Hey, here's another chapter. This chapter is a bit of a dud one, I really struggled with writing the second half of it. I do however, have lots of ideas for the next chapter and a few after that, I managed to scribble them down when I was camping at the weekend. Anyways I hope you like or at least find it slightly okay.
Chapter 9
The following morning, once again over a very unappetising breakfast, we bounced ideas off of each other. With Dr Wilson crossed from the list our suspicions shifted to the Sheriff, Sheriff Fred James to be exact. "He's in the bar almost as much as us," I contributed.
"So much for setting a good example," Dean muttered from behind his coffee.
"So we just wait in the bar for him to come wandering in, then what?" Sam said.
"It's a shame every case can't be solved by sitting in a bar," Dean sighed. I had the distinct impression that he spent a good amount of a time in a bar when he worked a case anyway.
Sam was determined to ignore Dean's unhelpfulness and ploughed on regardless, "what night does the bowling league meet?" he asked me.
I momentarily racked my brain, if I was honest I wasn't completely paying attention, my mind kept wandering to what Sam had said before we got in the car last night. I scolded myself realising I was taking too long to answer; the odd look I was receiving from the Winchester's wasn't helping, "Thursday?" I hadn't meant for it to sound like a question.
"Tomorrow then," Sam confirmed, I nodded and then allowed my mind to wander again. Dear lord, what was wrong with me today? It was only a compliment, it meant nothing but a part of me wanted it to. Frustrated with my own tragic mind I slammed my head none to gently down onto the table, my eyes shut tightly. I had to get my mind back on the case. "You okay?" Sam's voice cut through my inner turmoil, I thought maybe he was talking to Dean.
"Maybe she needs more coffee?" Dean suggested, so Sam was talking to me.
I seized that as my chance to shift my attention back to the case, "Yes! That is exactly what I need," Dean gestured to the waitress and we returned our musings to the case.
A short while later and we finally had a half decent plan. Tomorrow we would head to the bowling tournament, and try to catch the Sheriff's eyes on tape; if the glare was there then we would snuff out its life so to speak. If not then it was back to the drawing board. Until then we would be checking out the only other person on the list who might be our bothersome Shapeshifter, the Real Estate chain owner. With the bill paid we headed for the closest Real estate office.
Dean pulled up outside, "I'll pick you two up in an hour," my eyes went wide with surprsie.
"Aren't we all going?" I asked allowing my surprise to surface. Even Sam was surprised at the arrangements.
"Not a chance," Dean answered, " It's much more convincing if you two go and pretend you are looking for a nice house complete with white picket fence." I frowned.
"And what are you going to do?" Sam asked, seeing to accept his fate.
"I have a lunch date with Sarah," he grinned like a school child. The Deputy again, I was just hoping he was doing it for the sake of the case, probably not though.
Sam got out of the car, he obviously felt it was no use arguing, "Alice?" he asked leaning into the car.
I would plot Dean's demise later, putting on a happy face, I climbed out of the back of the car and slammed the door, "Oi!" Dean shouted. I pretended not to hear him and smiled sweetly and waved goodbye.
"He's going to kill you for slamming that door," Sam said as Dean sped off into the distance, "same story as last time?"
"Why not? It's consistent," I answered. Sam stuck his hand out for me to take; I raised an eyebrow slightly confused but took it anyway.
"Got to make it convincing," Sam provided enough reason for me so I accepted my fate and tried to mentally prepare myself. Fate, he's a cruel bastard or so I seemed to be discovering more and more with each passing day.
Once inside the office the office we were greeted by a bubbly receptionist, I couldn't help but like her. Speaking to someone so friendly made me relax slightly so it didn't feel so much like acting. I felt less fake; a feat in itself considering the whole situation was fake. Maria was the receptionist's name, a local girl; she bought us coffee and biscuits and left us with a balding middle aged real estate agent. He introduced himself as Steve.
I should have let go of Sam's hand before we sat down but I found it too comforting. Not a good sign, my mind was practically screaming at me but I ignored it. I should have taken those screams as warning bells and run for the hills. In reality, I kept a hold of Sam's hand.
Sam did most of the talking; I just threw in the occasional comment, smile and nod. "Somewhere to settle down and start a family then?" Steve confirmed. It was such an odd thing to hear. Buying my first home with the man I love was something I'd always thought would just happen but that was when I was ignorant of the world when I believed that there was no such thing as monsters under the bed. The balding realtor left us for a short while so he could fish out some brochures.
"We need to steer the conversation in the direction of the local area and what's been going on," I whispered to Sam. It was true so far we hadn't even touched on the subject and several murders weren't something that was generally overlooked in town gossip.
"I was thinking the same," he answered, Sam squeezed my hand in reassurance. I hadn't realised I was still clinging to Sam's hand. Letting go was what I needed to do but I couldn't. I wanted to kick myself, shock some reason into my crazy mind.
Realtor Steve returned with an armful of glossy brochures, he set them in front of us. I used this as an opportunity to let go of Sam's so I could browse the many houses we weren't buying. I picked up a brochure of a new development in the suburbs and moved closer to Sam, I had to make it look convincing despite shocking myself at the ease of being with him. It was all just pretend though; as soon as this case was over I could go back on the road and find a nice easy case. We weren't there to look at houses, despite how tempting some of them were, "So what's the local area like, the local paper keeps mentioning murders, is it common?" I dived straight in with the question; I had to stop teasing myself with the houses. I needed to get the information, get out of hear and then plot Dean's demise for forcing me into this situation, of course that is if he doesn't kill me first for slamming his precious car door.
"Yes its sad business," the realtor said without looking up from the brochure he had opened and placed in front of us, "but I can assure the area is very safe." I wanted to roll my eyes, what a predictable answer. He was bound to say that, at the end of the day he still had to sell houses and make a living.
