Chapter One: May 12th 2010

Of the many officers and detectives that constantly moved in and out of the station, Juliet was the first one to approach the woman. She knew she wasn't the first to notice her because she had heard mutterings from some of the males, wondering over who she was or what she was there for, but none of them had wanted to approach her. Juliet supposed she understood. From an objective point of view, the woman was beautiful, to the point that Juliet felt a small swell of jealousy. Her hair was a light, almost reddish brown color, and it curled softly down her back and away from her face. Her eyes were a bright hazel green that was visible even across the room, and her features were all perfectly centered on her face, her lips full and red, her nose small and perfect, her eyes wide and gentle. Her clothes were dark and clinging, black skinny jeans revealing long, slim legs, and a dark blue short sleeved blouse, showing off her flat stomach, lean arms, and shapely neck, and it was just low enough to emphasize that she had nicely sized breasts. Juliet thought that the outfit must have been carefully picked in order to accentuate the woman best futures.

She sat on the waiting bench perfectly poised, one ankle tucked behind the other, her hands resting on her lap, neck and back straight. Despite all of this, Juliet noticed that the woman had an air around her, she seemed almost… well not dangerous, but there was something there that Juliet couldn't identify, probably the same something that had kept her male coworkers from approaching, no matter how good looking the woman was. Her eyes, which had, up until this point, followed every person who came in the front doors, now focused on the approaching blonde haired woman. Juliet noticed, with a bit of surprise, that the woman looked her over for weapons or a threatening attitude, almost in the same way she had seen Shawn's do to potential suspects, or Henry's do to people when he thought he was in a dangerous situation.

"Hi," Juliet said, coming to a stop a few feet away from the woman. This positioning was purposeful, even though Juliet could tell the other woman wasn't armed. Not with a gun at least. At this distance, Juliet had put both her and the woman in plain view of the rest of the bull pen, and she would have enough space to draw and aim her weapon if the woman was dumb enough to try an attack in the middle of the station.

The woman, as though reading her thoughts, gave her an understanding smile that made Juliet immediately relax, though she didn't notice it.

"Hello," she replied, her voice sooting, which relaxed the blonde woman even further.

"I'm detective O'Hara," Juliet said, her body shifting a little closer so they were in easy speaking range now. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh, no, thank you," the woman said, giving her another smile. "I'm just waiting for someone."

"Oh, would you like me to call them for you?" Juliet asked. This woman must have been called in as a witness to a case or something, though Juliet couldn't think of which one she would fit into.

"No, thats unnecessary," the woman said, and Juliet found herself smiling back at the woman this time. "He'll be here."

"Alright, if you're sure," Juliet said, turning back to the interior of the building. The woman didn't respond, but Juliet left the conversation smiling, though she couldn't say why.

The woman sat on the bench for hours, not shifting or leaving. Her eyes continued to analyze every person that came through the door, whether they were officers or criminals. She didn't speak to anyone, though more than one man brought in for questioning leered at her. She didn't even seem to pay attention to her surroundings, past the people coming and going. In fact, Juliet would have sworn multiple times that the woman had completely zoned out, her eyes taking on a far away, blank look, but she never missed a single person coming in the door.

She was still there when they received the call about a dead body found on a secluded part of the beach by some late morning joggers. Juliet gathered her jacket and the things she would need at the scene while her partner swore at the location. They both knew that, being much closer to the crime scene, Shawn and Gus would beat them there, though neither of them had been called. Lassiter seemed to find the idea abhorrent, but Juliet, though she would never admit it, still found Shawn fascinating, though she had been around to observe him for over five years now. Half the time, she was positive that he must be truly psychic, but then sometimes he would do something so… detective like that she had to wonder, briefly, if maybe he was just really good at seeing clues. She never let on about her doubt though, and she liked to play it up a bit when Lassiter was particularly crotchety that day, just because she thought the older man needed to loosen up a little. And it was fun to see him annoyed once in a while.

