Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin, was a small, woodsy town, about ten miles west of Lake Michigan. Its centerpiece was a lake, as the name implied, and it only held around a thousand people. That wasn't tiny, but it wasn't a big city – or even a city, really – on any level.

"It doesn't look like much," Dean had commented as we drove in. "You could probably pass right by without realizing."

"It's hiding something," I'd argued. "It has to be. Bodies don't just disappear, Dean."

I shake my head sigh to myself as I pull up in front of the address listed as the victim's – 402 Dockside Drive. I put the car into park, slipping on my sunglasses and sliding out of the car as the Impala rumbles to a stop next to me.

"This is the house?" Dean asks, taking a look at our surroundings. "Looks…idyllic."

"Yeah, well, something obviously went wrong here," I mutter, digging through my bag of IDs. "CIA, FBI, CDC…NSA…Fish & Wildlife?"

"That sounds good," Dean agrees, grabbing his own badge and handing over Sam's.

I lead the way to the door, the old porch creaking beneath my feet as I knock on the door. "Mr. Carlton, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service."

After a moment, the door swings open to reveal a young man with dark hair.

"You Will Carlton?" Dean asks, stepping up to my side. After the man – kid, really – nods, he continues, "We're Officers Cromwell, McGregor, and…" I flip open my badge, and he quickly glances at it. "Kelly, and we wanted to ask you a few questions about your sister's death."

"Um, okay…the police were already here," he explains hesitantly. "They already conducted their report."

"We know," Sam quickly reassures him. "We just wanted to check the lake to make sure there was nothing that contributed to her death."

"It should only take a moment," I add gently, giving the guy – Will – a charming smile.

"Alright," he concedes after a moment, stepping back to let us in the house.

I slip inside, glancing at my surroundings – as if there would be a neon sign pointing out the supernatural element – before looking back at Will, who seemed incredibly nervous. Not that I blamed the kid, of course; his sister had just died.

Sam convinces him to show us the lake where Sophie had died, and while he hesitates, her brother ends up agreeing after a fair amount of urging. Stepping out of the house, I take a look around, noting that the waters of the lake were mostly placid, only ruffled by the slight breeze in the air.

"It doesn't look like the scene of a recent death to me," I comment quietly to Dean. "You'd think there'd be more…"

The other hunter nods, listening with half an ear as Sam questions Will about Sophie's death – had he seen it happen? Had anyone? Had something dragged her under? Had there been any blood or screaming?

"No!" he protests violently to the last question. "No, she didn't – I didn't see anything, but there isn't anything dangerous in that lake! Nothing killed her, it was an accident."

Not so sure about that, I mentally rebuke. Out loud, I just clear my throat. "That's all we're trying to find out, Mr. Carlton. Can you run through it, one more time? Just to be sure – we don't want anything slipping through the cracks."

"Sure," he sighs, slumping his shoulders. "She was about a hundred yards out, maybe, swimming – alone, like she always is…was – and suddenly, Dad couldn't hear her anymore, so he went out to check and she was just…gone." Will swallows thickly. "Just…no trace, no body, nothing."

I nod, taking a deep breath. "Okay. Thank you for your time, Mr. Carlton, and we'll be in touch."

Just as I began to turn back towards the house, Dean stops, looking out over the lake. "What about your father, can we speak to him?"

I spin on my heel, follow Dean's gaze to the huddled shape sitting on the dock.

Will Carlton takes a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. He's been through a lot, lately, and I…I think he needs to be alone."

"Completely understandable," Sam agrees, nodding. "Thank you for your time."

Will nods, and Sam, Dean, and I quickly say our goodbyes and beat a hasty retreat.

"So," I begin, leaning on the roof of my car. "No one saw anything. Sophie drowned, but no one knows how. My money's on something dragging her under. Water wraith, maybe?"

"Who knows?" Dean shrugs as he slides into the driver's seat of the Impala. "Let's go see what the Sheriff has to say about it."

The sheriff's office was only a quick hop, skip, and jump away from the Carlton house, and the Sheriff himself – Jake Devins – seemed happy to see us, if a little confused.

"I'm not sure what I can do for you," he admits as we settle into the chairs opposite his desk. "We already swept the lake – there was no body recovered. No traces of a body, either. I don't know what you're looking for, but you probably won't find anything."

