Series: De Facto

Disclaimer: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this post/fanfiction/fanart (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.

Rating: PG-15

Word Count: 2,152

Author's Note/Warnings: un-betaed; this Chapter covers prompt 03 "hours" from table 04 "Time".

Four days after his attempt to divine his own future and he found he most definitely couldn't do it. He'd been persistent, but he decided that his random spurts of what seemed like psychic ability was actually his subconscious bringing up old issues and he was still being affected by his accident. He didn't mention it to Gus or his Dad.

It was on this fourth day that he wheeled into the SBPD (more specifically, Chief Vick's office) with Gus in tow, ready to get a check signed (he'd helped in a non-physical manner on several non-urgent cases) when the sudden knowledge hit him. The second folder on the Chief's desk was important—murder important.

He wheeled himself quickly along, Gus trotting to keep up and questioning the sudden hurry. Shawn quieted him with a "I'll explain when we get there." Without pausing to even greet the Chief, who stood up and started right in on Spencer when he reached her desk without so much as glancing at her, he reached for the folder. The Chief's hand smacked his, intercepting him and causing him to finally look away from the folder. He interrupted her tirade about his lack of politeness almost before she'd even started.

"No, my Dad was nothing like me when he was younger—or I hope he wasn't. But that's not what is the issue here, Chief, it's this case. It's murder." His voice was so confident that it made her stop and raise her eyebrows.

"Is this a vision you've had?"

Gus was busy trying not to snark and elbow him, telling him he didn't actually know if the case was murder or not (he hadn't seen it yet and he wasn't psychic). Shawn ignored him and pushed on, hesitant about nodding since he hadn't actually had a vision he just somehow knew. Not that he'd had actual visions before the accident, but he hadn't been able to just know things either. Chief Vick slowly sat herself back down in her chair, watching Shawn the whole time. Shawn reached out and picked up the manila folder—and that was all he needed. He knew all of the specifics of the case, just like that. He looked up from the folder, glancing at Gus for a second before turning back to the Chief.

"You were going to put Lassie on this one; that's a good fit, but I can help." It wasn't a question. "So the two sons of a high profile business man return home from the beach to find their house up in flames, their Dad's inside. The fire's put out, his body's found, but it's arson."

The Chief held up one finger as she stood and stepped up to the side of her office and rapped on the glass, beckoning to Detectives Lassiter and O'Hara. Speaking of, Juliet was looking very beautiful today. Shawn pulled his eyes away and looked at Gus. He had his hands in his pockets and seemed to be studying Shawn with some amount of disbelief and trepidation.

"Shawn's adamant that this one's murder. I would like you to take him and check over everything again."

It appeared as though Lassie only heard the part about bringing Shawn along and thus started to complain. Vick cut him off with a stern look and he shut his mouth with a scowl. Shawn wheeled himself over and clapped his hand on Lassie's forearm—the only part he could safely reach.

"Don't worry, buddy, I can wheel myself around mostly." For a split second, after he spoke, he could have sworn he heard a whisper of a thought along the lines of 'He might..' before Lassie cut it off with a growl. Shawn studied his face for a moment, but when Lassie only shook his head and turned away to open the door, he decided that pursuing that wouldn't be worth it. It was likely just another insult directed at his capabilities.

It took them some time to get to the crime scene (obviously the body was long gone, as was the initial investigation), but Shawn wheeled himself up to the burnt up mini-mansion just the same. The front hall appeared to be a little sooty, but nothing really stood out to him. He was just wheeling himself around the corner when he felt it: the heat intensified and he wheeled back, crashing into Lassie's legs.

"What the hell Spencer?"

But he couldn't hear him, he was just hearing yelling over the crackling of flames. Taking a deep breath, he wheeled himself forward to peer into the room. He couldn't see anything: just a burnt up living room. The voices and fire were still audible, however, so he tilted his head as if that would allow him to hear better. He couldn't hear any actual words, but there were two distinct voices, arguing. They seemed young, Shawn turned his head, but still stared off into space.

"Hey Lassie, was the father tied up at all?"

There was a bit of rustling, but Lassie answered after a moment, "Couldn't be sure. There were some residual fibers of what could have been rope around his arms and legs, but anything else was burned away. Why?"

Shawn, as per usual, put his fingers to his temple. At this point it was more a habit than anything. He took a breath and spoke, "I'm sensing that the two sons were arguing when they lit the place on fire."

"But Shawn, they were at their beach house at the time, they couldn't have set the fire." Juliet spoke up, confusion clear in her tone. Shawn frowned and he looked around, wheeling himself forward, even though the room felt as if the fire never left. His skin felt tight and hot as he looked around. He backed up again, this time checking before he did so. He hummed as he tried to puzzle it out.

"How did the witnesses see them at the beach house, and who were the witnesses?" He put a finger to his lips and tilted his head again, "And who saw the house go up in flames: anyone?"

