Chapter 2
“Bobby is on his way; he will be here soon. We should just stay at the motel,” Sam grumbled, folding into the passenger seat of the Chevy Impala.
“You can stay and sulk, but I think there has been another alligator attack. Off-campus this time. A man was fished out of his above-ground pool an hour ago. Sounds as if there is more leftover than the last guy, but he had a bite taken out of him. The chatter on the police scanner makes it sound like an alligator attacked him. But get this, he was dressed like a pirate, and his hands were tied behind his back with hemp rope.”
Minutes later they pulled up in front of an average suburban ranch house on a nondescript street.
A colorful bird swooped over their heads as they walked purposefully to the backyard.
The bright blue pvc and steel-framed pool was fenced in, and the area was taped off with yellow crime scene tape. The brothers ducked under the tape to take a closer look.
“Polly wants a cracker,” the bird agitatedly squawked as it landed on the diving board.
“Is that a parrot?” Sam asked incredulously. “A macaw?”
“Merlin’s Beard!” It cried before it flew away.
“We need to confirm who the victim was, but I have a feeling I know, and I know who we should speak to next,” Dean said with a grimace, peering into the pool and noticing an ostrich feather floating macabrely in the murky, bloody water that was being drained from the pool.
“Who?” Sam asked irritably.
“Mary Poppins, the librarian in town. She had a hat with that feather on it yesterday. She was dressed like a pirate … kinda she had the big hat thing like Captain Hook, you know, with the feather,” he said, pointing at the bloody feather.
“A tricorne hat. But why was a librarian dressed like a Mary Poppins pirate?” Sam asked, perplexed. “And why were you at the library?”
“You were so snippy, and I needed space. You were annoyed doing research without your laptop, so I decided to go old school and help out. Anyway, there was this cute little librarian. She had one of those tight skirts, you know, like that librarian in that video I was watching last night,” Dean smirked. “She didn’t have the glasses, though, and her hair was loose. Mad curls. I thought she was putting on an accent, too, but she is really a Brit, like Mary Poppins.”
“Dean. Focus.” Sam bit out irritably, rolling his eyes.
“Anyway, the kids all loved her, but this one dad loved her a bit too much, and he tried to get a bit handsy with her. He followed us down to the archives, and I think he tried something again while I was looking up things on the microfiche, and the next thing I know, there is this scream and a crash, and the jackass is just knocked out. Stone cold. She said he slipped on a banana peel. You know, like in the cartoons? Then I saw a banana peel, and I am sure I would have noticed it earlier. It was just weird.”
“And then I just left. Why did I just leave?”
“What’s this got to do with the pool guy?” Sam asked.
“Dollars to donuts, it is the same guy. I don’t know if there is an urban myth to link it up to the others, but it looks like he walked the plank. Cartoon banana schtick and two pirate things in one day; it seems a bit of a coincidence, and you know what Bobby says.”
“Aint no such thing,” they said in unison, returning to the Impala as the phone rang.
“It’s Bobby. He must be almost here. Let’s talk to him first. See what he says.”