( HOW TO SAVE A LIFE )

POLICE STATION
[ ☼ ]

      Elena sits in one of the interrogation rooms by herself. She hears the door open and sits up straight. It's Detective Sheridan.

      "Elena Gilbert." He says and slams a folder down on the table much like Sam's interrogation. "Twenty-two. Had a loving family. Had a lot of friends, even a boyfriend. Apparently you had it all. Now for the life of me, I can't figure out why you're running around with the Winchesters."

      "They're my friends." Elena says softly.

      "Last time we saw you, you were half beaten by the same guy you're road tripping with. Why?" He asks and leans back in his chair.

      "I knew them before everything happened. What you saw wasn't him." Elena says.

      "Yeah? Then who was it?" Sheridan asks.

      "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Elena says.

      "Try me."

      Meanwhile, Sam is still telling the side of his story. "Then Dean went back to Karen's place to check up on her. I mean, you know, she had been pretty upset earlier." Sam says.

      "So why didn't you go with him?" Ballard asks.

      "Elena and I just went back to the motel." Sam pauses. "How'd you know we were there, by the way?"

      "We found the motel matchbook on your brother when we arrested him. Let's quit fooling around." Ballard says. "Now you were with your brother the whole time you were in Baltimore. Why separate now? Because your brother left you. To go murder Karen."

      "He didn't kill anyone."

      Ballard hits the table. "I heard the 9-1-1 call! Karen was terrified. She said someone was in the house." She says.

FLASHBACK

GILES' HOUSE
[ ☼ ]

      Karen is sitting on the sofa in pajamas, crying. The TV is on, low. As she blows her nose, she hears a figure pass by. She takes off her glasses to rub her eyes; she pauses, then puts them back on.

      Across the room in a mirror she sees a ghostly figure. She yelps. She turns on the light and the figure is gone. She gets up, panicked, and goes into the hallway, then into the bedroom and shuts the door. She calls 9-1-1. "Hello, emergency services." The operator says.

      "Hello? I think I saw someone in my house." Karen says.

      "What is your address?"

      "It's 421 Clinton Avenue. Please, can you–" There is a click, and the call is disconnected. "Hello?"

      The printer on her desk flicks on and starts printing out the Same repeated pattern as before: "danashulpsdanashulpsdanashulps".

      Karen fumbles for a flashlight, turns, and sees the ghost behind her - it's a young blond woman with dripping red eyes. Karen screams.

      Dean arrives at Karen's and knocks on the door. "Karen, you in there?" Dean looks around, then picks the lock and enters. He tries the light by the door, but it doesn't work. He goes further into the house, up the stairs and into the bedroom.

      He pushes open the door and sees Karen lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Her throat is slit deeply. He sees the pages from the printer and frowns. "Seriously, what the hell?" Dean kneels down by Karen's body, noticing bruises on her wrists. He takes one wrist in his hand.

      "Freeze."

      Behind Dean, two cops have their guns trained on him. "Stay on your knees. Hands where I can see them. Now!" A Policewoman yells. He complies. "Cuff him."

POLICE STATION
[ ☾]

      Sheridan is sitting in an observation room from which he can see Dean, handcuffed to a table. Ballard enters. "You getting anywhere with him?" She asks.

      "No. Just a lot of wise-ass remarks." Sheridan says.

      "The girl?" Ballard asks.

      "Same as Dean. Stubborn as hell. You?" Sheridan asks.

      "Sam's story matches Dean's to the last detail." She says.

      "Hmm. Yeah, well, these guys are good. I'll give 'em that." Sheridan says.

      "If we don't get Sam to flip we have nothing but a lot of circumstantial evidence." Ballard points out.

      "Hey. We've got Dean at the crime scene with blood on his hands. Juries have convicted for less." He says.

      "Yeah, but, I mean, where's the murder weapon? What's the motive? You talk about reasonable doubt."

      "Diana." Sheridan touches her face. "Do you have reasonable doubt? We keep leaning on these guys, one of them will tumble. And don't forget about St. Louis. I'm telling you. This Dean guy is our guy."

      "I know Tony Giles was a friend of yours." Diana says.

      "Yeah. He was, he was a good friend."

