Secrets Will Kill You

While Dean went out to investigate, the rest of us hung out in the apartment, researching. A little bit later, he came back. “Teresa Ellis, apartment 2-F. Her boyfriend reported her missing around dawn” he told us.

“And her apartment?” Jo asked.

“Cracks all over the plaster, walls, ceiling. There’s ectoplasm, too”

“Between that and that tuft of hair, I’d say this sucker’s coming from the walls” Sam said.

“Yeah, but who is it? The building’s history is totally clean”

“Maybe we’re looking in the wrong place” Jo considered. I nodded.

“What do you mean?”

“Check this out” I said, handing them a photo.

“An empty field?” Sam questioned. “It’s where this building was built. Take a look at the one next door…the windows” I pointed at the barred windows. “Bars” Brit stated.

“We’re next door to a prison?” Dean asked.

Jo got on the phone with Ash and with some…persuading…and a little threatening…he gave information we needed. We found out it was Moyamensing Prison, build in 1835 and torn down in 1963 and they used to execute people by hanging them in the empty field next door. Then, Ash hooked us up with a list of names of the people who were executed.

“157 names?” Brit said, skeptically.

“We have to narrow that down…or else we’re gonna be digging up a hell of a lot of stiffs” Dean said as Sam started to scroll down the list.

“Wait!” I said and he stopped. I pointed to a name. “Herman Webster Mudgett. Wasn’t that H.H. Holmes’ real name?” I asked aloud but looked at Brit.

Her jaw dropped slightly and nodded. “You’ve gotta be kidding me” Dean muttered and quickly dug up some of his own research online. “Holmes was executed at Moyamensing on May 7th 1896” Dean stated.

“H.H. Holes himself’ Brit murmured. “What are the odds?” Sam asked as if we made this huge discovery…but technically, we kind of did.

“Who is this guy?” Jo asked.

“The term “multi-murderer”…they coined it to describe Holmes. He was America’s first serial killer before anybody knew what a serial killer was” I started.

“Yeah, he confessed to twenty-seven murders, but some put the death toll at over a hundred" Sam added.

“And his victim flavor of choice? Pretty, petite blondes. He used chloroform to kill ‘em…which is what I smelled in the hallway last night. At his place, cops found human remains: bone fragments and long locks of bloody, blonde hair. Boy, he sure knew how to pick ‘em” Dean finished.

“So, we’ll just find the bones, salt them, and burn them, right?” she asked.

“Well, it’s not that easy. His body is buried in town, but it’s encased in a couple tons of concrete” Brit informed her.

“What? Why?”

“Story goes that he didn’t want anybody mutilating his corpse, ‘cause, you know, that’s what he used to do” Dean said.

Then Sam scoffed. “You know something? We might have an even bigger problem than that.

“How does this get bigger?” Jo asked and I sighed, making a face in annoyance. Surprisingly, the annoyance wasn’t directed at her, it was just directed at our problem-filled case.

“Holmes built an apartment building in Chicago. They called it The Murder Castle. The whole place was a death factory. They had trapdoors, acid vats, quicklime pits. He built these secret chambers…inside the walls. He’d lock his victims in, keep them alive for days. Some he’d suffocate, others he’d let starve to death” I explained to her.

“So, Teresa could still be alive. She could be inside these walls”

