You are reading: Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover, Unless It's Covered in Blood

Disclaimer: I own nothing in front of me except my cat and she disagrees.

AN: First off, I was trying to create a really long title. I did in knowingly. Second detail that you should probably know is this is my first foray into Psych fanfiction so I'll attempt to improve as I go along. This first chapter is mostly a prologue, the rest will be longer and in present day.

() 1986 ()

A young Shawn Spencer made his way through the tightly packed aisles of books, being careful to avoid areas where adults had stopped to scan the shelves. He clutched an object to his chest, being sure to keep it well hidden underneath his jacket. Pausing momentarily, Shawn looked all directions to wait for the perfect opportunity to enact his plan. He saw his chance.

When two middle age women with a stack of books grasped tightly in their hands made their way to the exit, Shawn saw his opening. As quickly as possible he mad his way to the oblivious women and hid behind them, attempting to use the individuals as a type of human shield to cloak his escape.

"Shawn, where are you going?"

He quickly stopped in his tracks at the sound of his name. Slowly, Shawn turned around to see the face of his father, Henry Spencer, looking down on him.

"I wasn't going anywhere sir," responded Shawn.

Henry looked down on his son and saw the obvious signs of lying on Shawn's face. Taking his son by the shoulders he led them both to a set of chairs nestled in the corner of the library where no one would be disrupted by their discussion.

"Now Shawn, if you weren't going anywhere then why were you sneaking to the exit?"

"I though you were outside," replied Shawn while keeping an even tighter grip on the book hidden under his jacket.

"If that's really the case then I take it you're ready to leave." Shawn nodded his head in agreement. "Fine, let's go."

Shawn sighed in relief and proceeded to follow his father out of the library.

"But first why don't you let me see what book you checked out that you feel the need to hide from me." Henry reached out his hand to take the book but Shawn backed away before he had the chance. "Come on kid, I'm not kidding around."

"But I didn't check out any books!"

Henry gave his son a hard stare, by now he had hoped that Shawn would have learned to stop lying to cover things up. "I know you checked a book out. I can see you hiding it right there," said Henry as he pointed to the obvious lump under the jacket. "Now hand it over."

Reluctantly Shawn reached under his jacket to produce a hard bound copy of the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles. Henry turned the book in his hands in an attempt to discover why his son would have felt the need to hide the classic novel. Sure, it seemed a little high brow for Shawn's usual fare, but other than that it seemed relatively harmless.

"How come you didn't just show me that to begin with? It wasn't an inappropriate book for you to check out."

Shawn stared back up at his father uneasily. He struggled to find the right words but stayed silent instead.

"You did actually check this book out Shawn, right?" Determinedly Shawn chose to keep up his act of steadfast silence. "You didn't. Why? You know taking this book would have been stealing."

"But I was going to return it."

"No buts, Shawn. This is a library. They give you a card for a reason; go use it so we can leave."

"I can't."

"Sure you can. All you have to do is walk up to the librarian, give her you card and the book and we can be on our way."

"I can't," repeated Shawn, this time emphasizing his words even further. "She won't let me."

The she in question happened to be the attending librarian. Her tight face and cold demeanor was certainly no child friendly. As a group of chatting teenagers walked by she gave them a stern stare and a forceful reminder to remain quiet.

"And why not? She seems like a perfectly reasonable woman."

Guiltily, Shawn looked down at the ground, attempting to avert his eyes. "I have a library fine."

Henry paused before answering his son. "A fine? That was all? Use your head next time." Henry paused to rustle his son's hair before continuing. "I can give you the money."

Shawn looked up, eyes full of hope. "Really?"

"Of course." Relief washed across Shawn's face. "I'll just take it out of the money you earned yesterday."

"No fair! I was going to use that money to buy a-"

"Well you should have thought of that before you racked up a fine. Maybe next time you'll be responsible and return your books on time."

"Yes sir."

With his newly gained money Shawn went up to the counter and handed the book up to the librarian. Of course with the difference in height it took the woman a moment to even see him standing there. Taking her time she eventually got to the work of checking out the book and let out an audible tsk at his fine.

Together the Spencers walked out of the library with their newly garnered books in hand. Turning to Shawn, Henry took a moment to ask him on final question. "What did you learn from all this in the future?"

"Next time, I'm just borrowing a book from Gus."