Chapter 2

"Nice poochy," Dean said cautiously as he got out of the car. They had finished their shopping and drove back to the farmhouse. "I got you something." Dean quickly opened a chew bone and gingerly held it out to Moses. "Go ahead; you can take it, we're friends."

Moses growled softly and cocked his head to look at Dean and then at the treat he was offering. He stepped closer and sniffed once before grabbing the bone and moving to a shade to begin gnawing on it. He watched the brothers gather bags from the trunk of the Impala and head up the walkway to the front door. Sam rang the bell and waited for Grant to answer it.

"My goodness, you boys bought a lot of stuff," Grant told them as he opened the door wider for them to come in.

"We didn't know how long we would be staying," Dean shrugged. "We are two growing boys."

"Bobby told me a little about you guys over the years. We've kept in touch after working together and he came to the funeral when Maggie died. He's a good friend."

"Yes he is. Bobby is like a surrogate father to us since our Dad is gone," Sam offered. "He keeps us in line and has pulled our asses out of the fire numerous times over the years. This job is usually never easy."

"To be honest, I don't see how you guys do it. Here, let me help you with those things," Grant offered as Sam sat food on the counter not sure where to put it.

"Thanks," Sam nodded separating the items that needed to go in the fridge, pushing them toward Dean who was putting milk, and a six pack of beer in it. "Here Dean, put these away."

"Yeah, yeah, got it," Dean fussed picking up yogurts and putting them in the door. He moved things around to add what they had purchased to the fridge.

"We picked up some deli meat and cheese to make sandwiches for lunch," Sam told Grant laying them aside along with sub rolls.

"That is fine. I usually have a salad or something light."

"Good. I'll get them made up once we get the food put away."

"Is tea good for everyone to drink?" Dean asked holding up a gallon of tea.

"Fine with me," Sam replied.

"Yes, that's good for me too," Grant told him. He took a seat at the table and watched the boys working around each other and acting like brothers. He could see what Bobby told him about the boys having a unique synergy. Just seeing them move in sync around his kitchen, without words or gestures, was fascinating. He could only hope it carried over into their hunting abilities to give them an advantage on this case.

It didn't take Sam long to fix a plate of sandwiches that he sat on the table, along with chips, while Dean fixed drinks and sat them on the table.

"Thank you boys for this and for coming to check the missing person cases out," Grant told them.

"It's what we do," Dean shrugged as he helped himself to a sandwich and chips to get a look of annoyance from Sam for not letting Grant go first. "Help yourself," Dean offered holding the platter out to Grant.

Sam glanced around and saw framed photos of Grant and Maggie at different ages and places and gestured to them as he picked up his sandwich and gently asked, "How long were you married Mr. Carson?" He accepted the bag of chips from Dean and shook some onto his plate.

"Maggie and me, we met in high school," Grant recalled. "She was the love of my life, and I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. We married right out of high school, and I joined the Army and stayed in for twenty years. We were married going on forty years, now. She was taken from me suddenly by an aneurysm a few years back. We've been living on this farm for the last twenty years and I was a deputy here in Litchfield for fifteen years before being injured and took early retirement. I get by on my military pension and disability and that's enough for me."

"Sounds like you had a good life together with your wife."

"I did and I wouldn't change anything about it."

"We'll start going over everything that we know so far after lunch," Dean noted seeing that Grant was slipping into a melancholy mood and didn't want that. He seemed like a good man and Dean didn't want to cause him pain in remembering the death of his wife.

"Alright, you need to let me know what I can do."

"Thanks for the offer Mr. Carson, but we can handle this," Dean told him.

"Please, call me Grant. Mr. Carson makes me feel older than I am. Boys, I'm offering my services because I want to help stop whatever is taking people from my town. Please allow me to do this. I want to feel useful."

"Alright," Dean huffed after looking at Sam for a moment before he answered. He thought to himself that it might be a good idea to have Grant on their side since he had an 'in' with the local cops. It would help if they needed access to traffic cams or security cameras of the surrounding area at some point.

"But you need to do what we say," Sam added. "We don't need you getting hurt or worse killed."

"I know the dangers of the job; don't worry, I'll be careful. I did a little studying on the supernatural after Bobby left so I'd have a better understanding and would know what to look for if something seemed weird or unexplainable."

"You seemed to have taken the news of there being monsters better than most," Sam said.