"We're not really looking for a body," I confess, tilting my head as I formulate what to say next. "We're more looking for what killed her – making sure there's nothing in that lake that shouldn't be."

Devins gives me a long, disbelieving look, but eventually shrugs and lets it go. "Well, whatever killed Sophie Carlton won't be a problem for very much longer, what with the dam and all."

Dean, Sam, and I share a look. "The…dam?"

"Yeah, the dam," the sheriff repeats, as if it were obvious. "The local dam's been falling apart lately, and the government won't give us the grant to fix it, then it's coming down and the lake'll be gone within two months, at the most. But, of course, with you being Fish & Wildlife and all, you'd already know that."

I nod as a piece fell into place. "Right. Of course. We just needed to make sure."

"So, Sheriff," Dean interrupts, diverting the conversation before I dig my hole any deeper, "would you mind giving us directions to-"

He's cut off by a knock at the door, and I twist in my chair to see a woman standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, am I interrupting?" she asks bashfully. "I can come back later."

"Oh, no, we were just finishing up," Dean assures her, cranking his smile up to ten. The sheriff notices this, of course, and gives Dean a dry look as he stands up and rounds his desk. "Andrea, these are agents from Fish & Wildlife. Agents, this is my daughter, Andrea."

"Andrea Barr," she introduces herself, holding out a hand for each of us to shake. "Nice to meet you."

Dean grins, but before he can respond, there's a shuffling sound from behind Andrea's legs, a little blond head peers out at us.

Something inside me immediately perks up at the sight of the kid, and I slide off my chair and onto one knee. "Hey, kid." I glance up at Andrea, a silent question on my face.

"Yes, he's mine," she replies, running a gentle hand through her son's hair. "Lucas, this is Agent…"

"Please, call me Leia," I request with a smile before returning my attention to the kid. "Hi, Lucas. Nice to meet you."

Lucas doesn't respond as I'd expect a kid of maybe ten or so to react; he just ducks back behind his mother's legs without saying a word.

I respectfully backup, shuffling back a foot or two. "Hey, no problem."

"He…doesn't talk much," Andrea says by way of explanation, although I got the feeling that there was more to the story, but I drop it with a nod.

Dean clears his throat, effectively inserting himself back into the conversation. "Ms. Barr-"

"Andrea."

"If you insist," Dean practically purrs. "If you wouldn't mind, could you recommend a reasonably-priced motel in town? We don't get very far on a government salary, and I'd rather not sleep in my car."

Andrea grins, nods, and cants her head, considering the question for a few moments before offering, "Lakefront Motel, it's about two blocks that way. You can't miss it."

"Two blocks…you know what, can you just show me?" Dean asks, giving Andrea another Casanova smile.

I subtly roll my eyes and grumble under my breath, stepping back to Sam's side. "The lengths he'll go to…it's almost awe-inspiring."

"Tell me about it," Sam whispers, fighting a grin.

Dean eventually sweet-talks Andrea into showing us to the motel, and the mother leaves her son with Sheriff Devins before leading the way out of the building.

It only took us about five minutes to get to the Lakefront Motel, but Dean seemed determined to make every second count; while he tried his hardest to butter Angela up, I lagged behind with Sam, quietly swapping ideas on what we could be looking at.

As we near the motel, I tune back into Dean's conversation just in time to hear him say, "Yeah, I love kids! Kids are awesome."

I choke back something between a laugh and a snort. "Oh my god."

Sam hears me and chuckles. Dean either doesn't hear me or ignores me altogether, continuing to chat with Andrea until I physically step between the two of them and shoo Dean off to get us a room.

"You're just jealous," Dean teases as he ambles off towards the office.

"You wish," I call after him before turning back to Andrea. "Sorry about that. And, uh, thanks…for walking us two blocks. I'm sure it was an inconvenience."

"It's fine," she assures me with a small smile. "If you need anything else, then have my dad contact me. And good luck with the investigation; what happened to Sophie was terrible."

I nod gravely, glancing up as Dean steps out of the motel office.

Andrea bids us goodbye, and after getting the cars from the Sheriff's Office, Sam, Dean, and I drop our bags in Room #16 and get out our laptops and notebooks.

"So…the mysterious drowning of Sophie Carlton," I begin, taking a seat at the table and grabbing my notebook. "She drowned…or at least we think she did, because there's no body. Maybe something ate her."

