Bridge To Nowhere (Part One)
Title: Bridge To Nowhere
Author: Amethyste5
Rating: PG (violence)
Pairing, if any: None
State: New Mexico
Notes: Beta-ed multiple times by the incredibly patient
mel_b_angel , any remaining issues are due to my own stubbornness. This piece is set somewhere in Season 1. This is apparently a two parter now, as lj believes it is too large to post in its entirety, but it's not a WIP, part two should post within minutes of part one.
Bridge To Nowhere
"Dean, this is Elaine, from Texas. If you're still in the same business you were when you visited my library, please call me. My number is 432-555-..."
Dean scratched down the number, finished his voicemails and closed the phone. He glanced over at Sam in the driver's seat. They were heading east out of Denver, if there was a case in Texas they'd need to change directions soon.
"Elaine? This is Dean."
Sam’s eyes left the road for a moment as he heard a relieved female voice coming through his brother’s phone.
"Dean! I'm so glad you called back. I think I've stumbled across something that's right up your alley. I'm in New Mexico, Taos, and there's been a rash of suicides. Do you know the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge?"
"The Bridge to Nowhere?"
"That's it. It's always been popular with jumpers, but the numbers are rising, fast, and there've been sightings of a woman on the bridge who disappears halfway across."
"Sounds like it might be something. We’ll check it out."
"Thank you. Call me when you get close to town and I'll tell you how to get to where I am. Oh, and don’t worry about finding a hotel, I’ve got that covered."
Dean hung up and turned to Sam.
"We need to turn around; we're going to New Mexico."
When they stopped for gas Sam and Dean had swapped places. With Dean back in the driver’s seat, Sam was able to do some quick research, and quote a few facts about their destination as they rode into town.
“Population of less than five thousand, mostly Catholic, famous for artists, pueblos, skiing, and Spanish missions, lots of possibilities there.”
Some of the pictures he pulled up were gorgeous, snowy mountains and desert scrub co-existing, bare trunked trees reaching to the sky and only branching out at the last moment. Sam brushed his bangs aside to rub his eyes. Reading a laptop screen in a moving car had left them aching, he hoped it would be worth it.
********************************************
Sam and Dean slipped into the back pew of the little church. The sign out front declared it to be the Taos Church of Christ. Hand worked wooden beams stretched across the ceiling, glowing in the sunlight streaming through the windows. A small somber group gathered near the pulpit and the closed casket at the front of the church. People began filing out past the boys in a few minutes.
Two women stopped a few feet from the boys. A dark blond in her mid-twenties supported a middle aged Hispanic woman. The older woman was weeping as the younger woman spoke quietly to her.
"It's ok Lydia; I'll take care of it. You just go home."
"Thank you Elaine, I don't think I could face it right now"
The older woman handed a key and a slip of paper to her companion and left the church. The younger woman approached the brothers.
"Poor Lydia, she's heartbroken. She keeps telling me she had no idea Maria was so depressed. I didn’t know Maria, but I’ve talked to Lydia at conferences and online for so long, I didn’t think I could let her do this alone."
Dean stood and took the hand the woman had extended to him.
"Sam, this is Elaine, Elaine this is my geeky brother Sam."
Sam glared at Dean, but decided this was not the place to raise a fuss about it.
"It's good to finally meet you Sam,” Elaine replied, offering her hand to the shaggy young man. “I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances. I'm parked across the street, if you'll follow me I'll lead you to where we're staying"
Once safely back in the Impala Sam finally posed the question that he had been dying to ask.
"Dean, how do you know her? I saw the ring, so I know she's not one of your girlfriends, at least I hope not."
Dean snorted. "And you tell me to think with the upstairs brain? I don't have to sleep with every girl I meet."
"So, how did you meet her?"
"She's a librarian, Dad and I were checking out a basilisk in this little nowhere town in west Texas, spending lots of time in the library, and she caught on to what we were researching. Instead of kicking us out or calling the loony bin on us, she offered to help. Turns out one of her customers, sorry, patrons, was one of the victims."
"A basilisk? Really? I thought they were extinct."
"El basilisco. Used to be a threat to wagon based commerce, not so common now. That happens when your own reflection is deadly." Dean replied, slowing the Impala in order to avoid crossing pedestrians.
Sam shook his head. A basilisk and a librarian, obviously more had gone on while he was away than he’d realized.
“Hey Sam, did you know they filmed part of “Twins” here?”
********************************************
"Welcome to our home away from home for the week. Kindly step over and not through the salt, I just redrew that line. I hope you don't mind sharing a room, the good news is it has two beds."
The house was built of warm pink adobe, orangey red saltillo tiles covered the floors, and a neat line of salt bordered every door and window. Sam began to wonder just how much she had learned from his brother.
“We don’t want to impose…” Sam began.
