Apologies to anyone who knows anything about SCUBA diving. I made up everything in this chapter related to that, and I'm sorry if it's completely inaccurate.


"Gus c'mon, we could totally solve this case."

"Na ah no way Shawn. You remember what happened the last time we took your dad's boat."

"We caught Shabby's killers? Who also turned out to be diamond smugglers! That was one of our best cases!"

"And your dad made us clean out his shed, paint his house, and do his laundry for a month. A month, Shawn!"

Shawn laughed at that. "He won't find out this time. Scout's honor."

"You got kicked out of the Boy Scouts, Shawn," Gus pointed out.

"Dishonorably discharged. And I was framed."

Gus glared at him, not budging.

"Come on, buddy! My dad won't even be back until 5. We take the boat, solve the case, and return before dinner. He won't have a clue."

Gus looked back at Henry's house as if trying to decide if Shawn was even telling the truth about his dad not being home. "I thought they already had the killer in custody."

Shawn nodded. "Yeah, Rodrigo Estevez. But they can't convict him without the bodies. You know their motto. 'No body no crime.'"

"Why do you care so much about closing this case anyway? Chief Vick refused to put us on it. We won't get any money even if we do find the bodies."

I'm sure she'll reconsider once we find the damning evidence," he said. "Plus, Jules can't come to the cabin until this case is closed."

Gus grinned. "Oh I see how it is. Well maybe you should just stay here too and Rachel and I can have a romantic weekend alone."

Shawn snorted. "Nice try. I'm the one that got the house from Sal - no way are you getting it to yourself."

The house was actually a cabin, though a pretty nice one at that. It was large enough to fit six people comfortably and, located on Big Pine Mountain in Los Padres national forest, was far enough away from the main tourist areas that it afforded a quiet - and private - getaway. Sal Barber, one of Henry's old friends from the force, used to invite Henry, Shawn and Gus up to the cabin during hunting season, and many of Shawn's best memories from his childhood took place up there. Shawn hadn't been back in more than 15 years, so when he had run into Sal at one of Henry's poker games, he had jumped at Sal's offer to borrow the cabin for a weekend.

Gus grumbled but didn't deny the truth to that statement. And to be honest, he was grateful Shawn had chosen to invite him and Rachel up to the cabin instead of just taking Jules up there for a romantic weekend alone. "Fine," he sighed. "But if your dad finds out we took his boat, you're the one doing the laundry."

Shawn smiled widely. "I knew you'd come through, buddy! Okay, I just need to grab a few things and then we can get going."


Gus waited in the Blueberry while Shawn rummaged through his dad's garage, emerging after ten minutes carrying what looked like scuba gear - and relatively new gear at that.

"Shawn, where the hell did you get this?" Gus asked, stepping out of the Echo to meet Shawn before he could put the equipment in the car.

Shawn hoisted it up so Gus could get a better look. "The wet suit and the fins I've had for awhile," he explained, "but all this other stuff I got from a case I worked while you were on one of your work retreats."

"Shawn, this is really expensive equipment!" Gus exclaimed, looking at the regulator and BCD that his best friend had piled onto the heap.

Shawn just shrugged. "The people I helped out own that SCUBA shop on Presidio. They were very grateful," he added, smiling proudly.

Gus closed the trunk, going around to the driver's seat. "I didn't agree to the scuba diving, Shawn. It's dangerous and you need to be a licensed professional to operate that stuff on your own."

Shawn reached into his pocket, pulling out his wallet and a small card that he handed to Gus.

Gus squinted at the fading print. "Shawnito Spencer, certified SCUBA instructor?" Gus asked, confused. "Just because you make yourself a card, that doesn't mean you're qualified!"

Shawn took the card back, studying it himself. "Gus, if I had forged a scuba diving card, it would have looked way cooler than this. And for your edification, I am a certified instructor. I spent a year in Mexico instructing co-eds on vacation. Best job ever."

Gus looked incredulously at his best friend. "I still think it's a bad idea, Shawn. That was what, ten years ago? You can't remember how to do everything."

Shawn scoffed. "Gus, this is me we're talking about. I remember everything. Plus I had something like 2,000 dives under my belt. Trust me, I remember what to do. And anyway, how do you expect to find the bodies if we can't dive deeper than a few feet?"

Gus conceded that point but was still wary. "How are we supposed to find the dumping grounds? The police already performed an extensive search of the area and came up with nothing."

Shawn closed his eyes, playing back images from the crime scenes and the one victim's hand that had showed up on shore. His own deductions had led him to conclude that the bodies had all been dumped far enough off the coast so that a casual ocean-goer wouldn't stumble upon the bodies. But he also had a hunch it wasn't exceedingly far from the beach. Which would mean it had to be somewhere very deep...

"Shawn!" Gus said loudly, like he had repeated his name several times with no reaction. "You don't have any clue, do you?"

Shawn shook his head. "There was something on the one victim's hand. A piece of coral..." he trailed off, again picturing the extremity in his head. Angela Pilat - the first victim of the supposed "Santa Barbara Butcher" - was 22 years old and an aspiring actress. Her hand had washed up on shore with a rare type of coral only found in caves and in depths exceeding 100 feet - much deeper than a human could dive without SCUBA gear. And Shawn had seen it before...

"I have an educated guess," Shawn relented, knowing Gus wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. One glance at his best friend confirmed he was right. "Look, buddy, if we don't find them today, we can give up. Better yet, you and Rachel can have the cabin to yourselves. I'll stay home and surprise Jules with dinner."

Gus still seemed reluctant but he turned the key in the ignition anyway. "This is a terrible idea," he muttered, pulling out of the Spencer driveway and headed toward the harbor where Henry's boat was docked.

