True to his word, Brent was able to pull some strings and get them access to all files regarding the case as well as an interview of the witness; all under the guise of them being private investigators hired by the family to find out what happened.

Now Laine finds herself talking to the witness while Dean looks over the crime scene and the reports, and she wishes that she would have taken his job instead. With another deep inhale, she refocuses her attention on the woman sitting across from her.

"You say that you saw a woman cut open another woman and eat her insides?" Laine stares at the elderly lady across from her, and unlike those who would take such a statement with a grain of salt, she knows how probable that possibility is. "What can you tell me about the deceased?"

Another sob bubbles out of the petite woman as her eyes begin to tear up, her tissue darting up to remove the gathering moisture.

"Karen was a great woman. She loved her babies like no tomorrow and took care of all 'round her. She didn't deserve to die so young, and not like this." The woman sighs and shakes her head, tendrils of silver hair coming undone from the bun atop her head.

Reaching across the table, Laine places a hand atop the woman's and squeezes once to offer comfort and sympathy.

"Can you think of anyone who would have wanted to hurt Karen?" At her question, the woman begins sputtering and shaking her head.

"Everyone in town loved her. I don't think there's a person here who didn't know her somehow. I don't see why anyone would want to hurt such a sweet lady," she huffs with a swipe below her eyes in an attempt to push away the tears. She falls silent for a moment, her head dipped low, before she looks up and meets Laine's eyes. "There is one person who didn't care for Karen, but she could never of done something so vile."

Laine perks up at this new information and urges the woman to continue; this is the first real lead she has gotten since she started talking to the only person who had seen anything that night.

"Her name's Melissa Jones. She worked at the school with Karen. It's been a while since the incident, but the two never got along well after Karen and Tom got engaged."

"And who's Tom?"

"Karen's husband. He was seeing Melissa, but broke it off after he met Karen a few years ago. She didn't take it well, and threatened Karen in the middle of a staff meeting once, but I don't believe she'd harm her," the woman explains, eyes welling up with tears once again. "Karen was expecting her second child, for Christ's sake!"

Laine nods along with her words, listening as she prattles on about Karen and how kind she was, when a knock sounds at the door. They both rise and make their way towards the entryway, and when the woman opens the door, Dean is standing on the other side.

He says his greetings and nods his head towards the car, a folder tucked under his arm. With a nod, she turns to the woman and reaches inside of her coat pocket to grab a card with her number on it; something she had left over from a job years ago.

"Thank you for your time and information. It's been tremendously helpful in our investigation. If you happen to think of anything else, please don't hesitate to call." Laine smiles kindly at her and hands over the card as she steps out of the house.

"Of course. I just hope you catch the sick bastard who did this." The woman returns the gesture with her own weak version and closes the door.

Shoving her hands into the pockets of her jeans, Laine toes at the chipping paint on the wooden porch and looks up at Dean. "Find anything out?"

He shrugs as they begin walking down the driveway and towards where the car is parked. "No sulfur smell or black marks around the eyes, so possession is ruled out. I did find out that the vic was pregnant, though."

"Yeah, that woman said the same thing. What's it gotta do with anything?" Laine questions, confused.

"There's a cut in her stomach, all the way down to the uterus. Guess what's missing?"

"The thing that killed her snatched her baby?" When Dean nods, a wave of nausea washes over her and she has to stop and take a deep breath to will the feeling away.

"Cut it right outta her. Reports say she was alive when it happened," he mutters with a repulsed look on his face, but it soon disappears with a firm shake of his head.

Climbing into the passenger seat of the car, she turns to face Dean, a contemplative look crossing her features.

"So we're either dealing with a baby-eating demon or some psycho who likes to butcher pregnant women and harvest their fetuses. Great," she states as she starts to run the facts of the investigation over in her head, hoping to find some clue that will point towards the killer being a demon and not a human. It's so much easier to handle when they turn out to be demons.

"Both are possibilities, and we'll figure it out. Just gotta keep looking," he says and hands her the manila folder in his hands. "Did you get anything useful from the witness?"

"Not much," she says as she thumbs through the few pieces of paper inside the folder, stopping to read through the autopsy report. "But there is one woman I think we should talk to. Her name's Melissa Jones, and from what I was told, she's got a few screws loose."

"Guess lunch is gonna have to wait then."

"Shame."

**********

"This brings back memories," Laine mumbles, her eyes roaming across the grounds of the school as she takes in the property. It looks like your generic high school and quite similar to the one she had attended twelve years ago; brown bricks decorated with fading graffiti, front doors an odd shade of blue nearly peeled off with age, and the flag pole holds signatures akin to the ones they made one drunken night.

On her left, Dean sighs and glances around the area. "You got that right."

Holding the front door open for her, she walks in and can't help but grimace at the sight of the mustard yellow lockers lining the long corridors.

"What is it about schools having a lack of colour coordination?" She chuckles with a shake of her head and runs her hand along the pale wall as they make their way down the deserted hallway, searching for the classroom belonging to Melissa Jones.

Dean laughs along with her and nods his head in agreement, the two falling into silence as they walk the halls of the school. After a few minutes, they come across a room with a nameplate reading Melissa Jones on the door. Not bothering to knock, they waltz right in.

Sure enough, the woman they are searching for is sitting at her desk with a heap of papers spread in front of her and a pen in hand.

"Melissa Jones?" Dean clears his throat which earns him the confused and slightly irritated attention of the raven-haired teacher.

"Yes?" Her voice is as strong as her features, cracking through the quite of the room like a whip, and her grey eyes harden as they dart between the two standing before her.

