"Are you serious?"

"Yes," Shawn heard McCoy answer over the phone. "I can't have you or myself incriminate ourselves for this, but we need access to their systems. It would be too suspicious if I went in there, but they know you. They won't think anything of it." He paused. "Also, the chief knowing will make it easier if your little secret gets out."

Shawn sighed and stared at the police department in front of him, dreading what was about to happen. His badge was shoved in his back pocket, weighing him down and burning like fire. He wanted nothing more than to get that thing off of him.

"Fine," he said finally. "I'll call you when I got her to help."

Turning back to his bike, he knelt down and opened the bag on the side. Just like McCoy had predicted, he would probably need to prove what he was saying and he'd rather not have to run out and get the stuff with everyone staring at him. Checking that no one was around, he saw Juliet's car drive up and cursed his luck.

He quickly took out the gun and secured it in his jeans, making sure the safety was on. Letting the hem of his shirt fall over it to hide it from view, Shawn took out the last thing in the bag - a folder, with nothing written on it. He hated that thing.

"Shawn!" He heard footsteps halting behind him and turned around to Juliet, grinning brightly. She was wearing a dark grey suit and her hair was up in a ponytail. She smiled at him. "Where's Gus?"

"Jules, hey!" He was going to hug her before he remembered the gun on his belt and ended up awkwardly patting her on the bag to avoid touching her. "Gus is on his tour, probably down at a birthing centre trying to hook up with single moms or something."

Juliet laughed. "What are you here for?"

"Going to talk to the chief," he answered and started to move to the entrance. His eyes flicked down to the folder for a second before he looked at her again. "You know how she loves me. I bet a little bit small talk won't hurt."

"Well, just so you know," Juliet leaned closer conspiratorially. "She's not in a good mood, a lot of stress. You know how she can get sometimes." Her voice dropped to a whisper at that.

Shawn did remember. "Consider it noted. Thanks, Jules," he flashed a smile at her as they walked up the stairs and entered the building. It seemed relatively empty. On the other hand, it was pretty early still - curse Rob and his alarm clock.

They encountered Lassiter on the way to the bullpen, coming back from getting his morning coffee, but Shawn didn't stop any longer than to say a quick "Morning, Lassie!" before he entered the chief's office without knocking. He really needed to get the gun off his belt - walking into a police station with a gun while no one was aware you could even handle a gun was not fun. Screw the weird looks he got from Juliet and Lassiter when he turned around and closed the blindfolds of the office. They really shouldn't see him talk to the chief.

"Mr Spencer," Chief Vick said perplexed from behind him. "Care to fill me in in what you are doing?"

"I'm sorry, Chief," he said. "But I believe this is of absolute secrecy so I'm obscuring our conversation from view." He snapped the last blindfolds shut, the frowning faces of the detectives disappearing behind the wood, and turned around to the Chief. "We - no, I might have a problem and I seriously hope you will not arrest me for this."

The chief leaned back in her chair and watched him, frowning. "We'll see, Mr Spencer," she told him.

It was as good as he was going to get.

Shawn crossed the room to the desk and considered sitting down. He decided against it, since he was so nervous he wouldn't be able to stay still for a second. "I might have lied to you," he started and paused at the confused look on the chief's face. "About the whole... psychic charade." He raised his fingers to his head like he did when having his 'visions'.

Chief Vick didn't show any signs of surprise other than raising her eyebrows.

Shawn took a deep breath and continued. "I'm not really psychic and I'm sorry I lied to you, Chief. It is your decision what you will do about it, but I hope -" He paused again. "I hope you will believe me enough to keep this under the covers for a little longer and help me out with another problem."

"Continue," the Chief said, her voice normal as ever. "I can't make a decision with only half of the information. Why did you suddenly come to me and decide to tell me?"

Shawn shook his head, trying to lose his nervousness. He didn't know what he expected as her reaction... but it wasn't this. "I - I'm not exactly a civilian either, Chief," he ground out, fishing the badge out of his pocket. "I'd rather be, but I'm not." He threw it carelessly on the table and watched the Chief pick it up carefully.

