Next chapter whoooooo who is excited?!

Obviously I am!

Thank you so much for the beautiful and thoughtful reviews. I feel greatly encouraged to continue and cannot wait to see how you all like the next installment!

"Tell me about him?"

Juliet sat, perched on the edge of a slightly ratty yet very comfortable couch.

Across from her, sitting back in the armchair, Henry Spencer took a deep breath and began to talk.

"Shawn is smart, incredibly smart. Nothing gets past him – he has an eidetic memory and heightened observational skills. I could walk into a restaurant with him, make him sit down and close his eyes, and ask him how many hats were in the room – and he would be able to tell me. Just those thirty seconds of walking in were enough for him to have a mental image of the entire room."

"Wow." Juliet blinked. This hadn't been in the boy's file. "Really?"

The older man nodded. "Really. He's an incredible boy." The retired officer tapped one hand against his knee absentmindedly. "I mean, he was a piece of work, don't get me wrong. Always up to mischief, far too smart for his own good… he sees the world in his own way. I… I tried to give him structure, tools to succeed…. He fought it, of course." Henry looked away suddenly, staring at something in the distance. "I guess I didn't give him enough though." Agony permeated his words. "I never thought…"

Unspoken words hovered around him.

"It's not your fault," Juliet breathed quietly, the sorrow in the air nearly suffocating.

Henry glanced at her.
"Thank you for coming," he said softly. "It means a lot."

"Of course," Juliet said earnestly.

"I know everyone thinks I'm crazy…"

Juliet opened her mouth to protest that but he waved away her words. "You don't have to pretend they don't. Hell, sometimes I think I'm crazy. I know the statistics as well as any other officer. But, I just have this gut feeling…" He looked at her "I taught him a lot of survival skills. If any kid could get through…" He couldn't finish that sentence. "Shawn is a fighter," he said instead. "One time we were backpacking and tripped and bashed his head in on a rock. But he just got up and kept walking, even as his head was gushing blood. He has a scar from it, right at his hairline," Henry's hand trembled slightly as he pointed to the spot on his own forehead the scar would be. "He's... he's a fighter."

Juliet bit her lip lightly at the man's use of present tense. "You've never given up on him," she observed quietly.

Henry shifted, gaze heavy and eyes piercing.

"How could I?" was all he said, shaking his head slowly. "How could I?"

"I found a partial print."

Juliet didn't even knock before barging into the office where Lassiter was talking to Chief Vick.

They both started, turning to look at her.

"I found a partial print at Henry Spencer's house, on the outside of the window sill to the boy's bedroom. I've cross-referenced it with Spencer's prints and it's not his. Someone who was not Henry Spencer was in that room." Juliet was breathless, adrenaline pumping through her veins. "He hasn't had anybody over in the past week or work done on the roof, so the print can't be from anybody he knows. And it has to be less than a week old because it's on the outside and it rained last Friday.

Lassiter's eyebrows shot up so high they were nearly lost under his dark hair. "Well I'll be damned…"

Chief Vick stood, a look of determination settling on her face. "Did you find any matches?"

"It's only a partial, but I'm having someone run it to see what we can find. Permission to send a team to scour the bedroom more thoroughly?"

"Granted," Chief Vick nodded. "If there's even a chance this could help us track down Shawn Spencer's abductor, I want every possible angle examined to bring that person to justice. Detective O'Hara and Lassiter, this is now your case." Chief Vick walked them to the door. "Keep me updated."

"We will," Juliet promised.

She could feel Lassiter's discomfort as they walked quickly down the hall to request a team to comb over the room.

"O'Hara." Lassiter stopped her suddenly and she felt a rush of apprehension fill her. She wouldn't blame the head detective if he was mad at her – she did go behind his back to continue investigating. It wasn't good of her as his partner, but she honestly didn't think he would have been on board.

"I owe you an apology," the detective rumbled, his voice low.

This was quite the week of surprises.

Lassiter continued. "You were right. We should have looked around, and if this leads us to any closure on what happened to Shawn Spencer… I would never forgive myself if my… my…" he struggled for a word. "…my stubbornness had prevented that."

"Thank you," Juliet cocked her head, truly impressed that he had apologized. "I accept your apology. If we work together, I think we have the best chance at finding something."

