Wayward Hearts- Book 4

Part 10

Emma stared up at the man who was hanging from the flag pole and tried to piece together the evidence they had before them. She pulled at the uncomfortable skirt of her FBI disguise before being elbowed by Sam to remind her to stand up straight. She gave him a dirty look.

A firetruck extended its ladder and a fireman pulled the body of the teacher down so the coroner could take the body away.

Jody walked up to the three pretend agents, "Victim's name is Stephen Phelps, he was a math teacher. Alex's favorite, actually."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sam said genuinely.

Jody nodded, tight lipped, but continued, "Phelps was found hanging upside-down from the top of the flag pole, duct-taped. Like his neck had been snapped first."

"Any witnesses?" Dean asked.

"Just the janitor that was lucky enough to find him," Jody informed them.

"How the hell did the killer get him up there in the first place?" Emma pondered out loud.

Dean tried to wrap his head around the situation, "Yeah, so the killer climbs up twenty feet, a guy on his back, and duct tapes him?"

Jody pulled an evidence bag from her pocket and handed it off to Sam, "We found this around the base of the flagpole, if it means anything. I've already sent a sample off to the lab."

Sam shook his head and showed Emma, who was also stumped as to what the fiber like substance could be.

"What else do you know about Phelps?" Dean asked.

Jody shrugged but looked slightly saddened, "Only that he was a damn fine teacher. He really helped Alex out, I know that."

"Trouble at nine o'clock," Emma muttered as Claire almost skipped up to them.

"I knew it," she announced proudly as she came to a stop, "so what are we dealing with? Demons, ghost possession-"

Jody cut her off, "Claire, this is a crime scene, you can't be here."

"But the fake FBI can?" Claire quipped and motioned towards Emma, Dean, and Sam.

"Keep your voice down," Jody hissed as she looked around to make sure no one had heard.

Dean grabbed Claire's arm and lead her away, separate from the group to talk to her. Now that both brothers had their chance to talk sense into the girl, Emma hoped that Dean would get through to her. Claire was being careless and putting herself and others in a lot of danger. Emma knew first hand that she wasn't going to last long being reckless and stupid.

Emma glanced over to Dean and noticed that he was staring at someone intently, she followed his gaze and saw that he was staring at who Emma assumed was Alex's boyfriend, Henry. Something about him made alarm bells go off in Emma's head just as much as it was for Dean, but she couldn't put a finger on it.

"Emma," Sam called Emma's name to get her attention as if he had been trying several times before he actually got it.

"What? Sorry," Emma finally broke her stare from Henry, "Aunt Jody, is that kid over there Alex's boyfriend."

"Yeah, Henry is a good kid," Jody smiled.

"I'm going to go with Jody to do some interviews," Sam let her know, "can you help Dean?"

"Yeah, of course," Emma nodded and walked off to join Dean, who looked frustrated after his talk with Claire.

"Brat keeps walking away from me," Dean muttered.

Emma laughed, "Gee that sounds familiar."

"No way," Dean shook his head, "you weren't that hardheaded."

Emma turned the conversation towards their shared suspicion, "So that Henry kid that Alex is hanging out with..."

"Yeah, something ain't right," Dean agreed, "I'm gonna grab the EMF reader."

Emma nodded and watched as Dean grabbed the reader from the trunk of his car before rejoining her at the front door of the school so they could enter together. As they walked into the main hallway Dean switched on the EMF reader and waited for any kind of reading to register, but he got none.

"Keep an eye out for the normal stuff," Dean instructed Emma, "hex bags-"

"Sulfur, temperature drops, yada yada," Emma smirked at Dean.

Dean let out a slightly frustrated sigh, "Yeah, yeah, don't get cocky like Claire."

They continued their search in each hallway and every classroom; even finding a couple of teachers making out in the break room. Emma searched meticulously for any sign of the paranormal and supernatural. As Dean was finishing up in one of the last classrooms, Emma stepped out into the hallway to wait for him. A custodian was mopping just down the hall from her. When he noticed that Emma had spotted him, he tried to walk away. Emma hurried to catch up with him.

"Excuse me," she called out, "excuse me!"

Seeing that Emma was not going to stop pursuing him, the man finally stopped, "Sorry, can I help you?"

"Yes. I'm investigating the death of Mr. Phelps. Are you the custodian that found him?" Emma asked.

The man eyed her up and down, "Aren't you a little young to be with the police? Much less the FBI? What are you some kinda junior agent or something?"

Emma gave him an uncomfortable smile and ignored his question, "Are you the person that found the body mister...."

"Wheeler," the custodian informed her, "I was actually just speaking with your other agent a minute ago."

"And he got all your information?" Emma asked.

"Sure did," Wheeler nodded.

Emma started to get that same eerie feeling that she had gotten when she saw Henry as she looked Wheeler up and down suspiciously. The door to the classroom that Dean was working swung open. Dean stepped out and started searching for Emma, he waved when he saw her and started walking over to her.

"Hey, Sam just called, let's go," Dean said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

Emma followed Dean back out to the car where Sam was waiting for them. They waited until they were in the car to debrief each other.

"Sam, did you talk to Mr. Wheeler?" Emma asked.

Sam nodded, "Yeah, he was squirrelly. He is hiding something."

"Between him and that Henry kid," Emma agreed and sat back as Dean started to pull out of the school parking lot.

"Well, teacher of the year gets run up a flagpole and no one knows squat, something is going on," Dean nodded.