𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧

Chapter 125-Clearing Our Name

Sitting in the motel doing some more digging on the Giles case we look up at the sound of a knock on the door making me extremely nervous "stay behind me." Sam said as he got up as I nodded and then stood behind him as he opened the door. When he opened it, Ballard was standing there. We all stared at each other, and then she shrugged and walked in, shutting the door behind her "look, I know you probably don't trust me, but Dean sent me." She said "Dean?" Sam and I asked in unison "yeah, I saw...something in the bathroom, and then she disappeared. These showed up." She said as she held up her wrists. They looked like they had been bruised by ropes.

"These showed up after you saw it?" Sam asked as he grabbed her hands and examined her wrists "yeah, I guess." She replied "all right. You're going to have to tell us exactly what you saw." Sam said "ya know, I must be losing my mind. You're a fugitive. I should be arresting you." She said pointing at Sam "all right. Well, ya know what? You can arrest me later, all right? After you live through this. But right now, you've gotta talk to me. Okay?" Sam asked her as she nodded "okay, great. Now, this spirit. What did it look like?" Sam asked.

"She was, um, really pale, and her throat was cut, and her eyes, they were like, this deep dark red. It appeared like she was trying to talk to me. But she couldn't. It was just...a lot of blood." Ballard said as she looked up at him "ya know what? Here. We've been researching every girl that's ever died or gone missing from Ashland Street." Sam said as he walked her over to the table we had been working at picking up a stack of photos "how'd you get those? Those are from crime scenes and booking photos." She asked him "you have your job. I have mine." He said handing her the photos "here. I need you to look through these. Tell me if you recognize anyone." Sam said.

"This is her. I'm sure of it." She said handing a photo to Sam "Claire Becker? Twenty-eight-years-old. Disappeared about eight or nine months ago." Sam said "but I don't even know her. I mean, why would she come after me?" Ballard asked "well, before her death, she was arrested twice. For dealing heroin. You ever work narcotics?" Sam asked her "yeah, Pete and I did. Before Homicide." Ballard said "you ever bust her?" Sam asked her "not that I remember." She said "it says that she was last seen entering 2911
Ashland Street.' Police searched the place, didn't find anything. Guess we gotta check it out ourselves. See if we can find her body." Sam said.

"What?" Ballard asked "we have to salt and burn her bones." I said "it's the only way to put her spirit to rest." Sam said "of course, it is." She mumbled.

[......]
We pulled up in front of a creepy old warehouse and followed each other in. We shined our flashlights around as we searched for any clue as to where the body could be "so, what exactly are we looking for?" Ballard asked "I'II let you know when we find it." Sam replied as he shined his flashlight up a staircase. He nodded at me to follow. As we walked upstairs, Ballard kept looking around on the lower level.

"How do you think Dean is doing?" I asked him "honestly? He's probably fine. Bored. But he's probably loving messing with those cops." Sam said "how are we gonna get him out? I mean, they think he did all those awful things." I asked "we'll get him back don't worry." Sam replied "Sam!" Ballard screamed making Sam and I looked at each other and then ran downstairs "hey! Hey, I'm here, what is it? What happened?" Sam asked as we reached her "Claire.." Ballard whispered "where?" Sam asked her "she-she was here." Ballard replied "did she attack you?" Sam asked.

"No. No, she was just like, reaching out to me. She was over there by the window." She said walking over to a window, but it was blocked by a shelving unit "here, help me move this." She said "all right." Sam said as he walked over and helped her move the shelves. When they revealed the window, there was a label, ASHLAND SUP "our little mystery word." Ballard said as we turned around to see the words written backward in a shadow on the wall "it was an anagram. Now the extra letters make sense." Sam said as he pulled out an EMF meter and walked over to the wall.