"So, Dean, were you using your awesome skills on Danny too, just like with Clarice? Is that why he was so taken with you?" Sam grinned at the scathing look his questions solicited.

"You'll get yours, Sammy. Count on it. You were having way too much fun at my expense, bitch."

Sam laughed. Oh yeah, he'd be able to hold this over his brother's head for a while. "Jerk." He didn't even mind all that much as the once again cloudless Texas sky blinded them with the unrestricted light of the sun. They were finally making progress, getting answers. He couldn't wait for this mess to be over. "Danny said this Ricky guy would be in to work around six?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. I figured we'd wait for him in the employee parking lot and catch him before his shift starts."

"As long as we can wait in the shade."

They made their way around the building. The museum closed at five and it was almost that now. They wouldn't have long to wait.

Sometime after five thirty a dark green Ford pickup pulled into the lot. The driver was a short man, about five two, with dark almost reddish hued skin. Black hair was pulled into a short ponytail, his chiseled face broad with a flat nose. He wore generic work boots, jeans, and a brown t-shirt. From the passenger side, he pulled out a plastic covered uniform. This looked to be their guy.

Exchanging looks, Sam led the way over. "Excuse me, are you Ricky Ah Kin?"

The man stopped and stared at them, his expression not friendly in the least. "Who wants to know?" There was no real accent aside from a local twang in his voice.

"My name is Sam, and this is my brother Dean. We were hoping we could talk to you about Thomas Williams?"

His dark eyes studied them intently. For some reason Sam felt his gaze linger on him a lot longer than on Dean. "I already gave my statement to the police."

"I'm sure. But it would really help us out if you'd talk to us. We're private investigators hired by Mr. William's aunt in California. She's pretty frantic to find out what's happened to him."

Dean spoke up. "The police don't seem to be making a lot of progress. She figured we might be able to help them out."

Sam cringed inside but said nothing, knowing Dean didn't have to dig far for the underlying disgust in his voice. As far as his brother was concerned, the cops only saw what they wanted to see whenever the supernatural was involved and so hindered more than actually helped solve a lot of cases. While Sam couldn't entirely argue the point, he knew a lot of it had to do with the fact the cops hadn't been raised to believe in what hid out in the darkness like they had. Why would anyone honestly want to know? Especially when there was so little they could do about so many of them.

Ricky stared at them for another minute then nodded. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"We understand you might have been the last person to see him?"

"I guess. Met in the changing room as usual. Made sure there hadn't been any problems. Thomas clocked out and then left."

"And he seemed normal to you?"

Ricky nodded once. "Far as I could tell."

Sam pressed on. "By chance, have you noticed anything usual going on around the museum in the last month or more? Anything odd since Thomas disappeared, maybe?"

The man frowned at him, his eyes narrowing. "What exactly are you asking?" He stepped forward, invading Sam's personal space. "You saying he was involved in something?"

"Well, he did work for a big fancy museum, didn't he?" Dean moved forward almost bodily interjecting himself between them. Sam wasn't sure whether to feel grateful or just plain pissed. He could handle this. "There's a lot of expensive stuff in there. Someone could have decided he might be a way to get inside."

Ricky took a step back. "That's crazy."

"So you have another theory?" Dean pressed forward, looking almost predatory. What was his brother doing?

"Dean!"

"Look, I don't know what happened to Thomas, okay? I hope you find him and all, but I need to go to work. I'm pulling a double shift tonight as we're short handed. I don't know anything else anyway." He gave Dean a wide berth and hurried to go around him.

"Wait!" Sam tried to cut him off for a moment. "Here, this is my cell number." He fished out a piece of paper from his pocket and quickly scribbled the latter down. "If you remember anything or find out anything else, please give us a call. Okay?"

Ricky snatched the offered paper but didn't look at it. "Whatever." He turned from them and stomped on inside.

As soon as the door closed, Sam turned on his brother. "What the hell was that about? You looked like you were going to pounce on the guy!"

Dean rolled his shoulders as if they were tight. "There's something not right about him. Didn't like him."

"He was our only lead, dammit! Now what do we have?"

"Williams's apartment? Plus you could work up some of your magic and see what else you can dig up on this Ricky guy. Right?"

Sam tried to hold back a sigh. "Right."