Disclaimer: I own nothing from the TV show, Psych. Its characters belong to the cast and crew as do the producers of Fear Itself. Any copyright infringement is unintended and may be reported to me.

A/N: You should watch Fear Itself. At least the episode I'm referring to. Over the top, but chilling.

7. Psychopath

"It's not Shawn. It can't be." Henry muttered for the fifth time. "I know my son is alive."

Juliet sat on the floor, her back to the corroding wall. She closed her eyes trying to hold back the burning sensation in her head. Gus needed an oxygen mask and it was lucky that the coroner's team had a machine.

Woody was busy examining the ice container. Lassiter was shouting on his phone. Some of the officers had to stay back trying to calm down Henry who had thrown a fit at the sight of his son. It had taken a while for him to sit down and process it.

She opened her eyes and saw two men, methodically trying to break the ice over Shawn's face. His skin looked paper white as if he had no blood in him. His eyes were shut but she could imagine the hazel irises with the lack of a snarky gleam in them. He was gone.

"I don't care!" Lassiter yelled at the unfortunate person on the other end of the line. "There was another set of tyre tracks next to the Prius. I want to know where the son of a bitch went after he left the car here!"

Juliet felt a shuddering gasp roll through her. It was finally hitting her. She dropped the gun and let the sobs wrack through her body. She started to shake badly when a set of arms wrapped around her, holding her close to him. She laid her head underneath Gus' chin, letting him hold her. She felt her heart break into pieces. She wanted to scream.

There was a sound of glass shattering. Henry must have put his fist through the window again. Juliet wondered what Shawn would've said about that. Something silly and funny. Something that would have definitely made her roll her eyes and look at him with exasperation. She made a fist into Gus' shirt.

"Oh wow!"

Woody's voice echoed around the room. Juliet glared beneath her eyelids. His colleague was dead but the coroner could still see an invisible, non-existing light-side to the situation.

"Hey, guys. I think you can cool your horses. This isn't Shawn."

Juliet's head snapped up. Everyone else stared along with her. There was complete silence in the room; the tension and grief was dissipating into hope.

"What?" Gus question was barely audible.

Woody nodded, smiling like a senile man. "He's not Shawn."

Henry let out a bellow. "I TOLD YOU!"

Juliet pulled herself from Gus and stood on shaky feet. She could barely believe it.

"Are you certain? Strode, if you're messing around, I swe –"

"Chief." Woody held up a petri dish which contained some of the ice from the container. "I checked it out. Most of the ice was formed more than five years ago. This man has been dead for that same amount of time. This isn't Shawn."

Gus let out a series of hacked up coughs. He grabbed for the oxygen mask again.

"It's Carlos." Juliet whispered. She walked forwards to look at the body. The arms were folded on the top. There was a peaceful expression on the face. There was nothing to indicate to the naked eye that it was Carlos Vasquez and not Shawn Spencer, but Juliet sniffed and rubbed her eyes, confident of Woody's job.

"Carlos?" Woody asked. "Nice name. Well, Carlos was stabbed. Multiple times. He definitely wasn't popular."

Henry sat down on the ledge of the window sighing heavily. Lassiter closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Juliet could sense the intense amount of relief in the room. She felt stronger. She sniffed again and reached down to pick up the gun.

"We have to find out who put Carlos here." She said out loud. "Leary, check up on the company that keeps the electric meter and find out who pays for the ice box. Woody, how long will it take to get the body back to the lab for further analysis?"

"Not long. Twenty minutes, tops. I love solving cold cases." He replied as his co-workers continued to defrost the container.

.

Back at the station, Lassiter held a meeting for everyone. He pulled up the projector. Juliet knew the entire basics but kept quiet, her hands itching to get started. The Chief called for attention and the officers fell silent. Pictures came up on the screen. The first was a wedding photo of the Vasquez couple. Several officers started whispering and Juliet felt them staring at her.

"This was the 2008 cold case. Carlos and Samantha Vasquez disappeared from their hotel room in the middle of the night. They were not seen since then until Carlos' body turned up today." Lassiter clicked the remote he held and the photos changed to Carlos in the ice container.

"Besides the fact that they resemble two of our own, no prior contact has been found. The note was the main piece of evidence that actually connects both cases. Spencer's last point of known contact was on the Highway stretch, north of Santa Barbara."

