Chapter 2

"What?" Lassiter yelled down the phone, intensely annoyed by the interruption. He had been in the middle of his latest report, trying to explain precisely how Spencer had worked out who the felon was before he, the Head Detective, had. He was NOT in a good mood.

A panicky voice was screeching on the other end of the line and Lassiter had to hold the receiver well away from his ear. He was unable to understand what was being said through the near hysterical shouts but, despite the shrill nature of the call, he did know who was calling him.

Guster. And if he was calling that meant the other one (and at this point Lassiter actually shuddered at the thought of the psychic) was not far away. God, this day was just getting better and better by the minute!

Lassiter pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed deeply. "Just one day" he thought "dear God, just one day when these prize idiots don't invade my life. It's not much to ask, is it?" And for a moment he contemplated just hanging up. He was so not in the space to deal with the gruesome twosome. But then he managed to catch something intelligible emerging from the insane babbling coming from the phone. And what he heard made him freeze.

"Something's wrong; there's blood all over the place. It looks like a scene from Reservoir Dogs here." Gus paused for a moment, as if realising he needed to calm down and get his message across. "Seriously. Something bad has happened. You have got to come over."

XXX

O'Hara stood behind Gus and watched as the crime scene personnel finished up their preliminary examination. Even now samples of the blood were on their way to the lab to see if it was Shawn's. But she knew somehow that it was his. She shivered slightly at the thought. Shawn's blood, lots of it, now dried and flaking on the floor of his office. Part of her wanted to panic just a little; but she was a police officer first and foremost, so she managed to hold it together. Vital really, considering how badly Guster seemed to be taking things. No way she could go to pieces as well; despite it being Shawn. Shawn missing, possibly badly hurt; maybe even...No. No way was she letting her mind go down that particular route. He was alive; no doubt about it. They would find him.

"I need you to tell me what you and Shawn were working on. Everything you can remember." Juliet moved forward and knelt in front of Gus. His eyes were red and a little swollen and Juliet knew he had been crying. But all the tears had dried up and he was now almost catatonic. He had said nothing when she and Lassiter had first arrived; had just pointed at the blood on the floor and then sat unmoving on the edge of the desk as all the usual crime scene business carried on around him. Lassiter had tried to speak to him but it had not gone well.

Juliet winced slightly at the memory of the Head Detective getting right up in Gus's face and yelling that if "he did not pull himself together Spencer would probably die" and that if he did not start telling them just what in the Sam Hill had happened then he, Lassiter, would damn well shoot Gus himself. At that point O'Hara had managed to intervene, get Lassiter to leave to call the Chief and had since then been sitting quietly with Gus.

But time was passing and she really needed him to step up to the mark and tell her what was going on. The cops had been on scene over 30 minutes now and still had no clues as to what Shawn had been doing and who might be responsible for his disappearance.

"Gus; please. We need your help. Shawn needs it."

For a moment she thought she too had failed to reach the very shocked and withdrawn man sitting in front of her but then he looked up and for the first time seemed to realise she was there.

"Juliet. All that blood, way too much. If it's his he is in serious trouble. He said it was life or death but I was angry with him so I didn't rush. I even stopped to get a snack. What if he...what if I could have got here...Shit." Gus swung his arm around and the lamp crashed off the desk onto the floor and shattered. As if the noise had fully awoken him from his stupor he got to his feet and began to make for the office door. Juliet made to grab him but missed as he ran past her.

"I got to do something. I got to look for him."

Lassiter chose that moment to re-enter the room and the two men collided spectacularly. Lassie fell onto his backside and Gus landed right on top of him. For a moment they were perched there, until the Detective growled loudly and tried to push Gus off him.

"Get the hell off me you, little, crushing, little, squashing, little... " he began but seemed unable to think of an insult bad enough or quick enough to demonstrate his complete annoyance.

"Really? Shawn is missing and hurt and you can't even get it together to come up with a good insult?" shouted Gus "Come on I need your "A" game here Lassister. We have got to find him."

"So you finally decided to talk then Guster?" Lassiter replied "Had enough of sitting there doing nothing, hey?"

Gus stood stock still and the stricken look on his face made Lassiter instantly regret his words. The detective knew how close Gus and Spencer were and he also knew how he would feel if it was his partner who was missing. Afterall he thought it's not as if Guster was a cop and was used to seeing these sorts of things. Come to think of it, Lassiter realised, the psychic's sidekick had always had a weak stomach when it came to the grittier side of the job. Hardly surprising he had shut down a little.

"Hey, it's okay." He said, willing to give a little but not to apologise, there were limits. "It is not too late; we still have time to find out what happened and to get Spencer back. Sit down and tell us what you know."

XXX