Salt and Blood 11/25
Chapter 11
"Is he haunted?" Dean asked as soon as they had shut the doors of the car.
"The EMF meter reacted to him."
"Thanks, Captain Obvious." Dean fired up the engine and drove off. In the rear-view mirror he could see the Morgans and Bennetts still standing in the driveway. Cody waved at them. Dean answered the gesture but his mind was elsewhere.
"It didn't react like that when I checked the evidence." Sam said.
"But Dexter hasn't been with you when you did the reading." Dean reminded him. "And you were surrounded by evidence of a billion murder cases. Bet whatever trace Dexter left it has been overlaid with that."
"Probably." Sam didn't sound convinced. He thought about it for a while. "They had some beef. Dexter and Morgan."
"You think it would be enough for him to haunt Dexter?" Dean shot him a doubtful glance. Ghosts usually were tied to their remains or something very personal. To get tied to a person that person had to mean the world to the ghost in a good or a bad way and not just the I can't live without you stuff, something like that was serious.
For a short second Dean wondered if in case of his early and tragic death he would haunt Sam. If so he would totally kick his brother's ass for not properly burning his handsome corpse.
"I don't know." Sam answered with a delay probably thinking in similar lines as Dean. "By the way, how did Cody even get in the car, didn't you lock it?"
As if that was important right now. Dean shrugged. At that point he had been more worried about the dinner and what it probably meant. Debra had said it was just dinner but this social stuff was always more complicated than it should be. It went better than he had thought, though. Not as embarrassing and awkward than he had pictured it in the short time Debra had left him to adjust beforehand.
"Didn't think it would be necessary." Dean answered Sam's question. "Didn't figure you'd let lay the gear around. In case you haven't noticed that was your meter."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm just glad he didn't find any weapons."
"Right, that would have been fun." Just the thought of kids and guns - especially a kid he knew - made him feel sick.
They went silent for a while but out of the corner of his eye Dean could see his brother thinking. The way he squirmed in his seat, how he opened his mouth and shut it again without saying a word while his hands started to gesture and then fell lifelessly in his lap. It mirrored Dean's own feelings.
"I got nothing." Sam finally admitted when Dean parked the car in front of the Blue Starfish Motel.
"We've to find out more about that thing between Dexter and Doakes." Dean shut the engine off and reached behind to get the EMF meter Sam had once again thrown in the backseat.
"That just sounds wrong." Sam made a face and then stopped with a frown. "Dude, you think they had a thing going on?"
"Doubt it." Dean got out of the car and made sure to lock it this time. "Nobody mentioned anything indicating they played for the same team. But you never know."
They settled in and Sam immediately started his laptop. "Okay, we have to find the connection between Dexter and Doakes."
"Or we could just ask Dexter." With some tools Dean set the EMF meter on his bed. First he checked the case and the wiring on the outside. So far everything looked fine.
"He hasn't noticed anything unusual." Sam reminded him. "So, I guess it would turn out really well if we just ask him why a homicidal spirit is attached to him."
"Sammy, Sammy." Dean unscrewed the device and opened the plastic case. "Always the optimistic."
"What are you doing?" Sam asked in that tone. The tone that indicated Dean should stop wasting time and start doing something useful.
"I'm checking the meter." He answered holding up the two parts of the device. "Thought it would be nice to know if Cody has screwed with it or not before we use it on the hunt again."
"Oh." At least Sam the sense to look a little bit ashamed when he turned his attention back on the notes in front of him.
After a few minutes Dean was satisfied. Everything looked good and he put the parts together again.
"That should be it." For a last test he flipped the meter on. Expecting only the usual flicker of a lamp or two, the EMF equivalent of background noise, he dropped the meter in surprise when it reacted with maximum amplitude.
"What the hell?" Dean was on his feet, looking around for a threat. The meter on the bed still blinked like a Christmas tree and whined in high tune. Back to back the brothers scanned the area but nothing showed.
"You sure it's working correctly?" Sam just had to ask, hadn't he?
Yes, Dean was sure but instead he said: "Get the other meter."
For a second it looked like Sam wanted to argue but then he sprinted to the car and got the other meter. Dean couldn't hide a smirk when the second meter reacted the same way as the first.
"Told you it works fine."
"I apologize, oh mighty god of electronics." Sam started to sweep the room and Dean hurried to catch the meter from the bed to join him.
"You better, bitch."
"Jerk." Came the automatic response. "It's weaker over here."
They got a faint reading from the whole room including the bathroom, stronger from their bags and the meters went wild around the table with Sam's notes.
Sam flipped his meter off and skimmed his notes.
"Nothing here that shouldn't be here." He said after a minute. "And nothing seems to be out of order, though."
Dean clicked his tongue. A quick sweep through the room, searching the bags in case there was anything of interest in there and then a thorough reading through the notes. That was the way he'd search a place. The way he did every other day.
"Somebody has quite an interest in our work." Dean could only think of one person who would leave such a signature. "Think Dexter has been here?"
"Dexter?" Sam stared at him, then looked around and Dean could nearly see the wheels turning in his head while he proceeded the same steps Dean had. "Oh."
