JULIET

I don't know whether it was the sleep depravation getting to his head, the stress of being shut up in a car for seemingly endless hours putting him on edge, or maybe he really is crazy, but the second the words were out of my mouth, Lassiter was throwing himself out of the car and up the street towards the Sloanes' house.

"Carlton!" I was screaming after him but, unsurprisingly, I may as well have been trying to talk down a charging rhinoceros.

"SBPD! Freeze!" Lassiter cried, drawing out his gun and training it on the still-unidentified person who was skirting the side of the house.

I ran up next to him and pulled out my gun as well because, even though I thought that Lassiter had completely lost it, I still had to have his back. "Hands in the air!"

"Don't shoot!" A hysterical voice cried.

I sighed and lowered my gun because, as the terrified voice foreshadowed, a shaking teenage girl stood on the other side of my barrel.

"Please, don't shoot!" She cried again and raised her hands above her head.

I looked over at Lassiter and, seeing that his gun was still raised, elbowed him hard in the ribs.

"Ow! What was that for?"

I nodded to the girl, then to his gun, and then looked at him meaningfully. I could see that moment when understanding dawned on him, and he lowered his gun, looking embarrassed.

"Who are you?" Lassiter questioned, rubbing his now-sore ribs. Not going to lie, it was very satisfying for me.

"Julia McDermott. I'm Gavin's girlfriend."

Yeah, I know. The psychopath has a girlfriend. Weird, right?

"Wait, Gavin as in Gavin Sloane?" I asked her, convinced that there must be some sort of crazy coincidence going on. I mean, how does a psychopath get a girlfriend? Especially one as pretty as this girl? I don't want to sound rude, but doesn't it seem kind of strange?

Julia nodded, though, and looked at me like I was an idiot for asking.

"Wait, you're dating a psychopath?" Lassiter asked bluntly, sounding as baffled as I felt. The two of us had discussed the eighteen year old a few times and we'd both come to the same conclusion about his mental health.

"Gavin's not a psychopath!" Julia automatically jumped to her boyfriend's defense. She stood before us, right under a second-story window that we later found out led to Gavin's room. For some reason, her hands were still up.

"Yeah, okay. Because any normal teenage boy would go out and kill an innocent man for fun, then post the murder on twitter." Lassiter commented, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

Julia dropped her hands and, in an instant, her body language switched from terrified girl to defiant teenager. "No! He's not a psychopath! He's not! He loves me!"

I was quickly starting to wonder whether or not she was crazy, too.

"Okay, sure—" Carlton was about to be a sarcastic jerk again when Julia interrupted him.

"No! Just listen to me, okay?" Lassiter sighed, but relented. "Gav's a partial psychopath."

Lassiter threw his hands up in the air. "Oh, of course! A partial psychopath! Why didn't I think of that?"

"I'm being serious! Yeah, he can be impulsive and a little violent sometimes, but he has feelings. He's a good kid, really."

Now it was my turn to be the sarcastic jerk. "Really? I have a dead man in the morgue who'd disagree."

"He didn't mean to kill that guy! Well, maybe he did a little. But it wasn't his fault."

Obviously it was completely pointless to argue with the girl at this point. She had reached the point where she was completely naive to logic and reason, and she fully believed anything her boyfriend told her. I felt bad for her, really.

"Why are you here?" Lassiter mercifully came to the same conclusion and changed the subject.

"I wanted to see Gavin. He hasn't been answering my calls. I haven't seen him in over a week. It's been going around that he was arrested, but I want to hear it from him."

"Going around where?" I wondered. Sure Gavin's been in the hospital for more than a week, but he hasn't been formally booked yet.

"Twitter." She answered simply.

Of course.

OooOooO

SHAWN

Yeah, okay. It's taking waaaaayy too long for Jules to get on with her side of the story. Seriously, how is it possible that I was able to go down the street, buy a delicious pineapple flavored smoothie, finish it on the way back, go back for another, and walk all the way home to the Psych office before she even gets to the part where she realizes I was kidnapped?

Women.

Anyways, I'm going to interject here for a tad before you all die of boredom, or computers are replaced by little microchips that read your brainwaves and all this is made obsolete.

I was a little disappointed that no one figured out my hint! Just as a reminder…

*Ahem * Vultures.

I got a lot of people that thought I was eaten alive. A bunch thought I was killed and dumped in the Sahara. Well here's another clue, people!

I'M TELLING YOU THIS STORY RIGHT NOW!

Sure, I could be telling from beyond the grave, but in order for that to be true, Jules and Allen from the smoothie place would have to be dead, too.

Don't worry, that little gap in logic could happen to the best of us—especially Gus. Well, it wouldn't happen to me, so I guess 'that little gap in logic could happen to any but the very best of us'.

I'll walk you through it.

Vultures are a very specific type of carnivore called a SCAVENGER. A SCAVENGER, as in SCAVENGER HUNT.

Yup, that sicko kidnapped me and then sent Lassie and Jules on a scavenger hunt to find me before it was too late.

I may not have died, but that doesn't mean I didn't get beat up a little.

OooOooO

HEY! Remember this story? Yeah, didn't think so.

Please don't hate me! Between school, softball, musical, and family crap, please just be grateful that I finished this chappie before the world blows up next December.

Thank you so much for sticking with this story! I SWEAR ON MY LEFT PINKIE TOE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE FASTER!

REVIEW!

It means an unbelievable lot to me! Thanks so much :D

Also, I'd really appreciate it if you would take a moment to look at my latest story, "Rock of the Ages". It's just a fun little oneshot. Any feed back you could give me would mean a lot!