He clicked again and the new photo was that of Juliet's Bug by the side of the highway under the sun. She felt like sweating by just the sight of the picture.

"These are the notes. Observe the similarity and difference. We don't know as to who actually sent the notes to Samantha Vasquez and Detective O'Hara."

On the left side of the screen, the first note was shown and the message Juliet had received was on the right side.

She saw a couple of officers take a photo of the screen. Juliet moved uneasily. The case was far too close to home.

Lassiter changed the slide, "This is the Prius that was used for both hit and run cases of Father Chris and Spencer. The CSU team verified the dent marks in the body of the side. Note that in all three cases, the Prius made sure to hit the victims by the side of the exterior rather than the front."

Juliet looked up frowning. Three cases? When was that? As far as she knew, first was the Father and second was Shawn and her.

Oh... of course. Juliet remembered the fight. Shawn had mentioned how he had nearly been run off the pavement by a Prius. Probably the same. She remembered him accusing her of not caring while the entire department had been concerned for him.

Juliet swallowed, feeling her dry throat act up. She saw everyone engrossed in the screen pictures and decided to get some water. The doctor had advised her to keep herself hydrated. She walked out of the hall and towards her desk.

Someone was already there. Someone who looked a lot like her.

The woman was wearing dark glasses and a scarf that covered her head. She had on a sweatshirt and jeans which contrasted the weak disguise. Juliet almost gasped. The woman was standing beside her desk looking at a wall board filled with wanted posters. She seemed mildly interested in them.

Juliet walked up to her, cautiously. What was Samantha Vasquez doing at a police department? More importantly, how was she alive?

Samantha turned towards Juliet. A smile came upon her look of surprise.

"Oh! Er... Detective Spencer, is it?"

Juliet stopped a few feet from her. Samantha looked completely at ease as though she had never had a disturbing day in her life. She removed the scarf and sunglasses. The resemblance between the two women was striking. Juliet swallowed, feeling her throat dry up even more.

"Actually, it's Detective O'Hara. I kept my maiden name."

"Oh well, that's you. I took on my husband's name. I wanted to. How rude of me! Here, I'm Samantha Vasquez."

She extended her arm for a neutral shake. Juliet, still wary, obliged.

"Mrs. Vasquez, what are you doing here?" She blurted out.

Samantha suddenly looked worried. Juliet unconsciously registered that her spare gun was still in her holster. She didn't know why, but leaving the obvious, something about Samantha Vasquez struck her as very odd and super creepy.

"Oh, it's actually terrible. You see, my husband is missing."

Juliet stared, "Come again?"

"My husband." She said, slightly slower, "He's missing. I know I can't really file a Missing Persons report until after 48 hours, but I was beginning to feel so worried."

Juliet was stupefied. She tried to connect the dots slowly. Samantha was married to Carlos. Carlos was, thus, her husband. Her husband has been dead for nearly seven years (as confirmed by the autopsy.)

So why was she coming up now to report him?

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Vasquez. But I don't understand. You mean to say he was missing for less than 48 hours?"

"Yes." She nodded her head vigorously.

Juliet confusion didn't find an outlet. Nothing made sense. Something was clearly off the tangent. She cleared her throat and went for a sympathetic smile.

"Well, I think we can do something about that. Why don't you take a seat? You can fill me up on him right now."

Samantha gave a smile of gratitude and grabbed the chair of the nearest officer's desk. Juliet sat at her desk, from where she could see inside Lassiter's office. Unfortunately, everyone had their backs to her, still engrossed in the slide show.

"Won't you take notes?" Samantha asked placing her elbows on Juliet's desk. The detective smiled and grabbed one of the unopened water bottles from her table. "I'm actually off-duty at the moment. Quite free. Yes, you can just talk."

"Alright. Well, the last time I saw my husband was yesterday. He seemed fine, nothing out of the ordinary. But today, when I went to his place, he wasn't there. I saw that the window was broken and the electricity had been cut off. I almost panicked, but I calmed myself and came down here. See, he's never really left the place for years, so I got worried when he suddenly wasn't there."

Juliet nodded tightly. She leaned forwards as though she was completely interested and not afraid of the strange doppelganger. "His place? Do you live apart?"