"I'm Private Investigator Collins, and this is my partner, P.I. Roberts. We're investigating the murder of Karen Davies. Mind if we ask you a few questions regarding the newly deceased?" Dean introduces with a swift flash of the badge Laine had loaned him – one of the few gifts she received from the Order upon completion of her Initiation. He doesn't wait for a response before he takes a seat on top of a nearby desk, hands folded in his lap.

"Of course not." She nods, her eyes flitting around every few seconds as she collects her papers and places them inside a drawer in her desk. "What sort of questions?"

"Just normal procedure, seeing as you were acquainted with the victim." Laine takes a seat on the desk beside Dean, watching the woman with intent and calculation. "How did you know her?"

Melissa shrugs and rests her chin on her clasped knuckles, looking up at Laine with a casual expression. "We worked together."

Laine nods and rises from her seat atop the desk, taking to pacing around the room as she inspects the educational posters littering the walls. "An eye-witness told us that you and Karen didn't see eye to eye. Is that true?"

"Everyone has their disagreements," she says, her gaze remaining steady as she stares down the female hunter, hands twitching beneath her chin.

Narrowing her eyes, Laine silently urges the woman to say what she wants to say, but Dean chooses to interrupt and shifts Melissa's attention over to him.

"Yes, but not all disagreements lead to threats. Or am I mistaken?"

The woman's eyes widen at his statement before a look of indignation captures her features, eyes turning to slits to contain the fire burning within. "Are you accusing me of something, Mister Collins?"

Dean ducks his head and silently chuckles at her venom-laced words, wiping the grin off before he looks back up. "No, ma'am, I was just asking a simple question. I never accused you of a thing."

Melissa huffs and crosses her arms over her chest, chin raising an inch as she looks between the two people in front of her. "I don't see where this is going, but if that's all you need to ask me, I have papers to grade."

The corner of Dean's lips twitch and he opens his mouth to say something in retaliation, but Laine lays a hand on his arm. Turning to Melissa, she plasters a pleasant smile on her face.

"Thank you, Miss Jones. We'll be out of your hair now. Have a nice day." Nudging Dean with her arm, she practically pushes him out of the classroom and shuts the door behind them. Once they are a good distance down the hallway, she stops and turns to face him.

"She got a bit defensive when you asked about their relationship," she says, a look of contemplation adorning her face. "You think she could of done it?"

Dean shrugs and pushes open the front doors. "Don't know. I don't even know if we have a real case here or if the real officials should handle this. We might just be dealing with a baby-snatching psycho."

"One way to find out." She spares a glance over her shoulder at Dean as she walks down the main steps, and his eye brows raise in question. "Feeling up to do a little breaking and entering?"

**********

"Nothing in here!" she calls out to Dean, who is currently doing a quick sweep of Melissa's bedroom – and probably taking a peek through her undergarments drawer.

Walking down the hall to the bedroom from the kitchen, the sound of rustling and a drawer sliding shut greets her ears seconds before Dean appears with a set of black lingerie held gently between his fingers. He holds it up for her to see, his own eyes drawn to the silk and lace – or what little there is of said fabrics.

"She's a naughty school teacher." Dean grins like a schoolboy when she snatches the garment from his grasp and returns it to its home in the dresser.

Exiting the room, she brushes past Dean with a shake of her head and moves towards the front door of the house.

"Behave. We're on a job, not a trip to the lingerie store," she chastises as she rummages through the contents inside the small stand next to the door. Dean laughs and moves to lean on the wall next to her, hands shoved inside his coat pockets.

"Y'know, we should do that sometime," he suggests, shrugging innocently when he receives a hard look. "Hey, it could be fun."

"No." The word is out of her mouth before he even has the idea to continue speaking, her gaze dropping back down to the stack of letters and bills in her hands.

Dean sighs and pushes off the wall, opting to move behind her and stand a little closer than necessary, one hand snaking past her to rest on the table as he peers over her shoulder.

"C'mon Laine, it's not like you've never been to a lingerie shop before, considering your previous profession," he points out, his breath tickling at the tiny hairs on her exposed neck.

"My employers supplied all of my outfits."

"Okay, but what about just buying some for personal use? God knows you'd look damn fine in it."

Hip checking him away from her, she glances over her shoulder and flashes him a teasing grin. "Keep dreaming, darlin'."

He falls quiet rather quickly – either from surprise or due to a loss of words – but it causes her smile to widen regardless. Ducking her head down, she opens the top drawer and shuffles through the items inside. Again, her search produces no results.

She turns and leans against the stand, about to say something, when the sound of jingling keys and the clack of heels interrupts her.

Silent curses fly out of both their mouths and she rushes past Dean towards the window, pushing the frame upwards once the latch is out of the way. She wastes no time in hooking a leg out the window, ignoring the stabbing pain that shoots up her thigh, and leans out until her foot touches the shingles of the garage roof. Planting her foot down, the rest of her body follows and she ushers Dean to hurry up and get his out of there.

Just as the door opens and Melissa strides into the living room, Dean flops out of the window and onto the roof. Grabbing his arm, she tugs him behind the cover of the second story wall and out of sight of the window.

She waits a moment until she hears the closure of the window, and only then does she peek her head around the corner to make sure the coast is clear.

Releasing the breath she has been holding since the door opened, she sags against the wall and halfway against Dean's side. With her eyes closed, she attempts to calm her racing heart and erratic breathing, the adrenaline coursing through her like crazy.

"I think I need a drink."

"That can be arranged," Dean replies with a hushed chuckle as pushes off the wall, taking her hand in his as he stands. "Let's get out of her first."

"Please," she huffs as they carefully descend from the roof and make their way towards the back alley and the safety of the car.