"There would've been more evidence of blood," Sam challenges, sitting across from me. "And her brother said there had been no screaming. If something was gnawing on her legs, there'd be screaming."

I nod, sigh, and cross 'man-eating monster' off my list.

"What about a curse?" Dean asks, cross-legged on one of the beds with a bag of chips. "Maybe someone had it out for Sophie, decided to gank her while she wasn't expecting it."

"Maybe…" I trail off, tilting my head. "Doesn't it seem kinda hit-or-miss though? I mean, what are the odds that someone would know Sophie would be swimming today, at that exact time? Her brother said her routine varies."

"It could happen," Dean insists stubbornly. I roll my eyes but scribble down a few more notes.

And so it went. Someone would suggest an idea, someone else would shoot it down, and we'd make more notes.

Hours passed, and we didn't get anything concrete besides what might be a curse, or a monster fish of some sort, or a water wraith…if those existed.

"Ugh," I groan, rubbing my temples as I lean back in my chair. "I can't take anymore."

"Ditto," Sam grunts, momentarily picking his head up off the table before setting it down again.

"I might throw up if I read another word."

"Not on my book, you won't," Dean protests, passing by the table to scoop the nearest book and gently setting it down before face-planting on the bed. "I'm hungry."

Sam mutters his agreement, and I sigh again before shoving my chair back and standing, wincing as my stiff knees creak.

"I'll make a run," I offer, looking around for my jacket. "The usual fare?"

I get two grunts and a quiet "Thanks," from Dean before I snatch my jacket and head for the door.

Once I get onto the sidewalk, I pick a direction and start walking, figuring that I'd eventually find a diner either way.

I navigate the streets for about five minutes before rounding a corner and scaring a flock of pigeons, causing them to scatter.

"Lucas! No!"

I look up, recognize the kid currently running towards the street after the scattered birds, and reach down to grab him before I even realize what I'm doing.

"Lucas," Andrea pants as she catches up with her son. "Don't ever do that again. I'm so sorry about that," she apologizes to me as I let go of Lucas. "He likes to chase the birds. He's always running around like a little madman."

"Don't worry about it." I dismissively wave a hand, keeping an eye on the ten-year-old, just in case. "Reminds me of someone I knew once, actually."

Andrea, thankfully, doesn't ask, instead just humming her agreement and shifting her grip on Lucas, who was determined to get away. "Lucas, stay still, we can go to the park later."

"I can walk with you," I offer hesitantly. "I was on a dinner run anyway."

The other woman nods, leading me across the street and a short walk away to a park, where she lets Lucas free, albeit while keeping a close eye on him.

"You know, you should probably tell your friend that his little Jerry Maguire act isn't going to work."

"Wh – oh, Dean." I shake my head, laughing. "He's harmless, I promise. Besides, he'd never make any serious moves on a taken woman, he knows better than that."

Andrea looks over at me, confused. "I'm sorry?"

It takes me a moment to realize my error, but when I do, the mortification hits me like a tidal wave.

"Oh my god," I mutter. "I am so sorry. I just thought – with-" I glance at Lucas. "I didn't mean to assume."

"No, it's fine," she assures me. "You're not the first to jump to conclusions. I was married once – his name was Chris…Chris Barr. Lucas' father."

I nod, noting the past tense but deciding, as she had with my earlier remark, not to comment.

"I'd better be getting home," she announces a few seconds later. "It's getting dark. Have a good day, Agent…?"

"Kelly, but call me Leia," I correct. "Hey, do you think you could point out a decent diner?"

Andrea gives me directions to a place not far from the park before bidding me goodbye and collecting her son. I set off in the opposite direction, walking until I find a little hole-the-wall place that, apparently, was a favorite among locals.

After ordering three cheeseburger combos and a soda for myself, I begin making my way back to the motel.

Only to be stopped again – this time, not by a child chasing birds, but by a far more chilling sight: red and blue flashing lights, accompanied by police tape.

Setting the bags down, I quickly flash my badge – thankfully still in my pocket – and get the information I needed out of the attending police officer before grabbing the bags of food and taking off for the motel.

I barge through the door not five minutes later, Sam and Dean looking up in shock as I set the food on the table and shuck my jacket.

"There's a new crime scene," I pant before either brother could speak.

"Another victim?" Sam asks, sounding mildly surprised.

I nod grimly.

"Will Carlton is dead."