Dean, Maria, and Sam walk down the streets of downtown Jericho, looking for the missing boy's girlfriend. They pass the Highland Movie Theater. The marquee reads: "EMERGENCY TOWN HALL MEETING. SUNDAY 8 PM. BE SAFE OUT THERE." They see a young woman putting up posters with Troy's face on them and a caption reading "MISSING TROY SQUIRE."
"I'll bet you that's her," Dean says as they approach her.
"Yeah," Sam and Maria chorus. The three of them walk up to the young woman, Maria in the lead.
"You must be Amy," Maria says with a small smile.
"Yeah," she replies, a bit confused.
"Yeah, Troy told us about you. I'm his aunt, and they're his uncles. I'm Maria, this is Dean, and that's Sammy," Maria says, gesturing first to herself, then to each of her brothers.
"He never mentioned you to me," Amy says, walking away. Sam, Dean, and Maria walk with her.
"Well, that's Troy, I guess," Dean replies. "We're not around much, we're up in Modesto."
"So, we're looking for him too, and we're kinda asking around," Sam finishes as another young woman approaches Amy and puts a hand on her arm.
"Hey, are you okay?" the second woman asks.
"Yeah," Amy replies a bit sadly.
"You mind if we ask you a couple questions?" Sam asks.
The five of them are sitting in a booth. Maria and Dean opposite the two women, and Sam in a chair he has pulled up to the end of the table.
"I was on the phone with Troy. He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and…he never did," Amy finished.
"He didn't say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?" Sam asks.
"No. Nothing I can remember," Amy replies, shaking her head.
"I like your necklace," Maria tells Amy. Amy holds the pendant, a pentagram in a circle, and looks down at it.
"Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents with all that devil stuff," Amy replies, letting out a small, sad laugh. Sam laughs a little, too, and Dean and Maria look over.
"Actually, it means just the opposite," Sam says. "A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing."
"Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries," Dean says, taking his arm off the back of Maria's seat and leaning forward.
"Here's the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something's not right. So if you've heard anything…" Dean says to the girls across from him. Amy and her friend look at each other.
"What is it?" Maria asks, noticing the looks on their faces.
"Well, it's just…I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk," Amy's friend says.
"What do they talk about?" Sam, Dean, and Maria all ask in unison.
"It's kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago," she replies as Dean and Maria look at each other and then at Sam, who is watching Amy's friend attentively, nodding. "Well, supposedly she's still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up…well, they disappear forever."
Sam, Dean, and Maria look at each other. This is definitely their kind of gig.
Dean, Maria, and Sam head to the Jericho library to do a little research on the murdered woman. Dean sits at the computer, looking at the archive search page for the Jericho Herald. He types in "Female Murder Hitchhiking" and clicks go. There are zero results. He then types in "Female Murder Centennial Highway," again with no results. Sam and Maria sit on either side of him, watching.
"Let me try," Sam says. Dean smacks Sam's hand away.
"I got it," he says irritably. Sam shoves Dean's chair out of the way and into Maria as he takes over the computer.
"Dude!" Dean and Maria say as Maria hits Sam on the shoulder.
"You're such a control freak," she says rubbing the arm that Dean was shoved into.
"So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?" Sam asks, ignoring his sister's words.
"Yeah," Dean and Maria chorus.
"Well, maybe it's not murder," Sam says simply, replacing the word "Murder" with "Suicide" in the search box. An article pops up, entitled "Suicide on Centennial." Dean and Maria glance at Sam as Sam opens the article, dated April 25, 1981. "This was 1981. Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river."
"Does it say why she did it?" Deans asks.
"Yeah."
"What?" Dean and Maria ask in unison.
"An hour before they found her, she calls 911. Apparently her two little kids are in the bathtub. She leaves them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing. Both die," Sam replies. Dean and Maria raise their eyebrows.
"Hmm," Maria says thoughtfully.
"'Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn't bear it,' said husband Joseph Welch," Sam read.
"That bridge look familiar to you?" Dean asked Sam and Maria.
Dean, Maria, and Sam arrive at Sylvania Bridge that night. The three of them walk along the bridge, then stop, leaning on the railing and looking down at the river.
"So this is where Constance took the swan dive," Dean comments.
"So you think Dad would have been here?" Sam asks, looking over at Dean and Maria.
"Well, he's chasing the same story and we're chasing him," Dean replies, continuing to walk down the bridge, Maria and Sam following behind him.
"Okay, so now what?" Sam asks.
"Now we keep digging until we find him. Might take a while," Maria replies. Sam stops suddenly.
"Maria, Dean, I told you, I've gotta get back by Monday," Sam says. Dean and Maria turn around to face their youngest sibling.
"Monday. Right. The interview," Maria says, remembering suddenly.
"Yeah," Sam says.
"Yeah, we forgot. You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Dean asks. "You think you're just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?"
"Maybe. Why not?"
"Does Jessica know the truth about you?" Maria asks seriously. "I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"
"No," Sam says, stepping closer to his older siblings. "And she's not ever going to know."
"Well, that's healthy," Dean says sarcastically, and then he became serious, turning around to keep walking. Sam and Maria follow. "You can pretend all you want, Sammy. But sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are."
"And who's that?" Sam asks with defiance.
"You're one of us," Maria says with finality. Sam hurries to get in front of Dean and Maria.
"No. I'm not like the both of you," Sam says. "This is not going to be my life."
"You have a responsibility to-" Dean starts, but Sam cuts him off.
"To Dad? And his crusade? If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom's gone. And she isn't coming back."
Maria gasps, completely shocked that Sam could say something so horrible. Dean grabs Sam by the collar and shoves him against the railing of the bridge. There is a pause where nobody says anything, nobody can say anything.
"Don't talk about her like that," Dean says, his voice full of warning. He lets Sam go and walks away, Maria following behind him. She spots Constance standing at the edge of the bridge.
"Guys," she says. Sam comes to stand beside her and Dean. Constance looks over at them, then steps off the edge of the bridge. Sam, Dean, and Maria run to the railing and look over.
"Where'd she go?" Dean asks.
"I don't know," Sam and Maria chorus. Behind them, they hear the Impala's engine start. They turn around and see the headlights come on.
"What the—" Dean says, thoroughly confused.
"Who's driving your car?" Sam asks cautiously. Dean reaches into his pocket and takes out his keys, jingling them at his siblings. Maria and Sam glance at the keys, and then back at the Impala, which was heading straight for them. They turn and run.
"Dean?" Maria screams. "Go! Go!"
The car speeds toward them, nearly running them over. Sam, Dean, and Maria dive over the railing of the bridge and the Impala screeches to a halt.