Author's Note: Hi all! Thanks for the amazing reviews; they make me smile. I know the story is going on much longer than I'd ever thought, but please be patient; we are coming close. For the sake of the plot, I had to have Juliet be as uninformed as possible about current events in the S.B.P.D., but since she's been in the hospital with Lassie this whole time, I figure she has an excuse for being out of the loop. As for Shawn, I really don't hate him (this chapter is kind of hard on him). Have hope; next chapter should clear things up a little.

Disclaimer: I don't own Psych or the characters involved.

Juliet's POV

I was called in by the Chief the next morning. I came into the office rather early; I had practically taken the week off, and I knew that I was neglecting Carlton's and my caseload. The ribbing I expected from the Chief never came, though. I would have preferred ten ribbings compared to what the Chief had to tell me.

"O'Hara, I'm through," she stated in a stoic voice. "Friday is my last day; Internal Affairs has advised that I resign prior to my hearing, so that my case can be dismissed and I will face no jail time."

"WHAT?!" I shouted, confused as I'd ever been. "Chief, what on earth is going on? You do know that I've been practically living at the hospital, right? I'm a bit out of the loop."

The Chief sighed and shook her head. "Because Shawn went public with the fact that he's duped the police for seven years, my department head has determined that I am to be evaluated for my fitness to command. The IA is coming here in an hour or so; there is a massive audit of all our cases relating to Shawn Spencer. As you worked closely with him, you will probably be interrogated to death. I wanted to give you advance warning."

The Chief's eyes softened then, and she looked at me with pity in her eyes. "They also will probably call out your relationship with Mr. Spencer; be prepared to have your name dragged through the mud. After all, these people aren't really the most tactful people under the sun."

I shivered; could life possibly get any worse right now?

"I have also been ordered to put you and Carlton on suspension, pending an investigation into your blown drug bust."

Apparently life could get worse. "What?! Chief, that's not fair; we did everything by the book!"

The Chief huffed and looked away. "Everything except hiring a fake psychic. O'Hara, Lassiter got shot, and the department is looking for a place to shove all the blame. I am trying to take it all on myself, but these things get messy. The last thing my superiors want is you two getting into more trouble while everything is pending investigation."

"Chief, you can't take the blame all on yourself!" I cried out. "It's just not fair! We all listened to Shawn, we all believed him. The blame should be his!"

"Mr. Spencer is very popular with the public right now, which has given him some leeway. Imagine if the department actually prosecuted Mr. Spencer for obstructing justice. We could start a political battle; possibly even a riot. It's been crazy out there this day alone; Henry Spencer informed me this morning that he's had several calls on his land-line of people asking for interviews, T.V. show specials, you name it. We prosecute, it just adds more fuel to the fire, and the IA knows that. Besides..."

Here, the Chief trailed off, looking at me with a sheepish and somewhat chagrined look. I waited patiently, taking it all in.

"Besides," she continued, "I knew Shawn wasn't psychic. Going on four years I've known it, in my heart of hearts. I've just kept him around because... well, he may be an immature jerk, but he's one of the best detectives I've ever seen."

I hung my head, not wanting to meet the Chief's eyes. I felt hollow; I had no idea what to say. So, the Chief knew Shawn's secret. Did anyone else know? Did Lassiter know? Was I the only dumb one in this entire precinct?

"I'm taking full blame," the Chief stated. "No reason to drag you or Lassiter into this mess anymore than you have to be. However, I was able to drag out your suspension date claiming that you had a case to wrap up; you have a day. As of Thursday morning, both you and Carlton are officially suspended until your hearing dates."

"What do I do?" I asked, feeling panicked. "That just gives me little more than a day; what can I possibly do to turn this situation around?!"

"You can do nothing for me," the Chief stated. "But, if I were you, I'd spend the next two days investigating what went wrong at your drug bust. That's what you two are being called on the carpet for, under the heading of reckless endangerment of other officers. If you can find proof that your bust was truly necessary, you two might manage to slide free of this one."

I was confused. "Chief; it was a drug drop, right? I mean, I know we got caught in an all-out gangland shootout, but what about the four bags we eventually confiscated?"

