The Winchester Three (S2): Crossroad Blues

Ch 7 Section 2

"Anagram, maybe?"

He wrote 'ANDA SH...' underneath the first line, then continued.

In Dean's interrogation room...

Dean, still handcuffed to the table, muttered to himself as he thought, "Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps." He pursed his lips as something came to him, "Maybe it's not a name."

Head down, Dean continued to mutter to himself when a knock on the door sounded. He looked up as a smiling middle-aged man poked his head in.

"Mr. Winchester?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Jeffrey Kraus." He introduced as he walked in, "I'm with the public defender's office. I'm your lawyer."

Dean deadpanned at the guy, "Oh, thank god. I'm saved." He eyed Kraus as he took a seat across from him, "Hey, could I, uh, steal a pen from you? Some paper?"

"Sure." He handed over the items and Dean started scribbling immediately, "Uh, well, the police haven't found a weapon yet. So that's good. But, uh, they got your prints. And literally blood on your hands. And with your police record, uh..." He frowned when he noticed Dean ignoring him, "Mr. Winchester? What are you doing?"

"I think it's an anagram."

"A what?"

"An anagram." Dean repeated, finishing up his scribbling, "Same letters, different words."

His pad of paper now read:

DNA SHULPS

DAN SHULPAS

LAND PUSHAS

SUPASH LAND

PUSH LANDAS

PLUSH DANAS

"Uh, do me a favor?" He slid the paper over to Kraus, "See if you recognize any of these words. You know, local names, places, anything like that?"

"Do you understand how serious these charges are?"

"I'm handcuffed to a table. Yeah, I get it. Humor me." Dean pressed, "Take a quick look."

With a frown Kraus pulled the pad over to him and studied it, "Well, S-U-P, I don't know about that, but Ashland is a street name. Not far from here."

"A street."

Dean took the pad back, tore off a sheet of paper and started writing again.

Kraus tried getting to business, "Let's start with where you were the night Anthony Giles died."

"Can you get in to see my sister and brother?"

"Mr. Winchester, you could be facing the death penalty here."

"Hey, thanks for the law review, Matlock, but if you want to help me..." He looked up at him as he held two folded up notes he just finished, "I need you to see my sister and brother."

In Angel's interrogation room...

Angel looked at the note Dean sent her, which read:

HILTS-

IT'S A STREET

ASHLAND.

-MCQUEEN

"I hope that's meaningful. It looked to be for your other brother." Kraus sighed, "But I'd like to discuss your case now."

Angel deadpanned at him before motioning to the chair in front of her with her head, "Sure thing, Matlock."

Kraus rose a brow, "You three really are siblings, aren't you?" He sat with a sigh, "Now. As you know, the DA might be interested in-"

A knock on the door was quickly followed by Ballard, who addressed Kraus, "We need you. With the other one."

In Dean's interrogation room...

Several others have crowded into the observation room outside where Dean was being held; across from his seat a digital camera has been set up. When Ballard and Kraus entered, Sheridan turned.

"Counselor..." Sheridan looked to Kraus with a small smirk, "Your boy decided to confess."

"Mr. Winchester..." Kraus frowned as he shuffled over to Dean, "I'd advise against that strongly."

Sheridan ignored him, instructing Dean, "Talk directly into the camera, first stating your name for the record."

Dean cleared his throat and leaned forward as he looked into the camera, "My name is Dean Winchester. I'm an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women." He smirked before getting serious again, "And I did not kill anyone, but I know who did..." He looked up at Ballard and Sheridan, the latter of which was glaring, "Or rather what did. Of course it can't be for sure, because our investigation was interrupted, but our working theory was that we're looking for some kind of vengeful spirit."

Ballard narrowed her eyes, "Excuse me?"

"You know, Casper the bloodthirsty ghost? Tony Giles saw it. I'll bet you cash money Karen did too. See, the interesting thing is the word it leaves behind. For some reason it's trying to tell us something. But communicating across the veil, it ain't easy, and sometimes the spirits, they get things jumbled. You remember 'REDRUM'. Same concept." Dean nodded, "You know, it's, uh, maybe word fragments... other times, it's anagrams." He took out one of the papers he scribbled on and showed Ballard and Sheridan, "See, at first we thought this was a name, Dana Shulps, but now we think it's a street. Ashland. Whatever's going on..." Dean spread his hands on the table and smiled, "I'll bet you it started there."

"You arrogant bastard." Sheridan growled, "Tony and Karen were good people, and you're making jokes."

"I'm not joking, Ponch."

"You murdered them in cold blood just like that girl in St. Louis!"

"Oh, yeah. That wasn't me either. That was a shape-shifter creature that only looked like me."

When Dean smiled at the camera again, Sheridan completely lost his temper. He hauled Dean up by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

Ballard ran over to them, "Pete, that is enough!"

Dean raised a brow at the cop, "You asked for the truth."

Sheridan pushed himself off Dean before turning and walking out, "Lock his ass up."

Another cop took over, shoving Dean face-first against the wall and handcuffing him.

In Angel and Sam's interrogation rooms...

After finding Angel's interrogation room empty, Sheridan and Ballard rushed into Sams to find him gone as well. The coffee and the note he had were still on the table.

"What the hell?" Sheridan grumbled, "Where the hell did they go?" Sheridan went to the window which was open and looked down at the four story drop, "What'd they do? The fire escape's way over..." He caught sight of Ballards frown as she looked at the note that was on the table, "What?"

She handed him the note, "These three..."

Sheridan frowned, "Hilts and McQueen?"

"Hilts is Steve McQueen's character in the Great Escape."

Sheridan glowered before scoffing and walking out at that realization.

In the police station bathroom...

Ballard entered the bathroom and the lights flickered. She sighed as she approached the sink. When it turned on by itself she recoiled from it quickly. All the faucets started pouring out hot water, steam rising. In the fogging mirror the letters DANASHULPS were formed. Ballard hurriedly scrubbed them away to reveal the ghost. Her throat was slit deeply, her eyes deep red as she struggled to talk.