Warning: PG-17 (Adult Situations)
Cassie called her neighbor, Mr. Evans, so he would know who was at the house and not phone the police when he saw someone in the driveway. He came out to talk to them when they turned in the drive expressing his condolences about her mom and all that had happened.
“Thank you,” Cassie said determined to not break down again.
Dean asked Mr. Evans if he had seen anything suspicious before the car exploded. He insisted he didn’t remember since the policeman where in and out a lot the last few weeks it was too much to keep up with.
Once they were inside they scanned the main floor to make sure no one hiding. Then they headed downstairs to the wine cellar, Dean was in front with Cassie close behind followed by Sam. They all stood in the center of the room looking for the door to the secret room. Cassie went to where the entrance should have been but didn’t find it; she reached up to touch the spot. Dean came up behind her and reached around to touch the wall that used to be an opening. She relaxed against him for a moment, why does he have to be so damn comforting?
“Someone closed it off, it looks freshly bricked,” Dean said.
“Hopefully fresh enough for us to use a shovel on it,” Sam said heading back upstairs.
In the kitchen again, Dean let them know they needed to have a plan before they walked blindly out to the shed to get the shovel. Sam insisted he would just stay by the back door while they went outside. Since the backyard was fenced in they believed they would be fine. Cassie strolled out the back door like she didn’t have a care in the world with Dean close behind her but after she unlocked the shed hesitated to go in.
“What is it?” Dean asked as he moved her hair behind her ear to kiss it.
Sam saw what was happening from the door. Silly me I thought they were getting the shovel, I should have known better than to send them anywhere near a dark room. Then he heard a noise behind him.
Dean was surprised to hear that Cassie received her spankings in the shed when she was a little girl.
“So you were always a naughty girl?” he said with a smile.
“Not the same kind of naughty,” she replied with a grin opening the door so they could step in. She pulled the string on the hanging bulb. The room was organized with garden tools hanging on the wall, a work bench in the one corner, plus miscellaneous planters and pots lay in the other corners. Cassie bit her lip she hadn’t expected to be sad about entering her father’s favorite place. He loved to do woodworking in the shed; it was his quiet spot.
There were shelves over his bench that held the wooden figures he made. Cassie reached up to touch one while Dean watched her.
“We should get back; we don’t know who we’re dealing with still.”
“I know it kills me to think people I’ve known all my life can be so devious.”
“It may be someone else; we just don’t know yet,” he said as they locked the door.
“Damn it?”
Cassie looked toward the house as a knot formed in her stomach. They raced the rest of the way to the house with Dean carrying the shovel. Once they were close, Dean led the way in slowly he opened the door to look in first. There was no one there, not even Sam. They checked the kitchen then headed down to the cellar, still no one; the bricks over the opening to the walled room where still in tack. They looked at one another for a moment.
“Wait,” Cassie said going back upstairs with Dean on her heels.
“There is another way down there.”
She pointed to a portable pantry; something her mom had added over the years to store extra food it hid another entrance. They noticed it had been moved recently; but it looked heavy.
“I know that Sam is missing, but we should get help.”
“You’re right but let’s make sure he isn’t using the John or something first,” Dean said heading toward the front room.
They walked around the downstairs calling Sam’s name and listening; then went upstairs and repeated the process. On the way back to the kitchen they heard noises coming from under the floor.
“I hope that’s Sam,” Cassie said.
They listened a little longer but couldn’t make out who was making the sounds. Cassie phoned the sheriff while Dean worked on moving the pantry using the shovel as a lever. Cassie attempted to help once she put her cell away. She was sincere in her desire to help but Dean smiled because it wasn’t working. Cassie saw him and really put her hip into it.
“Don’t break a nail,” Dean said grinning.
“Too late,” she said digging in the bag she had brought in case the found something, she used scissors to cut off her broken nail.
Dean finally made a space large enough for them to slide behind the pantry then he saw that the opening was half the size of a regular door.
“It’s like a trap door or upside down attic, we have to be careful the stairs are more like a ladder,” Cassie said.
“They would have had to throw him down there unless he was wide awake,” Dean said distressed.
“He is going to hate me, getting you two involved in all this,” Cassie said sadly.
Dean held her as he decided whether to wait for the sheriff or go on down. He promised her Sam wouldn’t hate her.
“I love you, trust me Sam appreciates your influence on me; don’t worry about him.”
Dean led the way as they went down the ladder into the dark. Cassie remembered the general direction luckily for them. This side brought them into the walled room without going through the cellar. They both recognized the damp musty smell but everything else was different. There were regular rooms with doors, but nothing was painted like someone’s project that was never completed. They heard voices after they turned the corner so they backed up to listen.
“That damn girl and her friends are going to ruin everything,” the first voice said.
“We should have killed her when we had the chance,” the second voice replied.
Dean put his arm around Cassie who had her hand over her mouth.
“I had hoped that wouldn’t be necessary since her parents are dead she should be ready to move on with her boyfriend by now,” the first voice chimed in.