"I have an open mind and don't believe in burying my head in the sand, pretending nothing is wrong, when I've seen otherwise firsthand," Grant explained. "Why don't you use the dining room in the next room to set up since there's more space? You'll have more room to spread out."

"That sounds good. Maybe you can give us the cliff notes on what the local cops have so far," Dean suggested getting up with his empty paper plate and looking around for a trash can.

"By the sink, pull out the drawer," Grant offered.

"Thanks," Dean replied pulling on the handle to find a trash can inside. "Nice idea."

"It was Maggie's, one of many to make the place her own," Grant said with a proud smile.

"Anyone want more tea?" Dean asked as he filled his glass.

"I'm good," Sam declined gathering the things off the table. He tossed the trash, sat the remaining chips by the bread box and put the platter and his glass in the sink to wash later. He washed his hands and dried them before gathering the folders and stepping into the adjoining room.

"The light switch is there by the door and I'm fine Dean," Grant told him. He took the last swallow of his tea and put the glass in the sink.

Grant and Dean joined Sam at the table to go over all the information they had so far. Sam got his laptop and set it up beside him so he could use it. He divided the folders between himself and Dean, and they began to read over the other cases from other cities to see if there was a pattern of any kind.

Dean let out a long sigh when he finished his pile of papers. He sat back in his chair and looked to his brother.

"So, your take on this?" Dean asked Sam.

"Well," Sam surmised. "If you compare all the missing persons during these times, they were all around the same age, twenty to thirty-five years old, males and females, except for the high school student from here. They were all in good health, they seemed to have taken care of themselves, so the kidnapper was looking for strong, healthy individuals. They all disappeared from places where they were alone for a short period of time. I would say the perp had a truck or van so they could move the victims without being seen…" Sam paused for a moment as he worked it out in his head. "I think we're dealing with a male, strong, wily, able to fly under the radar, staying hidden. He must scope each place out to find somewhere that he can keep the victims where no one will find them and do whatever he does to them."

"I still wonder what is happening to the bodies," Dean questioned. "You would think there would be more of them popping up. Is he putting them in a mass grave somewhere? Or burning them? I don't think this is human trafficking, it doesn't feel right. This is some monster who is using the victims for something."

"Let me run a program I wrote with what we have so far and see what it pulls up," Sam decided, closing out the program and opening another one. He began to quickly type as his eyes moved back and forth across the screen. He tuned the others out as he worked.

"Does he get like this a lot?" Grant whispered as he watched Sam concentrate.

"Yeah, I just let him do his thing," Dean replied. "Sammy's the geek in the family."

"You boys work well together."

"We've had a lot of practice over the years." Dean sipped on his tea and waited patiently for Sam to finish.

"Done," Sam finally said as he tapped a final key. "Now we just need to wait for it to run. Why don't we concentrate on the people that were taken in this town and see if there's anything useful?"

"There's a map in my folder where I marked the last place the missing people were seen. I don't know if it will help or not," Grant offered looking through his folder and finding it. He opened it up for Dean and Sam to look at.

"I'm going to check my map for abandoned warehouses, factories, and buildings in the area that might be a useable place to hide the victims," Sam told them. He opened another screen and started typing looking for the information he needed. He opened his map wider and laid it beside him so he could mark what he found.

Dean studied the map Grant had done, looking at the red Xs that were marked on it. They were spread out around the town with nothing in common that he could first see. He rubbed his eyes for a moment and got up to walk around the table.

"I'm going to use the bathroom," Dean finally said thinking if he got away for a bit and let his mind rest so he could maybe see the case with fresh eyes. He headed down the hall toward the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He did his business and then turned on the cold water to splash it on his face. Dean looked at his reflection in the mirror as water dripped down his face. He sighed deeply and grabbed the hand towel to dry with.

Still not feeling relaxed, Dean wandered back into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water from the fridge before making his way to some sliding glass doors that led out onto a large deck. He unlocked the door and stepped out onto the wooden deck drawing in a deep breath as the breeze played across his face bringing with it the scent of honeysuckle and wild roses.

He stepped to the railing and looked out across the yard toward the forest edge. It was peaceful and so tranquil here. Dean pulled a chair over to the railing and sat down propping his feet up on it and leaned back to let the rays of the sun warm his face. He would give himself a brief timeout before joining the others again.

A/N: Grant is proving helpful with the case and offer the guys a place to stay while they worked the case. What are they going to find? Thank you for coming along for the ride. Reviews/Comments would be great. NC