Devil's Backbone

29. Heart

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - INT. BAR - NIGHT

A young woman, Madison, was grabbing drinks with her friends. Her co-worker, Nate Mulligan, approached and said, "Hey, Maddie. Listen, I hate to pull you away, but I'm gonna need you to come back to the office with me."

"Really?" Madison asked as her friends began smirking.

"Yeah. Turns out I've gotta file those docs by midnight—"

"Midnight?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to, um..." He saw that she was smiling. "This isn't working at all, is it?"

Madison laughed. "No, it's not, Nate."

"Listen, I've had a couple. I shouldn't really drive. Could you just give me a lift—"

"I already called you a cab." She smiled. "I'll see you in the morning." Nate smiled briefly, then gave up and walked away; Madison and her friends started cracking up.

"That happen a lot?" one of her friends asked.

"Only on the days that end with a "y"."

Still laughing, Madison scanned the room and suddenly saw a surly-looking man in a leather jacket. Seated at a table across the bar, he was watching her with a serious look on his face. She stopped smiling and looked uncomfortable.

"You okay?" a friend asked.

"Yeah," Madison replied. When she looked again, the man was gone. "I've gotta go."

STREET

Madison was walking quickly to her car. She heard a crashing noise behind her, but when she stopped, she saw nothing. She continued walking nervously to her car. Once she reached her car and drove away, the mysterious man immediately began following her, watching her leave.

INT. OFFICE BUILDING - MORNING

Madison was filling the coffee pot at the water cooler. She stopped suddenly, when she noticed blood on the door to Nate's office. She went to the door and pushed it open. A trail of blood on the rug led to the desk, where Nate was lying, dead. His entire chest had been ripped apart, leaving blood everywhere. Screaming, Madison dropped the coffee pot, shattering it to pieces.

INT. MORGUE

Sam watched as the employee slid Nate's corpse from his compartment.

"Here he is, Detective," the employee said. Nate had stitches running along his chest, stomach, shoulders, and throat.

"That's a pretty nasty bite," Sam noted.

"Mm-hmm."

"You know what bit him?"

The employee averted her eyes. "I haven't quite determined that just yet."

"Come on, Doc. Off the record."

"Okay, way, way off the record..."

"Sure."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say the guy was attacked by a wolf. But unless I know that the zoo is missing one of their lobos, I'm going with pit bull." She eyed him. "I like my job."

Sam chuckled. "Yeah, I hear you. One more thing. This guy –- was his heart missing?

"Yeah, how did you know that? I haven't even finished my report."

"Lucky guess."

INT. MOTEL ROOM

Dean was cleaning his guns as he said, "This lawyer guy the first heart-free corpse in town?"