Chapter 1 – The new one

Monday

The office wasn't that impressive considering that these people were supposed to be the best and only 'psychic' private detectives in America. The green print letters on the window beckoned Alexis inside. She entered the office to find two men arguing about the merits and disadvantages of pineapples.

Alexis dropped her duffel bag on the brown leather sofa and she examined the two men; they were both different in appearance (one was had pale skin with brown hedgehog hair and the other had chocolate coloured skin with a gleaming bald head) and it was definitely evident that neither of them was an alpha male.

It took at least twenty seconds for the men to notice they had company; the dark man stepped forward and in a smooth (and slightly deep) voice said, "Hello…I'm Gus". He leant in to shake her hand but was interjected by the other man who immediately introduced himself as Shawn Spencer, Psychic extraordinaire.

"Do you remember who I am?" Alexis asked.

The men looked at each other and then Shawn turned to her and said, "Oh yes … you're the writing student who has chosen to do a series of essays and articles about me explaining the common misconception about psychics."

"Wow, you remembered the exact specifications of my visit to the letter."

"That's what I'm here for. And may I ask what common misconception it is?"

"Why of course it's that you are in fact a fake."

Shawn felt a little hurt by what she had said to him and (even though she was correct about him) he was going to prove her wrong.

"Oh really? … Would you like a free demonstration of my psychic ability?"

"Be my guest." She said waving her hand as the show his performance space.

Shawn looked Alexis over like she was a piece of meat and with his hand to his temple and the scrunch of his eyes he said, "You are right handed, you have three siblings, two brothers and a sister – born in December, January and May, your middle names are Ella and Dee and … your natural hair colour is brown and definitely not blonde." (At the moment Alexis had long straight cut blonde hair – it matched her blue eyes).

Alexis pondered her response to this and said, "You're absolutely correct and you have an amazing ability-" before she could finish her sentence Shawn and Gus were high fiving each other "—for investigative work and deduction." (That cut their celebration short.)

"Huh?" Shawn slurred.

"Well it's pretty obvious that I'm right handed because my bag is on my left side so it is easier for me to access with my stronger arm plus there is an indentation in my fingers indicating pen usage; also you can tell this isn't my natural hair colour because my dark roots are showing at the top of my head."

Gus and Shawn stood flabbergasted and looked at her. "Then… then what about the siblings and the middle names … that's definitely unworldly." Gus said practically shivering with a mixture of fear and excitement.

"I'm wearing a bracelet on my wrist with three names on it – two male and one female; and next to each name there's a gem stone which symbolise the birthstones of December, May and January." The men stood as statues.

"Oh and you know my middle name and last name because you're on my Facebook page."

Both men looked at each other confused. "How'd do you know that?" they said simultaneously.

"There's a mirror behind that desk with the laptop on."

There was a moment of silence. Shawn thought to himself, he had never met anybody who was like him before. It was like looking in a mirror (not figuratively as that mirror was behind Gus's desk for some unknown reason). He examined the girl: she was average height for someone of her age , she had long (fake) blonde hair and blue eyes , she was well endowed in the chest department and unlike most girls her age she actually knew the difference between a lettuce leaf and a double cheeseburger (she wasn't fat or anything – she had an hourglass figure which suited her very well).

In a trance Shawn asked, "Do you need a job?"

Alexis looked puzzled and explained she only came to write her essay and she hadn't even found a place to stay yet. "You can stay with me" Shawn blurted out.

"Excuse me!"

"Oh … really it's fine. I have a girlfriend and everything, she's not made up , she works for the SBPD and her name's Juliet."

Gus leant over and said, "He's telling the truth." With that his phone beeped and so did Shawn's , they both looked at each other with a smile on their faces.

Alexis was confused as both men started to pull on their jackets and ferret for keys. "Where are you going?"

"To solve a murder." Shawn answered ( a bit too) enthusiastically .

"Shawn!" Gus said waving him towards the door.

Shawn looked back and forth between his lifelong friend and this new intriguing young girl and he said , "Hey , why don't you come with us?"

Gus began to shake his head and say , "No,no,no,no. Lassie will kill us."

"No he won't" Shawn said gripping Alexis' wrist and shoving her towards the door.

"Are you sure I can come and can you please explain everything to me?" Alexis asked in a worried voice.

"Of course. Come on it'll be fun. We'll take the blueberry."

Alexis looked at Shawn, "We're taking a fruit?". Shawn laughed because he didn't need to be a psychic to know that he was going to like Alexis; no matter what happened after that point.