Down the Rabbit Hole

A Curious Thing Part 1

The car they had stolen earlier in the day was now speeding down the highway, Sam behind the wheel. Lacey was in the back, reading a well-thumbed copy of Evil under the Sun. Dean who was napping in the front passenger seat woke with a start.
"Morning."

"Hey." Dean straightened up in his seat, pulling a flask from the inside pocket of his jacket and taking a swig from it.

"Is that Bobby's?" Sam asked. "I didn't know you kept that."

"Yeah, mine sprung a leak." Dean shrugged

"You know, most people would just carry a – a photo or something for a memento."

"Shut up, man. I'm... I'm honoring the guy, all right? This is, uh, grief therapy, kind of like you and your wild-goose chase." Dean muttered.

"Wild-goose chase?" Sam asked, sounding exasperated.

"Yeah."

"Four guys murdered in two weeks, hands and feet cut off."

"Yeah, well, some guy with a foot fetish run amuck."
"Either way, sounds gross to me." Lacey input from the back seat.

"Grown men thrown so hard they went through walls. Did you – did you even read the article?" He pulled a newspaper out of the glove box and handed it to Dean.

"No, I was napping."

"Well, anyway, what else you got going on? Dick Roman's a dead end for now, you might as well –"

"Stay busy." Dean finished.

"Exactly."

"Yeah." Dean grumbled. Lacey sighed and went back to reading her book.

They arrived at the morgue in Seattle a few hours later and were taken in to see the body.

"The latest, but probably not the last. You guys always work this late?" The Forensic Technician asked as he wheeled out the body before uncovering it.

"Ugh, hours suck. But, uh, great benefits package." Dean explained it away.

"Oh yeah?" The Technician sounded interested.

"Yeah. 10% co-pay on all drugs." Dean told him. Lacey raised an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.

"Seriously?" Dean nodded. "Oh, but just generic, right?"

"No, no. Name brands are cool."

"Oh." He looked impressed.

"Yeah."

"So. What's our boy here weigh?" Sam asked, changing the subject.

"Uh. A buck ninety. Thrown against a wall so hard it buckled. Based on the blood flow at the crime scene, the hands and feet were cut off while he was still alive, just like the others. The killer wanted him to suffer."

"And all vics are male, right, with the same kind of, uh, artwork as this?" Dean indicated the markings carved into the chest.

"Yeah. Identical." The Technician confirmed.

"So, uh, DNA left at any of the scenes?"

"All of them. One before this, the guy bit the attacker. Still had a chunk of flesh in his teeth when he came in. That's about as good as it gets."

"Right."

"So, we have a match?" Sam asked.

"We do not." The Technician walked over to the computer and brought up a report that read 'Sample Rejected. No Known Genetic Markers'. "The samples were rejected. The genetic markers don't match anything we've ever seen."