Also, just a note, I don't own Super8 (which I mentioned in ch1 and forgot to add), and here I don't own The Wizard of Oz or Jello. ;)
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The small office building that housed Tanner Technologies was located not far from the Psych office, and Gus was soon braking the Echo to a stop in the parking lot.
"Do you have a plan for getting Smith's information?" he wanted to know. "Most companies don't just give out home addresses to anyone who asks."
"Don't worry; I'll think of something." Shawn grinned.
"Right. Because that's turned out so well in the past."
Shawn just ignored him and pulled open the front door. He strode up to the receptionist's desk and flashed her a winning smile. "Good afternoon, Brenda," he read the name off of the nameplate. "My name is Shawn Spencer, and this is my associate -"
"Burton Guster," the dark-haired receptionist interrupted, smiling at Gus. "How nice to see you again."
"It's great to see you, too." Gus returned the smile. "How have -"
"Wait." Shawn was confusedly looking between the two of them. "You totally just interrupted my introduction. You two know each other how?"
"Brenda and I went to the same aerobics class for a while," Gus told him.
Shaking his head, Shawn put on a pained expression. "That is not something I needed to know."
"So how have things been going for you, Gus?" she asked, turning to Gus. "I see the detective business is still going strong."
"Psychic detective business," Shawn cut in. "And I hate to interrupt this reunion of ... whatever it is, but we need to ask you a few questions."
Brenda nodded. "It's about Jake, isn't it?" Her blue eyes grew slightly misty. "He was such a great guy; I can't believe someone would kill him."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Shawn said, nodding sympathetically. "I promise I will find out who did this. Was he well-liked?" he asked, putting a hand to his temple. "I'm sensing there were hard feelings between some of the employees.
"Everyone loved Jake ... except for Paul ..." she trailed off. Wiping her eyes, she continued. "Paul Smith blamed Jake for him getting fired."
"Was Jake responsible for it?" Gus asked. "His brother told us that he reported Paul for filing faulty hours."
"Well, yes, Jake did report him, but it would've happened anyway," Brenda told them. "Mr. Tanner was already aware of it. Jake just happened to catch him doing it the day before they fired Paul."
"But Paul thought it was Jake's fault." Shawn shook his head. "Do you think we could take a look around Jake's work area? It would be very helpful in my attempts to divine what happened."
"Of course. We haven't had a chance to clean it out yet. I believe his sister-in-law was going to come collect his things this afternoon. If you go right down that hallway," Brenda pointed, "and take a right at the water cooler, you'll see his name on a cubicle to your left."
"Thank you," Gus acknowledged, giving her another smile before following Shawn towards Jake's cubicle.
Shawn ignored the curious glances from various employees as they passed and was soon digging through the drawers in Jake's desk. Within a few moments, he had located an address book. "Aha! Here's what we need."
Gus crossed his arms. "Just hurry up, Shawn. We aren't even supposed to be here," he whispered.
"I don't recall being told that," Shawn shrugged in reply, paging through the book. He flipped open the 'S's and grinned in satisfaction.
"I don't recall you telling Brenda that you would be snooping around and stealing contact information either."
"There we go. Paul Smith," Shawn announced. Grabbing a Post-It from the stack by the computer monitor, he jotted down the address and phone number. He shoved the paper into Gus' hands and returned the address book to its place. "Let's go pay him a visit."
"Shawn, were you listening to anything I just said?" Gus demanded.
"What's that?" Shawn asked, blinking at him innocently.
Gus shook his head in frustration. "Shawn ..."
But Shawn was already heading towards the front door. "Ooh, hey, Gus, let's stop for smoothies on the way."
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Within half an hour, Shawn and Gus had reached the Paul Smith's home. It was in a quiet residential neighborhood, and there were several toys scattered across the front yard.
A short, slightly pudgy man with sandy hair answered Gus' knock. He was wearing shorts and an obviously old tshirt and held a dark glass bottle in his left hand. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, hi," Shawn greeted him. "My name is Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner Jello Wigglebotham. We're here to speak with Paul Smith."
"That's me," the man answered, giving Gus a curious look.
"Good," Shawn grinned. "We wanted to ask you a few questions about one of your former coworkers. Do you know Jake Williams?"
"Jake Williams," Paul snorted. "Yeah I knew him. What's it to you?"
"Paul - can I call you Paul?" Shawn didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "How would you describe your relationship with Jake?"
The man raised an eyebrow. "You want the truth?"
"That would be nice." Shawn shrugged.
"Okay, well here it is. I hate him." Paul spit out the words and took a swallow from the bottle in his hand.
"How much?"
"You got a reason for all these questions?" Paul demanded. "I got a game to get back to."
"Did you hate him enough to ... I don't know, kill him?" Shawn questioned.
"Wha - What?" Eyes wide now, Paul looked between Shawn and Gus.
"Jake Williams was found dead yesterday," Gus told him.
"Oh my ... I would, I would never hurt anyone. I mean, sure, I hated Jake for getting me fired, but I would never ... Oh man ..." Paul had gone pale and was now leaning slightly against the door frame.
"Really?" Shawn asked. "Seems like you'd have enough time to do it, being out of work, no one would miss you from a job."
"I was busy all yesterday morning," the man replied. "I was helping out at my kid's school, getting sets and stuff built for that Wizard of Oz production they're doing in a few weeks. My boy Andy's the scarecrow," he added, his voice taking on a hint of pride.
"Thanks," Shawn told him. "We'll let you know if we have any other questions."
Paul raised a hand in a half-hearted wave. "Tell Joe's family I'm real sorry about this." He turned back inside and shut the door behind him.
"What do you think of him?" Gus asked, turning to head down the porch steps.
Shawn shrugged. "He seems to be telling the truth. Besides, he'd have to be pretty dumb to kill Jake when he did. I mean, he'd just gotten fired and it seems enough people knew there were hard feelings. He had to know he'd be one of the top suspects."
"It should be pretty easy to check his alibi," Gus observed. "We didn't get the school name, but there can't be that many schools in Santa Barbara putting on an upcoming production of the Wizard of Oz."
"Right," Shawn agreed. "Let's get back to the office and do some digging."
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"It looks like Paul was right," Shawn concluded, sitting back in his chair.
Gus looked over from his own desk. "Paul was there yesterday?"
An internet search of upcoming school plays of The Wizard of Oz revealed only two schools in the area that would be presenting it that month. The secretary at the first school seemed slightly skeptical of Shawn's "long-lost cousin" story but told him there were no Andy Smiths in the production.
The second result was much more helpful; the secretary had informed him that, yes, Andrew Smith was playing their scarecrow, and that Mr. Paul Smith was assisting them with the scenery.
"He was here all day yesterday painting the yellow brick road," she told him cheerfully. "I can't say how grateful we are to have him helping us. Not many of the parents are willing to come in at 7:30 and stay till 3 - all on volunteer time, too."
"Yes," Shawn answered Gus' question. "Paul Smith was busily painting school sets while Jake Williams was being murdered."
Gus frowned in thought. "Which puts us right back at the beginning. Who would have motive and opportunity to break into Jake's apartment and shoot him?"
"I still want to talk to the neighbor who called the cops," Shawn stated. "He might be able to point us in the right direction."
Glancing at the clock on his computer desktop, Gus nodded. "He's probably home by now."