      "Look, and I know you want to clean this mess up quick. But come on, Tony knew a lot of criminal types, I mean, maybe we're just..." Ballard starts.

      "Criminal types? He was a defense Lawyer, for godsakes, of course he knew criminal types." Sheridan finishes.

      "All right, let's get back at 'em."

      "No, you know what? Let 'em stew in their juices for a bit. Come here." He kisses her.

POLICE STATION
[ ☼ ]

      Dean, still handcuffed to the table, is muttering to himself, thinking. "Dana Shulps, Dana Shulps, Dana ShulpsDana, DanaShulps..." He mutters.

      Elsewhere, Sam pulls a pad of paper and a pen to him and writes "DANA SHULPS" in block letters, frowning in thought.

      "Maybe it's not a name. Maybe it's not a name." Dean mutters.

      "Anagram, maybe?" Sam writes "ANDA SH..." underneath the first line, then continues.

      Head down, Dean continues to mutter to himself. There's a knock on the door; he looks up. A smiling middle-aged man pokes his head in. "Mr. Winchester?"

      "Yeah."

      "I'm Jeffrey Kraus. I'm with the public defender's office. I'm your Lawyer." He says.

      "Oh. Thank god. I'm saved." Dean deadpans. "Hey, could I, uh, steal a pen from you? Some paper?"

      "Sure." Kraus hands over the items and Dean starts scribbling. "Uh, well, the police haven't found a weapon yet. So that's good. But, uh, they got your prints. And literally blood on your hands. And with your police record, uh...Mr. Winchester? What are you doing?" He asks.

      "I think it's an anagram." Dean says.

      "A what?"

      "An anagram. Same letters, different words."

      The pad of paper now reads: DNA SHULPS DAN SHULPAS LAND PUSHAS SUPASH LAND PUSH LANDAS PLUSH DANAS

      "Uh, do me a favor? See if you recognize any of these words, you know, local names, places, anything like that?" Dean asks.

      "Do you understand how serious these charges are?" Kraus asks.

      "I'm handcuffed to a table. Yeah, I get it. Humor me. Take a quick look." Dean says.

      Kraus pulls the pad over to him. "Well, S-U-P, I don't know about that, but Ashland is a street name. Not far from here." He says.

      "A street." Dean takes the pad back, tears off a sheet of paper and starts writing again.

      "Let's start with where you were the night Anthony Giles died." Kraus says.

      "Can you get in to see my brother?" Dean asks.

      "Mr. Winchester, you could be facing the death penalty here."

      "Hey, thanks for the law review, Matlock. But. If you want to help me..." Dean is holding up the folded note he's just finished. "I need you to see my brother."

      Ballard is writing an email at her computer. Suddenly the repeating string DANASHULPS starts scrolling across the screen. She looks around, nervous.

      Sam is looking at the note Dean sent him, which reads: HILTS — IT's A STREET ASHLAND. -MCQUEEN. "I hope that's meaningful. But I'd like to discuss your case now." Kraus says.

      Sam gestures to the chair. "Sure thing, Matlock." He says.

      "You two really are brothers, aren't you?" Kraut says and takes a seat. "Now. As you know, the DA might be interested in..."

      A knock on the door is quickly followed by Ballard, who addresses Kraus. "We need you. With the other one." She says.

      Several others have crowded into the observation room outside where Dean is being held; across from his seat a digital camera has been set up. Ballard and Kraus enter. "Counselor? Your boy decided to confess." Sheridan says.

      "Mr. Winchester? I'd advise against that strongly." Kraus says.

      Sheridan talks in a speaker to Dean. "Talk directly into the camera, first stating your name for the record." He says.

      Dean clears his throat and leans forward, looking into the camera. "My name is Dean Winchester. I'm an Aquarius. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women. And I did not kill anyone. But I know who did. Or rather what did. Of course it can't be for sure, because our investigation was interrupted. But our working theory was that we're looking for some kind of vengeful spirit." Dean says.

      "Excuse me?" Ballard says.

