So here is the second story I'm publishing today. However this is just part one of it. I've had people asking about the story and instead of keeping them waiting I found a good spot to end a chapter. So here is part one of this story. It is a continuation from the events of Red Leap and Leaping Blue. And of course I don't own anything.
"It worked." I rushed out of the accelerator. We had just made a test run of the updated version of the project. I was able to leap and return! I hadn't even been gone a day, and I was able to return to my wife's arms. "Are we ready to try it for real now?" I turned to Gushie after letting go of Donna.
"Whenever you're ready Doctor."
"Tomorrow it is." I announced.
"Tomorrow?" Donna frowned, "One test doesn't make it ready for operation."
"I've come home three times now. I'm going to do it again." I promised. "I wouldn't be leaving you again if I wasn't sure of it.
"I'll see you in a little bit." I hugged by best friend, then I turned and kissed my wife, "I'm coming back. I promise."
"You better." She smiled, "I love you."
"I love you to." I let go of her and headed for the accelerator.
Once more I felt like my whole body was being struck by lightning. I was surrounded by a flash and when I came back around I was sitting behind a desk with a game up on the computer screen and a smoothie of some sort sitting next to it. It was to tempting not to try. "Yum pineapple." I don't think I had ever had a pineapple smoothie before.
"Do you have to say that every time you take a sip Shawn?" The man behind the other desk sighed. He looked as if he was doing actual work. After a brief glance around the room I could tell you one thing this was not an ordinary office. There were toys and knick knacks everywhere mostly on the desk in front of me. I didn't see a nameplate on either desk. The sign on the window read Psych. I then noticed that the man across from me was waiting for some sort of response.
"Oh I'm sorry." I tried, "I didn't mean to interrupt your work."
"Of course you didn't," The bald black man shook his head and stared at me, "Look I know you're bored we haven't had a case in a while but that doesn't mean you get to stop me from actually doing my real job for a change." He went on, "Why don't you go to the station and bug Lassie or Juliet for a change."
"Maybe I will." I decided to leave just to gather my own thoughts and get out of this guys way. I grabbed the keys that were sitting on the edge of the desk.
"You aren't driving anywhere without your helmet Shawn. I'm not telling your dad you're brain dead in the hospital from an accident." He pointed to the helmet sitting on the couch.
I snatched it up and walked out the door. Great a helmet that meant a motorcycle. Maybe I would just walk along the pier here. Apparently I wasn't needed anywhere, all I had to go on was that I was called Shawn I worked at Psych and drove a motorcycle. The man in my office was my partner, and there were two other people Lassie and Juliet.
But if I wasn't needed anywhere I could take this time and look around, maybe find out where exactly I was and relax a little until Al showed up with more information. I found a paper vendor and dug around for some spare change in Shawn's pocket. Paper and helmet in hand I found a bench looking out over the water. Santa Barbra 2005 okay so California in the more recent past. That should make things a little bit easier less chance of losing data and it's a more familiar time period. I had barely had time to look over the paper when the phone in my pocket started ringing. A pretty blondes picture popped up, so that was Juliet.
"Hey Shawn, Vick wanted me to call and tell you to come down to a crime scene."
"Oh uh yeah sure." I tried as a response.
"So grab Gus and I'll text you the address."
"Gus?" Oh that must be the man in the office. "Right Gus okay, we'll be there." I hung up the phone grabbed the paper and the helmet and headed to the office. I however was interrupted before I made it to the door.
"For the record I already hate this leap." The door to the imaging chamber closed behind Al. So I pulled the phone back out so I didn't look like a lunatic.
"What do you mean?"
"This kid you leapt into, a sarcastic punk. Oh and he's claiming to be psychic."
"Psychic? I'm not psychic, I can't pretend to be psychic."
"But I can." Another voice cut through, what was going on here?
"Didn't I tell you to wait!" Al turned as a man came fading in and out of focus.
"Your friend Gushie said it was set up."
"Patrick?!" I questioned, as the man finally came into focus.
"Sam." Patrick Jane nodded.
"What are you doing here?" I frowned.
"I called him." Al sighed, "If this kid was psychic, I figured you might need the help of the best fake."
"You called him?" I couldn't quite grasp that, Al wasn't the biggest fan of Patrick.
"I thought he might be useful. That's all."
The phone I was holding up to my ear vibrated it was the address I was supposed to be heading to.
