Hello! Second chapter, please review and enjoy!
"I still don't think this is a good idea Shawn. We don't even know how the security guards began disappearing. What if they were drugged- or shot- or maybe even kidnapped by Bigfoot?!" Gus rambled.
Shawn stopped to peer under an exhibit case and said, "Gus, there's no proof of any of that. No left-over rags, no blood spatters, and not even the left-over sippy cups the big furry guy uses when he's upset."
Gus replied pointedly, "Which just makes it even scarier. Shawn, I'm telling you, next time we decide to go for a spooky stake-out, I'm not even going to accept the free pineapple smoothie you always offer whenever I deny to go with you."
Shawn gasped and clutched his chest in a very fake and very dramatic heart attack, saying, "Gus! How could you?! You've broken my heart!"
"Shhh!" Gus hissed as Shawn nearly bumped an artifact off of its pedestal during his fake stroke. "For all we know the kidnapper could already be here!" He said in a hoarse whisper.
"Oh, come on, Gus! No one's even showed up." Shawn relaxed and gestured around him, "What are you so worked up about?" As if on cue, a giant furry… thing leaped from the shadows and slammed into Shawn.
"Shawn!" Gus screamed in terror. He quickly looked around for something to beat the thing off of his best buddy. Almost immediately he picked up a giant club from a cave-man exhibit and began to whack at the creature with as much force as an angry six year-old having a tantrum. It was distracted by the petty blows and got off his now unconscious friend. The creature backed off and shook itself like a dog, and much to Gus' dismay, turned its attention towards him. At this, Gus screamed like a little girl, grabbed an arm and a leg of the crumpled heap that was Shawn and dragged him away towards the main doors. The furry creature, nearly resembling some big cat, rushed at them with a snarl, but Gus managed to slam the door in its face and barred it breathing heavily. There was a loud 'thunk' and the doors shuddered slightly. Gus screamed again, this time managing to actually pick Shawn up, and run towards the car. He shoved his mangled friend in the backseat, then scrambled into the front and buckled in. There was another faint thump, and the doors shuddered again. Gus floored it, and Shawn rolled off of the seat and hit the floor, still unconscious.
Neither one noticed the blue police box in the far corner of the parking lot.
Shawn's head throbbed with immense pain as he came to his senses once again. He groaned as he tried to sit up, but his ribcage hurt like the dickens, besides, he was too lazy.
"Shawn! Thank God you're awake!" Shawn recognized Gus' voice and opened his eyes to find his friend getting up from his laptop and rushing toward him in anxiety.
"Gus, what happened…?" He said as he began to stand up, but a sharp pain in his side protested, and he collapsed back down on the couch.
"A weird cat thing attacked you in the museum and nearly ripped you to shreds," Gus stood a bit straighter and puffed out his chest, feigning a heroic pose, "but I got you out of there in time."
"Gus. I heard you scream like a little girl before I blacked out."
Gus' stance deflated and he responded indignantly, "You probably would've too if you were in my position…"
"I'm sorry, I was too busy being mauled by a fluff-ball of death. Speaking of which, why can't I move…?" Shawn retorted as he tried to get a single glance at his injuries.
Gus shifted nervously and said, "You got pretty beaten. You've got scratches all over your chest and you've bruised your hip and back badly."
"Oh Gus I'm not sure it's that bad!" Shawn said as he thrust himself from the couch and immediately yelped in pain from his sides. Gus came over and tried to put him back on the couch but Shawn refused, saying, "Nonono Gus, we need to get to the station and tell the department about this."
"Uh, Shawn, no one will believe that you were mauled by a fluff-ball that we can't even identify."
"Gus, I don't care. We need to let the department know this…or at least animal control."
"Sorry Shawn, I'm not carrying you to the station. I did it to the car from the museum, but no more."
Shawn grinned slowly, and Gus cringed.
"I can't believe this." Gus muttered to himself as he pushed Shawn in a wheelchair they rented from a homeless man on the side of the street.
"Hey, it's better than carrying me, right?" Shawn replied as they entered the Santa Barbara Police Department. Shawn paused in an inspection of his ride for a minute. "I can't believe a guy off of the street gave up this sick wheelchair, it's even got snacks!" Shawn said as he picked up a small peanut in the back of his seat.
Gus dismissed Shawn's treasure hunt for used and disgusting leftovers and wheeled Shawn into the chief's office. Leaving him there.
"Gus…? Wait, Gus! Where are you going?" Shawn cried from his seat in the office to his friend that was currently walking back toward the entrance of the department.
"No Shawn, I'm done," Gus hollered back, "I'm not carrying you around everywhere. You've got arms, use them!"
Shawn sat disheveled and exhausted in the decrepit wheelchair. Maybe I pushed Gus a little too much this time…again. Oh well. He'll come back in the end. Shawn thought to himself as detective O'Hara came over to him, reading files that were over-flowing in her arms.