The Chief blinked. "You mean you haven't heard yet?"

"No," I answered back, a little miffed. "I've been in the hospital all the time threatening Carlton! Besides, after he got shot on the beach I spent most of the time applying pressure until the ambulance got there, and then I went off with them."

The Chief nodded soberly. "When we had finished apprehending the gang members (you do at least remember two got away?), we opened the bags. All four of them were empty."

"Empty?!"

"Empty."

"Empty," I whispered. "No wonder we are being investigated; we fell for a set-up!"

"Something of the kind," the Chief answered. "And really, since it was Shawn's private investigation, he's the one who fell for the set-up. There is clearly more than meets the eye with this case; if I were you, I'd track down Mr. Spencer and demand an explanation."

I growled a growl that Carlton would be proud of. "My pleasure," I said.

oOo

First, I stopped by the hospital one last time to inform Carlton that I'd be gone for a while. I didn't tell him anything because I didn't want him to stress; he was getting better, but was not out of the woods yet. Then, I began my hunt for Shawn.

I checked the Psych office first, then, not finding him anywhere near, headed out towards Henry's house. On the way I got a text from the Chief telling me that Shawn was in a meeting with Reed Brown, the head of the investigation into the S.B.P.D. I therefore took a detour and treated myself to a real (though late) lunch; I'd need all the strength I could get to face the rest of the day. An hour later, I paid the bill and departed, being assured through a text that Shawn had left the office. I knew he'd head for Henry's; something in me just innately knew where Shawn would go. I was right; the Blueberry was parked in front of Henry's house. Henry's truck was not.

I walked up to the front door and eased it open. Shawn hadn't bothered to re-lock it after breaking in, I noticed. I heard his voice coming from upstairs; he and Gus were probably playing an Atari or something. I took a deep breath and felt my anger surge. Good. I then stormed up the stairs, screaming "SSSHHHAAAWWWNN!" at the top of my lungs. The effect was amazing; I sounded like an enraged banshee bent on vengeance. I threw open his bedroom door, certain my eyes were shooting fire. I felt like I was made of fire at that moment.

I had never seen Shawn look so scared. Gus apparently passed out (or was pretending for the sake of his life) when I entered the room; at least he was slumped over against the wall. Shawn was looking at me with wide eyes, as if I had just stepped out of a nightmare. Maybe I had.

"COME HERE!" I howled as I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him to his feet. "You and I have a lot to talk about and a long day ahead of us!" With that, I dragged him through the door, leaving Gus behind.

Once outside, I let Shawn go. He didn't try to run, which was good since I was not in the mood. "Get in the car," I stated.

"Jules, are you crazy?! I can't leave Gus in there all alone. When my dad gets home and finds the house broken into there'll be hell to pay."

"Get in this car, or I will shoot you Shawn." I was bluffing, of course. Shawn merely blinked and slid into the passenger seat.

"You're getting more and more like Lassie everyday," he grumbled.

We drove down to the beach, down to the spot where the S.B.P.D. had gotten in a shootout over four worthless bags. I parked the car facing the waves, and Shawn and I sat there for a moment.

"This was your bust," I stated quietly. "You were the one who gave us a tip-off. You were so sure of everything; so sure this was a drug bust. Explain this to me."

Shawn nodded and, to my immense surprise, started right off with an explanation. "About a week ago, Gus and I ordered pizza. Normally, we like the meat lovers combo or the super cheesy nacho fiesta. However, that night we were in the mood for Hawaiian, so we ordered the pizzas from the little shack that's by the beach."

"Wait a minute; by this beach?" I asked.

"Yes, actually. Romano's Kahuna is actually a really good place for island pizza; it's a family run business. A single dad and his two daughters run the place. Now, when our pizza came, a distraught delivery daughter came with it. She saw the sign to our office and came in begging our help. Apparently, her sister had gone missing several days ago while taking out the trash. She had no idea where her sister had gone, and the police wouldn't look into it because the girl apparently had run off before. This delivery girl said things were different this time, though, and Gus and I were inclined to believe her. Having nothing better to do at the time, we took the case."