It wasn't until they were leaving, and Juliet had taken a single glance back at the still stationary woman, that she noticed the manila envelope, wedged between the woman's back, and the back of the bench. She only had a few minutes to ponder what it could be before her mind was occupied by the crime scene.

Nearly two hours later, they returned to the station, followed by Shawn and Gus, who had indeed beaten them to the crime scene. They had the statements of the two joggers who had found the dead man. He had been buried in sand and seaweeds, and they had only noticed him because they had stopped to shell hunt (Juliet had nearly shaken her head at them and Lassiter had barely contained a derisive snort. Who actually went shell hunting? Other than five year old children) and they had seen a foot sticking out of the mess of plants. The sea water had washed away any evidence that might have been left, but for some reason, the killer hadn't bothered to search the victim's clothes, and his wallet had survived, for the most part, which meant they had been able to get an ID on him. The mistake probably meant that the killer hadn't meant to kill the victim, but after discovering the death, had panicked and dumped the body in the ocean. The man had small cuts all up and down his arms and face though, which had stumped Juliet. They almost looked like fingernail scratches, but they might have happened after the body was dumped. The obvious cause of death was a blow to the head. Juliet was so deep in thought, puzzling over what might have happened, that she had forgotten to look for the mystery woman as they entered the station. She looked now, and almost sighed in confusion. The woman looked as though she hadn't moved at all, but, Juliet noticed, her eyes had stopped searching over every person that came in the doors and was now fixed on their little group. Though Psych hadn't yet been hired for the case, Shawn and Gus had stuck around, partially to annoy Lassiter, and partially because they hoped that when Lassiter couldn't figure it out, the chief would hire them. It was a usual occurrence, but now Juliet felt a bit uneasy. The woman was watching them all, though she probably couldn't see them very well from where she was sitting.

"What's wrong Jules?" Shawn asked, noticing the blonde tense up a bit. "Thinking about hiring us for the case? I know you want to."

"That's not it," Juliet said, her voice low enough to draw the serious attention of the three men near her. "It's just that, well, that woman has been sitting here for hours. She said she's waiting for someone, but wouldn't let me call, and now she's watching us. It's just… a bit weird." The three men looked in the direction Juliet was looking, and frowned. She thought, just for a second, that she heard Shawn swear under his breath, and when she looked back, it was obvious that he was angry about something.

"Damn," Gus said, though his face was appreciative rather than angry. Shawn had begun walking quickly through the desks toward the woman, and she must have been waiting for that, because she finally stood from the bench, her hands catching the manila envelope behind her before it could fall to the floor. Gus made to follow, but he noticed the angry expression on Shawn's face and hung back a bit.

"Does he know her?" Juliet asked, confused at the strange behavior.

"I've never seen her before," Gus said, then shrugged. "Maybe she's one of the girls he's dated and then not called."

Even though Gus had shrugged it off, he and Juliet continued to watch as Shawn came to a stop, much closer to the woman then he would have if she had been a stranger. Obviously, he didn't want anyone overhearing their conversation. Juliet had never seen Shawn look so serious, and apparently, it worried Gus as much as it worked her, because Gus started making his way across the room. After a slight hesitation, Juliet followed.

"Why are you here?" Shawn had asked as soon as he was within speaking range of the woman. He immediately noticed that she clutched an envelope behind her, but gave it no thought. "How did you even find me here?" At this, she rolled her eyes.

"Don't patronize me," she said, keeping her voice low as she noticed the two people following him. "I knew where you were going as soon as you left."

"And I told you that I wanted nothing to do with you," Shawn nearly spat. His shoulders were tense and his face was angry. There were multiple people glancing over at the two of them now, though their voices wouldn't have carried at all.

"I know," she said, then she sighed a bit and seemed to lose some of her confidence. "Look, I waited for you here so that you wouldn't cause a scene. Obviously that idea didn't work too well," she gestured toward the pillar that Gus and Juliet were tucked behind. He glanced around, and immediately stood straighter, adopting his usual easy going appearance. Then he frowned at her again.

