After a few hours, the Impala finally passed a sign that informed Jericho was only seven miles away. Both Nova and Dean were enjoying the music they played, whereas Sam was on his phone searching for information about his father. "There's nobody matching Dad's description at the local morgue or hospital."

Nova sighed as she leaned back against the bench in front of her, staring out at the road. Just ahead there was a bridge that caught the brunette's attention as the two squad cars and officers were standing there. "Hey, let's check that out." Nova suggested as she pointed at the cars. "Pull over, Dean." Dean nodded and stopped at a reasonable distance from the police cars. 

Nova inched forward to pick up the box with their fake identities in the glove compartment."We should go as federal marshals," She said, giving the card to Dean. She noted the incredulous look Sam was giving. "Don't look surprised, Sammy. This isn't our first time."The hunters exited the car.

As the three approached the site, they saw a man leaning over the bridge to talk to two other men. They were scuba diving attire and were looking down at the river for evidence. One of the men—who turned out to be the deputy—returned to the abandoned car on the tarmac. It visibly looked normal, with no blood splattered or signs of struggle, it was as if the owner was determined to walk away. 

Nova and Dean began mingling with others with ease. Sam watched them thinking how they made it look so easy. The officer in the car turned to his colleague. "So this boy, Troy, is going out with his daughter, isn't he?"

"Yes," The first officer sighed, "She's putting up missing posters in the city center." He said.

Dean drew attention to them. "You fellas had another like this last month, didn't you?" 

"And who are you?" The officer in the car emerged, straightening to speak to the three hunters. 

Nova took a step forward from Dean, displaying the badge quickly. "Federal Marshals," Before Dean released any comments that preached to them, she continued. "These are my partners."

"You guys are a little young to be Federal Marshals." The officer said, narrowing his eyes at them.

"Thank you, that's extremely sweet." Dean scoffed as he approached the car. "They had another like this, right?" Dean asked, repeating the question.

The officer nodded, "Yeah, that's right, about a mile from here, and there have been others before..."

Sam turned his gaze to the officer. "So the victim...did you know him?"

The officer nodded. "In a city like this, everyone knows everyone." Nova examined the car analytically with Dean. 

"Any connections between the victims, besides they're all men." She asked.

"No, not as far as we can tell." The cop answered.

"So what's the theory?" Sam asked. Nova glanced at him, realizing how talented he was with this.

"Honestly? We don't know." The said anxiously. "A serial killer? Kidnapping ring?" 

"Well, that's exactly the kind of police work we expect from you." Dean said sarcastically. Before he continue with his disrespectful remarks, Sam stepped on his foot. 

Sam spoke politely with a fake smile on his face. "Than you for your time." The brothers moved away from the scene, leaving the girl behind.

"Gentlemen," She said, receiving a nod before retreating after the boys. 

Nova caught up with them just as Dean slapped Sam in the back of his head. Sam turned to his brother, who had an angry countenance. "What was that?"

"Why did you step on my foot?" Dean fired back.

"Why did you talk to the cop like that?" Sam asked. Dean looked at Sam as if he knew what he meant. He stopped in the front of Sam, preventing him from moving. Nova stopped right behind them. 

"Come on, they really don't know what's going on," He exclaimed, "We're alone in this and if we're gonna find Dad, we'll get to the bottom of this ourselves." 

Sam cleared his throat and looked over Dean's shoulder. Nova trailed his gaze, and Dean turned to see as well. A sheriff was there with two FBI agents. 

"Can I help you guys?" The sheriff asked.

"No, sir, we were just leaving," Dean said. When the agents passed him he called, "Agent Miller, Agent Scully." 

The three hunters then hurried out of there and back to the Impala.

☾☼☽

Later that day, the three of them were on the lookout for Amy to ask about her missing boyfriend. "I bet it's her," Dean said when he saw a girl sticking placards on the wall.

"it is." Sam nodded. They then approached the girl.

"Should you be Amy?" Nova asked.

"That's right" Amy said absently, still gluing the posters.