"You know this is pretty nice, it's a pity I didn't have a partner like this back in the day. Do you know how easy conning a mark would have been." Patrick was enjoying his holographic experience.
"I need to be at a crime scene with my partner so I'll need both of your help to pull off this being psychic." I instructed and headed into the office.
"He's not psychic either if you're interested." Patrick followed Al and I so we were standing in the doorway of the office. "He's your best friend, he supports you financially with some under achieving pharmaceutical job, he knows you're not psychic and he's playing a game on his computer." Patrick spouted out.
"His name is Burton Gustor, the two of you run Psych, you're psychic detectives, he also has a job as a pharmaceuticals salesmen. Shawn is claimed as a dependent on his tax returns." Al read from Ziggy. This was certainly going to be interesting having both of them here.
"I thought you were going to the police station." Gus looked up and pressed some buttons on his computer.
"I thought you were working." I retorted, "Juliet called, Vick wants us at a crime scene." I relayed the message.
"Finally a paying job." Gus jumped up, "We need the money."
"Right behind you." I nodded. Gus grabbed his keys and looked me over.
"He's suspicious." Patrick warned, "I talked to Shawn, be more playful, more sarcastic, make obscure TV and Movie references whenever. Remember these two have been best friends since they were kids." I just nodded an acknowledgement of the warning while following Gus to a little blue car.
"That's his car?" Al laughed, "I bet this guy gets all the women selling medicine from a blueberry."
"I don't know selling drugs from the back of any car is quite lucrative." Patrick shrugged.
"Maybe where you come from." Al rolled his eyes.
"I didn't realize you grew up in such a nice place. My experiences with orphanages were never nice." Patrick returned.
"I was talking about where Gus grew up." Al argued, "And who said I was an orphan."
"Your whole demeanor." Patrick responded.
"You think you know everything about me don't you." Al fought back.
"I know more…" Patrick started but I cut him off with a cough, I didn't need those two arguing this entire leap. "I was just going to say I know more about orphanages and foster care than I would care to admit."
I pulled Shawn's phone out and typed a message for Al and Patrick to read without making Gus think I was crazy for yelling at thin air. None of this is relevant right now.
"Well what do you want from us?" Patrick questioned, "I've never been a hologram before I don't know what my job is exactly."
"Ziggy says Karen Vick is the police chief in Santa Barbra. Shawn and Gus have been working cases for them now for a year or so, since Shawn conned the police force into thinking he was psychic. He has had seve…" Al stopped to hit the handlink, "Oh okay he has had several dead end jobs for short periods of time before leaving or getting fired. His parents are divorced. I don't know what else you want from me."
"Are you okay Shawn?" Gus was watching me out of the corner of his eye.
"Pineapple smoothie." Patrick prompted.
"No. No I'm not I just realized I left my smoothie on my desk. Do you realize what a waste of deliciousness that was?" I took everything that Al and Patrick had given me about Shawn to come up with something that might sound ridiculous enough.
"Very nice." Patrick approved.
"Not bad." Al nodded.
"Do you think we could stop and get another?" I continued.
"You know what forget I asked." Gus just shook his head.
"I'll take that as a maybe." I pressed on.
"Did Jules tell you what we were looking at?" Gus changed topics.
"Not a word." I shook my head. "She said Vick wanted us there."
"What do you think it is?" Gus questioned.
"Something obscure." Patrick prompted again.
"Maybe a man was murdered by feuding holograms?" I glanced over my shoulder.
"Cute." Al smirked.
"How could a hologram kill someone Shawn?" Gus just rolled his eyes.
"I don't know maybe it's a really advanced computer system." I continued on this thread. "Or maybe the hologram was telekinetic."
"I can show you telekinetic." Patrick smirked, "give me a straw or a ring on a string."
"I don't think he meant a cheap trick." Al retorted.
"I have loads of expensive tricks if you would prefer one of those." Patrick returned.
"So who created these kinetic holograms?" Gus was going along with it.
"You know what you're right that's to advanced maybe in the future I think our victim was killed by a dinosaur."
"Again?" Did Gus just say again, a dinosaur had killed one of their victims before?
"A couple months ago a man was pushed onto the fossil of a tyrannosaurus head and was killed." Al informed.
"Yes this time it was a triceratops."
"Shawn triceratopses are herbivores."
"I didn't say he ate the victim did I?" I returned.
