Unbreakable Hope

44. The Third Man

"Apparently."

"Glad we hashed that out. Call me when you guys roll into town." He hung up.

Dean stared at the phone. "Who died and made you boss?"

Elena let out a sigh. "Another job?"

"Yup."

"Hey, Dean, have you noticed anything different about Sam?"

"What, that he's colder and he doesn't seem to care."

"Exactly. He... I don't know what's going on with him, but that's not the Sam I remember."

"Elena, I promise you we'll eventually figure out what's going on and you'll get him back. We both will."

EXT. HIGHWAY

A cop, Toby, was parked on the side of a road. A car sped by, clocking 70 mph.

"Well, now, you could do better than that," Toby said, settling back to pour some booze into a giant-sized plastic convenience store cup.

His phone rang and he answered. "Why are you calling me? He's dead, right? Now, I don't want to talk about it. We do what we do -- we got to work, we go to the funeral." He sighed. "Calm down. This is nothing to do with you and me. You're just working yourself up. Don't call me." He hung up. "Idiot."

Something crashed through the branches towards the cop car. Boils broke out on Toby's face and hands.

"God! God! Dispatch, this is -- Please, I -- I need... Please."

Toby choked and stilled.

EXT. STREET

Sam, in a suit, was leaning against his car and reading some reports.

Dean drove up in the Impala and exited, along with Elena, in the midst of a phone conversation. The two men were in suits and Elena was in a blouse and skirt.

Dean spoke into his phone. "Ben... I know you're lying. Because I lie professionally, that's how. Now tell your mom that you broke the damn thing and take it like a man. Okay? Ok -- okay." He hung up.

"Wow," Sam commented.

"What?"

"You -- molding the minds of tomorrow. Who knew?"

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"How'd it go?"

"With?"

"You and Lisa. How'd she take it when you bailed?"

"Shockingly cool, actually."

"Better for everybody."

"Yeah, I suppose. Still driving the plastic piece of crap, huh?"

"What's your mileage again?"

"Shut up."

INT. POLICE STATION

Sam brief the other two as they walked through the station to the morgue. "Officer Gerald Hatch, 17-year veteran, found dead in the ready room three days ago."

Dean read the file. "Whoa. Somebody was over-hydrated."

Sam laughed. "Basically, yeah. The guy just... liquefied. Most of the meat, bones, dense tissues -- they just turned to blood."

Elena frowned. "Okay, I don't get it."

"Nobody gets it."

"No. I get that. What I'm saying is, if the guy was a mop job, then what are we doing in the morgue? What's left of him to look at?"