Samantha shrugged half-heartedly, "Yes. It can't be helped. I have a small place in one of the apartments in the east. There wasn't any place for Carlos, so we decided to live separately. There's nothing really wrong with that. We never had a reason to complain. Of course, there were times when I felt horribly lonely."

"Uhuh." Juliet said, sneaking a quick peek at the office. Nobody was looking in her direction. The rest of the station was practically cleared. Juliet was literally alone with a suspect for their case.

But for some reason, she couldn't find it in herself to pull a gun on Samantha. There was something about her that appealed to Juliet's sisterly instincts. It was clear that the woman needed help. The kind of help required was debatable.

"That's practical. When did you realise he was missing?"

"I went to meet him just an hour back. Like I said, it seemed like the place had been broken into. He was gone. I just hope no one hurt him. This is the first time in years that I don't know where he is. It's gotten me out of control. Oh God, my hands are still shaking."

She lifted her fingers, definitely shaking. Juliet stared. Samantha was very authentic.

And yet, she couldn't bring herself to take her into custody. Her obvious stress of not knowing where her husband was, hit a nerve in Juliet. She could relate to that wholeheartedly.

"Okay. We'll take this into consideration and check up on your husband. What's his address?"

"Austen Imports Industries. It's a warehouse just off the Ring Road of Santa Barbara. You can't miss it."

Juliet went slack-jawed. One of the scrambled dots in her mind connected to another free floating one. One piece of the jigsaw puzzle fell into place.

"Mrs. Vasquez... do you know that your husband... is dead?"

Samantha's shoulders slumped. "Yes. It's terrible. He's been dead for six years, ten months and twelve days. I keep count. I miss him."

Another beat of silence. "And you said, when you went to visit your dead husband today...?"

"He wasn't there. Someone had taken his body, that's for sure. I don't know why they'd do that. He's not a very social person. People practically don't know that he exists."

Detective O'Hara had had the displeasure of meeting some very unbalanced people in her line of work. She'd been threatened more times than she liked to remember by such characters. Samantha Vasquez created a completely new category. She was so polite and afraid that Juliet wanted to help her. Yet, it was clear that she was completely cooked in the head.

"Mrs. Vasquez. I need to know the truth." Juliet took in a deep breath. "Did you kill your husband?"

Samantha looked at her. She seemed sad. "Yes. I didn't mean to, though. I lost control and Carlos was just in the way. I regret it every second since. I love him. Detective, you must know how it feels to love somebody with your whole heart."

She gestured at the ring on Juliet's finger. The ring that had not been there, two days ago. Samantha placed her chin on her palm and looked at nothing in particular. She had a far off expression.

"Carlos and I were perfect together. It was everyone around us who had a problem. My brother included. Stephen's always been over protective. When he realised that Carlos was dead, he took care of it. He was a trainee nurse, so he knew how to clean up. He hid the body in an ice box and helped me escape. I had to cut ties with everyone. I kept moving from place to place for a couple of years, but I finally had enough. I shifted to Santa Barbara a few years ago. I brought Carlos along with me. The landlord of my building didn't want a huge container in his basement and I couldn't fit it in my room. So I arranged a room in the abandoned warehouse. No one ever goes in there. Not even runaways."

Juliet listened silently. Samantha was still reminiscing. One of the officers had caught sight of the Detective, sitting motionless in her desk across a suspect in an active case. Juliet raised her eyebrows and nodded subtly. The officers of the station went into action.

Samantha didn't seem to understand why she was being arrested. She smiled politely to everyone and let Juliet escort her to one of the holding cells. She gave no trouble.

"Oh, this is nice. A little small, but I've seen worse. May I have some water, please?" Samantha asked looking through the bars at Juliet and Lassiter.

Henry, standing out of sight, shook his head and muttered, "Off the edge. She knows she's a murderer and yet, she comes right into a police station to report a missing person."

"That's because she still loves him." Juliet muttered, handing her one of her water bottles.

Samantha smiled again and sat down on the lone cot, looking up brightly at her new temporary quarters.

.

Lassiter's fist hit the table. Gus sighed, "Lassie, she was trying to hide away from her brother. She probably has no idea where Stephen could be."

"She has to know something!"

"Have you talked to her about the note?" Henry asked Juliet. She shook her head.