"Doesn't look like prehistoric murder to me buddy." Al was standing outside the car looking at the crime scene.
"Unless dinosaurs use fire arms." Patrick added.
"What the hell took you so long?" A shorthaired woman moved rapidly toward the car.
"Compliment her." Patrick prompted.
"Well you look lovely today Chief." I grinned.
"Mr. Spencer frankly I am not in the mood for your shenanigans today. Go see what you can tell me about the crime scene."
"Why did I compliment her?" I whispered.
"She didn't doubt for a second who you were did she?" Patrick smirked. "Okay one shoe is missing the body was dragged, look at the faded trail here."
"I'll follow the trail you keep talking." Al nodded to Patrick.
"He was in a altercation before being shot from a distance. What do you say do the bruises look recent?" Patrick talked, "He was a professor, look at the chalk on his sleeve. His cuff links were bought from a wife a while ago. But he's divorced now. Start shouting this out, pretend to be psychic."
"How?" I coughed.
"Just make a scene, act confident." Patrick rolled his eyes, "You act like other people all the time this isn't different. Oh and never explain your reasoning."
"Yea I'll tell them oh I have a ex con man hologram telling me this I'm sure they'll believe me." I muttered under my breath. "This man was a professor." I shouted. "He divorced."
"Where did you pull that from?" I tall man with a strong Irish hairline frowned.
"He doesn't believe Shawn is psychic. Act like he amuses you, like he is an insect on your windshield wiper, a minor distraction from your purpose. If you try to defend yourself you start to prove him right." Patrick instructed, "But remember Shawn isn't serious about anything."
"Sam you're going to want to see this, we got another body." Al reappeared, "This way."
"We have a problem here." I announced to the cops gathered around.
"You mean other than you and Gustor?" The tall man frowned.
"We have a dead body."
"Well you are very observant, I wonder what we would do with out you."
"Not that body Lassie." I grinned, "this way." I let Al lead me and the Santa Barbra police back through the trees a little while until we found a young mans body sprawled on the ground.
"Well we found who the professor was fighting with." Patrick shrugged.
"Oh my God! Shawn how did you know?" The pretty blond from the phone, Juliet grinned.
"She has a thing for Shawn." Patrick noted.
"Well isn't Shawn a lucky man." Al grinned.
"Oh she won't admit to anything yet." Patrick shrugged, "Tell her you have a gift."
"I'll give her a psychic reading for you if you want." Al offered.
"What about your wife?" Patrick smirked.
"Well you know Jules it's just a gift." I grinned, "Perhaps I can give you a private reading sometime, let you peek into your future."
"Where did that come from?" Al nearly dropped his cigar. "You don't still have a little bit of me floating around in that brain of yours do you?"
"Cute Shawn does that actually work on women?" Juliet grinned.
"I don't know what you're talking about I'm promoting my business." I smirked at my two invisible friends.
"You know this is what happens when you create a neuro link with a boy scout and two manipulative bastards." Patrick just shook his head.
"Speak for yourself." Al argued.
"I remember a time not to long ago when you would do just about anything to get a girl in bed." I coughed into my hand.
"That doesn't count that was an alternate time line that never happened." Al argued.
"What about before you met Beth?" I turned my back to the group to question.
"You did it buddy we got another paying gig." Gus over, "Chief Vick says we're on the case."
"Sweet, can I get that smoothie now?" I couldn't help myself. "Or should we wait until we find out who our victims are?"
"We're on it." Al nodded, "Come on Jane."
"Have fun Doctor." Patrick smirked but followed Al out of the imaging chamber. Hopefully they will come back with information before the police here do. I never did get to replace that smoothie but Gus and I did grab lunch during which we talked about the case. I tried not to be to serious about the whole thing while still go over the information we had. The professor and the young man had been fighting then they were both shot. One was dragged out into the open while the other was kept hidden. So who was the intended victim? And why were they fighting?
I had to have Gus pay for lunch because it appeared that the change I had spent on the paper this morning was the only money he had on him. As it turned out Gus didn't seem all that surprised when I showed him an empty wallet, which lined up with what both Al and Patrick had told me.
I couldn't stand just sitting around so I asked Gus to drop me off at the police station. He of course stayed with me and started down to the basement, he hesitated when I didn't follow him right away. I covered as best I could and followed him down the stairs, to a room that read autopsy.
"Shawn! Gus! How are you on this fine day?"
