Here's chapter 8! There isn't a whole bunch of plot advancement in this chapter, but hey. It's better than nothing, right. Right?

Please R&R. Thanks!

OooOooO

Lassiter slapped a file on his partner's desk. "This is our guy."

Juliet browsed through the pages doubtfully. "I don't know Carlton…"

"What? What do you mean 'I don't know'? This is our guy! We've nailed him, O'Hara! Spencer, well, the older Spencer," Lassiter amended, "can identify him. He had a conversation with the guy for crying out loud! If we just bring him in here—"

"I know all of this, Carlton."

"Then what's the problem?"

"It's just…" She hesitated.

"Just what O'Hara? Spit it out!" Lassiter cried, annoyed.

"How can you be sure this is the guy?"

Lassiter was shocked. "What?"

"Well, all you know is that it's some guy with auburn hair and blue eyes."

"A tall, beefy guy with auburn hair and blue eyes." Carlton said defensively. Juliet raised an eyebrow. He sighed, "Look O'Hara. This guy, this" Lassiter conferred his file, "Samuel Thomas was brought in for circulating drugs about two weeks ago. We didn't have enough to secure his conviction, so he was released. He fits the profile of our mystery criminal as well as fitting Spencer's physical description. What else do you want?"

"I don't know, Carlton." She sighed, "I just—I need to get this right."

Lassiter nodded understandingly. "We will, O'Hara."

OooOooO

Sam Thomas was not an easy guy to find. The two detectives practically had to tear apart Santa Barbara to find him. A charge to the man's credit card is what finally alerted them to his location: a gas station in the oldest part of town. The two detectives, along with a couple black and whites, were able to trace his location from there.

So now Samuel Thomas was sitting behind the metal table in the interrogation room, having been ambushed then dragged, kicking and screaming, into the station. Lassiter and Juliet stood behind the one-way glass, eyeing their suspect carefully.

"What do you make of him?" Juliet asked her partner, breaking the silence.

"He fits the description, he resisted arrest… I'd say this is our guy, O'Hara." He said confidently. Juliet sighed in relief. Maybe her partner wasn't right as often as Shawn, but she trusted his judgment.

"Just one thing. Why are we still waiting?" She asked. They'd been letting the suspect simmer for about half an hour.

Lassiter opened his mouth to answer, but a third voice did the job for him.

"Where is he? Where is that son of a bitch that did this to my son?!" Henry Spencer's voice came from just outside the observation room. Juliet saw Samuel Thomas visibly flinch in his seat.

"That." Carlton said simply, jerking his thumb in the direction of the voice. He walked to the door and opened it to find a very angry Henry Spencer. He was a completely different man than the one in the hospital.

"Mr. Spencer—" Lassiter walked up to him in the hall.

"Cut the crap, Detective, and let me see him!"

While Juliet was taken aback by the response, Lassiter remained unfazed.

"Mr. Spencer if you—"

"He's in there isn't he…" Henry babbled, and then to himself "well of course he's in there. ("Mr. Spencer" Lassiter said) That's the interrogation room for crying out loud."

"Spencer…" Lassiter continued to try to get a word in.

"He thinks he can get a way with doing this to my kid. ("Spencer") Well I'll show him. ("Spencer")No one can get away with that. …" Henry continued to mumble.

"Spencer… " Lassiter said wearily.

"I'm so stupid! Of course he wasn't a doctor. This is all my fault. If I hadn't—"

"HENRY, SHUT UP!" The ex-cop and head detective spun around, shocked at Juliet's outburst.

"O'Hara—" Lassiter said, annoyed and concerned for his partner.

Juliet discarded him and turned to Henry. "Look, Mr. Spencer," she began, "I get that this is a hard time for you. Really, I do. But you have got to pull yourself together! If you don't want to for yourself, do it for Shawn. You going off the wall, babbling and angry—with Samuel Thomas and yourself—is not going to help him. What will help him is if you suck it up, shake it off and start acting like a detective!"

The room was completely silent for seven whole seconds.

"Hm. Maybe you can be a good cop. I guess I underestimated you." Henry said with a slight smile. His eyes were almost… was that amusement?

O'Hara opened her mouth to reply, but stopped. Was that a compliment or an insult?

Henry simply walked past her and into the small room and began looking over the suspect.

Carlton followed him, clapping Juliet on the shoulder as he went. Dumbstruck, Juliet turned and followed the two men into the observation room.

Henry analyzed the suspect shrewdly. As much as he wanted to nail this guy, he knew he had to be right. The older Spencer took into account the height, hair color, eyes and facial features of the young man behind the table. After a few moments he turned to the detectives.

"That's him."

OooOooO

Did you like Juliet's outburst? I got the idea from The Greatest Adventure in the History of Basic Cable. This chapter seems a bit OOC, but I guess they would be a bit OOC in this situation.

Sorry this took longer than usual. I had a heck of a week. Like, a total of nine hours of sleep over the past five days. I mean, I wrote this in Study Hall. That's how busy I've been.

I'm going to try like heck to update before the end of the weekend, because if I don't, I don't know how long it'll be before I can again. You guys can ensure that I do by REVIEWING! It's not blackmail. I just really, really do write faster when I've gotten reviews :D. Thanks!