“We need sledgehammers, crowbars. We’ve gotta smash these walls anywhere thick enough to hide a girl’ Dean said and we all nodded.

~~~

So…our plan didn’t exactly go according to plan. Everything was fine…until Jo felt it was necessary to play “the hero” of some kind and go in some kind of uncharted territory without us. Dean ran into all of us panicking, informing that he had Jo. He was stressing out because he claimed it was his fault.

“Listen to me. We’ll get her back” I told him, staring him right in his eyes.

Ring. Ring. Ring. I looked around but there was no ringing. Then Dean’s cell phone started to ring. It was Ellen. “No, Dean, don’t…” I started but it was too late.

He answered. She was so angry, we could all hear her. “You lied to me. She’s there”

“Ellen…”

“No, Ash told me everything. The man’s a genius, but he folds like a cheap suit. Now, you put my damn daughter on the phone”

“She’s gonna have to call you back. She’s taking care of feminine business” Brit and I both rolled our eyes at him.

“Yeah, right. Where is she?”

He didn’t respond though. So I took the phone from him. “Ellen it’s Melissa”

“Melissa Stern, where is my daughter and don’t you dare lie to me”

I sighed. “We’ll get her back” I murmured.

“Get her back? Back from what?”

“The spirit we’re hunting, it took her”

“Oh my God”

“She’ll be okay, I promise”

“You promise? That is not the first time I’ve heard that from a Stern or a Winchester

“What?” I asked, utterly confused by that comment.

Dean took the phone back. “If anything happens to her…”

“It won’t. I won’t let it. Ellen, I’m sorry. I really am” he said, sincerely.

“I’m taking the first flight out. I’ll be there in a few hours” she settled it and hung up.

“Damn it!” he cursed.

“Lets go” I said, heading for the door.

“But we don’t even know where to go Mel” Brit said. I nodded at Sam. “We’re going to the basement” I told them. “This building doesn’t have a basement” Dean argued.

“Exactly…just follow me! We’re going to get Jo back. I don’t care what it takes” I said and they all followed me out of the room.

We used a metal detector and it led us into a field and we reached a patch of grass and the detector started to go crazy. We started digging. After some digging, it led us to a trap door. Sam and Dean opened it and I threw my hair up into a pony tail before heading down first into the sewer system. Once we were all in, we had our guns ready.

We eventually showed up just in time and Dean shot H.H. Holmes so he disappeared. We raced to help Teresa and Jo out of the cubicle’s and when we were ready to leave…Dean came up with the bright idea of using Jo and Brit as bait. We all waited patiently for him to show up. I had my gun ready, Dean had his and Sam was holding Teresa. We set a trap…and it worked perfectly. When the girls got out of the way, we shot at the salt we set up above the doorways so he couldn’t get out. Then, we got out of the sewer system as fast as possible.

Dean went to drop off Teresa at home as we all waited for him at the field. “So, is this job as glamorous as you thought it would be?” Sam asked Jo.

“Well, except for all the pee-your-pants terror, yeah” We all laughed. “But that Teresa girl is gonna live a life ‘cause of us. It’s worth it, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is” I smiled at her. She smiled back.

“Hey, what if somebody finds that sewer down there, or a storm washes the salt away?”

“Both very fine points. Which is why we’re waiting here” Brit said.

“For what?”

Then we heard some honks. “For that” I said and we all smiled up at Dean who was in a cement truck. He got out and walked over to us.

“You ripped off a cement truck?” Jo asked.

He shrugged and smirked. “I’ll give it back”

Then he pulled a lever and the cement began to flow down the little slide thingie and into the hole we dug up, over the trap door “Well, that’ll keep him down there till hell freezes over” I said and Dean smiled at me. I smiled back.

~~~

We finished the case…yay right? Wrong. Dead wrong. Ellen really did come out to us…and the car ride to drive her and Jo home was not fun. With Dean in the drivers seat and Ellen in the passenger seat, I was in the middle of Sam and Jo with Brit sitting on Sam’s lap. I smirked at that since it was my idea…yea, I’m bad, I know. But, what I wouldn’t give to have my truck. I had to get it towed to the Roadhouse since Jo sabotaged my truck before she showed up inside the apartment building, surprising us. She thought it would be funny to drain the gas from my tank…she got the idea from me. I called Ash so he could just pour some gasoline into the tank for me…but I was not happy.

“Boy, you…you really weren’t kidding about flying out, were you?” Dean tried conversation. Dean, shut up. Dean, shut up. Dean, shut up.

Ellen stared straight ahead. “How about we listen to some music?” he suggested, putting on the radio and Cold As Ice came on…ironically enough…but Ellen immediately shut it off. Sam, Jo, Brit and I exchanged a look. “This is gonna be a long drive” Dean commented.

After a very long ride. We got to the Roadhouse and we all walked in. “Ellen…this is my fault. Okay? I lied to you, and I’m sorry. But Jo did good out there. I think her dad would be proud” Dean tried.

“Yea, Ellen, I have to agree with Dean…” I tried to help out as well.

“Don’t you dare say that. Not you two. I need a moment with my daughter…alone” she said and we walked out. I walked over to my baby.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you” I said, happily, hugging the front of it. “Get a room” Brit rolled her eyes.

Before I could respond though, Jo came storming out of the Roadhouse, walking in the opposite way of us. We all stared. Then, I nudged Dean a little and when he looked at me, I nodded my head at her. He nodded and ran after her to catch up.

I wasn’t even trying to eavesdrop…I even turned away to not stare as they talked…but it was hard not to hear Jo when she was in hysterics…then she lowered her voice slightly but we…well I…could still hear her and she was hurt.

“…it turns out my dad a partner on his last hunt. Two partners actually. Funny though, he usually worked alone. These guys did too. But I guess my father figured he could trust them…it was a mistake. One of them trusted the other too much and that other screwed up and got my dad killed” she said.

“What does this have to do…”

“It was your father and Mel’s father, Dean” she sighed.

“What?” Dean asked, incredulous and my face twisted in its own kind of pain.

I never knew her dad died that way…I guess neither did she….

“Your dad is the one who screwed up…and Mel’s dad is the one who trusted him too much…why do you think John never came back, never told you about us? ‘Cause he couldn’t look my mom in the eye after that. That’s why” she said, tears in her eyes.

I could see them from my spot. “Jo…”

“Just…just get out of here. Please, just leave” she ended the conversation and just walked away.

How was of this supposed to help any of us? It only proved that the Winchesters are unreliable and couldn’t be trusted…just when I thought we were all getting somewhere.