"I'm missing out on a pineapple smoothie but other than that I'm just fine." I answered.
"Woody should you be eating lunch while doing an autopsy?" Gus stayed in the doorway of the room.
"I hate dead bodies." Al walked in through the imaging chamber door, followed by Patrick.
"You aren't the only one." Patrick nodded toward Gus.
"What do you have Woody?" I asked.
"Ham, cheese, and mayo. Do you want a bite?" the coroner responded.
"About the body Woody." I clarified.
"This guy isn't all there." Al commented.
"Well there was a fight." Woody stopped and left us waiting while he took a bite of his sandwich. "They could have been in a fight with each other, it's even probable but I think there was some sort of invisible third party."
"Like invisible feuding holograms?" I couldn't help but bring up.
"Oh yea I hadn't even considered that, that's good. These guys just got in the middle of a fight they couldn't even see." Woody nodded, "That makes sense."
"It does?" Al frowned.
"Told you so Gus." I smirked.
"This is just bizarre." Al just kept watching Woody, "This man is wacky." Al stopped and looked around the room. "Where is Jane?"
"How am I supposed to know?" I whispered over my shoulder and glancing around the room.
"What are you looking around for, get your phone out." Patrick walked in through the closed door. "You're going to get a call from Juliet. The professor is Arnold Williams, history with Spanish and Latin American studies. His sparing partner was Michael Carlos. Carlos has a record of violence he is also in Williams class at the university. "Patrick spouted out, "You know this hologram thing is pretty useful."
As he spoke the phone started ringing, "Hey Jules I'll be upstairs in just a second you can tell me all about how Professor Williams was flunking one Michael Carlos."
"How did you…" I cut her off by hanging up the phone.
"Come on Gus we're needed upstairs. Thanks Woody keep an eye out for those feuding holograms for me."
"You got it Shawn." Woody called after me, I noticed Patrick give Al a questioning glance to which Al only responded with a shrug.
"Okay so how did you know that?" Gus frowned as we walked up the stairs with Al and Patrick behind us.
"Well obviously they were fighting about grades what else do professors care about. And I don't know he just looked like a Michael to me."
"Seriously?" Gus stared.
"No, I'm actually psychic and people only I can see told me. I just didn't want to tell you because my power might scare you." I tried.
"Oh my God Shawn how did you know that?" Juliet caught sight of Gus and I.
"I told you Jules it's a gift. I can't help it's who I am."
"You're something all right Spencer." Lassiter looked up from his desk. "I don't suppose you could tell us who the killer is with all that psychic power of yours." He taunted.
"Someone who didn't like the Professors grading scale perhaps." I offered, which got a chuckle from both Al and Patrick.
"Carlos had gang tattoos." Al pointed out.
"And don't say perhaps or maybe when making an actual prediction." Patrick added.
"Have you looked into gang violence?" I offered.
"Well Gee Spencer I hadn't thought of that." Lassiter rolled his eyes.
"Have them look into the Professors travels." Patrick tried.
"Whoa what are you doing I thought we agreed to wait." Al turned to Patrick.
"I waited I let him make a mistake, but I thought that we were here to make sure the case was solved on time. Wasn't that the problem in the original history." Patrick returned.
"We are already ahead of the game because of you we found both bodies at the same time instead of days apart, and Spencer isn't you, he stumbles around before he gets the right answer." Al argued.
"I let you give him the obvious option he made a mistake he got picked on, so what is wrong with giving him a better options now." Patrick continued.
"You might want to look into the Professors travels, it might be more fruitful than your gang land violence theory Detective. How ever I have to make a run to the little boys room." I gave Al and Patrick a look making sure they knew to follow. I was being left out on something and I didn't appreciate it. They had some explaining to do.
"You can't accept that we beat you to the punch can you Spencer." Lassiter smirked.
"When that day comes I will accept it with open arms Lassie but until it does look into the Professors travel history." I called over my shoulder.
"Do these meetings always have to take place in the bathroom?" Al pulled out a cigar.
"What do you two know?" I questioned, turning from the mirror because the kids face just couldn't portray how frustrated I was.
"It's nothing we, were going to tell you when we were alone." Al puffed on his cigar.
"Well we're alone now!"
"So we are." Al looked around.
"What your dear friend Al is trying to say is this particular case is time sensitive." Patrick answered.
