Hey, this has to be the quickest update I've ever managed, what can I say? I was on a roll. I want to write some more but I have packing to do for my festival tomorrow, probably should have done it by now considering its past midnight. Hope you like the chapter.

Don't own supernatural.

Chapter 7

Shower, my new favourite word. I was in a much better mood after the semi-warm shower back at the motel. It was the first thing I did. For the entire journey back to the motel, I had the windows down in the car; I could literally smell the sewer on me, clinging to my hair. Gross didn't even begin to cover it.

Sam and Dean were later at arriving back at the motel than me, their car wasn't their when I showered but now it was. I picked up my phone and dialled Sam; I'd had a brainwave in the shower. Perhaps, all things considered I should have called Dean but I didn't want things to be weird so I went with calling Sam. Eager to share my thoughts I didn't even give him a chance to say hello, "Sam its Alice, look I've been thinking, we really need to speak to that guy," his name momentarily escaped me in my excitement.

Sam chuckled, "what guy?"

"The fire chief, errrrrm the guy who's missing, it's in the newspaper you had," Jesus why couldn't I remember his name.

"Brian Lawson?" Sam replied.

"Yes!" I almost shouted down the phone. "Right, well we should talk to his family, if he's only just gone missing, we need to find out who he was with, where he went that sort of thing."

"Didn't you say you'd spoken to friends and family of the others who have died and didn't really come up with anything, and that vice principle wasn't much help," Sam answered.

"It might slip up though or maybe leave a clue if it knows we're onto it, to tease us," after I said that I realised it sounded kind of stupid but it could happen. The Shapeshifter may be toying with us; we couldn't exactly rule that out, stranger things had happened to me.

"I agree, as unlikely as it sounds," so maybe it wasn't that stupid.

"I could go and say I used to work with that Brian fellow, although I guess his family would probably know who he worked, I'll give it a shot though," bloody acting skills again, I hated it. I can't be someone I'm not. Guess I'll just have to remind myself why I'm doing it.

"Dean and I'll go, we've sort of got a way to get the information easier," Sam said vaguely which only made me curious.

"What kind of way?" I felt I needed to know how; after all it could probably help me out in the future.

"FBI badges," yeah I needed to get me one of those.

"Oh I so need one of those," I would look so cool flashing my badge, dressed in a sharp suit and heels, pull off the sexy agent image. Although, I probably couldn't manage that, I still needed one though.

"Alice? You still there?" Sam's voice cut through my thoughts, how long had he been trying to get my attention. I'll blame his stupid FBI badge in all its glory.

"Yeah, I just sort of zoned out," I replied very much embarrassed.

"Something interesting?" that caught me off guard; I didn't expect him to be interested in what went on in the inner workings of my sometimes scary mind.

"No, it was stupid really," well it was.

"Hmm okay," he didn't sound too convinced, "so Dean and I will head over and get some information at the family home. Can you go to fire station, pose as a reporter or something?"

Errrgh marvellous, absolutely marvellous, oh how I hate having to lie and I've probably already mentioned my crappy acting skills but I agreed anyway, "sure," my earlier excitement had completely fallen by the wayside.

We arranged to meet later at the same bar as the previous day, to swap any information we fell upon, a part of me was pretty pessimistic towards the idea of finding information. So far we'd had very little luck, why should now be any different. Hopefully we'd catch a break somewhere. If only the Shapeshifter would just come waltzing out into the open and say something along the lines of 'hey, here I am kill me already' but that was just brainless.

With everything finalised I said good bye to Sam, "right, well I'll see you later."

"Yeah, oh and Alice?" Sam said, catching my attention as I was about to hang up.

"Hmmm," I replied.

"Take care, okay?" I faltered, was that not slightly straying onto territory I swore not to tread. I chose to ignore that, he was only looking out for my safety. I refused to believe that it was anything else.

"Yeah, you too," I answered then hung up before anything else could be said.

I changed from the comfortable jeans and shirt into a skirt suit thing. Cramming my feet into the worlds most uncomfortable pair of heeled shoes I hoped into my truck which sort of ruined the smart reporter look, best to park around the corner form the fire station, save myself the embarrassment. I definitely need a new car.

Lining most of the street leading to the fire station was posters, with Brian Lawson's face and in big red letters 'Missing' if only they knew that he was already dead and gone. I straightened my jacket on last time and tucked a stray hair behind my ear. How many girls would kill to be in my position at this very moment, walking into a building with hot fire fighters.

