Chapter 4

Dean leaned against the open door, refusing to let the cops into the apartment. He crossed his arms and put on his cockiest smile. "A break in? Why would I know anything about that?"

"Because your car was seen a few blocks away from the building in question."

"And you honestly think I have nothing better to do with my time than break into some government building?"

"Why was your car there?"

"How do you know it was my car?"

"Yours is the only black '67 Impala in town."

"Maybe it was me. But since when is it illegal to park on a public road?"

"What were you doing out there at 12:30 a.m.?"

"Star-gazing."

Sam could see the officers were getting more and more annoyed by the minute. Why did Dean always have to be so…Dean? "Son, if you're not going to come clean, I want to talk to your parents."

"You can't."

The senior officer was starting to get a little red in the face from frustration. "I can bring you in right now for obstruction of justice."

Sam spoke up from behind Dean, "Wait, he's not being a smart-ass. They're really not here."

The cop directed his questions at Sam, probably thinking he would have more luck with the innocent-looking younger brother. "Where are they?"

"Our Dad's away on a business trip."

"Where's your Mom?"

Dean pushed Sam further behind him and said in a cold voice, "She's dead."

Sam couldn't tell if it was what Dean had said or the manner in which he had said it that made both of the cops take a step back. The older officer recovered first. "When will your dad be back?"

"By the end of the week. Any more questions?" Dean asked, saying 'questions' as though it were an insult.

Before they could answer he closed the door. Sam said, "Why couldn't you just give them a straight answer?"

"Wouldn't want to scare you, Sammy."

Sam sat down and ate his breakfast while Dean made coffee. Then there was another knock at the door. "If it's those cops, I'm going to start swinging."

He yanked open the door to see Ms. Torinski. He quickly replaced his scowl with a smile, but before he could speak, the old woman threw her arms around his waist in a tight hug.

"Oh, you're alright! I was so worried about you! And your brother, he's alright too?"

Dean was too shocked to say anything, but she looked in to the apartment and saw Sam. She ran past Dean and embraced Sam in a bone-crushing hug. For an old lady, she was pretty strong. "Good, it wasn't either of you!"

Dean and Sam just looked at each other. Finally Sam spoke, "Uh, Ms. Torinski, what are you talking about?"

"Well, when the cops wouldn't tell me the name of that boy, I thought it might have been one of you and I thought what a shame that would be, seeing as how there's just the three of you, and if it had been your brother, who would have helped you catch up in school, and…"

"What boy?" Dean interrupted.

"Oh, that's right, it didn't make it into the papers this morning. Well, I was walking down the street because I was going to go visit my good friend Lucy, you know she's recovering from a broken ankle and I was going to bring her some soup, and I know that's typically for a cold, but it always helps me feel better, no matter what's…"

"Ms. Torinski!" Dean said.

"What? Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, I passed the Beekley house and there were a bunch of police cars in front of it and I asked one of the officers what had happened, you know he reminded me so much of my son, Henry; but Henry moved to Colorado and never comes to see me anymore. You would think that after everything I've done for him he could at least…"

Dean frustratingly cleared his throat.

"Anyway, he told me that they found another boy in the house this morning. Well, actually his girlfriend had walked in and she found him there with his throat slit open and they wouldn't tell me who the boy was, but I thought it might have been one of you, which would have been a shame…Oh! Look at the time! I've got to go; you boys talk too much for me."

And with that she left the apartment. Once Dean and Sam had processed what she had said, Sam asked, "You think it was Maria?"

"I don't see what else it could be, but…we salted and burned her. Since when does that not kill a vengeful spirit?"

"Maybe it's not Maria."

"Who else makes sense? It must have been her."

"Maybe it was Michael."

"Oh, yeah, cause that really makes sense, Sam! I've only seen the murderer come back as a vengeful spirit. I've seen the victims come back as death omens, but that's it."

"Fine, but what would let a spirit survive having their bones burned?"

"I don't know."

There was silence for a few minutes, then they looked at each other and at the same time said, "Bobby."

Dean picked up the phone and dialed. "Singer here."

"Hi, Bobby, it's Dean."

"Hey, boy, what can I do for you?"

"Is there another way to get rid of a spirit besides a salt and burn?"

"I thought your daddy went after a poltergeist."

"He did, this is a purely hypothetical question."

"Don't bullshit me."

Dean sighed. "Promise you won't tell my dad?"

Bobby laughed and said, "So, your daddy's gone and you thought you'd conduct your own little hunt?"

"It just seemed to be a simple haunting, nothing I haven't handled before."

"So you already tried the salt and burn, but the spirit's still sticking around?"

"Right."

"When that happens the spirit is usually attached to something besides its bones. You know, something that was so important to them that it essentially became part of them. Like if you became a vengeful spirit, a hunter would probably have to burn that car to get rid of you."

"Real funny, Bobby."

"You're not involving Sam in this hunt, are you?"

Dean cleared his throat. "Well…"

"Just make sure you take care of him, you idgit."

With that Bobby hung up and Dean told Sam what he had said. Sam said, "How the hell are we supposed to find out what her spirit's attached to?"

Dean grabbed the keys and said, "We must have missed something. Let's head back to the library."