Gus had been staying quiet, reading the file over Jules' shoulder. "It says that the neighbors were the ones to call 911 and the sons didn't arrive until right after the first responders."

Well that spelled trouble for Shawn. How were the sons here, but not here? He rubbed a hand through his hair and ruffled it up.

They decided to pull the two sons in for questioning (the second round). Fortunately, they were in by five o'clock—they came together. This showed a united front. So they weren't arguing anymore. Perhaps it hadn't been them he'd been hearing. Shawn stayed outside the interrogation rooms, listening in to Lassie leading the way, Juliet moderating. It was the second brother, the younger one, who's voice sparked Shawn's memory. He was one of the voices, but the second voice he'd heard earlier hadn't been his older brother. Shawn pressed his lips in a thin line and attempted to riddle it out.

The older son was clearly grieving. He was no longer a suspect in Shawn's book. He still might know something, though, so he listened to the tape of the two interviews again. Nothing. He listened to the younger son's interviews and that's where he found it. The first interview he said he'd stopped at a gas station and he'd gone in to get some drinks and snacks on the road home. In the second interview he said they drove straight home. It could just be that it slipped his mind, but he went back to the older brother's tapes to double check. They'd stopped at the gas station. The older brother noted that the younger had been on his cell phone in the car while he'd gone in to pay and grab some drinks and snacks. He'd been arguing with someone loudly, but hung up and said it was 'work related' when he'd asked about it.

Shawn tapped the eraser end of the pencil on the desk and he looked across the desk (he was sitting at the long end of Lassie's and Jules' pushed together desks) to the two detectives. "Can we get cell phone records?"

"It could take some time, but yeah we could." Juliet answered. Gus was frowning and stirring his coffee with a stirring stick. This trip wasn't meant to be like this. He was supposed to be at his real job. Shawn ignored Gus' impatience and frowned. He didn't want this to take time. With Gus pressuring and something else—something about the case—he wheeled himself around the desk and sat at Lassie's side while he looked over the file again. He glanced over at Jules.

"Their cousins were the witnesses at the beach house, but left before the two sons?" Well that didn't sit right with him. Not at all. Jules was frowning and she tried to peer at the file while Lassie shoved Shawn with his elbow, trying to tell him to back off. Shawn fought back with his own elbow for a minute before he gave in as the thought struck him. "Are they still in town?"

Lassie spoke up, "Should be until tomorrow. That's when they fly back to Pennsylvania."

Needless to say, Shawn let them call in the cousins. They came in only twenty minutes later. Immediately Shawn knew which one did it. Not for the tells, or even the lack there of. He just knew. Shawn wheeled himself after him and stayed outside the interrogation room yet again. He didn't mention to anyone about his thoughts, or rather, what he was hearing from the perpetrator. Gus watched but said nothing. To be quite honest, it was beginning to make Shawn a bit wary. Perhaps he should just end it already instead of leading the police to the correct person in a walk through? He put his hands down on the table and looked at Gus.

"Go get Lassie and Jules?"

"Interrupting them will only make this last longer, Shawn." His voice was that same condescending tone he used when he thought Shawn was doing something either questionable or wrong. Shawn rolled his eyes and wheeled back so he was in the doorway.

"Jules, Lassie!" He yelled out, not sure if they would hear him or not. Gus smacked him on the arm and Shawn faked that it hurt. Lassie popped his head through the doorway.

"What is it, Spencer? We were just about to crack this guy." His tone was a ground out, irritable one. He always liked getting confessions. Shawn shook his head and gave a dismissive wave of his hand.

"He's not the one you want."

Lassie rolled his eyes. "How could you possibly know that?"

Shawn just replied by tapping a finger to his head. "Remember?"

Lassie leaned back and called Jules into the room.

The neat tie up to the situation was that the cousin Shawn had picked up on had been the one to tie up the father and set the living room on fire. The cousin had been on the phone with the younger son at the gas station, arguing about how much of the inheritance he would get as payment for the job. The evidence came in the form of the cell phones and the confessions given by both the younger brother and the cousin. Shawn glanced the clock and frowned, looking at Gus.

"Damn, I still didn't get it done so you could go back to your boring day job."

Gus scowled and shoved his hands in his pockets. "It's not boring Shawn, it's an intellectually stimulating job that reaps real benefits and rewards."

Shawn ignored that in favor of glancing toward the two Detectives who were booking the perps. Lassie glanced over his shoulder and gave him a sort of grumpy half-smile. Shawn grinned back and got another half-formed thought in response. Shawn clapped a hand on Gus' arm. "Well, buddy, we did good today. Let's go home."

The best thing about the whole situation was that it was the first murder case that Shawn had tied up in just a few hours. He had a new record to break.

A small note: I'm very sorry it took me so long to get my head out of the sand and start writing this again. I hope you're all still with me! I'm working on the next part right now!