did this to you. I can help you, but first you have to tell me."
The young girl backed away from Dean once again, shaking her head in agitation. Dean looked over his shoulder as he felt Sam approach; he could only hope that Sam's soft touch would help work to get the information Dean needed.
As Sam came abreast of Dean, and Dean looked towards the girl once more, he realized that she was gone. "Shit. Sam did you see her?" At Sam's nod he felt someone staring at him. He quickly allowed his eyes to scan the complex. There his eyes alit on the man he had seen before. "Sam, go in and talk whoever's at the desk, I'm going to go over and talk to the Marlboro man."
Sam simply nodded and headed for the office. Sam took one last look at Dean before he entered the office and sent a prayer heavenward that Dean didn't kill the old man.
As Sam opened the door he noticed that a middle aged man with close cropped hair and a mustache was behind the desk. Sam quickly pulled out his wallet and moved towards the desk. Putting on his least threatening smile Sam asked for a room.
Sam began a conversation with the man, whose nametag read Scott Eaton, owner. "Hey, you know I was here a couple of days ago and the prettiest girl was working the desk." Sam shot the man another easygoing smile. "Is she back on duty?"
Scott glanced up from the credit card machine he was working and replied "You must be thinking of Julie, she was my night manager up until yesterday. Just up and took off, she left a note saying she was going home to her family. Real shame the girl was a good worker."
Sam nodded, "It must be tough keeping good help." Sam glanced out the window hoping he wouldn't spot Dean beating the shit out of the Marlboro man.
"Yup, it's rough alright, though I'm lucky things kind of start slowing down around here from now on out. I'll have to replace her soon though or risk my wife's wrath. She doesn't like the hours I keep." Scott asked for Sam's signature and then handed over the keys to the same room the Winchester had before.
Sam nodded and gave the man a tight lipped smile. As he left the office he could feel the manager's eyes on his back. Sam moved out into the parking lot towards the old man's room. As he neared he saw that the door was partially open. He carefully pulled out his gun and entered cautiously.
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As Sam had entered the office, Dean had walked directly towards the older man, watching as the man continued smoking his cigarette. Dean had moved as if his intention was to pass by the man. Instead at the last second Dean had shoved the man back into his bedroom. Dean had followed shutting the door all but a bit.
Dean's shove had caused the Marlboro man to tumble to the floor. Dean was quickly on top of him gun pointed at his temple. "What's going on here? What happened to Jill? I know you know something."
The man had gone completely still at Dean's words "Jill, you saw Jilly?" The man watched Dean's tight nod. At Dean's confirmation the old man's face crumbled into tears. "Ah, no, not that sweet girl."
Dean looked into the man's eyes and saw nothing but sincere grief. He silently held out a hand to the man and pulled him to his feet. Dean saw him settled on the bed and then sat across from him.
"You need to tell me what's going on." Dean said simply staring at the man across from him.
The man shook his head once and took a deep breath "Are you a cop, you and your buddy?"
Dean looked at the man and tried to gauge which answer would be the right one. Finally, Dean simply said, "I can help." Dean looked up as the door opened and Sam walked in from the waning sunshine. Dean simply nodded at him and returned his stare to the Marlboro man.
The man wiped the tears from his eyes and began, "My name's Joe Post. I've been staying here at the Owl for close to four years, off and on. I'm a trucker by trade, however lately I haven't been doing as much traveling." Joe paused and again wiped a hand across his eyes. "The first year I stopped in I met the night manager, a sweet young girl. Probably no more than nineteen years old. Her name was Susan."
Sam stood and walked towards the sink, filled a glass with water and handed it to Joe. Joe nodded his thanks to the younger man.
"Anyway, I stayed at this hotel probably four times that first year. Each time, it was Susan that checked me in and out again. That year in the last few days of July I came again, only to find that Susan had gone. To be replaced by another young girl, this one's name was Sara. She was a pretty young girl not all that much different looking than Susan. Sara told me that she had replaced the last manager, because the girl had just taken off. No warning, nothing." Here Joe paused again and took another sip of water.
"The following year it was Sara that was gone by the end of July. And her replacement was Jill. At this point in my career I was coming more frequently. I just couldn't handle the longer hauls and was making more of a point to slow down. Jill and I became friends of sorts; we spent a lot of evenings together just shooting the shit, down in that office of hers." Joe watched as Dean nodded his understanding.