"Okay look Sam in the original history they figure out who the killer is but he leaves the country the day before and they can't extradite him." Al explained, "we were going to tell you, but you've been pretty surrounded this whole time."
"Okay so who did it, if Shawn says he's psychic couldn't I have a vision or a dream or something?"
"But that's just it Sam, Shawn isn't psychic and while Juliet may not question and Lassiter might even go along. Gus knows Shawn isn't psychic it and how would you explain that to him?" Patrick continued. "Besides Shawn's an amateur he makes guesses and goes from there."
"How is that not what you do?" Al turned to him.
"First off I don't do it anymore, and second I didn't just shout stuff out, I made sure things lined up before claiming to know anything. In short I am much more patient than Mr. Spencer."
"So who did it?" I interrupted.
"Don't know, I wanted to solve the case on my own, I've almost got it as it is." Patrick shrugged.
"You don't know, it's time sensitive but you didn't bother to find out who the killer is or where he might be?" I frowned.
"I said I didn't know, I didn't say we didn't know, Al knows." Patrick answered, "And if he is going to tell you, I'm going to go do more investigating." With that Patrick walked out through the bathroom door.
"Okay so Patrick's statement about the guys travel history was right. Records say that the Professor stumbled upon something in Latin America that he shouldn't have and that followed him here. One Randel Marcus killed him. He is a trained sharpshooter." Al informed. "The reports are a little lacking on how they put it together that it was him, but it had something to do with Shawn connecting the Professors ties in Latin America to the crime. From there they found out that there were other killings similar to it throughout the west coast. If we catch him here we can prevent six more murders."
"Shawn you okay in here?" Gus poked his head in.
"Just thinking buddy, I don't think the gang member was the target." I tried to reassure him.
"Well that's why I'm here the Professor was in Panama a week ago. He witnessed a crime there." Gus let me know, "What made you say to look into his travels?"
"I don't know Spain and Latin America it seemed sketchy to me. You know supposedly bad things happen there." I joked, hoping to stop him from asking more questions. He seemed to buy it and led Al and I out of the bathroom.
"I know who did it." Patrick exclaimed as we found him at Lassiter desk without the knowledge of Juliet and Lassiter. I couldn't help but frown, how could he have solved it in that short of time with the same information the police had. "It was obviously over drugs. Not him he didn't do drugs but he saw someone murdered over drugs. Probably by someone very important in the local drug community. So they sent their hit man after him. Looking at these reports a lot of names come up but only one stands out. One name that has been able to go back and forth between Panama and the US without suspicion. Randel Marcus, he is a body guard to a major politician in Panama. Which means either the politician is involved in drug dealing or Randel has a very profitable part time job."
"Really?" Al questioned, "You got all that from the paperwork."
"It's not rocket science." Patrick shrugged.
"So Gus told me I was right." I sat on the corner of Lassiter's desk.
"Just because he saw a crime commited doesn't mean that a gang member didn't want revenge on the student." Lassiter frowned.
"You just gave us another lead to look into." Juliet grinned, "Thanks for the help Shawn."
"The gang angle is a dead end." I sang.
"Either way we have to look into it Shawn." Juliet just smiled, while Lassiter continued to frown.
"I'm being told everything you need to know is right there in your files." I continued to sing.
"Oh and what invisible friend is telling you all of this, this time." Lassiter rolled his eyes.
I couldn't help myself, "Actually two Al and Patrick their from the future." I answered.
"Of course they are." Lassiter growled, "Well you can tell them I can solve my own cases."
"Not very well apparently." Al smirked.
"He seems pretty closed minded to me, that's no way to solve a crime." Patrick added.
"They can hear you Detective they say apparently you can't solve your own cases and you seem very close minded, that can't be good when it comes to crime solving." I relayed.
"Get out Spencer, get out of this station right now." Lassiter yelled jumping up from his desk.
"You're killer is in the paperwork." I sang over my shoulder, "And look for similar cases."
"Do you always have to press all of his buttons?" Gus sighed leading the way to his car.
"Yes I think I do." I nodded. "So now we have to find Randel Marcus."
"Who?" Gus frowned.
"The murder." I replied.
"We're on it." Al nodded and he and Patrick left through the imaging chamber door.
"And how do we know this?" Gus sighed.
"It was all there in the paper work Gus." I shrugged.
"Can we eat first?" Gus gave in, "We haven't eaten anything in hours."
"Great idea." I nodded and let him lead the way to his car.