"Sammy, whatcha got for me?" Dean said as he dropped a bag of food on the table of their motel room.

"Well, get this. There's this town in California that's been experiencing an increased number of random deaths, supposedly accidents. But, each accident has left the body so mangled, no one can tell if there are pieces missing or they're just not recognizable."

"You thinkin' wolf?"

Sam shakes his head, a little confused. "I don't know. Seems a little too…staged. Like whatever was doing this was trying to cover up the murder with another cause of death." He looked up at Dean. "Werewolves don't really have the capacity of thought beyond 'kill' and 'eat.'"

Dean nodded, throwing Sam his salad. "So, where we off to?" he asks, biting into a burger.

"Santa Barbara."

"O'hara, what's the situation?"

Juliet sighed, turning toward her partner. "Another accident. Guy was repairing his lawnmower and it fell on top of him."

Lassiter rolled his eyes. "Then, why am I here again?"

Juliet rolled her eyes back at him. "Oh, I don't know, Carlton, maybe this is the seventh 'accident' in less than a week and it seems a bit fishy, don't you think?"

Lassiter couldn't help but agree. Those numbers were pretty high. "Look, I get it. It's a bit of a strange coincidence, but when we investigate them, they always turn out to be just accidents. Accidents do happen," he said.

Juliet sighed. "Well, if you'd let Shawn help us with one of them…"

"The chief is out of town for the week and left me in charge. If I can take the opportunity to make my week Spencer-free, then—"

"Hey, Lassie!"

Lassiter groaned. "Why me?"

Shawn walked up with Gus, smiling widely. "Aw, Lassie, you don't look very happy to see me. Could it be you've been purposefully avoiding me while the chief is out of town?"

Lassiter turned on his heel toward Shawn. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Shawn stepped back, mock-scared. "Why, Lassie! I'm offended! I was just passing by with Gus to get a mango-pineapple smoothie, when we heard all the commotion over here."

Gus rolled his eyes. "Shawn, we're in the middle of nowhere. You made me follow Lassiter's car." He turned toward Lassiter with a sincerely apologetic look. "Which I was completely against in the first place."

"Gus, don't be a lost baby in a strip mall," Shawn said dismissively, earning a few very confused looks. He looked at the scene and his eyes widened slightly at the amount of carnage that lay there. He quickly turned back toward Gus. "Hey, buddy, you wanna go get us those smoothies while I look around here? I'll hitch a ride back with Jules and Lassie, ok?" he said, giving Gus the 'you don't want to see this' look. Gus took the hint, not wanting to subject his stomach to that scene and nodded quickly, leaving before the smell could get to him.

Shawn turned back toward the detectives and shrugged. "You know how Gus can be around bodies, especially when they look like a bowl of chili. Aw, man, now I'm not gonna eat chili for weeks," he said sadly.

Lassiter folded his arms across his chest. "And who were you getting a ride home with again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Shawn huffed. "Come on, Lassie. I'll be quiet as a mouse. Although they're quite squeaky. How about a marshmallow? They're pretty quiet."

"Spencer!" Lassiter shouted to end the younger man's speech. "Fine, but if you so much as make a sound, I will tie you to the back of the car and drag you the rest of the way."

Shawn's eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out if Lassiter was serious, but when Lassiter raised one eyebrow back at him, his eyes widened slightly and he put his hands up. "No problem, Lassaroo," he said, miming zipping his lips shut and locking them.

They surveyed the scene for a little while longer, coming up with just about nothing new. As they trudged back to the car, which was a good half a mile away because there was no way Lassiter was bringing his baby through this terrain, Shawn patted his pocket and sighing loudly.

"Aw, man! I dropped my phone back by the body," he sighed, dropping his head back dramatically.

Lassiter growled. "Well, go and get it, but if you're not back within 5 minutes, we are leaving without you and never looking back," he said through gritted teeth.

Juliet nudged him, giving him a stern look, before turning toward Shawn and mouthing 'run' and smiling.

Shawn saluted, giving Lassiter an, 'aye aye, Captain,' and taking off back into the woods. He made it back to the crime scene, eyes scanning quickly over the grass before catching the neon green casing in the corner of his eye. As he was moving toward it, he caught something else out of the corner of his eye. 'Huh,' he thought, 'storm clouds aren't normally that dark.'

Lassiter tapped his fingers angrily against his wheel, checking his mirrors to see if that over-grown child was coming back or not.

"That's it," he mumbled, starting the car.

"Carlton," Juliet admonished, but she was interrupted by the back door opening. "Oh, Shawn. Did you find your phone?"

Shawn smiled widely at Juliet, wiggling his phone about. "Found it in a jiff," he said.

Lassiter scoffed as he pulled out onto the highway. "Then what took you so damn long?"

Shawn looked out the window. "Car was far away," he said, smile still on his face.

Lassiter continued to grumble as Juliet rolled her eyes and looked back at Shawn through the rear view mirror. He wasn't texting or doing anything. He was silent, looking out the window. "You ok?" she questioned.

Shawn snapped his head back at her, before smirking. "Never better."