Dean had had around five cups of coffee in the time that it took for Jane to arrive at the diner. He had gotten no farther with the lead on Wilkins and was, to be honest, a little frustrated.
"Hey." Jane was slightly out of breath when she walked in the door. Her hair was on top of her head in a messy knot and she was wearing a loose top and jean shorts.
"Hi." There was a moment of silence as Jane motioned him over to sit at a booth on the far side of the restaurant.
"Hey Hannah! Can I get an iced tea please?" Jane obviously knew the waitress that worked here. Hannah gave Jane a smile and stepped back into the kitchen to get the drink.
"I work here." She had given the answer before Dean asked the question.
"Aah." Dean nodded. Hannah brought back the tea to Jane and had bought the coffee pot with her. Dean smiled as she filled his mug.
"Thanks."
"Thanks." They both said it at the same time.
Dean could tell that Jane was nervous. Although it was her idea to tell him about her crash, she was obviously uneasy about the ordeal that had happened four days ago.
"So what were you up to today? Questioning the old man?" She had a quizzical look on her face but Dean's silence gave her the answer. She had guessed correctly. "Good that's just what a man who is dying of Alzheimer's needs. Did you impersonate an officer this time?"
"No, actually I'm his nephew." Dean responded with an exasperated sigh and a forced smile. He had only been here for a minute and he was being reprimanded by a 19 year-old.
She made up her tea and looked up at Dean. "So what do you want to know?"
"Just tell me the story as you remember it. Details help." She nodded and thought for a moment then began.
"Okay. I was driving down Route 102 at around, oh I don't know, 10:00 maybe? And I was about 50 miles from town. I reached a point in the road where it was a three-way intersection; a smaller road from some farm intersected the highway there. It was really dark out and I was listening to Seth's mix tape that he left in the player. I was a little distracted," she seemed embarrassed at the memory as she looked down at her drink. "Anyway I was coming up to this intersection and suddenly there was this other car. It came out of nowhere, he—or she—didn't have any headlights on so I didn't have a lot of time to maneuver out of the way. I don't know how I made the decision but I slammed on the accelerator so I wasn't hit right in the door. Apparently that saved my life but I was still knocked unconscious on impact. The next day I woke up in the hospital with a bunch of IVs sticking out of my arms so that was fun. But that's really all I can remember." She stopped talking and looked up from her glass. Dean was nodding his head at her words, not speaking and took another sip from the mug. All the caffeine was definitely helping to get rid of his ever-present hangover.
"Nothing else sticks out in your mind?" He asks. Jane's brow furrowed with concentration and she shook her head.
"Nope sorry."
"What was the make of the car that hit you?" Dean was pressing a bit now. Jane's description of her crash paralleled his own, which was alarming.
"It may have been a truck or a large SUV? It was dark and like I said, they didn't have their headlights on." She pushed her glass aside after she finished the liquid in it and folded her arms across her chest. "How is this going to help with the case? I already told all of this to the cops and they haven't gotten anywhere with it. " She seemed anxious and a little frustrated. But Dean did see her point; Jane didn't know the information that he knew since he was a child. He took a deep breath and leaned back into the booth.
"Okay I'm going to explain something to you and it's gonna sound a little crazy." Jane looked a little alarmed at Dean's statement but didn't say anything. She waited patiently for him to continue. "You know the stories about the 'monsters under the bed?'" Jane nodded. "Well, they're real. Almost all of them are."
Jane had the deer-in-the-headlights look on her face. She didn't say anything and Dean felt forced to explain further. "I've known about them since I was young and I've been hunting ever since. Vampires, werewolves, zombies and everything in between."
Jane scoffed at his words. "I'm sorry, who do you think I am? Do you really expect me to believe you?"
Dean sat up and attempted to explain a bit more.
"I'm not kidding. Look, I'll be right back." He slid out of the seat and headed towards the door. Before he could walk out the waitress, Hannah, called out to him.
"Hey! You gonna pay?" She sounded frustrated and annoyed. Dean turned around as he pushed the door open.
"I'll be right back I just need to grab something." With that, he turned and meandered over to his truck. Dean opened the driver's side door and reached into the glove compartment and grabbed his dad's journal. Then he shut the box, then the door, and walked back inside. "See? I'm back." Hannah just glanced disapprovingly at him as he slid back into the seat.
Jane had her arms crossed and her foot was tapping on the gray tiled floor.
"What the hell is that?" She obviously didn't like being ditched in a restaurant.
"This is my dad's old journal. I use it to find and hunt the monsters I was telling you about earlier. I've had it ever since I've been on my own." He pushed it over to Jane's side of the table and she caught the battered old book before it slid off the table.
She began flipping through it, her expressions changing with each new description and drawing.
"And I got this done to make sure I don't get possessed by demons. Anti-possession tattoo." This time he grinned a little to diffuse the tension as he pulled down the collar of his shirt so that only Jane could see the ink that covered his collarbone. Jane looked up at the tattoo then down at the book with narrowed eyes. Then she shut the journal forcefully and shoved it back at Dean.
"You seriously think I'm that stupid enough to fall for this crap? Am I being punked right now? I cannot believe this. You are just incredible. I don't know why I EVER let you drive me home from the hospital." Jane was just about shouting now and the entire diner was looking toward them with interest. Dean looked around and started to panic a bit.
"Look, Jane, I really am trying to help you—"
"Ha very funny. You know what? You should be ashamed of yourself. God I was so stupid." She stood up and walked over to the cash register to hand Hannah some money for her drink. Then she walked over to the door, a slight limp still visible, and pushed it open to walk out.
Dean immediately followed her after forking out some cash to pay for the overabundance of coffee as well as a generous tip. He opened the door of the burger joint and whipped his head around to see Jane walking down the street. He hopped into his truck, started the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot to catch up.
For getting out of the hospital four days ago, she can walk pretty damn fast. Dean turned the corner and pulled up beside Jane.
"Jane, get in the car. I can drive you to wherever you need to go." Jane, however, just kept walking. She chuckled.
"Yeah right."
Dean kept pace with her in his car, the window rolled down.
"Look I'm sorry okay? That was a lot of information to handle and I should've broken it to you easier." Dean apologized . It was obvious that he was pissed but it wasn't clear if it was at himself, her reaction, or the situation. Jane's limp was becoming worse the longer she walked.
"You're gonna strain your leg if you keep walking like that." Jane still kept walking, arms crossed, a look of determination on her face. But after another block of her disjointed walk, she finally broke down.
"Fine, but this is it. I never want to see or hear from you again got it? I'm sick and tired of being played." Dean shook his head but pulled the car over. He had just lost his best lead. Jane opened the door of the truck and hopped in and buckled up after shutting the door. Then she reached over and turned the music up, crossed her arms and set about scrutinizing the scenery.
Dean pulled up to the sad looking blue house once again and put the truck in park. Jane unlocked her seatbelt, opened the door and without so much as a thank you, began to limp up the pathway to the front door.
Dean waited in his truck until she was inside her house then flipped open his cell phone, scanning his contacts to see if he could call anyone.
That's when he heard the blood-curdling scream coming from the interior of Jane's house.