There was a noise like something falling then the sound of chairs moving on the concrete floor. Cassie and Dean moved back into the dark. Then the sound of footsteps followed; they saw the shadows head the opposite way. Silently they checked the room to make sure it was empty when that was verified they went over to the desk where blueprints were laid out. Dean could see they were duplicates of the one’s he had seen. They went back out of the room to see what else they could hear.
“So you finally woke up,” the first voice said.
There was no response while Dean held his breath; he felt something against his stomach so he touched Cassie back. She stiffened. She was carrying her gun. He didn’t comment he just put his arms around her again as they listened.
“Are you wishing you had left this town when you had a chance?” the second voice asked with a laugh.
“No mostly waiting for my chance to kick your butt,” Sam answered.
“We won’t need you when your girlfriend shows up; you need to be saying your prayers, your time is almost up,” the first voice said before they came back toward the room.
Cassie and Dean hadn’t said a word but they both knew they had to get Sam out of there quickly. The sound of the door shutting in the room they were nearest surprised them. Another door opened and shut then everything was quiet. The leaned out a bit to look around but all was quiet. They tipped toed around to where they believed Sam to be. His eyes were closed, one of them looked swollen and his lips where bleeding. Dean went to him to untie him while Cassie kept watch. No one spoke, a good thing Sam was able to move around quite well. There were sounds from upstairs, something scrapping against the ceiling.
“We are going to need another way out,” Cassie whispered as she bit her lip.
“I heard a door close when they left Sam,” Dean said as he helped Sam up.
Cassie dug a clean Kleenex from her pocket and pressed it against Sam’s lip, he held it there.
They moved in the general direction of where they thought the door might be; Cassie was unaware of another way in. Then there were noises from the direction they were headed; so they turned and headed back to their original hiding spot.
“You okay, Sam?” Dean whispered.
Sam nodded.
“Damn it, I dropped the tissue, they’ll see it.” Sam whispered in frustration.
Cassie showed him the tissue was stuck to her shoe; Sam smiled for the first time since they found him, but it hurt. Sam heard a sound behind him then something poking him in the back.
“Don’t move ,” the sheriff said.
“It’s us, “ Cassie replied.
“Cassie?”
“Yes.”
He instructed them to follow him back up the ladder. Sam had a hard time because his leg was bruised from following out of the chair earlier, but Dean helped him from behind.
Back in the kitchen the sheriff told them that they caught the men responsible for all the problems they were coming in and out using the old tunnels.
“What tunnels?” Cassie asked.
He explained that there was a network of tunnels under a lot of the old houses and that these shady characters must’ve heard about them while visiting their town. The sheriff promised he would work on having the tunnels bricked up. The tunnels had been used for smuggling at the turn of the century ;Now and again some crook would hear a rumor about diamonds or some other treasure being hidden so they would attempt to find it. But the fact was no diamonds or other such loot had ever been reported as found in any of the old homes. The tunnels in that area went about a mile and were accessible through an abandoned house. He also told them that the two men confessed to killing Cassie’s mother because she caught them in the house. Cassie thanked the sheriff absentmindedly while she looked longingly at the shed. She went out to see if she could pick out another memento of her father’s before they left, Dean followed her outside partially out of habit but he didn’t want her to be alone when she looked so sad.
She chose a couple of the carvings: one looked like a teddy bear with very intricate detail and the other a swan. He father had real talent, she would have to come back sometime and get everything packed away she told Dean as they headed back toward the house. Dean encouraged her as he reminded her that at least the crooks were not people she had known all her life.
“That is something to be glad about,” she said smiling for him because was trying hard to support her.
She kissed him as they all got in the car. Sam insisted that Cassie seat up front with Dean because he was convinced Dean’s looking at Cassie in the mirror was going to be an accident waiting to happen. Cassie laughed. Once they were on the road she was searching through the bag she had been caring to find chap stick and noticed something shining in the bottom. At first she thought it was a piece of glass but when she picked it up she realized it was a diamond.
“Dean,” she said in shock.
“Yea,” he said looking at her.
She had him pull over the car so she could show him that the diamonds were in the removable bottom of the carvings. There were at least ten in each one.
“What the,,,” Sam said.
“Looks like your daddy knew something no one else did,” Dean said with a smile.
They decided to keep the diamonds after all Cassie had gone through and when the time was right they would head back to her house and pack up, but definitely not forget to clean out the shed.
Back at the hotel they settled that Sam would sell a few diamonds at a time online because they always needed money for supplies though Dean insisted Cassie should at least get a diamond ring out of the deal. Cassie laughed as they all agreed on that topic.
Cassie let Dean know her decision that night after they made love.
“Dean I can’t take you leaving me again; I hope it’s okay if I go with you and Sam the way you suggested.”
He pulled her into the circle of his arms as he leaned in to kiss her.
“I was hoping you would say that, I love you so much I didn’t want to think about leaving you behind again,” he said as he rained kisses over her face.