"Agreed." The tall detective nodded. "And hopefully, I'll get to shoot somebody."

Juliet rolled her eyes at that and they continued down the hall.

"An armed robbery just got called in," an officer stopped them. "It sounds like they had some serious firearm power, according to a witness."

"Do we need to head to the scene?" Lassiter snapped to attention, their earlier bantering immediately forgotten.

"Nobody was hurt but they had a clean getaway and are still at large Just wanted to let you know that there are heavily armed criminals out there – be careful. Maybe put on some bullet proof jackets before heading out," the officer suggested.

"Thank you." Juliet took in the information.

"Wear a bullet proof jacket tomorrow. And… be safe." Juliet could suddenly hear Juan's voice in her head.

Coincidence, she tried to dismiss it.

Juan's warning could have had to do with anything – it wasn't uncommon to tell an officer to be safe; their lives were on the line every day. It had to be random.

But her gut was telling her otherwise.

"Next stop, LA!"

A great cheer went through the crew as they raised their beers, the dark space under the haunted house lit up with industrial lights. Alcohol and soft drugs were ready at hand as they began preparing the latest shipment for transport. Deals had been made, trades agreed upon, and a very successful jewelry robbery was the cherry on top. They would be in town for two more nights, delivering on their promises to the local gangs, then they would move onward.

He stood separate from the crew, watching their rough revelry. They had brought some prostitutes in from town and he had to turn away from the graphic displays of desire.

Still, Crow guarded the shipment with a couple other designated men, machine guns slung over their shoulders and held ready in front of them. They were not there to play – they were there to kill anybody who would even consider double crossing them or dipping into the haul. They ran a tight, ruthless gig, and that was why they were successful.

His body still aching from his encounter with Rudd the night before, he leaned against one of the support pillars and tried to get comfortable. All the exits would be guarded until they opened for the evening, so he was stuck.

As his eyes closed, another sudden flashback hit him.

"I want to go home!" His small hands were curled into fists even as his back was against the wall of the trailer. "My dad is going to find you and…"

He had to squint at the form in the doorway because his eyes hadn't seen light in so long; it had been nothing but darkness around him and the sensation of movement beneath him.

"Shush now," the man cut him off. "Your daddy ain't never gonna to find you, you gotta accept that."

"He will!" His cry was desperate.

"He ain't, kid. But it's gonna be okay. I'll look out for you here." The man took a step forward and tossed something at his feet.

It was a granola bar and a water bottle, wrapped in a blanket.

He looked up at the man, face streaked with tears.

"Rest up kid, we got a long haul ahead of us. I'll be stoppin' by and startin' to teach you whatcha need to know. The crew here, they're gonna want you to do stuff for them with that fancy mind of yours."

"I don't understand," he shook his head, trying to keep his voice even. "What do they want?"

"Let's start with money." The man tossed him a stack of bills and a flashlight. "The one on top is real; you figure out whether the rest are or not."

The man turned to leave but paused in the doorway.

"You'll be okay, kid. They ain't gonna touch you, leave it to me."

"Wait!" he called out. "What's your name?"

He didn't want the door to close yet, didn't want to be trapped in the dark again with nothing but his mind in hyper drive, analyzing every movement, every sound, replaying memory after memory after memory…

"Call me Blue," the man's tan, slightly wrinkled face creased into a faint smile.

"I'm Shawn," he said bravely.

"I know kid. But we can't call you that."

He stared at him, confused. "Why not?"

"We gotta think of something that sounds close enough but nobody will put the two together… I know. We'll call you Juan."

"Juan!"

Jerking back to reality, he struggled to calm his breathing.

Rudd was leaning over him, leering. "Crow wants you to take a look at the latest arrival of bills."

He nodded blearily, forcing his stiff body to move even as Rudd kicked him, sending more pain flaring through his body.

It had been awhile since he had experienced flashbacks and it took several moments for him to regain his bearings.

Bearings.

Bear.

He suddenly remembered that he had tucked his teddy bear into one of the storage boxes, the image lighting up his mind with its familiarity.

He found it and stuffed it under his jacket before heading over to check over the latest payment for counterfeits.