"Shawn, we've got a witness for last night at the museum, he's in interrogation could you-" She stopped when she looked up and saw Shawn's injuries. "Oh my god, Shawn! Are you ok? You look like you were attacked by a savage bear!"
"On the contrary Jules, it was a savage poodle," He shook his head, "Never saw the majestic beast coming." Shawn knew better than to tell the truth about his stakeout with Gus knowing that the department would be all over them.
"Well, I was going to ask you to interrogate the witness...but I guess-"
"Jules, I am fully capable of talking to the witness…as long as you could wheel me to the interrogation room." Shawn pulled out the puppy-face for Juliet and winced at the sudden pang from his side. Juliet sighed and wheeled Shawn to interrogation room 1A where a gentleman in a pinstripe suit with messy hair and a long, brown trench coat sat in one of the chairs.
"Now Shawn, be careful. Everyone's busy with the other murder case, and I have to go do paperwork. You're on your own."
"Thanks Jules." Shawn pecked her on the cheek and wheeled his way into the room.
Shawn wheeled himself to the opposite side of the table from the witness. "Okay, before we start, I'm psychic detective Shawn Spencer and I would like you to notice that I am currently crippled and no one else is here so there won't be any fighting. Because that would be extremely low on your part to beat up a guy who's already in a wheelchair."
"Agreed." The man said in a British accent. Which struck Shawn as a bit odd but accepted it nonetheless.
"Do you have any ID?" Shawn asked to start with the basics.
"Sure I do." The man continued as he pulled out a leather flip-wallet and slid it across the table.
"Head detective John Smith of the Lambent Police Department of London. I heard something was going on here so I came down to take a look."
Shawn grabbed the wallet, flipped it open, and chuckled. Showing it to John Smith he said, "Joke's on you pal," Shawn stated. "It's blank." He flicked the wallet back across the table to John. The man's expression didn't change, but his eyes flashed with surprise for a moment. He glanced down at the wallet and held it up in front of his face, scrutinizing it. "Oh! You know what, I think I might have dropped my ID in the parking lot at the museum last night, sorry." He slipped the wallet back into his coat.
"So 'John Smith'," Shawn put up air quotes for emphasis, "Tell me everything you saw last night."
'Well, I came by a few hours after closing time to investigate the disappearances and waited for a good couple of hours outside in the parking lot until I heard screaming from inside the building. I ran to the door, but I couldn't see anything until it was too late and whatever or whoever it was disappeared." He paused for a moment, "But I remember a blue car raced off when I came around the bend."
That was probably me and Gus…. Shawn thought. He was quiet for a moment.
"Yeah," Shawn said, "You, my friend, are a horrible liar. There were no cars in the parking lot around the museum that night, so either you had to walk all the way from the nearest hotel that's about twenty miles away or you had to catch a cab, except that there are none around here at one in the morning. You showed me a fake ID that was blank, not to mention, you glanced at it before giving it to me expecting that I'd see whatever's on it. And really. 'John Smith'? Either your parents didn't love you, or that's the worst cover name I've ever heard of. You're clearly lying." Shawn finished.
The man smirked and said, "You're a horrible liar as well." This caught Shawn off guard and he looked at the man in front of him. "How would you have known there were no cars in the parking lot at that particular time of the night when there weren't any cameras outside? You're clearly not a psychic, of all people I should know. Known many psychics, me, and you don't have that presence that they do. It's quite apparent that you're just more observant- possibly with an eidetic memory, am I right?" Shawn opened his mouth, but John barreled right on. "Yes, of course. And your injuries are nearly fresh so I would say you got them overnight, and judging by your expression right now-" Shawn shut his mouth. "-I'd say that you had set up your own little stakeout at the museum as I did; you took a friend with you, because with those injuries you clearly couldn't have gotten away on your own, which leads me to suspect that your car was the blue one that drove off in haste after the screaming." He paused, a thoughtful look on his face. "Although, now that I really think about it, I doubt it was your car, you don't seem like the type of person to take the time to buckle up while being chased by an al-" Smith coughed. "I mean, a thing."
Shawn sat dumbfounded, beat at his own game. He took a moment and said, "Okay, let's start again, shall we? My partner and I were interested in this kidnapping case and went for a stakeout inside the museum. After a bit of snooping around some big furry thing jumped out and attacked us. That was probably our- actually, Gus' screaming you heard. He picked me up and we drove off. There you go. Now tell me your truth."
John straightened his tie and said, "I'm called the Doctor. I'm really not with any department, I heard there was trouble in town so I came to get a look." He paused in thought for a moment and said, "You know what? Two's better than one. I'm going to offer you a deal," he leaned forward and said in a hushed tone, "You let me work with you without getting noticed and I won't slip your secret to your friend." He gestured toward the door where Juliet was peering in.
"Done." Shawn said as he started rolling his battered wheelchair towards the door. "I've always wanted to work with a weird British guy."
Glad I got that out of my system! Please leave a comment and happy New Year!
