Down the Rabbit Hole

Rocky Road Part 2

Soundtrack:

Dusty Springfield Spooky

The Beach Boys I get around

Dragonette I get around

When they arrived back at the motel Dean was already there, unpacking Chinese food.
"Hey. So, what's the lowdown with trauma town?" Sam made a face at him.
"I can tell you this much. Neither vic was up for parent of the year. Kelly's dad skipped her birthday, and Billy's dad pulled one of those Dick Parent scenes that makes everyone cringe." Sam put some of the kids drawings on the table.
"What the hell are these?"
"Kid therapy. Um, you draw your worst nightmare – poof! – Plucky fixes it. Um, they hang them up on this big wall."
"Well, can't argue with this. Leprechauns are deadly." Dean said as he leafed through the pages. Sam snorted into his food. Dean picked up a carton and passed it to Lacey. "I got your favourite, Eggplant in garlic sauce."
"Thanks." Lacey said begrudgingly, taking the box from him.
"Okay, so, Kelly draws a monster, and then that goes after her father? That's what we're saying?" Dean clarified.
"Well, here's the thing. They label those. And guess which two were missing. Well, name tag was there – no place mat."
"Little Miss Octovamp." Dean guessed.
"Yeah. And... Billy. So... somehow, whatever he drew came to life and killed his dad, riding a horse."
"Close, but no Seabiscuit. See, I went and had a little chat with Billy. And he drew me this." Dean unfolded another drawing. Lacey had to stop herself from choking on her food.
"Wait. So now unicorns are evil?" Sam asked. Lacey scoffed.
"I refuse to believe that."
"Great. Well, now the question is, how did a unicorn come off a sketch and kill Billy's dad? How's any of this happening?" The three of them carried on eating in silence, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.

They returned to Plucky's a few hours later, but they were too late. The place was crowded with police and an ambulance had pulled up to the front door. They got out of the car and headed for the entrance just as the EMT's were bringing out a body covered with a sheet. Dean held up his badge as Sam went over to talk to the manager.
"Hold on one second there, guys." He lifted up the sheet for a moment, Lacey took a step back at the sight that met them. Dean lowered the sheet.
"So?" Dean asked as Sam walked back over.
"The manager found the body in the ball pit. Blood everywhere."
"Cops have a theory?"
"Yeah, they think the ball washer did it."
"The what?"
"The... ball washer." Dean had started to smirk and even Lacey could barely keep a straight face.
"The what?"
"The ball..." Sam stopped mid-sentence at the look on their faces. He shook his head at them. "Grow up, you two."
"Look at this." Dean lifted the sheet again. Sam's expression paled as he took it all in.
"Thank you, gentlemen." Dean dropped the sheet back down and let the EMT's carry on. "That's a shark bite." Dean told them as soon as they were alone.
"Yeah." Sam agreed.
"And, uh, judging from the radius, I'd say a 20-footer, at least." Lacey frowned at him as Sam gave a quizzical look. "Shark Week, man. How do you not watch that?" He looked between the two of them. Lacey shrugged and followed Sam as he walked away. "Whole week of sharks." Dean called after them.

They made their way inside the building and walked towards the back to where the wall of pictures was, flashlights in hand.
"Omar Cooper. How much you want to bet little Omar here was scared of sharks?" Sam pointed at another empty slot.
"Saul the janitor is connected how? I mean, he's not related to Omar." Dean tried to reason.
"No. But Saul had something he wanted to tell me."
"So this isn't about ganking some dickweed parent."
"More like, uh, silencing a whistle-blower?" Sam suggested.
"Great, so whatever we're looking for can literally fire off childhood fears at will. Wow. Watch out for evil lunch ladies." Sam took out his EMF reader.
"All right. Let's comb this place."
"Seriously. Dractopus. Seabiscuit the impaler. Land shark – what's next?" Dean muttered as he and Lacey followed Sam.

Back at the motel Sam and Dean were sitting at the table doing research while Lacey was in the arm chair, her legs curled under her.
"Maybe a... Tulpa?" Sam suggested.
"No, killings are too spread out."
"True. Um... angel?"
"It's a little imaginative for the God squad, don't you think?"
"All right. So... what?"
"Yeah, I don't know. I'm tapped out. Lace, you got anything?" Dean turned around to find Lacey fast asleep in the chair, her book slipping down onto her lap. Dean got up, a soft smile creeping at the corners of his mouth and covered her with a blanket from one of the beds. He sat back down and they resumed their conversation in hushed tones.
"Well, whatever it is, at least we know where it is."
"Plucky's!"
"That's where the victims are getting picked up."
"Yeah, but we swept the place last night, and nada."
"I can go back. Go to the employees, maybe dig up some dirt."
"What good's that gonna do? They think you're a Fed. The one guy who was gonna rat, he got Bruce'd. If anybody knows anything, they're not gonna tell you." Dean reasoned.
"All right." Sam nodded. "Yep. That's the plan."
"I'll go back, play bad cop, really lean into them."
"And...?" Dean looked at him expectantly.
"And... when I'm done, then you watch them."
"So if somebody freaks out, then that's our creep."
"Or he'll lead us closer, and you can track him."
"Well, what's my cover?"
"I don't know. Just hang back. Act normal."
"Yeah, yeah. Guy in his thirties hanging out at Plucky's alone – that's normal. That's not pervy at all." Dean grumbled.