CAFÉ
Dean was flipping through a newspaper, Sam was on his laptop, the cousins were chatting, and Charlotte was stirring her eggs with a bored expression.
Dean folded the paper. "Well, dude, babe. Not a decent lead in all of Nebraska. What have you got?" He signed to his daughter, Eat your food, sweetie.
Charlotte kicked her chair. I don't like eggs anymore. I want Mommy.
I know you want, Mommy. I wish Mommy was here. But she's not. You've got me, though, sweetie. Please try to eat your eggs.
No!
He sighed. Try is all I ask, sweetie.
Sam chuckled before saying, "Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here. A woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived."
"Yeah."
"Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. In the meantime, we got a lot of work to do, Dean, you know that."
"Yeah, all right. What else you got?"
"Ahh, a man in Colorado, a local man named Daniel Elkins was found mauled in his home."
"Elkins? I know that name."
"Doesn't ring a bell."
Under his breath, Dean muttered, "Elkins... Elkins... Elkins."
"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now they've found some signs of robbery."
"Mm-hmm. There, check it out."
"You think it's the same Elkins?"
"It's a Colorado area code," Dean told him.
---
The Impala and the Fastback cruised down the road, snow capped mountains in the background.
They reached Elkins' cabin and Sam picked the lock. As he put it away, Dean flicked on a flashlight.
Caroline, holding Charlotte's hand, looked around at the mess. "Guess the maid didn't come today."
"Hey, there's salt over here, right beside the door," Sam noted.
Dean asked, "You mean protection against demon salt or 'whoops I spilled the popcorn' salt?"
"It's clearly a ring. Do you think this guy Elkins was a player?"
"Definitely."
Sam came up behind his brother and friend. "That looks a hell of a lot like Dad's."
"Yep, except this dates back to the 60s."
---
Outside, a man stood in front of the shadows of a large tree, looking at the cabin.
Sam, Dean, Caroline, Aliana and Charlotte moved into the other room and the adults shined their flashlights around the destruction, including up at the hole in the roof.
"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one," Sam said.
"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight, too," Dean replied.
"Yeah."
They looked around the room and Aliana crouched to get a closer look at the floor.
"You got something?" Sam asked.
"I dunno. Some scratches on the floor," Lana told him.
"Death throes, maybe?"
"Yeah, maybe." She grabbed a page from a notebook, placed it over the marks, and rubbed a pencil over it to get an outline. "Or maybe a message."
YOU ARE READING
For This You Were Born
Mystery / ThrillerThe pride and joy of Dean Winchester is his little girl, his Charlotte. Things haven't been easy for either of them. First, Dean and the woman he loved knew Charlotte would be born with an impairment. Then, when Charlotte was born, things took a tu...
