The tension that had been present since they left Nadia's was finally beginning to cease; but this new argument snapped it back into place. Sam knew that for awhile Dean would only speak to him when absolutely necessary and then things would shift and it would be like it had never happened. The silence wasn't the bad part; it was the discomfort that he felt being around someone he was around practically 24/7.

He's being such a baby, Sam thought to himself as he, yet again, walked the infamous city block. At least he has a chance of ever seeing her again; that's more than I got. He had to back track a few paces before he reached the alley where Jeffrey Weston had been killed. At first glance it looked like every other alley in the world. There was no visible stain on the concrete, no spatters of blood coloring the walls, or obvious signs of struggle. He glanced from the ground to the wall not knowing where to start. Alright, I just killed someone... First, I have to get out of here… He glanced around him for possible escape roots. Run out this or the other end of the alley of course, or…he paused at the manhole cover behind him, please not again… He continued looking in hopes of finding a more sanitary escape path. The bottom of a fire escape ladder caught his eye. The ladder provided a great escape route; except for the fact that it was about eight feet off the ground. Sam jumped but was still unable to reach the bottom rung.

Suddenly a door in the alley behind him opened and Sam grabbed his phone and held it to his ear. A young girl stepped through the door and struggled to keep hold of the box she was carrying. Sam put his phone back in his pocket and hurried over to help her. "Please don't rip, please don't rip…" she kept saying to herself. She was almost to the dumpster when the handle started to give way, "No, no, no. Not yet," she quickened her pace.

"Here, let me help you with that," Sam offered.

The girl screamed, jumped, and spun around to see him. As she stopped herself, the handles completely ripped away and the box crashed to the ground. She looked from Sam to the box and dropped her head and her shoulders in defeat, "Crap."

Sam chuckled, "Let me get that…" He slid his fingers beneath the box and lifted it to his waist, "In the dumpster?"

She was wiping her hands on her pants, "You can just set it on the stack beside the dumpster… Just because he calls me mighty mouse, doesn't mean I can lift a car over my head. They call him tiny and he weighs 300 lbs…" she angrily mumbled to herself.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked.

She sighed and smiled, "Yeah. You know, you shouldn't sneak up behind people in allies."

"Sorry," he pulled out his badge, "I'm just taking a look around."

"That was like two weeks ago; you really think there's anything left to see?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "You never know… Hey, do you remember anything about that night?"

"You mean other than the sirens and swarms of on-lookers?" She paused, "No. I mean there wasn't really anything around the dead body that jumped out at me and said, 'Hey I'm weird.'" Sam laughed and shook his head. "What?" she asked in response.

"You just really remind me of someone," he smiled.

"Hum," she paused for a long time and glanced anywhere but directly at Sam. "So…did you find anything?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders, "Not really. I mean I figured that the perp had to get away somehow…"

"Wow, a real leap to come to that conclusion, seeing as how the killer wasn't caught; but I guess that's why they give you the suit, huh?" she sarcastically interrupted him.

Sam gave his usual annoyed but coping and polite smile which he had perfected over years of working with Dean and continued his thought. "…but I can't quite figure that one out."

She looked from one end of the alley to the other, "Well, I'm guessing it's a fifty/fifty shot…"

He was so used to speaking his thoughts and ideas with Dean that he didn't even think about what he was doing. "I doubt if it left either of those two ways…"

"It?"

"He or she…it. It probably found some other, safer route of escape… I thought maybe it used the fire escape; but even I can't reach that…" he looked thoughtfully at the ladder.

The girl followed his gaze and thought about how she, herself, would get to the ladder. A sudden memory came back to her, "Hey…I do kinda remember something weird about that night; well the next day anyway." She thought for awhile, "I don't know if they were like that the night it happened; but the next day some of our boxes were piled right under that ladder."

"Like someone moved them, you mean?"

"We always put them next to the dumpster and then, Al (this big guy that works here) comes out and puts them inside. But when I came out here they were way over there. I figured some of the stupid neighborhood boys that hangout around here were being… well, stupid."

"Those boxes were the same as these ones here? Like the one you carried out?"

She nodded, "Three of them. Stacked like…a pyramid."

"Like steps…" Sam said to himself.

"Anyway, I gotta get back inside. Anything else?" she asked as she walked back to the door.

"Uh, no… Thank you," he answered. She nodded and pulled the door closed behind her.