Shawn woke up to the light feeling of something dancing on his chest. He rubbed his face with a rough hand and looked to that still present feeling. "Dude what the Hell!" Shawn screams, sitting up to send the squirrel on his chest scurrying away. "What the... who the Hell does that ever happen to?"
Shawn caught his breath and began to survey the park around him. On the seat next to him sat a little yellow sticky note. Shawn picked up the sticky note that held a tiny message.
Under you
Shawn wasn't quite sure what to make of that, and if he was to be honest, it creeped him out a little. He'd seen that movie too many times.
Shawn pulled his legs up onto the bench and slowly peeked under the bench. He was a lot less frightened when he saw a bag of Subway patiently awaiting him next to a large, lidded Subway cup of soda.
Just under the surface of the bag was another identical sticky note.
Lunch is on me today. You earned it.
-J. O
A wide grin spread all the way across his face as he thanked his blonde angel. He'd have to find a way to thank her later.
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"Gus! Gus! Guuuuss!" Shawn called as he entered his friend's apartment. It was made clear a while ago that Shawn had all access to the house and was not obligated to knock. He did out of courtesy unless he was in a hurry, if he was in a hurry he would storm in like a pissed off elephant.
"Oh, hey Shawn." Rachael greeted with a polite smile, brushing a strand of midnight black hair from her copper toned face.
"Hey Rache, where's the man?" Shawn asked sounding more patient.
"He's off chasing a story. Lassiter called him." Rachael explained as she worked on her laptop. Shawn knew she had a high paying do-at-home job, but he never understood it.
"Lassie called Gus?" Shawn sounded perplexed. Lassiter hated anything in a crime scene that wasn't a cop.
"I guess if one is going to show, it's going to be Gus. Gus is the most respectful and out of the way." Rachael shared Gus's reasoning.
"And it lessons the amount of paparazzi at the station later on if it's selectively covered on scene." Shawn decided Lassiter was right on this one. "Any chance I can get down there?"
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"Thanks a lot Rachael." Shawn gave a small bow, hands pressed together.
"You're welcome. And please behave." Rachael ordered him before drove off.
Shawn jogged up the stairs only to be stopped by a much larger man. The man was tall and well built but had a face that made people hard pressed to take him seriously.
"Hey Shawn, what's up?" Buzz greeted his favorite homeless man with a smile.
"Oh not much buddy. Gus is here so I figured I'd lend a hand to his profession." Shawn returned Buzz's friendly smile.
"Promise not to touch anything?" Buzz questioned hopefully.
"When don't I promise? On the other hand, when don't I get all up in that stuff and play with it!" Shawn was full of conviction, and quickly losing the understanding of Buzz. "So why do we go through this buddy?" Shawn walked past the big hearted, small brained giant as he tried to process Shawn's speech.
"Shawn, what are you doing here?" Gus rushed to the doorway once Shawn had reached the living room of the house where the main scene was.
"I came to offer you a hand, buddy." Shawn looked skeptical about his reception. "I can go though if you don't need me here..." He trailed off and pointed back out the way he came.
"Come on son, don't be ridiculous." Gus ushered Shawn forward into the room.
Carlton entered from the kitchen and saw Gus first. "Guster, I'm glad you're here over all those other soul suckers."
"Uh... thanks I think." Gus was unsure of Lassiter's backhanded compliment.
Then Gus's partner in crime had been noticed. "Spencer, you too? Don't you have a park bench to sleep under?" Lassiter's harsh demeanor had become common place, expected even. Shawn would be lying if he said it didn't sting, but his face would never say it.
"Sorry Lassie, I already had nap time with a sad lack of apple juice and graham cracker. Also for your information, Jack, while you were sleeping I was out catching robbers at 3:00 in the morning! How you like them apples?" Shawn looked triumphant as Lassiter tried to find something to say.
"Please just don't... touch anything." Lassie ordered before leaving, but turned around again. "I have other matters to look into, while this suicide seems pretty par. Detective O'Hara will be here to finish up and babysit."
Lassiter left the scene, only to be replaced by a better received detective moments later. Though tired and droopy eyed, Juliet O'Hara was far more agreeable than Lassiter on his best day.
"Thanks for the coffee Buzz, you're my hero." Shawn's first view of his favorite detective was a perfectly done golden blonde bun. That pencil skirt made him pay extra attention to her long legs. That grateful smile she flashed Buzz could win awards.
"Good afternoon Juliet." Gus greeted her with a polite smile as he took notes for his article for the paper.
"Hey Gus. How are you?" She drawled dreamily, more asleep than awake.
"I'm good. Looks like you could use a nap though." Gus told her, sounding more supportive than judge mental.
"I had a pretty late night. Have you heard from Shawn yet?" Her tone was conversational, but she had to try to keep it that way.
"Yes he has." Shawn answered for his friend. Shawn had stayed out of view, inspecting something that had caught his eye in the far corner of the room. "Don't worry Jules, me and Gus will help you piece this together." Shawn assured her with a smile. "What have we here?" Shawn was done to business and keyed in like Gus was used to, but Juliet had never seen him like this. Given she had only known him for two days, she didn't think he had a business side.
"Carlton thinks it's a suicide." Juliet took another deep gulp of her coffee and scanned the room.
"Looks like it." Shawn found himself agreeing. His eyes shot every which way, looking for anything out of the ordinary. "Guy on the ceiling, check. Rope burn on the bodies neck, and broken neck. All check."
"Wait, where's the chair?" Juliet asked, turning around to see it overturned by the kitchen.
"Jules, come here." Shawn beckoned to her, his voice not implying too much of a hurry. She could get used to patience like his.
"The chair has only three legs and I don't see the fourth." Juliet shared with him, Gus stayed silent and recorded it all.
"You're not going to until we find the murderer." Shawn pointed to the victim's forearms, covered in defense wounds. "Sorry Jules, it's not suicide." Shawn stood up and made for the door.
"Shawn, how was lunch?" Juliet tried to sound nonchalant while catching his attention still.
"I love Subway." Shawn gave her a knowing smirk before going back into the warm Santa Barbara air.
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"The coroner confirms it guys, it wasn't suicide." Juliet returned to her desk that Shawn was sitting on and Gus was around in circles in her chair.
"What are we looking at here? Some kind of sick bastard with a hanging fetish?" Shawn looked to Gus, one eyebrow raised.
"That's messed up Shawn." Gus's face was distorted in disgust.
"Shawn, be serious here." Juliet chided him. "There's something else you need to know." Juliet's volume dropped almost to the basement. "He was homeless, Shawn."
"Okay, did I know the guy? I told you that I don't forget a face. A smell or a voice, sure, but never a face." Shawn kept his demeanor, none to Gus's surprise but much to Juliet's annoyance. He needed to here this.
"Woody says he fits the last three MOs of murder victims. He's the fourth murdered homeless man in a month. In the exact. Same. Way." Juliet's voice had no room for Shawn to jest.
Shawn's face was white as a sheet and his eyes were focused hard on the floor.
"This guy is targeting homeless people. You're not safe out there." Juliet watched him, tried to get him to look at her so she could see some kind of life in his usually vibrant green eyes.
She took his hand in hers, trying to get a response. He squeezed ger hand and looked up at Gus. "I think I need to burden you one more time, buddy."