Her eyes flicked to his, eyebrows raised. Other than after his first confession, she seemed genuinely surprised to see this. "Los Angeles Police Department, Detective?" She frowned at him. "Mr Spencer, why are there no records of you ever being a police officer if you are telling the truth?"

"I asked them to delete it," he answered exhausted. "I wanted to quit but the Captain wouldn't let me, so I... kind of took a very long leave. Until they let me quit." He looked at his fingernails, feeling ashamed. "Didn't yet, though. I have other proof if you need it."

The chief didn't answer, turning the badge over and over in her hands. Shawn took that as a yes and lifted the hem of his shirt to take out the gun. "That's for duty," he told her and then gave her the folder in his hands. "I also asked some friends to print out my file. It's the only one still complete."

Chief Vick looked at him before opening the folder and staring at the front page. "The FBI?" She asked, incredulously.

"It's cleared for you," Shawn rushed to say, worried she wouldn't believe him. Chief Vick shook her head and continued to read the file for a few more minutes. His eyes wandered over her table - over the open files on it, to be exact. Great. He was screwed.

The chief set the folder on the counter, closed, and looked at him seriously. "I believe you, Mr Spencer," she said finally. "Frankly, over the last four years you have proven yourself as a valuable asset more than once. About your frauding crime - you can thank your father for it, but I was not once convinced by your lie." She folded her arms and leaned back in her chair, her eyes trained on the badge once again. "He told me the truth, which probably cleared most of your charges. You still have no valid license, but one could argue you never frauded us since I knew."

Shawn's mouth dropped open at that before a relieved grin appeared on his face. "Thank you, chief."

"However, this," Chief Vick continued and pointed at his things scattered on the table, "is another story. I'm honestly surprised you went to the academy, but it's not my business to know. What I want to know is, why you told me this now and why you expect me to keep it a secret."

Shawn took a deep steadying breath. "It's more of a favour than a safety measure, if you kept it a secret, Chief," he said and ran a hand through his hair. "It's pretty complicated. Yesterday, Robert McCoy showed up at the front door of the Psych office. He's the Captain of the LAPD I told you about," he clarified at her questioning look. "We have reason to believe a citizen of Santa Barbara is in danger of becoming a murder victim soon and we need to find him."

The chief frowned. "You have access to the police database and, apparently, the FBI database too. Why would you need my help with that?"

"He started a new life after leaving the gang that's bothering Jules and Lassie with their drugs the last few weeks already," Shawn explained. "That's not the problem though. Rob is intent on keeping the FBI out of it - he's sure they have eyes and ears in there. He's a little paranoid, but this time I actually believe him." He paused. "Problem is, that person is very good at fleeing and disappearing from anything for that matter. Because... he was an undercover LAPD detective too, at one point. My partner Sam, to be exact."

"So you believe with those 'eyes and ears' in the FBI, that gang will find him. You don't want them to know you're searching for your partner -"

"Ex-partner," Shawn interrupted.

Chief Vick gave him a look. "Ex-partner," she corrected. "However, you want to keep your profession quiet, which is not possible since this is not under LAPD jurisdiction. That's why you came to me - you need our database?"

Shawn kept quiet for a moment, then looked her in the eyes. "Yes."

Chief Vick tapped finger to her chin, deep in thought. Her gaze wandered back to the badge, gun and folder lying on her desk, then she thought back to the last four years. She looked back at her consultant.

"Okay." She leaned forward on her desk. "Use Lassiter's computer, I will send them out soon and his is better hidden from view. Here," she tossed him her keys. "For the archive. Do what you can to stay undetected. When you are done, come back and tell me what you found so I can keep the officers out of your area. And, by the way," she raised an eyebrow at the baffled look on his face, "I would like to meet Mr McCoy at some point."

Shawn grinned. "Deal. Thank you, Chief."