"Jill confessed to me that she had run away from home, back in Ohio. She told me why she had run away, and I'll tell you there was nothing on God's green earth that would have convinced that young girl to go home. Next thing I know it's the end of July and Jilly's gone. Well, this time I just couldn't turn a blind eye or make excuses. I reported her missing to the police." Joe stood and walked into the bathroom, taking a fist full of tissues from the box and blowing his nose.
As he sat he seemed to age ten more years. He sighed and continued "I went to the police and they blew me off. I tried again and again, unfortunately they refused to listen to me. The owner of this place, Eaton came forward with a letter signed by Jilly. It simply said that she was going home. I don't think the police ever even checked any farther. See the Eaton name carries a lot of weight around here and the truth is kids take off from here everyday. If they treated each missing persons as a murder case, they'd have more murders than New York. Kids around here just come and go." Joe shrugged sadly.
"Julie's gone, Dean. Eaton says she took off yesterday." Sam moved towards the window and glanced out over the parking lot, noting how dark it had gotten.
Dean looked at Sam "But Sam, I met Jill not Julie." Dean's face was a study in confusion.
Sam turned from the window "I know, for whatever reason I think Jill's sprit was latching onto you. Remember I told you that Julie was the name of the night manager and you kept insisting it was Jill."
"Well, yeah Sam that's because I had an couple hour long conversation with a girl named Jill." Dean said raking his hands through his hair in agitation.
Joe looked from one brother to the next, he took a deep breath and said "Jilly's ghost haunts the hotel. I've never been able to talk to her but I swear to you that she's here in spirit." Joe seemed relieved and slightly scared at the boy's calm acceptance of a young girl's spirit.
Dean stood and moved across the room "Okay, then we know it's got to be the owner that's killing off these girls right. I mean he's the one covering for their absence. He's the one that keeps hiring the similar girl's. So I say we go after the bastard and make him talk."
Sam quickly moved to intercept Dean as he headed for the door. "Dean wait, we can't just barge in an torture the man into talking. We have absolutely no evidence. We need to learn more and besides we're not even sure if Julie's dead. It could be that she's being held somewhere. We go directly after Eaton and we may never find her."
Dean gave Sam a tight nod and said "Fine, Eaton shuts down the office after eleven o'clock. We'll wait and see if once he's gone if I can get Jill to come back. She's got to know something, right?"
Sam nodded and looked out the window again; he could see Eaton moving around the office. Sam saw Dean lie down on one of the beds, his breathing quickly evened out. Sam let out a slight smile. It had always amazed Sam the way Dean could shut down when necessary. Sam knew that in exactly three hours, without any prodding Dean would wake up ready to go. Sam pulled up one of the chairs and sent a grim smile towards Joe, waiting was the hardest part.
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Dean had to wait until eleven thirty before Eaton closed up shop and left. He left Sam and Joe in the room and headed across the parking lot towards the office. He quickly picked the lock and entered the room. He didn't bother with a light; the moon was full tonight and was lighting up the night.
"Hello, Dean." Dean turned and saw her standing there in a shaft of moonlight. He noted that the blood and bruising was gone. She appeared as she had the other night.
"Hi Jill" Dean moved over to the counter and pushed himself up to sit on it. As he did she also sat next to him. He needed to talk to her but he wasn't sure just what she knew. He was afraid of scaring her off. "Jill I thought I saw you today in town."
Jill looked at Dean with sad eyes and said "Sorry, but I needed to get your attention. I need your help Dean, I'm tired and I don't want to go on this way anymore."
"What do you need from me Jill, I can help you, just tell me what you need." Dean faced the dead girl, sorrow in his green eyes.
"Eaton, he killed me last July. He hit me over the head and took me somewhere. He left me for three days, when he came back he..." At this a single tear rolled down Jill's cheek.
Dean pulled in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment "Okay, I can help you rest Jill. But you need to try and remember exactly what happened, where he took you. Can you do that?"
Jill nodded and said "I don't remember much and I'm forgetting more as time goes by. I know that we drove for a while, and that I was in a hole dug in the ground. I had just barely enough room to sit cross legged. It was too deep for me to climb out of. I remember the sky; there were thick billowing white clouds. I can remember that the clouds never went away. That's it."
Dean nodded "Okay, it's going to have to be enough. I have to leave you, I'm sorry but I need to try and save Julie. If he took her last night then we should still have some time." Dean slid from the counter and turned "I'm sorry Jill, sorry I couldn't save you."
Jill simply sat on the counter and said with a serene smile "You will Dean, I know you'll save me."
Dean turned and pushed open the door. As he stepped out into the night air he couldn't help but look back. Jill had already vanished "I will Jill, I promise" Dean whispered as he crossed the parking lot.