"Why are you here?" He asked again, softly this time. He knew she was getting him to relax by seeming cowed and frightened, but she was good at playing people, and it was natural for his body to relax a little as she seemed to turn more and more into a frightened girl. Even though his mind was telling him that she did everything on purpose, he couldn't help that some of his anger slipped away. If he didn't know her as well as he did, he would say that she actually was scared.

"I'm not sticking around," she promised, knowing that even though she had gotten him to calm down a little, that would be the question he most wanted answered. "I just came to warn you."

"Warn me about what?" Shawn asked, giving a resigned sigh. He should have known that she wouldn't come here unless it was important. She waved the manila envelope a bit, then glanced around again.

"Is there somewhere less occupied that we can talk?" She asked, letting her voice carry a little, knowing that the two behind the pillar would come out if they thought the argument was over. She knew who they were, of course, and she knew that Shawn trusted both of them, and she also knew that she could trust them to help her cause, with this at least. A moment later, Gus and Juliet were near enough to talk to them.

"You can use the conference room," Juliet said, gesturing toward the empty room. The woman nodded her thanks, and Shawn gave another resigned sigh, then marched off to the room.

"You can stay but the blinds have to be closed," the woman said to Juliet and Gus as they followed behind her a little hesitant. Shawn snorted as the woman bossy attitude came out, and Juliet bristled a little, but she began to close the blinds on the windows obediently. Shawn took a chair on the opposite side of the wide table from the woman, and Gus and Juliet took the ones and either side of him. Juliet, picking up on the tense atmosphere of the room, had adjusted her holster so that her gun was within easy reach.

"Shawn, who's your friend?" Juliet asked, trying to get rid of the tension in the room.

"She is not my friend," Shawn said automatically. The woman gave him a sarcastic smile.

"Even after I came all this way to warn you?" She asked, her voice soft and pleading, though Juliet could see now that her eyes were cold.

"Cut the crap," Shawn said. "Get to the point."

"Fine," the woman said, dropping all her pretenses and adopting a cold, business like attitude. "My name is Aisha Kelly. I met Shawn about 15 years ago when he was traveling. Five years ago we had a fight and he told me he never wanted to see me again." Her eyes locked onto Shawn now. "He got mad at me for lying about something important because I was trying to protect myself." Shawn shifted in his seat a bit. He had known she would pull something like this as soon as he saw her and he had tried to prepare himself for it, but she really was making him sound hypocritical. Wasn't he doing nearly the same thing now? But no, this was different. She gave him a thin smile, knowing she had gotten some of her point across. "Normally, I would have respected his wishes," he snorted at this, "and I would have stayed away. But two months ago I started getting these." She opened the envelope and pulled out a thick pile of pictures. Some of them were of her, some of Shawn, even a few of Shawn with Gus or other people, and a few with people that neither of the three knew. All of them had notes on the top, written in red sharpie, usually saying things like 'time is running out' or 'make the choice'. The three of them passed the pictures between each other.

"This sounds like a serious issue," Juliet said, her gaze falling on a picture of her and Shawn leaving the station. She wasn't sure how old the picture was. "We can file a report for stalking charges and put you under police protection-"

"No," Aisha said, giving the other woman a half smile. "I don't need any of that. I can protect myself just fine," she said, her eyes falling to one of the pictures. She drew it out of the pile. "I received this one this morning." The note on top of this one read 'Time's up.' The picture was of a middle aged man with a slight belly, getting into his car. "This was my neighbor at the place I was staying at for the last three months. His body was found an hour after I got this." Juliet gasped, but Aisha ignored her.

"Why didn't you bring this to the police?" Juliet asked, frowning. "We could have prevented this from happening."

"Honestly, I didn't think they were serious," Aisha said, shrugging, not the least bit upset, though Shawn knew she was probably kicking herself. He could tell by the way her eyes flicked to the picture then away again. "Now that I know they are, I came to warn you to keep a lookout," she was looking at Shawn as she said this, and he frowned back at her, a little confused. She had never bothered to care about him before, which was evident by the fact that she had lied to him for ten years. She schooled her features into their normal blank mask, knowing that, of all the people she had ever met, Shawn was able to read her the best. They gazed at each other for a moment more, then Shawn looked back down at the pictures. "They are starting with people I don't really care about," she continued a moment later.

