Hey all! I was just enjoying my pineapple salad and considering how awesome my life would be if I owned Psych… But I don't… I do, however, own this delicious salad and I am going to enjoy it!
"Randy Winard? The missing boy from the posters?" Juliet asked.
"Posters?" Shawn asked, putting on his best innocent expression.
"They're all over the police station. How could you miss them?" Lassie said.
"Shawn was already having his psychic episode, and he wasn't able to focus on the world around him," Gus explained, Shawn nodding in agreement.
"Mr. Spencer, you know this is a leap, right?" Chief Vick warned.
"Chief, I'm as certain as I've ever been. I have seen," Shawn stressed, putting his index and middle finger to his temple in his classic psychic pose.
Vick considered him for a moment. "I don't know. What do you think Henry?"
'Whoa!" Shawn cried and recoiled as he realized his dad was in the back of the room.
"I don't know. It might make sense, but there's no real evidence to support it," Henry Spencer said. "Unless Shawn can magically concoct something…"
"Wait!" Shawn said, closing his eyes and placing his fingers back on his temple. He searched his memory for something at the crime scene. His mind's eye flashed to a dumpster in a nearby alley. "I've got something! I see an alley near the crime scene. And a dumpster. Yes!" Shawn opened his eyes and pointed dramatically in Lassie and Jules direction. "Look under the dumpster! You will find the woman's shoes! The shoe found next to her body was not her own, but the shoe of Randy Winard!" Shawn feigned fatigue and collapsed on Gus's shoulder. "Gus, Gus, it was so clear. So very clear."
Gus considered again why he had agreed to this job as he bumped Shawn back upright with his shoulder.
"We will certainly look into that. Lassiter?" Vick looked at the detective pointedly.
"Right on it, Chief," Lassie forced a smile as he and Jules left the room. "McNab!" He called before Juliet could close the door behind him.
"Bye Jules!" Shawn called with a smile.
"Mr. Spencer, I want you to stay away from this case for the moment," Vick began.
"But Chief!"
"I assure you that we'll call if and when we need you, but for right now we can't even be sure if this is a real kidnapping case."
"Chief's right, Shawn," Henry said, standing up.
"Dad! Come on! Take my side for once," Shawn pleaded.
"Shawn," Henry said with a warning tone in his voice.
"Fine. Come on Gus." Shawn stormed out of the office and almost blind-sided a man in a suit walking down the aisle. "Oops, sorry." He immediately took inventory of the posters in the man's hand and the stapler/staple remover combo.
The man mumbled something and continued on his way toward the exit.
Shawn glanced to the side and saw that Randy's missing person poster was missing. "Gus, we might still have a chance of getting hired on this one," Shawn grinned impishly.
"Shawn?" Gus questioned, but Shawn was already jogging after the man's retreating form.
"Mr. Winard!" Shawn called once they were outside. "Mr. Winard, wait!"
The suited man turned in surprise. "Do I know you?"
"No, sir, but I feel like I know you. And I know about your son, Randy."
"You do?"
"Yes, sir. The name's Shawn Spencer, psychic detective, and this is my associate, Guilford Pantalones."
"Hi there," Gus smiled.
"A psychic?" Winard asked, skepticism etched across his face.
"Yes," Shawn nodded gravely. "Is there somewhere we can talk in private? They might be watching."
Surprise lit Winard's eyes and he nodded, glancing around nervously. "I agree. Please, follow me."
Gus and Shawn slyly followed Winard to his car.
"I meant in your own car."
"Oh! Right, right," Gus and Shawn said and hurried to the Blueberry.
"Alright," Winard said, sitting on an armchair across the coffee table from Gus and Shawn. "What do you know about Randy?"
"Thank you," Shawn said to a maid that placed a plate of lemon bars before the visitors.
"Helloooo," Gus said, smiling at the young woman.
Shawn cleared his throat. "I can tell you that he is still alive." Gus stamped on Shawn's foot. "For the moment. I'm sensing that you received a call earlier today telling you not to go to the police and to take down all the posters you had up. That no one was to interfere."
"That's right!"
Shawn nodded grandly. "I know it's right. I also know that your nanny, who you recently hired, is not behind the kidnapping."
"Sarah? I didn't put anything about her on the posters… How do you know she's not behind it?"
"Because," Shawn said, pausing for dramatic effect. "She's dead."
The maid let out an audible gasp.
"I know, I know. It's a shock. But she and your son were running from someone and in the process she was shot and killed."
"Oh my word…" Winard said, his face draining of color. "They didn't mention that when they called me. I just assumed…"
"I know, sir. Now we are going to need to know everything they said to you. And we'll need some more of these lemon bars. They are absolutely delicious!"
After another round of the delicious desserts, Shawn and Gus listened to Winard's rendition of the phone call.
"It was a synthesized voice, I could tell," Winard began.
"Was it more like Darth Vader or C3PO? Hopefully he wasn't an R2D2?" Shawn asked, totally serious.
"Shawn!" Gus reprimanded. "Please continue."
"He said that I couldn't go to the police, and that if they should ask I was to tell them that Randy had run off to a friend's without telling me. I am supposed to give him three million dollars tomorrow, and he would call me with the details. If I did go to the police, I would never hear from Randy again." Winard swallowed. "I can't lose Randy, not after losing his mother. I agreed to their terms and they are supposed to call back at five."
"Five?" Gus asked. "But that's right-"
The telephone rang, cutting Gus off. Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance with each other then stared at Winard. He gulped, and clicked on speaker phone.
"Hello, this is Mr. Richard Winard."
A second passed in which everyone held their breath.
"Dad?" a young boy's voice said through the speaker.
"Ryan? Oh my- Oh, Ryan, are you alright?"
"I-I-I'm fine but I'm scared. Dad what's going on? Da-"
"That's enough," a deeper partially synthesized voice said.
"Darth Vader," Shawn mouthed at Gus who in return stamped on Shawn's foot again, starting a kick fight below the coffee table.
"Where is he? Where is my son?" Winard demanded.
"You'll see him soon enough," the voice assured. "We just need to make a trade. Tonight at nine in the warehouse on 34th street. Come alone. Or better yet, send that psychic to make the trade. I want a word with him."
The line disconnected. Shawn and Gus had frozen when the psychic demand had been made, and now Shawn smiled at Winard. "Good thing for you, we're available."
"Are you sure you want to drag yourselves into this?" Winard asked, wringing his hands.
"No worries, we do this type of stuff all the time," Shawn agreed before Gus could protest.
Yey! The good stuff is going to get underway! Whose excited? I know I am!
Read and Review! The more you do, the faster the next chap will be up :)
~MyDarkAngel710