"When we started asking around and looking at the restaurant, though, we found out that the missing sister had actually been dating an alleged gang member. Gus and I did some more research, and found out that this particular gang was just a... courier service, if you will. They worked as intermediaries between smugglers and street dealers."

"Pack mules," I said, comprehending. "And how do you know so much about gangs all of a sudden?"

"I stole Lassie's black book off the shelf for a day," Shawn replied.

I nodded. "So that's where that was. I thought Lassiter would die; he must have asked everyone five to ten times if they'd seen his personal record book. So, what happened next?"

"Gus and I told our client about her sister, who in turn gave us the location of her sister's boyfriend's house. From his house (which was actually a shoddy apartment), we got the location of the next meeting, which just happened to be a convenient empty warehouse. After that, everything just fell into place. The night of the gang meeting, Gus was a distraction by being a lost Chinese food delivery man. While they were contending with him, I wriggled up into the rafters. I stayed up there until they sent Gus on his merry way, then I listened in on their conversation. I found out the times and where they planned their drop, then, after they were gone, I climbed back down, picked up Gus from the dumpster (the gang members had apparently been in a decent mood that night; the only thing missing was Gus's bag of Chinese food), and we headed home. The next day, I came into the S.B.P.D., and... had my 'psychic vision.'"

"And we fell for it like usual, set up the drug bust, and got caught in the crossfire between the pack mules and their... who? Buyers? Rivals? So much is missing from this story... and I don't have time," I said sadly.

Shawn jerked up at that. "What do you mean you don't have time?" he asked, concerned.

I looked back at him. I planned to say stoically that I had lost my badge, but the emotions I tried so hard to replace with anger took over like a tidal wave. Tears began welling up in my eyes, and I said in a pitiful, wavery voice, "I lost my badge."

"Oh, sweetheart," Shawn started in his most comforting voice, and he reached over for me. However, I pushed him away and practically threw my car door open. I climbed out of the car, Shawn following.

"I lost my badge because I listened to you," I said shortly. "The S.B.P.D. is in shambles now because of you. If you have any desire to redeem yourself at all, you will help me figure out what went wrong at our bust. I have the rest of today and tomorrow to wrap this all up, and if I don't clear Lassiter's name and mine, we'll be facing a board of our own."

Shawn nodded; for once he didn't say anything. How odd. I looked around the scene of our failed drug bust, and walked towards the beach. Everything stood out oddly, as if it were a little too sharp. The bathrooms where Buzz and his people took cover were still chipped from the bullet shots, and the desolate beach was adorned with nothing but another man's snack shack and a small outlet of beach side restaurants, one containing Romano's Kahuna. I walked across the parking lot to the sidewalk where our snack shack had been set up. My eyes inevitably tracked to the place where Carlton was shot; to my surprise and disgust there was still a brown stain on the sidewalk where his blood had soaked into the concrete. I tried to keep the tears back, but they were free flowing now, and in agony I fled the scene, plopped down on the sand in front of the waves, and cried my heart out.

When the tears had stopped coming, I stood again, wiped off my face with my sweater sleeve, and turned to look for Shawn. I was kind of surprised that he didn't try and comfort me again, but in a way I was glad that he had given me some space. Shawn was still standing where the snack cart had been, a puzzled look on his face. Then, to my surprise, his face brightened and he had that "I've figured it out look".

My heart felt so heavy; it's a terrible feeling when you feel both emotionally drained and hopelessly stupid. "Did you solve the case already?" I called out as I stumbled towards him.

Immediately "the look" was off Shawn's face, and he was smirking with something like embarrassment. "No, I didn't solve the case," Shawn stated.

"Then what were you smiling about?" I asked skeptically.

Shawn grinned and pointed dramatically to the snack cart a little farther down the sidewalk. "That man... is selling churros! Want one?"

I shook my head disgustedly. Shawn took off running down the beach towards the churro man, and I sighed in despair. I was quickly loosing hope that I'd ever have a badge again after tomorrow.