"What does this mean?" Juliet asked, gazing down at the photographs again. "'Time to choose', 'make your decision'" She quoted.

"They want my help for something and I am disinclined to do so," Aisha said nonchalantly.

"What do they want you to do?" Gus asked, his head tilted a little.

"So you know who they are?" Juliet asked at the same time, her voice morphing from concerned into the hard detective voice. Aisha smiled at her, though it was an empty look, like the rest had been.

"I know who they are, more or less," she said, then looked to Gus. "I'm… pretty good with computers. They probably want me to hack something for them." She ignored Shawn's snort.

"Well tell us who they are and we can bring them in," Juliet insisted.

"No you can't," Aisha said, shaking her head in a condescending manner. Juliet immediately sat back in her chair, feeling as though she were a child again without really knowing why. Maybe it was the way the woman was speaking to her. She frowned a little. "The people looking for me are not people that could be brought in. If you arrested them they would be out of jail within an hour with no record of them ever having been here at all. Remind you of anyone you know?" She said, raising a thin eyebrow at the other woman. Juliet began to shake her head in confusion, but then she frowned. "The people looking for me are very similar to your brother. They have a lot of power and they are very good at misusing it." Juliet bristled for a moment, but she had to admit that Ewan had misused his power and had nearly broken the law.

"I think you should stay here until we can make certain that you are safe," Juliet said, choosing to ignore the previous statements. Aisha shook her head.

"I am safe, I wouldn't even have bothered coming here if they hadn't threatened Shawn," she said, and suddenly something clicked in Juliet's mind. This woman cared about Shawn. A lot. Maybe she loved him. For some reason, that made Juliet dislike the woman a little, though she had no real claim over her psychic friend. Shawn seemed to realize something at the same time Juliet did, and Aisha realized she had made a mistake by letting them figure her out a little. "Look, Shawn, I know you hate me or whatever, but you are the closest thing to family I have and I don't want you to get killed because of me." She was gazing at the wall of windows behind the three others now so she wouldn't have to take in their expressions, though she still did from the corner of her eye. She nearly sighed when Shawn actually looked surprised. Did he honestly think that she didn't care about him? They had spent nearly ten years traveling the world together, and they had dated for a majority of that time, until she had ruined it by trusting him enough to tell him the truth about herself. He had been so angry, it was the only real fight they had ever had, and he had made her promise to stay away from him for the rest of her life. Okay, she had been really bad at showing her emotions, and she had lied to him, but how could he think that she didn't care about him? She wouldn't have spent ten years following just anyone around from country to country.

"Why not just give them what they want?" The other three were drawn out of their own thoughts as Gus spoke.

"Because I have morals," Aisha said, trying to ignore Shawn's snort of derision again. She frowned at him for a moment, but didn't say anything about it. "Whatever they want, I don't want any part of it."

"I really think you should file a police report. Even if these people are working for the government, they can't just go around killing people," Juliet said, frowning.

"They are smart," Aisha said, shrugging. "They won't leave any evidence behind. They will make it look like an accident. I'm going to leave town again, I just stopped by on my way out of the country." She looked at Shawn for another long moment, then stood. "If you get into trouble, let me know."

"I don't need your help," Shawn spat, so angrily that the other two looked at him in shock. Aisha just smiled again.

"I know you don't," she said, walking towards the door.

"How do we contact you?" Juliet asked, frowning. "If you are leaving the country…"

"Shawn knows how. He can tell you whatever he wants to tell you," she said, pulling the door open. She seemed unsurprised to find the tall lanky detective directly on the other side of the door. "Hello detective Lassiter," she said, slipping past him. "It was nice to meet you all." She was out of the station before they were able to say anything else.

"Shawn, what's going on?" Juliet finally asked as Lassiter joined them in the conference room. He glanced down at the photos that Shawn was gathering into a pile, then turned to glare at his partner.

"In case you were unaware, we have a murder case to be working," he said, scowling.

