We had only stopped for fuel, food and toilet breaks since we left Minessotta. It was an exhausting way to travel, but we were making good time. Ignoring the posted speed limits for much of the way helped too…
The result of that was that less than 24 hours after we talked to the girls we were already nearly in Nevada, and hoping to get to Stanford tonight.
Right now I was taking my turn driving while Dean slept.
The quiet early morning should have been peaceful, but it was hard to relax. I couldn't get the fear in Taylor and Emily's voices out of my head, and I knew that the longer it took us to reach them the more danger they were in.
On top of that was the niggling feeling that something more was going on than a simple werewolf hunt.
Werewolf was the most obvious conclusion when you had bodies that appeared to have been attacked by animals, with hearts missing.
It was the little things that were bothering me. The victims being tied up, and then strangled. It wasn't typical of werewolf kills.
That didn't mean it wasn't a werewolf, of course. Like I said to Dean, a werewolf with a penchant for strangling would hardly be the strangest thing we'd encountered.
Maybe I was just being paranoid. We'd got it wrong so many times over the years, it became hard to trust your first instincts.
Hopefully when we got there we could find some evidence to prove what it was, one way or the other.
I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face. Right now I was hoping to find a diner where I could get breakfast and a decent cup of coffee.
A little further along I spotted a sign for a 24 hour diner a couple of miles of the main road, and made the decision to pull off. It was closer than the next town, and just a couple of minutes out of our way.
The change in speed as I turned off was enough to cause Dean to stir. He yawned and sat up, blinking at me blearily in the mirror as he slowly came awake.
"What time is it?" He grunted, stretching a little in the confines of the backseat. "And where are we?"
"Morning." I chuckled at him. He could wake up in an instant if the situation called for it, but if there was no immediate threat you were better off not trying to talk to him till he'd had his coffee.
"It's about 9am, and we're almost out of Idaho." I told him, giving him a moment to do the maths on how far we'd travelled while he slept.
After a few moments he nodded a little, "That's good."
"I figured it was time for some breakfast and caffeine." I said as I pulled into the parking lot of the diner.
Dean nodded his agreement and got out of the car to stretch out some more while I leant over to open the glove box and pull out a credit card for the morning.
I turned it over to check the name, and smirked. It was one of Deans…"Brad Putt" I shook my head slightly, "Dork."
I took half a moment to tidy my hair in the rear view mirror, "Hurry up Samantha, I'm hungry."
Then I got out of the car and passed the card to Dean, "Whatever, Brad."
He took a look at the card and grinned.
The lot of the diner contained a number of trucks and a couple of cars which appeared to belong to families on road trips. So it was an odd mix of people that glanced up at us as we headed inside, and yet we still managed to stand out.
On one side of the diner were a bunch of rough looking truckies, on the other tired parents and children running amok. Two guys walking in together in clothes we'd clearly slept in. Most of them were giving us unfriendly looks.
A server approached us with menus, hesitated a moment, and then sat us at a table near the door, in the middle of the two groups.
Dean gave me an accusing look and I shrugged. It was hardly the most uncomfortable place we'd eaten.
"Can I get you boys some coffee?" The server asked, looking at us a little apologetically.
I nodded, "Sugar and cream in mine, none in his."
The woman nodded and walked away.
The two of us sat in silence. I'd have loved to talk to Dean about my concerns about the case, but we were the subject of too much scrutiny to have any privacy.
Instead I turned my attention to the menu. It was typical all day diner fare, a heart attack waiting to happen. Dean's favourite.
I sighed, and settled on a stack of pancakes and syrup, hold the cream.
The woman returned with her coffee and I gave her my order. Dean opted for their 'big breakfast', eggs, sausage, bacon, hash browns and toast.
I rolled my eyes at him, and he shrugged with a grin, "If I get to go out from a food induced heart attack, I'll be a happy man."
I considered that for a moment, then shrugged, I supposed it was better than most of the options we were likely to get.
I glanced around the room again, "You'd think they thought we were serial killers the way they're looking at us."
Dean laughed, "If only they knew…"
I thought about that for a moment, then laughed too. He had a point.
The nearest mother gave us a look that would kill a plant.
Dean's phone chose that moment to start ringing. He glanced at the caller ID and stood up, "Taylor, I'll be back."
"Coward." I called after him as he walked outside. He just turned and winked.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check I hadn't missed any messages. It was a good bet that another body had been found by now, and I would feel a little better knowing that both our girls were safe.
While I waited I drank my coffee, looking forward to the caffeine kicking in after so many hours in the driver's seat. At least they made a decent coffee here.
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