The Red Strokes

06. Skin

"It's okay. It's okay," a police officer said as the girl pointed to the room across the hall.

"In there! In there!" the girl cried.

The S.W.A.T team moved to the other room. The man was there, trying to open a pair of doors leading to a balcony.

"Freeze!" an officer yelled. "Don't move! Drop the knife. Keep your hands where I can see 'em. Drop it! Hold it right there! Do it!" The man turned around. It was Dean.

EXT. GAS STATION

ONE WEEK EARLIER

Sam, Delaney, Elaina and Dean pulled into the station.

"All right, I figure we'd hit Tucumcari by lunch, then head south, hit Bisbee by midnight," Dean said and Sam didn't respond. "Sam wears women's underwear."

"I've been listenin', I'm just busy," Sam replied as he checked e-mails on his PalmPilot.

"Busy doin' what?"

"Reading e-mails." Dean got out of the car and started to fill the tank with gas.

"E-mails from who?"

"From our friends at Stanford," Delaney replied as she began filling up the tank.

"You're kidding. You two still keep in touch with your college buddies? Do you, Elaina?"

Elaina nodded as Sam and Delaney questioned, "Why not?"

"Well, what exactly do you three tell 'em? You know, about where you've been, what you've been doin'?"

"We tell 'em we're on a road trip with my big brother, their friend. We tell 'em we needed some time off after Jess."

"Oh, so you lie to 'em."

"No. The girls and I just don't tell 'em.... everything."

Elaina frowned. "Sam, Laney and I do need time after Jess."

Dean looked between them. "Yeah, that's called lying. I mean, hey, man, girls, I get it, tellin' the truth is far worse."

Sam frowned. "So, what are the girls and I supposed to do, just cut everybody out of our life?" Dean shrugged. "You're serious?"

"Look, it sucks, but in a job like this, you can't get close to people, period."

"You're kind of anti-social, you know that?"

"Yeah, whatever."

Sam continued to read his e-mails. "God..."

"What?" Dean asked.

"In this e-mail from this girl, Rebecca Warren, one of those friends of mine, Laney and Ela's."

"Is she hot?" Sam ignored him and Delaney and Elaina rolled their eyes.

"The girls and I went to school with her, and her brother, Zack. She says Zack's been charged with murder. He's been arrested for killing his girlfriend. Rebecca says he didn't do it, but it sounds like the cops have a pretty good case."

"Dude, what kind of people are you three hangin' out with?"

"No, man, the girls and I know Zack. He's no killer."

"Well, maybe you three know Zack as well as he knows you three."

"They're in St. Louis. We're goin'."

Dean chuckled. "Look, sorry 'bout your buddy, okay? But this does not sound like our kind of problem."

"It is our problem. They're Laney, Ela's and my friends."