"The murderer was the victim," Shawn said, foregoing his usual overly hyper, spastic 'vision' attitude. "The nail marks on his arms and face were made by the murderer, trying to defend herself. He was probably trying to force her into a car. Run his name and you will find he had a record, two counts of assault and one dropped charge of rape. The girl you are looking for will have bruises on her arms matching the victims grip. She probably managed to push him away and he hit his head on something, probably a concrete pillar, and the girl panicked and dumped the body. I'm guessing it happened late last night in a parking garage near the ocean. There are four I can think of, all of which have security cameras. I need to go," he changed the subject so quickly that he was up and out the door before the others could process what he had said. Gus knew that he had used his dad's computer to run the dead guys name, but the rest had been a surprise to him as well. That woman must have really shaken him up, if he wasn't bothering to do his psychic act for the two.

"Shawn!" Gus called after his friend, following him out of the room. Lassiter and Juliet traded a confused look, but both of them left the room as well, since they had no reason to be there anymore.

"I'll be right back," they heard Shawn call over his shoulder. "I have to figure out where she left the list, then I'll come back and explain everything."

"What list?" Gus asked, but Shawn left the station before Gus had caught up. Gus followed him out, but came back a few moments later, shaking his head. "I don't know whats going on," Gus said, coming to a stop in front of Juliet. Lassiter had, grudgingly, gone to follow up on what Shawn had said about the dead body. "I've never seen him act like that before."

"And you've never heard of that girl before?" Juliet asked, telling herself she was just curious, not jealous at all.

"I didn't really hear from Shawn often when he was traveling. I got postcards once in a while, but no letters or anything. I guess I should have assumed that he would make friends on the road. I just never really thought about it," Gus said, shrugging as he tried to play it off, though Juliet could tell he was concerned.

"Do you want me to run her name through the system?" Juliet asked soothingly. She was curious too, and she could use the excuse of Gus wanting to know to run the name. He nodded and followed her over to her desk, looking around to make sure Lassiter wasn't nearby as he would probably disapprove of using police resources for something not case related.

Juliet pulled up the police records site and typed Aisha Kelly into the search bar. It said that no one by that name existed. She tried a few different spellings of the name, but they all came up as empty searches.

"Maybe that was a fake name," Gus suggested, glancing toward the doors now, obviously wondering where Shawn was now. He pulled out his phone and texted his friend about the search and leaving the instructions to call him immediately.

"Why would she give a fake name?" Juliet asked, frowning.

"You don't think she killed that guy do you? Maybe she was trying to hide from the police and wanted Shawn's help?" Gus was always overly suspicious of people who came looking for Shawn's help, and that woman had been… odd.

"I don't know. We will just have to wait for Shawn," Juliet said, shrugging. "Any idea where he went?" Gus's phone rang before he could answer.

"Shawn, where are you?" Gus asked immediately, putting the phone on speaker so Juliet could hear him too.

"My place," Shawn said, "but I'm heading to the office in a minute."

"Want me to meet you there?" Gus asked, frowning. He had driven Shawn to the station. Walking, it would take him at least twenty minutes to reach Psych from his apartment. Glancing at his watch, Gus frowned. It was usually a fifteen minute walk from the station to Shawn's latest apartment, and he had been gone for less then ten.

"No need," Shawn said, and Gus could hear traffic through the phone. "I'll be back at the station in half an hour, I just need to get a few things."

"Shawn, are you running?" Gus asked, recognizing the slightly out of breath sound of Shawn's talking.

"Nope, see you later buddy," Shawn said, and the phone disconnected.

"That was weird," Gus said, frowning as he tucked his phone back into his pocket. "And he didn't say anything about whoever that woman is."

"Well he's coming back, we can just wait," Juliet reasoned, spotting Lassiter coming back up the stairs, probably from the morgue. "This has been a really weird day."

"You know that's right," Gus said, spotting Lassiter as well. "I'll go wait for Shawn."

"Okay," Juliet said, already getting back in the mindset of the case they were supposed to be working.