She looked around, watching the buzz of the busy police station feeling uncomfortable. Was she over-reacting? It was just a guy at the pier right? As she eyed the door, thinking about a quick escape, she heard it.

"Spencer!" The tall, lanky detective barked, scanning the room. She started to rise, but stopped when she saw the blond detective approach.

"Shawn isn't even here, Carlton. What could you possibly be upset about?" She noticed the ring on his hand, and the absence of one on hers, yet they were obviously familiar with each other, so her guess was partners on the force—not lovers in the nighttime.

"Not that Spencer—a witness. Spencer Jones, are you here?" The lanky one, Carlton she supposed, nearly growled her name. Clearly he was not one to mess with, so why did she want to so bad?

Maybe it was because he called her Spencer. A boy's name. Why, of all things did her mom name her Spencer? At least she could go by her middle name… "It's Kate, actually, I go by Kate."

"You're Spencer?" The blond detective, she didn't see a name, asked with the incredulous look she had grown accustomed to.

"That's me. Spencer Katherine Jones. Really though, it's Kate."

"Of course, I apologize. I'm Detective O'Hara and this is Detective Lassiter, would you like to step into the conference room?" As she stepped in the large, comfortable room and sat in one of the chairs—rolley, her favorite—all she could think was 'Carlton Lassiter? Maybe my name isn't so bad.'

/\/\/\/\

Juliet flipped through the case file Carlton handed her as she escorted the witness into the conference room. Spencer—Kate—Jones, 20, claimed to be threatened by Joey Scorcese, second in command in the most profitable drug running business in Santa Barbara, which warranted an interview with detectives. She looked up to see the girl swaying her chair side to side as she rocked. The girl caught her glance and abruptly stopped, color flooding to her cheeks. Juliet's detective skills told her she was frightened, and uncomfortable, and decided she'd go for the gentle approach of understanding what happened. Unfortunately, Lassiter jumped in before she could speak.

"So 'Kate'," He said with distaste—what was his deal? She was a victim, not a criminal. "You claim Joey Scorcese attacked you on the pier, what exactly went down?"

Juliet nudged Carlton as she sat down, mentally telling him to do the same. "What my partner means to say is, please, tell us what happened." She would have to talk to him later. He may have seemed like a robot in need of grease to most of the department, but Juliet knew something was up. Before she had time to dwell on it further, though, the witness started into her account. She looked her age, an adult, but still not having fully found her place in the world. She had brownish hair that lightened to blond at the ends, but considering she was looking at her thumbs, Juliet couldn't make out an eye color.

"Well, I'm not from here, so I figured I'd hit the pier, see what life was like down in the ol' SB. So I'm walking down the pier drinking my mango-pineapple smoothie enjoying the sights…"

Pineapple. Juliet thought back to her breakfast with Shawn. His good-morning kiss, the way he had teased her about her bed-head, and the plate of pineapple and toast he had ready for her. They had a rough couple of months, and she still wasn't 100% sure if she could trust him, but he was trying and she had to admit she was glad they were together again. Forcing herself into the present, Juliet realized their witness was getting more animated, breaking out of her quiet start.

"…So, I was standing there and I realized that there was a building that said 'Psych' on the window. Like in big green letters. And I decided I definitely needed to see what that was all about. So I'm walking back down the pier and I just hit the boardwalk when this guy grabs my arm and pushes a gun into my side."

Juliet noticed that her partner perked up at the mention of a gun, apparently uninterested by the account until a firearm was mentioned. So this kid was by the Psych office when she was grabbed. Juliet could figure about where, there was a steep incline off the boardwalk that was poorly lit and she had heard rumors of deals going down under the pier.

"Anyway, he drags me down the hill and under the pier, gun still digging into my side, and he hisses 'Hey hot stuff, you look like you could use a little fun.' To which I promptly replied 'Ew, no, get away from me.' Which was probably not my smartest move considering he then pushed me to the ground and aimed the gun at my head. Then he was all "I'm gonna take you down, don't you know who I am?" And I, unable to keep my mouth shut, said "Nope. And where did that phrase come from—'I'm gonna take you down'—take me down where? To sea level? You already did that. Town? I mean Santa Barbara is fairly large but I would consider this decently down town. I mean who comes up with these phrases?" Well, he didn't seem to share my amusement at the origin of the phrase, so he took a step closer, pointed the Glock in my face and told me to shut up or he was going to 'take me out'. Well foolish me, talking when I'm nervous, I go into another rant about the origin of that phrase, and how it was even sillier—I mean 'out'? That could mean out to dinner! Who decided that a phrase of animosity should also be a dinner invitation?"

Kate rambled on, true to her word on talking when nervous, but by the end she described her attacker and how she identified him off a BOLO she saw at the grocery store, and how she narrowly escaped by tossing sand into Scorcese's eyes. However, Juliet was repeatedly distracted by Kate's own eyes. They were hazel but flashed green when she got particularly animated and reminded her so much of Shawn's she could barely stand it.

Hey all, I thought this up a while back and figured I'd try my hand at this. Feel free to review and whatnot, I'll post the next chapter soon! If it was unclear, the perspective changes from Kate to Juliet at the squiggles, from now on each chapter will be in a different person's perspective. Enjoy!