The realtor obviously wasn't going to say too much on the murders, it would be bad for business so I decided to try a new tactic. I was going to push for more information, the school seemed a good place to start, "how are schools in the local area?" it was my way of finding out if he knew anything about the principle, I needed something, a flash of recognition in his eyes but there was nothing.
I saw Sam offer a quizzical look in my direction; I hoped he would pick up on what I was looking for, anything of importance. "The schools are excellent, rated third in the county," he didn't see how many though, he was still trying to sell us a house unlucky for him we weren't buying just wasting his time.
After asking him a few more questions about the town, one about churches in the area, we took a few brochures and left. Once outside and halfway down the street I dropped the brochures in a bin, feeling considerably better. "What a waste, he's not the Shapeshifter," I complained. Sam had asked about the company's history and managed to find out that the owner, the one who was on our now diminishing list of suspects, had been out of town for three months setting up two new branches in the south. He wasn't the Shapeshifter, he had an alibi.
"Just leaves the Sheriff," Sam tried to put a positive spin on the situation.
"Can't we just waltz in there and stab him with some silver now?" I wanted to, and then I could get back on the road, job done and dusted.
"We need to be sure," he answered; I had to agree, thank you morals.
I kicked a can a little too aggressively on the pavement. We went back to the motel, it was a bit of a walk and the heavens were threatening to open. The rain held off though, maybe the big guy upstairs didn't hate me so much. Normally he went out of his day to make my day a living hell, or so I thought. Not that he was real, I just needed someone to blame so I could feel better.
Then again maybe the man upstairs did hate me. Sam was locked out of their motel room so me being the kind caring fool that I am offered for him come to my room instead so we could work on the case. After the morning I had suffered with my mind trying to trick me into slipping up and letting myself get closer to Sam, spending an afternoon with him was the last thing I needed. The space would have done me some good, I could re-evaluate my life. Get back on the right track instead of punishing myself.
We stopped at a deli for lunch. For once I could eat healthy pasta and not a burger. I really wasn't looking forward to the afternoon. It gave me more reason to want to eradicate Dean.
"Once we get confirmation the Sheriff is our guy we'll have to get him alone," Sam said from across the rickety table in my room. It didn't take a genius to work out that getting him alone would be the last few minutes of his life. It was a shame the Sheriff was already dead. I would have liked to have prevented any more deaths from happening but you can't win them all.
We scribbled down a few ideas or rather the top ten ways to get a Sheriff on his own so you could kill him. Normal people read books, we plotted a murder. "I could quite easily have bought a house this morning, it was certainly no incentive to stay in this career path," I longingly sighed. Sam looked up at me from the old battered looking book he was hidden behind.
"You should, this isn't a healthy career choice," he answered. From the look on his face he blatantly shared my thoughts. Neither of us wanted to be doing it and yet her we were. "It's more of an obsession than a career," he stated nothing but the truth. Sam was spot on when he said that, I was bitterly obsessed with revenge for my family. When I thought about it like that, it became nothing but petty. I was too stubborn for change though. That was my whole damn problem.
"I can't just stop this now, the naivety is long gone," I chewed on my lip as I let the words sit there. Not since my family's death had I been so open. It was Sam's fault. Sam set aside his book and leaned forwards, his arms resting on the table. I faltered slightly in my explanation, it was too late now though, I'd already begun explaining, may as well open the flood gates. "It doesn't exactly work wonders for trust. I want to settle down, few kids, a husband and a steady job but how can I trust people. They might be a Shapeshifter or a Demon or a Vampire."
Sam didn't disagree with me, "You have to trust people at some point."
"I trust you," I had to open my big mouth, as soon as I realised what I said I looked away and blushed. I'm such an idiot. Next time I'm sticking to talking about the case and nothing but, not that it was going to happen.
"I'm glad," Sam shared a tender smile. What could I do but blush further? I would give anything for an interruption. A few minutes silence proved that there wasn't going to be an interruption. When I looked back at Sam he was still looking at me, I couldn't look away something was stopping me. Whatever it was I wasn't bothered for the time being.
"So," I said, looking down at the collection of paper on the table below, "bowling tomorrow night." It was time to retreat back to safe territory, the case, like the coward I was.
"Yeah," Sam replied with a quiet sigh that I could barely hear.
By the time Dean phoned almost an hour later we had pretty much covered every possibility of turning up at the bowling league night. After a brief conversation with his brother Sam hung up and stood up, stretching. "Did your brother find out anything knew?" I asked despite already knowing otherwise.
Sam laughed, "No, you honestly didn't think he would, did you?" I shook my head and shared in his laughter. The way the two brothers got on with each other made me long for the banter I had with my brother. I quickly forced that from my mind though, I shouldn't be so negative.
We said our goodbyes, leaving me on my own. Despite having hated the idea of spending an afternoon with Sam I now missed his company. To spend so much time on my own I'd learnt not to miss people but the moment they became a part of my life I missed them again. That'll teach me to be so cut off from the world
To clear my head I went for a shower. A bath would have been ideal but that wasn't about to happen. The hot water worked wonders in providing me with some clarity. All day doubt had been eating away at my sanity, telling me I should pack this in and call it a day but I couldn't do that. At least not yet, in a few years I might feel differently but for now my young minded needed to do this so I could overcome the grief of losing my family. When it comes down to it the revenge I was so keen on was just an outlet for the grief.
After this case I decided that I wouldn't contact Sam or Dean again. From now on I would do everything myself no matter what the circumstances. That wasn't the true reason though; truthfully I just couldn't be in contact with Sam. Slowly he was destroying the walls I built around myself and I was helping him. Around him I could be more myself, the tough outer shell I had was caving in and I couldn't allow that to happen under any circumstance.