"The only question is if he knows what he's doing or if Doakes somehow takes over." Dean cleared his bed of the tools and stretched out on it.
"Or they could be partners." Sam added.
After about an hour the EMF signature started to fade till it was just above the usual background noise. It would be completely gone in no time but the uneasy feeling stayed. Someone - most likely Dexter - had been in their room and it was quite a bit different when they were the ones whose life had been sniffed out. A feeling Dean didn't like. At all.
It was getting late and they decided to call it a day. Usually they didn't bother to secure their room but tonight thick lines of salt blocked the door and every window. Shotguns loaded with rock salt shells lay under their beds, Dean had a knife with an iron blade under his pillow and Sam had his between the frame of his bed and the mattress. Between the beds - within easy reach for both of them - they'd put the half empty bag of salt. Better safe than sorry, right?
However, the night went by without an incident.
Over breakfast at the diner down the street they pondered their options. Saturday morning, so Dexter wouldn't be at work and would probably spent the day with his girlfriend and the kids.
"What do you think?" Sam asked, sipping at his coffee. "Are the kids in danger?"
That was the question which had kept Dean awake half the night.
"I don't think so." He answered. "Doakes died month ago and the killings, if they are related what we still don't know for sure, went on immediately after that."
"Yeah. And don't forget he goes after murderers." Sam added and tortured his pancakes with the fork. "Rita and the kids should be fine."
Dean wasn't so sure if "should be" was enough but it had to do.
"I'll ask Debra about him." Dean offered. With every other girl he wouldn't even blink and just use her to get the information he needed but Debra was different. She wasn't a one-night stand like all the others. He couldn't even remember a girl he'd spent more time with. Sometimes a second round but it always was about the sex. Have some fun and move on. Debra was different. Using her to get to her brother just felt wrong.
They finished their meal but didn't have an idea how to proceed after that. Calling Debra now would only look desperate and that wasn't the impression Dean wanted to give her.
Debra on the other hand didn't seem to have such problems.
When Dean's phone rang it flashed Debra's caller ID. After he'd talked to her for a minute he hung up and he could feel the dumfounded expression on his face.
"We are going to see her?" Sam asked when Dean didn't speak. He'd heard Dean's side of the conversation but not Debra's. Dean blinked still trying to process what had just happened.
"Apparently Dexter owns a boat." He cleared his throat. "We are invited to a boat trip."
Dean recalled one boat trip in his life and that had something to do with a kelpie and it hadn't been fun at all. He remembered the bone deep cold and the feeling of drowning. Even in the Miami sun he shuddered at that memory.
"We are going on a boat trip?" Sam echoed. "That sounds … nice? Are Rita and the kids coming, too?"
"Just me and Debra and you and Dexter." Dean forced the kelpie incident back into the depth of his memory. "Does this count as a double date?" For what he got Sam's elbow to the ribs. But it was half-hearted.
"What?" Dean followed Sam who took off with his fist in his pockets. With a few long strides he caught up with his brother. "Did I say something wrong?"
Sam shook his head, sighed and kept the brooding silence till they reached their motel. Inside he dropped on his bed.
"I went on a few boat trips with Jess." He finally said, eyes on the floor and voice barely a whisper.
Shit. So boat trips triggered memories for both of them.
"We don't have to go." Dean had already his phone in hand. He wasn't fond of the trip anyway but he would go in sake of the case. However, if Sam suffered from this, no way they would do this.
"No." Sam looked up that sad little smile on his lips he always wore when he thought about Jess. "It kinda blindsided me. Hell, we are in Miami, boats are everywhere. Wonder why I didn't think of it earlier."
Because you didn't want to stir the memories, Dean could have told him but he just put the phone away. It had been over a year but in some way Sam would always be grieving for Jess. Their dad's death hadn't made things easier and no Dean would not got there right now. Or ever for that matter.
"When and where will we meet them?" Sam visibly pulled himself together.
"At elven. Debra sends me the directions." Dean sat down on his own bed trying to get used to the idea of a boat trip. It wasn't that bad. It was a boat and not a fucking plane but still.
"You can talk to Dexter and I'll see what Debra has to say." This is for the case, he reminded himself. But a small voice in his mind screamed: First dinner now a boat trip, run while you still can.
"As long as you two don't forget that you're not alone." Sam teased but the sadness was still in his eyes.
"C'mon. We did it in her brother's bed. Why not his boat, too?" Dean tried to smile but it felt strained. There were plane people and boat people and car people. Dean Winchester belonged to the proud tribe of the car people. He had no business on the water. And for sure not with somebody who might consider herself his girlfriend by now.
"Dude, too much information." Sam was a second from covering his ears and saying "lalalalalala" like he used to as a kid, Dean could see and he was just glad that the awkward moment was over.
"It'll be fun. The ocean, the sun, the wind." He said and shrugged of the little voice whispering: the cold, the darkness, the water in your lungs. This was a whole different thing. And if he told himself that often enough he'd probably believe it in the end.
continue to chapter 12
back to Masterpost