-At the Station-
After a couple of hours, Lassiter sent the psychic home and poured over every detail that Shawn had given him, as few as that might have been. He filed the reports and trying to connect all of the dots, his first instinct worried him. The last time that Shawn had been randomly interested in someone and they disappeared, it had been the work of a serial killer, but that just didn't sit right with him. He had a gut feeling that it was something else, he just wasn't sure what.
He tried to stay focused on the facts important to the case, but his mind kept drifting to the irrelevant information. Like the fact that Shawn had chosen a man that looked strikingly similar to himself to go home with. He found it amusing that Shawn couldn't hold his liquor very well.
Carlton blinked and thought that over again. He knew for a fact that Shawn could drink him under the table. He had either miscounted the number of drinks he'd had or something was wrong. He ran back to his desk for his phone and dialed Spencer immediately. "I need you back at the station right away."
As he turned around to find his partner, he came face to face with the other man, startled. "Jesus! How do you do that, Spencer?"
Shawn covered his ears and winced. "Okay, really, is the yelling necessary? I still feel like I got his by a bulldozer, so if we could use our inside voices, that would be awesome." Lassiter regained his composure and Shawn continued. "I figured that you would have an idea soon and leaving would be pointless. I've been napping in Interrogation Room B, but it's not helping. What have you got?"
Carlton offered the seat at his desk to the psychic without thinking anything of it. "You said you only had three drinks, correct?"
"Yeah, one beer and a couple of shots." Shawn looked confused, not getting the point.
"Have you ever had such a bad hangover after having that little to drink? Scratch that, have you ever been that drunk after only three drinks?"
Something clicked and finally Shawn was on the same page. "No. Never." He bit his lip, finally making sense of why his memory was so patchy and why he felt so bad.
"We need to get a blood sample and urine test immediately. It was only about 12 hours ago, if we're lucky we can still get a good trace on exactly what he gave you." He jumped up, ready to chase the lead.
He looked back when Shawn was still sitting, hands to his head in a psychic way, not a hung over way. "He didn't bring me my drinks, Lassie." He looked up, still in the process of figuring it out. "I don't just drink things that people give to me, specifically for that reason. They all came straight from the bartender. If anyone put anything in my drink, it was him."
"Good, that's good, Spencer." He wanted to rush out and bust the guy right away, but they still needed the drug test, just in case. He wasn't willing to risk Shawn's safety for his own impulses. "Let's get the tests out of the way and then we'll go back to the bar to track him down. I'll have the lab send the results to Guster as well to see if he has any input."
Shawn could see the detective holding himself back from breaking all of the doors down to get to the bartender. It made his heart skip that the man felt so protective over him all of a sudden. They made their way to the lab when Shawn stopped and squatted down, holding his stomach.
Lassiter crouched down next to him, hand on his shoulder. "Are you all right, Spencer?" He got nothing but a groan in response, worrying him. "Shawn?" He grabbed the shoulder a little tighter.
"I'm fine, just feeling a little sick." He grabbed onto Carlton's arms as he lifted himself back up to a standing position, with a little help.
"After the tests, you're going home to get some sleep." Their eyes locked and Shawn could tell by the look on Lassiter's face that it was not a suggestion. That didn't stop him from trying, though.
"But!"
"I'll send a copy of the case file to Gus."
He was about to protest again when he realized what had been said. "Wait, what?" He didn't understand. "Why would you do that?"
Lassiter sighed, leading Shawn into the lab. "Because I know you. If I don't give it to you, you'll just do something stupid, put yourself in danger and still end up with it. If I just give you the file, will you please go home and rest while trying to solve the case? At least until you're feeling better."
He didn't want any arguments and he certainly didn't want Shawn in more danger. He knew that something foul was going on and he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep Shawn away from the case for long. Normally, the psychic was a very capable man, but If something went wrong today, he wouldn't be able to protect Shawn in his current state, he would be too much of a hindrance to risk.