“Nonsense, the hotel rates around here are outrageous, we’ve got space, and you wouldn’t even be here if I hadn’t called. Besides, I already ran it by Anne and she’s fine with it.”
Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I forgot, you haven’t met Anne, she's my best friend. This was supposed to be our girls only vacation, instead we've both ended up working."
As the guys moved their things into the spare bedroom she explained. "Anne's a paramedic, with all the jumpers lately she's been volunteering with the search parties. Not that they expect survivors, she’s actually there for the searchers. They’re going over very rough territory; it’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt. Lydia is the head librarian, her assistant Maria was one of the jumpers. She's distraught about it, so I volunteered to go through Maria's things at work for her and box up her personal belongings for her family. If you want to come with me this evening you're welcome to. The library is closed for obvious reasons, but Lydia gave me her key and the alarm code."
********************************************
Later that evening, as Elaine went through Maria’s office, Sam and Dean scanned the local newspaper archives.
"Hey Dean, I might have found something. There’s a report of a young woman in white t-shirt and jeans walking on the bridge and then disappearing near the middle"
”How reliable?”
“Reported by the same cop two nights in a row, not to mention civilian reports.”
"What are you thinking, la llorona or the ghost of a jumper?"
"Not sure. There's no pattern to the victims as far as age or gender, though most of them have some history of mental illness. If it was a weeping woman wouldn’t she be focusing on children or men?"
"So it targets crazies. Great, I'll have to leave you in the car."
"Funny. People with some sort of instability are more vulnerable to most paranormal phenomena; they could just be the easiest targets."
"All right, so assuming this woman is involved, why is it accelerating in the past month? What's changed?"
"I don't know. There's nothing obvious in any of these reports."
"Then I guess we'll have to pay a visit to the bridge."
"Not tonight.” Elaine said, entering the room. “Trust me, they're holding a vigil on the bridge tonight, you wouldn't be able to get anything done. Let us take you to dinner; I need to tell you what I found in Maria's office anyways. Tomorrow it should be back to business as usual and no one will notice two more tourists."
Dean sighed, as much as he wanted to get out and do something, she was probably right. "Fine, I guess it will have to wait."
Elaine gave him a half smile, knowing it must irk him to have to be idle. "At least you get a good dinner out of it. Anne's meeting us at the restaurant in about ten minutes, so if you'll help me load this box in the car we can get going."
"You heard the lady Sam, load the box." Dean smirked at his brother.
"Me? But you... Fine."
Elaine covered a smile at Sam’s expression, and headed out to the car.
Part Two
Author: Amethyste5
Rating: PG (violence)
Pairing, if any: None
State: New Mexico
Notes: Beta-ed multiple times by the incredibly patient
mel_b_angel , any remaining issues are due to my own stubbornness. This piece is set somewhere in Season 1. This is apparently a two parter now, as lj believes it is too large to post in its entirety, but it's not a WIP, part two should post within minutes of part one.
Bridge To Nowhere
"Dean, this is Elaine, from Texas. If you're still in the same business you were when you visited my library, please call me. My number is 432-555-..."
Dean scratched down the number, finished his voicemails and closed the phone. He glanced over at Sam in the driver's seat. They were heading east out of Denver, if there was a case in Texas they'd need to change directions soon.
"Elaine? This is Dean."
Sam’s eyes left the road for a moment as he heard a relieved female voice coming through his brother’s phone.
"Dean! I'm so glad you called back. I think I've stumbled across something that's right up your alley. I'm in New Mexico, Taos, and there's been a rash of suicides. Do you know the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge?"
"The Bridge to Nowhere?"
"That's it. It's always been popular with jumpers, but the numbers are rising, fast, and there've been sightings of a woman on the bridge who disappears halfway across."
"Sounds like it might be something. We’ll check it out."
"Thank you. Call me when you get close to town and I'll tell you how to get to where I am. Oh, and don’t worry about finding a hotel, I’ve got that covered."
Dean hung up and turned to Sam.
"We need to turn around; we're going to New Mexico."
When they stopped for gas Sam and Dean had swapped places. With Dean back in the driver’s seat, Sam was able to do some quick research, and quote a few facts about their destination as they rode into town.
“Population of less than five thousand, mostly Catholic, famous for artists, pueblos, skiing, and Spanish missions, lots of possibilities there.”
Some of the pictures he pulled up were gorgeous, snowy mountains and desert scrub co-existing, bare trunked trees reaching to the sky and only branching out at the last moment. Sam brushed his bangs aside to rub his eyes. Reading a laptop screen in a moving car had left them aching, he hoped it would be worth it.
********************************************
Sam and Dean slipped into the back pew of the little church. The sign out front declared it to be the Taos Church of Christ. Hand worked wooden beams stretched across the ceiling, glowing in the sunlight streaming through the windows. A small somber group gathered near the pulpit and the closed casket at the front of the church. People began filing out past the boys in a few minutes.