"Excuse me?" I called through the open door to the station. Someone had to be around if the door was open.

A middle aged man walked out from behind the shiny red engine parked inside, so much for my hot fire man theory. "Can I help you miss?" he asked before taking a puff of his cigarette. I would have thought that fire men wouldn't smoke health and fire risk and all that jazz.

"Err yes, I'm a reporter with the The Union Leader, I just wanted to ask a few questions about the disappearance of Brian Lawson," I tried my hardest to sound genuine, the man eyed be sceptically.

"If you think it will help find him any quicker," I took that as a yes, and honestly I did think it would help to find him just not alive.

The fireman, Jim was his name, had lots to say about Brian, plenty of praise but that wasn't what I was looking for. He probably was a good guy. Speaking to Jim it made me think, was the Shapeshifter really good at impersonating someone who did the people surrounding the victims just not know them very well to know that it was someone or something completely different. Even the wives didn't know that it was someone else. The only really juicy piece of information I managed to retrieve was that Bill was good friends with the Principle, they used to bowl together. That would explain how the Shapeshifter came into contact with his next victim. Perhaps it hadn't been a total waste of time talking to the fireman.

Driving back to the motel I kept circulating information in my mind, bowling, they'd both gone bowling. It was a long shot but I had a feeling, like intuition, that I needed to go to the bowling alley. I had a theory that all the victims may have been in the same bowling league. I remembered seeing a trophy in the principles office and at the time thought maybe it was a school trophy but if it was as school trophy surely it would have been on display for everyone to see. With plenty of time to kill I could get to the bowling alley and back to the bar with time to change.

The radio in my truck was playing up, yet again, frustrated I switched it off. Yet another reason to get a new car. Instead I settled for the silence, well except for the constant rattle of the truck. It wouldn't surprise me if the wheels fell off.

For mid afternoon he bowling alley was pretty busy, my ears were instantly filled with the clatter of bowling balls and pins. I felt very over dressed for the occasion considering the place was full of spotty teenagers obviously bunking from school and old men probably escaping from their wives for the afternoon. Sticking to the reporter persona seemed to be the most appropriate. Thankfully I didn't have to speak to anyone because posted on a battered notice board in the entranceway was a league table and team lists, pretty convenient for me. Biting my lip I scanned the information for the names I was looking for and sure enough every victim was part of the league.

I glanced around to see if anyone was watching before quickly taking down the paper and folding it up as I headed back out to my red rust bucket. At least this way I would have something productive to show as proof for an all but wasted afternoon.

Driving back to the motel the Shapeshifter once again took a hold of my mind to the point that I was barely paying attention the road. It was bugging the hell out of me to say the least, stupid evasive bastard. I liked a challenge but this case was starting to take the piss. A shrill ring made me jump and let go of the wheel, not a smart move. I quickly grabbed the wheel with one hand and reached into my bag for my phone. "Hello?" I said wedging the phone between my shoulder and ear without checking the caller ID.

"Alice it's Sam," immediately my heart skipped a beat, oh for crying out loud what was wrong with me.

"Oh hi," I attempted to play it cool, "what can I do for you?"

"The family didn't know anything, did you find anything out?" so their afternoon had been a bit of a waste as well, luckily I did have something.

"The fire station was a dead end," best to give them the bad news first, "but I did find out that Brian was in the same bowling league as the principle so I went over there and borrowed," more like stole "the team lists and guess what?"

"They were all on the same team?" Sam guessed, well he was almost right.

"Same league, different teams," I replied, "I'll bring the list with me later. Anyways, I'm driving at the moment so I'll see you later." Sam said goodbye and I was back to giving the road most of my attention alongside of trying to get my radio to work. I slammed my fist onto the dashboard trying to get it to work and low and behold it did to my surprise.

Changed into a simple red top and denim skirt I was ready to head to the bar. Before I left I double checked I had the list in my bag and walked down the street. After the previous night I wasn't even considering drinking but unfortunately when I arrived Sam and Dean had already ordered a drink and there sitting on the table was a glass of wine. To be polite I thanked the guys all the while giving the glass of wine evil looks, it didn't stop me from drinking it though. Taking out the now much crumbled piece of paper from my bag I attempted to smooth it out before placing it in the centre of the sticky table. I'd already underlined the victim's names. I ignored Deans muttered comment to Sam, it was something along the line of 'she's as geeky as you' I'm not a geek it just made sense to have it already prepared, to make things easier.