"Nothing?" Gus asked after Shawn had surfaced for the fourth time. They had been out on the water for almost two hours and Shawn continuously came up empty-handed. Shawn shook his head dejectedly. "Maybe your hunch was wrong," Gus suggested. He knew Shawn was determined to find the bodies, but he looked exhausted. Gus would have offered to dive but he didn't know the first thing about SCUBA diving and didn't think Shawn would be the best person to teach him.

"One more time," Shawn said, panting a little. "I just need to go a little deeper," he added, preparing to dive back down.

"Well hold up," Gus said before Shawn had a chance to go under again. "Is this even safe? I think you should come up and take a breather. You probably need to switch oxygen tanks anyway." Shawn reluctantly agreed, knowing that Gus was probably right. And he was getting tired. He passed the gear up to Gus, then climbed onto the deck, struggling as the fins caught on the side. Gus pulled him the rest of the way over and he lay on the deck for a few minutes, closing his eyes.

"Why are you so certain this is the place?"

Shawn opened one eye, squinting against the sun. "Something about the coral on the victim's hand. I've seen it before, the last time I went diving around here."

"You mean you've done this before? Alone?"

"You were at your work retreat!" Shawn defended meekly. "It was just once, anyway. There's some underwater cave around here. These are the correct coordinates. I think I'm just not going deep enough..." Shawn trailed off, closing his eyes again.

"How much more oxygen do you have?" Gus asked, crouching down next to Shawn.

Shawn squinted up at his best friend, reaching for the oxygen tank attached to the vest he had removed. "Not enough," he said, pushing himself up into a seated position. "I'll switch it out before the last dive. That should give me about an hour. Plenty of time."

Gus looked like he was going to argue that sentiment, but his cell phone went off before he had the chance, Right Said Fred's "I'm too sexy" blasting for a second before Gus had the chance to pick it up.

"Man, you really need to change that ringtone!" Shawn shouted to Gus's retreating form. Shawn shimmied over so that his back was against the deck and checked his watch. Two fifteen - they still had enough time to get the boat back to the dock before Henry had a clue it was gone, but it was going to be close. Especially if they found the bodies and had to call the SBPD in. He had finished changing out the oxygen tank by the time Gus returned.

"Rachel?" Shawn asked, seeing the dejected look on his friend's face.

Gus nodded. "Her flight was delayed again and she won't be able to make it back to Santa Barbara until tomorrow morning."

"She still gonna come up to the cabin?"

"That's what she said," Gus shrugged. "She said I could go up with you and Jules tonight, if that's alright."

"Road trip! Of course, buddy! See if Maximus wants to join us!" Gus's glare shot daggers at Shawn. "Just kidding," Shawn placated. "Where is the little guy anyway?"

"Staying at a friend's house for the weekend."

"That's probably for the best," Shawn said, smirking at Gus's obvious annoyance. "Alright, should we do this? I'm starving and the sooner we finish this, the sooner we get pineapple smoothies."

"Didn't your dad say he wanted us to come over for dinner tonight?"

"Oh shoot, I did promise him, didn't I? And Jules. Damn. I guess we have to go if we want him to let us borrow his truck."

"I still can't believe he's letting you take that up the mountain."

"He said he didn't want to worry about us getting stuck with Jules's Beetle. I think he just trusts her more than me."

"Can you blame him?"

"Nope, not at all. Alright, let's get this done. We're running short on time, and if my dad finds out we stole the boat he definitely won't let us take his truck."

"Okay, but be careful," Gus said, helping Shawn up and handing him the equipment he'd discarded earlier. "I don't want to have to deal with your dad if something happens to you," he joked lightly, but his eyes were serious.

Shawn nodded. "Don't worry, buddy. I got this."


Shawn was almost there. He knew he had gone deep this time and he could feel the pressure increasing as he dove even deeper. The ledge of the underwater cave came into view and Shawn silently congratulated himself. This was the place. He knew it.

Kicking his feet a little harder, Shawn gave himself one more push until he had reached the cave. It was dark and the meager light from his headlamp didn't allow him to see more than a few feet ahead of him. He continued along slowly, one hand feeling along the length of the edge of the cave.

"Come on, where are you?" Shawn thought, frustrated. He was running out of time and this would most likely be his last shot for awhile. Shawn was preparing to duck into the cave for one final look around when he felt the ledge he had been grasping give way in his hands. "What the..." he thought, holding out the piece of rock. Shawn held it up close to his face, illuminating it with the headlamp. And what he saw almost stole his breath. It wasn't a piece of rock that he held but a human hand, most of the flesh stripped away by scavengers.

Shawn ducked beneath the ledge, for the first time apprehensive about what he might find. He didn't scare easy, but the prospect of finding a serial killer's dumping grounds this far under water was both exhilarating and terrifying. He had just gotten below the shelf when the body jumped out at him, dislodged by the crumbling of the rocks and the current produced by Shawn's own kicking. Shawn fell back, startled. And then he saw the other bodies. There had to be a dozen, all tied together and weighed down with bricks. Reacting instinctively, Shawn swam out of the cave, kicking up from the depths way too fast, but he couldn't stop. He felt the painful pressure in his ears and his chest as he ascended too quickly, but he wanted to get away from the makeshift graveyard as soon as possible.

Breaking the surface, Shawn ripped off his breathing mask, gasping heavily. "Shawn?" Gus asked, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Shawn took a few more gasping breaths before holding up his hand and the bony skeletal remains clutched in it. "Gus? I think we need to call the chief now."


Thoughts? I'd love to hear what you think!