Two women stopped a few feet from the boys. A dark blond in her mid-twenties supported a middle aged Hispanic woman. The older woman was weeping as the younger woman spoke quietly to her.
"It's ok Lydia; I'll take care of it. You just go home."
"Thank you Elaine, I don't think I could face it right now"
The older woman handed a key and a slip of paper to her companion and left the church. The younger woman approached the brothers.
"Poor Lydia, she's heartbroken. She keeps telling me she had no idea Maria was so depressed. I didn’t know Maria, but I’ve talked to Lydia at conferences and online for so long, I didn’t think I could let her do this alone."
Dean stood and took the hand the woman had extended to him.
"Sam, this is Elaine, Elaine this is my geeky brother Sam."
Sam glared at Dean, but decided this was not the place to raise a fuss about it.
"It's good to finally meet you Sam,” Elaine replied, offering her hand to the shaggy young man. “I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances. I'm parked across the street, if you'll follow me I'll lead you to where we're staying"
Once safely back in the Impala Sam finally posed the question that he had been dying to ask.
"Dean, how do you know her? I saw the ring, so I know she's not one of your girlfriends, at least I hope not."
Dean snorted. "And you tell me to think with the upstairs brain? I don't have to sleep with every girl I meet."
"So, how did you meet her?"
"She's a librarian, Dad and I were checking out a basilisk in this little nowhere town in west Texas, spending lots of time in the library, and she caught on to what we were researching. Instead of kicking us out or calling the loony bin on us, she offered to help. Turns out one of her customers, sorry, patrons, was one of the victims."
"A basilisk? Really? I thought they were extinct."
"El basilisco. Used to be a threat to wagon based commerce, not so common now. That happens when your own reflection is deadly." Dean replied, slowing the Impala in order to avoid crossing pedestrians.
Sam shook his head. A basilisk and a librarian, obviously more had gone on while he was away than he’d realized.
“Hey Sam, did you know they filmed part of “Twins” here?”
********************************************
"Welcome to our home away from home for the week. Kindly step over and not through the salt, I just redrew that line. I hope you don't mind sharing a room, the good news is it has two beds."
The house was built of warm pink adobe, orangey red saltillo tiles covered the floors, and a neat line of salt bordered every door and window. Sam began to wonder just how much she had learned from his brother.
“We don’t want to impose…” Sam began.
“Nonsense, the hotel rates around here are outrageous, we’ve got space, and you wouldn’t even be here if I hadn’t called. Besides, I already ran it by Anne and she’s fine with it.”
Dean raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I forgot, you haven’t met Anne, she's my best friend. This was supposed to be our girls only vacation, instead we've both ended up working."
As the guys moved their things into the spare bedroom she explained. "Anne's a paramedic, with all the jumpers lately she's been volunteering with the search parties. Not that they expect survivors, she’s actually there for the searchers. They’re going over very rough territory; it’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt. Lydia is the head librarian, her assistant Maria was one of the jumpers. She's distraught about it, so I volunteered to go through Maria's things at work for her and box up her personal belongings for her family. If you want to come with me this evening you're welcome to. The library is closed for obvious reasons, but Lydia gave me her key and the alarm code."
********************************************
Later that evening, as Elaine went through Maria’s office, Sam and Dean scanned the local newspaper archives.
"Hey Dean, I might have found something. There’s a report of a young woman in white t-shirt and jeans walking on the bridge and then disappearing near the middle"
”How reliable?”
“Reported by the same cop two nights in a row, not to mention civilian reports.”
"What are you thinking, la llorona or the ghost of a jumper?"
"Not sure. There's no pattern to the victims as far as age or gender, though most of them have some history of mental illness. If it was a weeping woman wouldn’t she be focusing on children or men?"
"So it targets crazies. Great, I'll have to leave you in the car."
"Funny. People with some sort of instability are more vulnerable to most paranormal phenomena; they could just be the easiest targets."
"All right, so assuming this woman is involved, why is it accelerating in the past month? What's changed?"
"I don't know. There's nothing obvious in any of these reports."
"Then I guess we'll have to pay a visit to the bridge."
"Not tonight.” Elaine said, entering the room. “Trust me, they're holding a vigil on the bridge tonight, you wouldn't be able to get anything done. Let us take you to dinner; I need to tell you what I found in Maria's office anyways. Tomorrow it should be back to business as usual and no one will notice two more tourists."
Dean sighed, as much as he wanted to get out and do something, she was probably right. "Fine, I guess it will have to wait."
Elaine gave him a half smile, knowing it must irk him to have to be idle. "At least you get a good dinner out of it. Anne's meeting us at the restaurant in about ten minutes, so if you'll help me load this box in the car we can get going."
"You heard the lady Sam, load the box." Dean smirked at his brother.
"Me? But you... Fine."
Elaine covered a smile at Sam’s expression, and headed out to the car.
Part Two