Good Lord, this chapter almost killed me! I have been AGONIZING over it for over a month now! Don't ask me why. I have the solution figured out, I just can't seem to get Shawn there...anyway, sorry for the wait. Hope this makes up for it! :-)
"Do you see anything else?" Gus asked eagerly.
Shawn's eyes were closed again, his hand hovering over the wall-brain as if he could sense what was in the pictures and Post-Its through his fingertips.
"No…" he murmured. "I don't see anything…"
"Oh." Gus sounded almost disappointed.
Shawn opened his eyes, not seeming the least bit disheartened by his lack of vision.
"At least you saw something…" Gus added hastily.
Shawn shook his head, and for the first time since the accident Gus could see something lurking beneath his placid eyes…something like a small spark that was slowly being fanned into a full flame.
"No, Gus. I mean, I don't see anything. Look."
He stepped back from the wall-brain, gesturing at the blurry pictures from the pawn shop.
"There's no jewelry…no watches…no rings…nothing like that."
"I know." Gus nodded, not understanding where Shawn was going with this. "Don't you remember? I told you that when we were there. They must not sell that kind of stuff."
"That's the point, Gus! I don't know why I didn't see it before!"
"See what?"
"They should have that kind of stuff!" Shawn explained quickly, the flame in his eyes growing hotter. "Jewelry is the first thing people pawn when they need fast cash. It's valuable, so it gets you a good price, and you usually won't miss it too much. It wouldn't be weird if they had that stuff…it's weird that they don't!"
"Okay…" Gus conceded. "So it's a little weird that a pawn shop doesn't have jewelry. So what?"
"So…" Shawn pulled the crime scene photo of Mackay in his watch and the picture of the teenager with the Rolex off the wall and placed them side-by-side on the desk. "Two people in the same poor, crappy neighborhood who both have connections to the same pawn shop both happen to own Rolexes? I'm betting they didn't come from Wal-Mart. They had to have come from the pawn shop! It's the only possible place!"
"But the pawn shop doesn't have watches!" Gus shouted in exasperation. "We just said that! It's weird, but they don't!"
"They have to, Gus. There's no other answer."
"Then where are they?" Gus demanded.
Shawn pulled the picture of the scary dude with tattoos off that wall and placed it on the desk alongside the picture of the teenager.
"Look…" he said, tapping the photo. "Behind the counter…the back room door is open."
"Back room?"
"All pawn shops have back rooms," Shawn explained quickly, the words flowing faster than they had in a long time. "They're just as big as the front room, if not bigger. It's where they keep the stuff that's in hock for the thirty days before they're allowed to sell it."
"So…there might be watches back there?" Gus concluded, emphasizing the might pointedly.
Shawn nodded.
"There might be…but even if there is, it doesn't answer the second question."
"What's that?" Gus asked, his stomach sinking as he realized the wheels in Shawn's head were spinning furiously now.
"What's a pawn shop in that poor, crappy neighborhood doing with Rolexes? Where did they come from?"
"Oh…."
Gus watched in horror as the familiar, devious grin slowly spread across Shawn's face.
Oh, God…he groaned inwardly, knowing he was about to somehow be thrown under a bus …
He has a plan…
"I'm not going in!" Gus snapped, folding his arms as Shawn pushed the glass door to the pawn shop open.
"Why not?" Shawn rolled his eyes, turning back around to face his friend as he dropped the door and let it close again.
"Because I don't feel like being murdered by a tattooed gorilla! You saw the way he was glaring at me last time! He was just looking for a reason to tear my head off! You don't need me, anyway." Gus insisted. "You're just going to go in and ask him if he has watches in the back room, right?"
"Right," Shawn agreed breezily. "But you know my brain isn't working right since the accident…you might pick up on something during the conversation that I miss. Come on, Gus! I need you!"
"Fine." Gus sighed, knowing it was futile to resist Shawn's pleas. "But I am not talking to that guy!"
"Fine. I'll do the talking."
Shawn opened the door and stepped in, pausing just inside as he glanced around at the half dozen or so customers who were perusing the shop. The group of teenagers from before wasn't there anymore, but the store was still pretty busy.
After a moment of surveying his surroundings, Shawn slowly started to make his way to the counter, behind which the large man was still standing. Gus was following close behind him.
About ten feet away from the counter, however, just as the man took his eyes off him for one second, Shawn suddenly reached out and knocked a digital camera off a shelf and onto the hard floor, shattering the lens.
"Gus!" He gasped loudly in feigned horror. "Look what you did!"
"Me?!" Gus shouted, eyeing the man nervously. He had already come out from behind the counter and was marching over to them angrily.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He growled, glaring at Gus as he quickly closed the distance between them.
"I--" Gus stammered nervously, his eyes darting back to Shawn.
"Stall him." Shawn whispered. "I have to get a look at the back room. Don't let him go back to the counter before I get out."
"Shawn!"
"Shh…" Shawn hushed him, flicking his head at the man, who had reached them now.
Shawn quietly ducked behind him, slipping unnoticed behind the counter and through the open back room door as the man started to yell at poor Gus.
"What the hell is your problem?" He bellowed, crossing his massive arms across his chest.
"Uh--"
Gus cleared his throat, trying desperately to think on his feet.
Every eye in the store was on him now.
Okay…he told himself, trying to stop his heart from pounding out of his chest…there are witnesses…he can't kill me with witnesses…
"It was an accident," he said quickly, picking the broken camera off the floor and dusting it off gingerly. "Look. Good as new."
He plopped it into the man's hand, praying he wasn't about to get socked.
The man stared down at it.
"Good as new?" He growled, his fingers curling around the far from good-as-new camera as he brandished it in Gus' face. "It's busted!"
"It's not busted." Gus argued weakly.
His mind was completely blank as he kept watching the rippling biceps straining against the man's tight shirt.
Oh, God…
He's going to kill me…
He's going to beat me to death with a broken camera!
Stupid Shawn!
"The lens is shattered!" The man was shouting now.
"No, it isn't."
"Look at it!"
"Where?" Gus demanded, taking the camera out of the man's hand and examining it himself, as if he couldn't tell there was anything even remotely wrong with it.
"You're paying for it!"
"But it's broken." Gus snorted, handing it back to him. "Why would I want to buy a broken camera?"
He glanced at the back room door, praying Shawn would come out soon before he had to push the man to actual homicide.
This time, his prayers were answered, as Shawn emerged from the back room, grinning from ear to ear as he watched the scene between Gus and the now red-faced man unfold.
"Are you trying to piss me off?" The man scowled down at him.
"No." Gus said quickly, crossing over the counter once Shawn was safely out from behind it. "I'll pay for it."
"I can't believe you broke a camera, Gus." Shawn clucked, coming alongside his friend as the man went behind the counter again and rang up the purchase on the cash register.
"Yeah, well…" Gus muttered, glaring as he pulled out his wallet bitterly. "I may have broken it…but someone else is going to pay!"
Chapter End Notes:
A quick promise: I know a lot probably doesn't seem to make sense right now, but it should after the next two to three chapters.
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