"Fine, but if that bartender gives you any excuse, give him a right hook from me. To the gut would be nice." He winced, sitting on the doctor's table, ready to get these tests over with. Then he could go back to his apartment and work this whole thing out with Gus.
-With Gus-
Gus grabbed the files from the fax machine in the Psych office and headed over to Shawn's apartment as soon as he'd found out what was going on.
"Okay, Shawn. Tell me everything, from the beginning." The files were spread out all over Shawn's living room floor, Gus pouring over them, Shawn poured onto the couch.
"It's all right there, buddy. Have fun." He covered his head with his hands, just wanting to feel better already. He huffed, not happy about being sent away from the case, but a little glad to get to rest it off. He trusted that Lassiter wouldn't leave any stone unturned.
"I know, it's right here, Shawn. I can see it." He looked at Shawn with slight annoyance. "You know it will help you to talk it out again. Concentrate and we'll go as slow as you need."
He rolled onto his side, knowing his friend was right, but somehow not having the energy to do anything. "Come on, Gus. Don't be the animals at the zoo doing inappropriate things in front of a 3rd grade class field trip."
"That was a perfectly natural act, Shawn. How many times-"
"Fine, fine! From the top, then…" Shawn cleared his mind, closed his eyes and focused like he was counting hats. "It was about 11 when I got to the bar. I sat at the bar on the end and ordered a beer. I'd noticed Mark right away and I'm pretty sure that he was watching me most of the time."
Gus kept quiet, letting Shawn remember. "I finished my beer and before I could order another, he'd walked up and ordered two shots, insisting that I have one with him. It was a little presumptuous, but I saw no harm in it." He stopped for a minute, crooking his head to the side as if remembering something vastly important.
"They signaled each other." He looked at Gus, surprised at having not noticed it sooner. "The bartender asked 'the usual?' and Mark said 'make it the special'. They were working together, Gus. I bet it wasn't the first time either. The bartender probably had some drugs ready to go, just waiting for Mark to pick out his victim for the night."
Gus stared, it made so much sense, that must be what happened. "It's the perfect plan. No one ever questions anything coming from the bartender…" Shawn felt so stupid for having not noticed it before. In his defense, he had a lot on his mind, but he wasn't some stupid college girl that was easy to take advantage of. At least he hadn't thought so before. "What happened after that?"
"After the first shot, I felt fine. We talked, he got close, I didn't mind. We had another shot, that I'm pretty sure was a regular shot and he asked if I wanted to go back to his place. He was very convincing…"
Gus raised his eyebrows and looked at the picture of the man in the file. He looked like the kind of man that could talk his way into anything that he wanted. Add in some drugs, and Mother Theresa wouldn't have been able to say no to him.
-Flashback-
"Why don't we get out of here, Shawn?" The man practically purred in his ear. "I don't live far and I don't have a no shirt, no shoes policy…"
Shawn's thoughts were a little hazy from the alcohol and even more hazy from the teeth nipping at his sensitive ear. He sighed, remembering how good it felt to be wanted, knowing that he didn't have the willpower to say no. This man was the closest he was going to get to who he really wanted.
He pulled Mark's face from his neck, locking their eyes. "Lead the way." Mark smiled, and sealed the deal with a searing kiss that made Shawn dizzy and certain that he wasn't going to regret his decision.
In the car, Mark used one hand to drive the car and the other to drive Shawn mad. His right hand spent most of its time caressing Shawn's left thigh, sometimes becoming more adventurous, skimming across the hardness between the psychic's legs.
They hit a red light that Mark knew to be extremely long and he pulled Shawn toward him, closing the gap between their lips again. His fingers ran through Shawn's hair, pulling just enough to make him gasp into the other's mouth.
Their kiss broke as the light turned, but Mark sat there an extra moment to whisper in Shawn's ear. "You have no idea the things I'm going to do to you tonight, Shawn." Had he not been so far gone, he would have noticed how sinister the grin on Mark's face looked.
-TBC-