"Do you think the Shapeshifters next victim is on this list?" Sam asked, turning the paper to face him.

"Its more than likely," I answered. It didn't take us long to come up with a plan, a very tedious one. We needed to find all the names in the phone book and try and find out what their profession was. Thankfully the motel had wi-fi which might make it easier. If they were people of high importance in society then they would more than likely show up in a news story or on a web page of some description. All else fails we go to the address or call and see what we could find out about them. I picked up wine glass only to find it empty, well if I learnt anything from today it's that I never learn. I took my purse from my bag and stood up, "same again?"

When I returned to the table with the drinks Dean was missing, "where's Dean?"

"Men's room," Sam replied, at that moment in time I hated Dean for leaving me alone with Sam although deep down a part of me didn't mind, it was fair to say I also hated that part of myself. With Dean elsewhere we fell into a more than awkward silence, I racked my brain desperately trying to rack my brain for something to say, I looked down at the table where already managed to shred the beer mat I was using to bits earlier on. I risked a glance at Sam, who seemed just as uncomfortable as I was. "This is stupid," I said fed up of the silence.

"Yeah," Sam chuckled, "we should start again."

I raised an eyebrow, momentarily confused, "oh right, in that case, hello I'm Alice," I said brightly.

"Hi Alice, nice to meet you. I'm Sam," he replied holding his out for me to shake.

It was an odd thing to do I'll admit, we weren't exactly strangers but if it got rid of the silence then who was I to complain. "Nice to meet you Sam," well there was too much politeness and civility for my liking, it's just not natural, I couldn't help but laugh.

"So tell me more about the other times you've fallen upon Shapeshifters?" I asked genuinely curious. I was shocked when I heard that they'd been part of a hostage situation in a bank, which was the stuff of movies, I wasn't surprised to hear that they were wanted by the police for that. Had to take my hat of to their escape attempt though, if I was wearing a hat that is.

I'd heard so many tales from Sam and Dean over the past day or two that I was beginning to doubt if I should be hunting, compared to them I was so inexperienced. It mad me feel at such a disadvantage.

"You guys should write a book on this sort of thing," I said after hearing about something called a trickster.

Sam smiled, "our Dad had a journal, we've learnt a lot from that and we've been doing this for longer than you. A lot longer." I could detect a slight hint of bitterness in his Sam's voice, like he resented his childhood, he probably did but we all have our problems in life. It seemed I wasn't the only one clinging to a past.

Dean was taking his sweet time, I didn't mind, talking to Sam was insightful. It was just easier to talk to him with Dean around. I glanced around the bar briefly and spotted him talking to some brunette and an older guy. "Looks like Deans pulled another chick," I said causing Sam to roll his eyes, apparently this was a regular occurrence that Sam had just learned to live with. I could never imagine doing that sort of thing, my inner recklessness decided to speak up momentarily and tell me I should give it a go sometime, I just ignored it.

Eventually Dean returned looking quite triumphant, "I have some important information."

"That poor girl's number?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but that's not it, although that is certainly important," Dean replied as he looked back at her, his sentence trailing off. We waited for him to return his attention to the matter at hand.

"Dean?" Sam quizzed, "the important information?"

"Huh? Yes, that is the Sheriff and his very lovely deputy," he answered, "the Sheriff over there is a member of a bowling team, Split happens." That made me laugh, it was a clever name.

"He could be our guy," I said optimistically.

"Most likely, but we should check the list anyway, we can take ten each and search through phone books," Sam answered, it sort of shot my optimism in the foot. Looking through phone books for names wasn't my idea of fun and even when we had a way of contacting them it wouldn't exactly be easy to find out their profession. To ask them would look odd, we could always stalk them but that would be creepy much cooler to call it a stakeout.

We ordered some food from the bar and had one more round of drinks; I abandoned the wine and had lemonade instead, before heading back to the motel for the night, with intentions of trawling through phone books borrowed from the motel owner who looked at us oddly when we asked for them. For that task we sent Dean, so he could charm the elderly lady, it seemed to work much to Dean's horror.

Once in the quiet safety of my room I changed into my pj's and with the TV blaring away quietly with some late night chat show I began to look for my ten names, earning a paper cut in the process.