"Troy told us about you ..." Dean began glancing at his companions. "We're his aunt and his aunt. I'm Dean, this is Sammy and that's Nova."

"He never mentioned you to me," Amy said, walking to the opposite side.

"Troy is like that, we didn't come here much, we're from Modesto," Dean said, walking alongside Amy.

"So we're looking for him too, and we're kind of asking around." Sam said standing in front of Amy interrupting her walk.

Before she could answer a girl came, past Nova, to stand next to Amy. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked Amy she answered with a feeble 'yes'.

Seeing a cue, Nova passed the Winchesters' side, now facing the two girls. "Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" The two girls nodded at the brunette in front of her. They then moved on to another place. With all the guys now sitting at a table, the Amy girl started explaining to the hunters what she remembered.

"I was on the phone with Troy, he was driving home, he said he would call me back and ... he never did," Amy said excitedly tugging at her collar.

"Did he say anything weird, anything out of the ordinary?" Sam asked desperately. Amy shook her head.

Nova had noticed how much the girl was stirring in her pentagram necklace, she decided to comment on it. "I like your necklace, it looks great."

Amy looked at the necklace and smiled. "Troy gave it to me, especially to scare my parents ..." She laughed once but then hesitated in a sad smile. "... you know all this crap of the devil."

Sam laughed a little and looked down. Dean looked at him like he was crazy, and Nova just frowned. "Actually, that means exactly the opposite: a pentagram is protection from evil, really powerful, that is, if you believe in this sort of thing."

"Okay," Dean said looking at his brother strangely. "Thank you, unresolved mysteries."

Dean leaned across the table and let his gaze drop to the two girls. "Here's the deal, ladies, the way Troy disappeared, something's not right, so if you've heard anything ..." Amy and her friend exchanged a knowing glance at each other, making the brunette hunter's interest pique. "What was that?"

"Well, it's just ... I mean, with all those guys missing, people talk." Amy's friend said.

"What do they talk about?" Dean and Sam asked in sync. Nova laughed a little before turning to the girls.

"It's kind of a local legend, this girl, she was murdered in the centenary, like decades ago." Amy's friend told the hunters what she knew.

Later, when taking a step to solve the case, the three were ready to do a gross search in the local library. Dean was in front of the computer, being responsible for typing the search, Sam at his side and Nova standing behind them, leaning on their chairs. He started by typing 'Female Murder Hitchhinking' in the search bar, when he clicked enter, no result came. He then replaced 'hitchhiking' to 'centennial highway', but again no result came.

"Let me try," Sam said in an authoritative voice.

"Got it" Dean snarled back, slapping Sam's hand.

Sam pushed Dean's chair to the side, trying to go to the front of the computer with his chair. "Dude!" Dean exclaimed. "God, you're such a control freak!"

Nova rolled her eyes with a small smile, pushed the chair of both boys in front of her to the side, taking the computer front.

"So angry spirits are born of certain violent deaths?" She said by typing something in the search bar, the boys then confirmed their observation. "Well, maybe this is not a murder." She replaced 'murder' for 'suicide' by giving an article result. "This was in 1981. Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off the Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river." Sam read it.

"Does it say why she did it?" Dean asked.

"Yes." Sam looked uncomfortable. "An hour before they found her, she called 911. Apparently her two small children are in the bathtub, she left them alone for a minute, and when she comes back, they aren't breathing.

Dean raised his eyebrows, digesting the information. "Hm"

"'Our babies were gone, and Constance just could not bear it.' said husband Joseph Welch". Sam read it again.

Nova looked at the photo more closely with curiosity, seemed similar to something she had seen before. In the picture, a man stood on a bridge, covering his face with anguish. Nova frowned at the brothers at her side. "Doesn't this bridge look familiar to you?"

gab talks about the chapter

feel like years without posting a new chapter, sorry about that.

also, i am without my computer, so idk when im gonna post again.

but please don't give up on me haha.

ok, see ya 

[oc's name edited in february 22.]