Roads of Reckoning

Dead in the Water

Late November, 2005
I'm sitting in a diner with Dean, waiting for Sam to come back from the bathroom. I finish the last bite of my waffles as the waitress comes over.
"Can I get you anything else." She says to Dean, clearly ignoring me. Dean looks up and grins and I kick him under the table as Sam sits down.
"Just the check please." Sam says. The waitress walks away and Dean drops his head.
"You know Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in a while." He points to the waitress. "That's fun." I give him a look of disgust. The grin drops from his face and he slides over the article he was reading.
"Here look at this. I think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week, Sophie Carlton, 18, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out. Authorities dragged in the water; nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. Her funeral was two days ago.
"A funeral?" I ask.
"Yeah, it's weird. They buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever." Sam looks up from the article.
"Closure? What closure? People don't just disappear Dean. Other people just stop looking for them." Dean crosses his arms on the table and leans forward.
"Something you want to say to me?" I pull the article towards me to pretend I'm not listening. God they argue like children.
"The trial for dad. It's getting colder everyday."
"Exactly. So what are we supposed to do?"
"I don't know. Something. Anything."
"You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I want to find dad as you do?"
"Yeah I know you do, it's just~"
"I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years, while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find dad. But until then, we're gonna kill everything bad between here and there. Right Demi?" I look up. I put up my hands. Don't drag me into this. Sam rolls his eyes. The waitress walks past again, distracting Dean.
"Hey!" I click my fingers in his face. "How far to Lake Manitoc?
•———————————————————————•
We drive for two days until we finally pull into Lake Manitoc. Dean pulls up to the Carlton household. Dean knocks on the door. A man opens the door.
"Will Carlton." I ask. He nods. Dean shows his badge.
"I'm Agent Ford. My partners~" he points to us. "Agents Hamill and Fisher." I flash a glance to Sam. He manages to keep a straight face.
"We're from the US Wildlife Service." I say.

"She was about 100 yards out. That's where she got dragged down." Will points out to the lake. I still. Kinda eerie.
"And you're sure she didn't just drown." Says Dean. A bit insensitive jeez.
"She was a varsity swimmer." Dean looks at us a cringes.
Nice move. I mouth at him.
"She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as in her own bathtub."
"So no splashing? No signs of distress?" I ask.
"No. That what's I'm telling you."
"Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape breach the surface?" Sam says.
"No, again, she was really far out."
"You ever see any strange tracks by the shoreline?"
"No, never. Why? Why, what do you think's out there?" We start to head back to the car when Sam stops.
"What about your father? Can we talk to him?" Will turns to look at his father who is sitting on the porch.
"Look if you don't mind, I mean...he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot." Sam nods.
"We understand." With that we get back in the Impala.
•———————————————————————•
At the police station, we are greeted by the Sheriff.
"Now, I'm sorry, but what does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" Sam tilts his head.
"You sure it's accidental?" Will Carlton saw something grab his sister."
"Like what? Here sit, please. There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake." There are only two chairs. Dean sits. Sam rolls his eyes and gestures me to sit.
"There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person, unless it was the Loch Ness monster."
"Yeah right." Dean laughs.
"Will Carlton was traumatised and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still, we dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."
"That's weird though." I say. "That's the third missing body this year."
"I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about." He sighs. "All this won't be a problem much longer."
"What do you mean?" Asks Dean.
"Well, the dam of course." Dean nods slowly, an unsure look on his face.
"Of course. The dam. It's, uh, sprung a leak."
"It's falling apart and the feds won't give us the grant to repair it, so they've opened the spillway. In another 6 months there won't be much of a lake. There won't be much of a town either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that." Dean nods.
"Exactly."