family ties, supernatural [ 1 ]

019. protective

They're at a cafe and the brothers are searching for possible cases.

"Well, dude... not a decent lead in all of Nebraska." Dean states, folding the newspaper up. "What've you got?"

"Well, I've been scanning Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota. Here -- a woman in Iowa fell 10,000 feet from an airplane and survived." Sam informs.

"Wow." Natalie mutters.

"Sounds more like That's Incredible than, uh, Twilight Zone." Dean comments.

"Yeah." Sam agrees.

"Hey, you know we could just keep heading east. New York -- upstate. We could drop by and see Sarah again, huh? Cool chick, man. Smokin'. You two seemed pretty friendly. What do you say?" Dean tries to persuade.

"Yeah, I dunno, maybe someday. But in the meantime we got a lot of work to do, Dean, and you know that." Sam says.

"Yeah, all right. What else you got?" Dean asks.

"Uh, a man in Colorado, local man named Daniel Elkins, was found mauled in his home." Sam informs.

"Elkins? I know that name." Dean says.

"Doesn't ring a bell." Sam says.

Dean grabs John's journal and flips through the pages while repeating the surname to himself.

"Sounds like the police don't know what to think. At first they said it was some sort of bear attack and now they've found some signs of robbery." Sam says.

"There, check it out." Dean shows Sam John's journal. There's "D. Elkins" with a phone number next to it.

"You think it's the same Elkins?" Sam asks.

"It's the same area code." Dean notes.

+++

Sam picks the lock to Elkins' cabin and the four walk in, shining their flashlights around.

"Looks like the maid didn't come today." Dean comments as he sees the mess in the place.

"Hey, there's salt over here." Sam calls. "Right beside the door."

"You mean protection against demon salt or "Oops, I spilled the popcorn" salt?" Dean asks.

"It's clearly a ring. You think this guy Elkins was a player?" Sam asks.

"Definitely." Dean nods. "Why else would dad have him in his journal?"

"That looks a hell of a lot like dad's." Sam notes, seeing Dean flipping through Elkins' journal which is full of supernatural notes and information on monsters.

"Yep, except this dates back to the '60s." Dean states.

They continue to search around and find a hole in the roof in one of the rooms.

"Whatever attacked him, it looks like there was more than one." Sam says.

"Looks like he put up a hell of a fight too." Dean says.

"Yeah." Sam whispers. They look around and Dean crouches, getting a better look at the floor.

"You got something?" Sam asks.

"I dunno. Some scratches on the floor." Dean says.

"Death throes maybe?" Sam suggests.

"Yeah, maybe." Dean mumbles. He rips a piece of paper out of a notebook and puts it on the floor above the scratches. He grabs a pencil and gets the scratches on the paper.

"Or maybe a message." Dean says. He picks the paper up, it having blood on the back. He holds the paper out, Sam taking it. "Look familiar?"

"Three letters, six digits. The location and combination of a post office box. It's a mail drop." Sam says.