It was most likely the last piece of home he would ever have.

Tap tap tap tap tap…

Furiously Juliet's fingers ran over the keyboard of her computer as she did some quick research.

Strictly speaking, this probably wasn't exactly within the bounds of what she should be searching, but she needed answers about Juan's travelling amusement park – Fun Times, she faintly remembered the sign reading.

Strangely, Juliet couldn't track them far – legally they were less than a year old. But looking at the state of the equipment and run down feeling, Juliet highly doubted that. In addition, she was slowly putting together a trail of similar travelling parks that would be registered for a year and then disappear – with a newly registered one appearing in a city over.

Thoroughly curious, Juliet excused herself and quickly found an empty room. She pulled out her phone and called the owner of the lot that the park was renting – it had been fairly easy to find with some quick googling.

"Hello?" a raspy voice answered the phone after only a couple rings.

"Hi, I have a question about your property," Juliet cradled the phone to her ear.

"Sure, what's up?"

Juliet took a deep breath. "Oh, I just love the park that is there right now. I was wondering how you got in contact with them to come? I'd love to know when they'll come again."

God she hated lying. She didn't even believe herself.

"That's sweet, honey," the voice rasped, clearly amused. "They found me. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it because I was hesitant to let them use the space… those things can be so dirty. But they said they'd used it before. I checked the records and sure enough, it was on the logs. Glad I let them come if it's helping the community."

Juliet's heart beat slightly faster. Fun Times was only a year old…

"Really? That's so great they were here before, I wonder if I was there when I was a kid… Do you happen to know the dates? I'd love to know. My mom would be so tickled if I was."

There was a slight pause on the other end and ruffling noise of papers being shifted around.

"Sure thing, honey. I still have it out. Looks like they were here…. October 10th to the 15th, 2002. Long time ago."

Juliet's mouth went dry and she was momentarily unable to respond.

"Oh okay, thank you!" she managed to force out. "I guess I wasn't there but that would have been fun. Thanks for your help."

"No problem. You have a good day now."

"Thanks, you too."

She hung up, mind spinning.

It had to be coincidence, right? Because there was no way there was a connection between the amusement park and her case. She had just been staring at the dates too long, spent too much time reading the file…

"What are you doing?"

Juliet's heart jumped into her mouth as she spun to find her tall partner standing in the doorway.

"Lassiter," she gasped. "Don't sneak up on me!"

His brow was furrowed, lips pursed. "What are you doing?" he repeated.

"Carlton, I think I found a crazy connection," she began. "You know the travelling amusement park that is in town?"

"The run down crappy one in the empty lot?" the head detective raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, that one!" Juliet said excitedly. "Well, I just called the owner of the lot to ask how they got in touch with them and they said they were here before, fifteen years ago."

Carlton Lassiter just stared at her blankly. "And this is important because…."

"Because…" Juliet was actually pacing the room. "Because they were here from October 10th to October 15th, 2002. October 14th, 2002 was the day that Shawn Spencer went missing. And the very next day, a visiting traveling amusement park left town. And when it finally comes back, fifteen years later and under a new name, Henry Spencer's house is broken into."

Lassiter's expression changed from one of confusion to excitement. "They might be connected!"

"It's at least something," Juliet agreed.

"Excellent work, O'Hara." Lassiter was already striding to the door.

"Wait!" Juliet suddenly realized that her partner intended to go straight to the park and interrogate everyone.

Juan.

Based on the way he acted, he was scared of any interference into whatever the situation was, even though she had a suspicion that he was getting hurt. She didn't want to make things worse for him by waltzing around in police uniforms… And they needed more information anyways. Based on Juan's hints, the park was more dangerous than it seemed; they couldn't just walk in. It was too rash.

"What are you waiting for, O'Hara? Let's go!" Lassiter said impatiently.

"This is… this is a sensitive situation," she stumbled for words. "I have reason to believe that the park might be dangerous."

That caught the head detective's attention. "What?"

Juliet closed her eyes briefly, really not wanting to share about Juan and their interactions but knowing that she needed to.

"I kind of have an informant… of sorts."

We are getting close to a point of confrontation! Yay!

Let me know what you think!

~catlover1033