They drove peacefully for about a minute, then Dean made a sharp right turn, taking them away from the library. Sam was thrown against Dean, who shoved him away.

"Dude, what the hell?" Sam said.

"We're being followed. Probably those cops from earlier."

"Why are you trying to lose them? We're just going to the library."

Dean smiled and said, "Old habit."

After a few more turns that threw Sam toward either side of the car, they lost the cops, then arrived at the library. They went inside and over to the computers. "What are we supposed to search for, Dean?"

"Try arrest records. Let's see if we can find out what she had with her when she killed herself."

They searched for a while, then Dean said, "Found it. Personal effects of the late Maria Beckley: clothes, shoes, earrings, and watch."

"Well, the earrings or watch are probably the only things that could be sentimental enough for her to latch on to. What happened to her personal effects when she killed herself?"

"Uh, they were released to her mother, Rosa Delgado." Dean put her name through the database and found an address. "The mother lives in Ohio."

Dean sat back in the chair and stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Feel like a road trip, Sammy?"

"Dean, even with your driving we wouldn't get back before Dad. Besides, I would think that her spirit would follow the object around."

"So, if her spirit's been hanging around her old house, whatever it's attached to should be in that house?"

"Maybe."

"So, what, we torch the place?"

Sam gave him a look. "We might want to be a little more subtle than that."

"It's not like we can search the house, Sam. I mean, it goes after guys, so you're safe, but what about me?"

"Shut up. We have to at least try. All of the attacks so far have been during the night time, so we might be during the day."

"Let's at least figure out what the object is before we go looking for it. Any ideas?"

Sam thought for a minute, then said, "Can you find a picture of Maria when she got arrested?"

"Okay, random."

"Just do it."

Dean clicked on a couple of newspaper articles, then found what he was looking for. "This was taken when the cops were escorting her from the house."

"Dean, look at her left hand."

Dean looked, but didn't see anything. "There's nothing there, Sam."

"That just my point. Where's her wedding ring? It's not in her personal effects and she wasn't wearing it here."

"You think the spirit attached itself to the wedding ring which is still in the house?"

"Makes sense. That also narrows down the area we'll have to search. It's probably in her bedroom."

"What makes you so sure it's the ring? She obviously didn't care about it enough to wear it constantly."

"Well, she was arrested pretty early in the morning. I doubt she had time to put it on. Besides, she was so freaked out that her husband left that she killed her son. I'd say she was a little too invested in their marriage."

"Okay, so we break in, find the ring and burn it."

"Dean, do you have any idea what the melting point of gold is? Around 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit."

"How do you even know that?"

"Some of us actually pay attention in chemistry."

"Hey, I pay attention to chemistry."

"Wrong kind of chemistry, Dean."

Dean shrugged and said, "Okay, science boy, how hot are we talking here?"

"A blowtorch should do it."

Dean got up and began walking out. "No problem."

"Really? Where are we going to get a blowtorch, Dean?"

They left the building and Dean said, "There's one in the trunk."

Sam froze. "There is?"

"Yeah," Dean said and got in the car.

Sam got in the other side. "Why didn't I know?"

"I'm not going to trust you with a blowtorch!"

Sam pouted a little and said, "Fine. So when do you want to do this?"

"How about now?"

They drove over to the Beckley house, but there were still about a half a dozen cops there. Dean kept driving and said, "We'll come back tonight. If there are still cops here we'll at least have a better chance of sneaking in."

"Dean, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Sam, sooner or later someone's going to get into that house and then someone else dies. We have to chance it. We'll go at 11."

"Fine," Sam said. They passed the forest where Sam had been practicing and he said, "Let me out here."

Dean looked over at him, confused. "Why?"

"Just do it."

Dean pulled over, but grabbed Sam's arm before he could leave the car. "What's going on, Sam?"

"Just trust me."

Dean just stared at him, but finally said, "If you're not there at 11, I'm so going to kick your ass."

Sam just nodded and left and car, careful to conceal the gun tucked into his jeans. When the Impala was out of side, Sam went into the forest to keep practicing. He was getting better, but very slowly. He finally hit the can he had been aiming at and was sad that Dean wasn't there to see it.

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Dean sat back at the apartment in front of the TV. He thought that Sam was mad at him. Why else did he want out of the car? It wasn't like he had been trying to get Sam to practice his shooting lately. And Dean was letting him participate much more in the hunt than John would have if he had been there. Maybe Dean would let Sam use the blowtorch tonight. He immediately discarded that thought. Dean rarely got to use the thing and he was in charge. Besides, Sam would probably burn his hair. Dean smiled as he remembered there wasn't much left to burn.

Dean looked over to the clock and realized he had a good six hours to waste until he and Sam went to take care of the ghost. He left Sam a note saying he had gone out, then he drove away. He turned onto the highway and didn't stop until he had reached Oakland. He found a bar, using his fake ID to get through the front door. He smirked when they let him in.

He started playing pool, automatically hustling even though he didn't need the money. He had played a few games when he heard a voice behind him say, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

Dean thought the voice sounded familiar as he turned around. He froze when he saw the bandage on the man's face and recognized him as the security guard from the other night.