      "You know, Casper the bloodthirsty ghost?" Dean asks. In the observation room, the spectators start laughing. "Tony Giles saw it. I'll bet you cash money Karen did too. But see, the interesting thing is the word it leaves behind. For some reason it's trying to tell us something. But communicating across the veil, it ain't easy. You know, sometimes the spirits, they, they get things jumbled. You remember "REDRUM". Same concept. You know, it's, uh, maybe word fragments...other times, it's anagrams. See, at first we thought this was a name, Dana Shulps. But now we think it's a street. Ashland. Whatever's going on, I'll bet you it started there."

      Dean spreads his hands and smiles. "You arrogant bastard. Tony and Karen were good people, and you're making jokes." Sheridan says.

      "I'm not joking, Ponch." Dean says.

      "You murdered them in cold blood just like that girl in St. Louis." Sheridan says

      "Oh, yeah. That wasn't me either. That was a shape-shifter creature that only looked like me." Dean says.

      "You know what's funny, that's exactly what Elena said. You probably brainwashed the poor girl." Sheridan says.

      "She didn't need brainwashing. She saw it all." Dean says and smiles at the camera.

      Sheridan loses his temper and hauls Dean up by the collar, slamming him against the wall. "Pete, that is enough!" Ballard yells.

      "You asked for the truth." Dean says.

      "Lock his ass up." Sheridan says. Another cop takes over, shoving Dean face-first against the wall and handcuffing him.

      Sheridan and Ballard return to find Sam gone; the coffee and the note are still on the table. "What the hell? Where is he?"Sheridan goes to the window, which is open, and looks out - it's a four story drop with no visible fire escape nearby.

      Ballard sees the note on the table and picks it up. "What'd he do? The fire escape's way over...what?" Sheridan asks once he sees Ballard's face.

      "These two guys."

       She hands him the note. "Hilts and McQueen?" Sheridan asks.

      "Hilts is Steve McQueen's character in the Great Escape."

      Elena sits in her interrogation room, half asleep. She hears a noise, thinking another cop was coming in. Instead, she is met with a familiar face.

      "Sam? What are you doing here?" Elena asks.

      Sam moves to unlock her handcuffs. "We're getting out of here." He says.

BATHROOM
[ ☾]

      Ballard enters the bathroom and the lights flicker. She sighs. As she approaches the sink, it turns on by itself. She recoils. All the faucets start pouring out hot water, steam rising. In the fogging mirror the letters DANASHULPS are formed. Ballard scrubs them away to reveal the ghost. Her throat is slit deeply, her eyes deep red. She struggles to talk.

      Dean is handcuffed to another table as Ballard enters, nervous. She shuts the door. "Can we make this quick? I'm a little tired, it's been a long day, you know, with your partner assaulting me and all." Dean says.

      "I want to know more about that stuff you were talking about earlier." Ballard says nervously.

      "Time Life. Mysteries of the Unknown. Look it up." Dean says.

      "Let's pretend for the moment you're not entirely insane." She says.

      "Mmm."

      "What would one of these things be doing here?" Ballard asks.

      "A vengeful spirit? Well, they're created by violent deaths. And then they come back for a reason, usually a nasty one." Dean says. "Like revenge on the people that hurt 'em."

      "And uh, these, they're capable of killing people?" She asks.

      As she rubs her neck, Dean notices something on her wrist. "Where did you get that?" He asks.

      She pulls up her sleeves to reveal deep bruises, like those on Karen's wrists. "I don't know. It, it wasn't there before." Ballard says.

      "You've seen it, haven't you? The spirit?" Dean asks.

      "How did you know?" She asks.

      "Because Karen had the Same bruises on her wrists. And I'm willing to bet that if you look at Giles' autopsy photos he's got 'em too, it's got something to do with this spirit, I...I don't know what." Dean says and Ballard turns away, looking into the mirror. "I know. You think you're going crazy. But let's skip that part, shall we? Because the last two people who saw this thing? Died, pretty soon after. You hear me?"

      "You think I'm going to die." She says.

      "You need to go to Sam and Elena. They'll help." Says Dean.

      "You're giving your brother and friend up."

      "Go to the first motel listed in the yellow pages. Look for Jim Rockford - it's how we find each other when we're separated. Now you can arrest him if you want. Or you can let them save your life"