"O'Hara, you find out if it was Stephen who sent the notes. Gus, I want you to check up on where active purchases of LSD sites are. Get Dobson to help you. Henry and I will go to Psycho-Samantha's place in the lower east section. There has to be some lead that we've missed."

Juliet rubbed the back of her neck as she left the office and headed to the holding cells. She hoped Samantha was still in her good mood. They had called in a psychiatrist from upstate but none would be available for at least a few days. Henry had been reluctant to get Madeleine to do it. But since, she was already in town, Lassiter had personally asked her to talk to Samantha.

It was gut wrenching to think about Shawn. It was close to two days that he was missing. It felt like a week had passed.

Juliet reached the cell and saw Shawn's mother, in her professional alter ego, conversing softly with Samantha. There was no heated discussion or even raised voices. Madeleine looked up and spotted Juliet beside the door. She turned towards Samantha.

"One second, dear. I'll be back in a while."

Mrs. Vasquez saw the detective and gave a small wave. Juliet responded with a strained smile.

Madeleine guided her outside Samantha's hearing range.

"What's the prognosis?"

The older woman sighed, looking as though her energy had been drained away. The detective knew how that felt like.

"It's a messed up story. At first, I thought she could have schizophrenia. But the more she talked, the more her brother came into play. I think it's him who's behind all the scenes, pulling all the puppet strings. Samantha explained how most of what she did in her teenage years was guided by Stephen. After she met Carlos, the siblings started to drift away. She was becoming more stable."

Juliet frowned. "Has she talked about the note?"

"Yes. She said her brother had sent it the first time around. It was actually meant for Carlos, but ended up with Samantha. The mix up was caused by the Priest who was hard of hearing."

Madeleine massaged her temples, looking down. "That note had made her think that Carlos was like Stephen with the same homicidal tendencies. It wasn't after the wedding when she realised that the note was actually for him. I don't think she ever wanted to show it to him."

"She loved him." Juliet replied. "I think she was planning on severing ties with Stephen."

"He wouldn't have wanted that."

The stayed quiet for a few minutes listening to Samantha hum an unfamiliar tune. Juliet thanked the psychologist and walked towards the cell alone.

The prisoner looked up. "Hello, again. It's quiet in here."

She sat down nodding, "Sorry about that."

"Did you find Carlos?"

Juliet tried to hide her wince. She'd almost forgotten about that. "The case is getting a bit twisted around. Samantha, I have a few questions for you."

"Of course. Anything."

"Well, what can you tell me about the note you received before your wedding?"

Samantha sighed and leaned her head against the bars. Like everyone else, she seemed drained too. "I'm sure Stephen sent it. It was supposed to be for Carlos. But Father Chris must not have heard him right and passed it along to me."

The cop stared. "Father Chris presided your wedding?"

"Oh yes. It was beautiful. He has the perfect voice to read out the scriptures. But he's hard of hearing and doesn't like to wear the hearing aids. I know he lives here in Santa Barbara now. But I've never gone to church during the time. It scares me to be alone."

Juliet almost reeled back. Her head pounded. How many more similarities could there be? The same priest who had married Samantha and Carlos had been due to do the same with Juliet and Shawn. She held a hand to stifle her groan.

Samantha hadn't noticed Juliet's expression. She was staring into space.

"Sa... Samantha? I too received a note before my wedding. Do you think Stephen could have anything to do with that?"

She looked up at the cop. "No. I sent you the note."

Juliet double backed. "What?!"

"I sent it. I saw Stephen in Santa Barbara last week. I read in the newspapers that a private-eye and a cop were getting married. There was a picture posted. You and Shawn look a lot like me and Carlos and it was quite wonderful to see that. But I had a bad feeling. When I read that Father Chris was involved in an accident, I tried to learn what Stephen was up to. All I found out was that he had rented a black car. But I guessed how he would think to try and upset the wedding."

Samantha shook her head and let out a giggle. "I don't think he understood that it wasn't Carlos and I. He still misses me, I guess. When I found out his disguise, I sent you and your fiancé the note to try and warn you."

Juliet stared at her hands, not really seeing them. Samantha hadn't hurt anybody else after killing Carlos. It was all Stephen. Her brother must have been very attached to her to simply let her go.

"The note was meant for Shawn and me?"

Samantha nodded. She began whistling.

Juliet started to think back furiously. What had the note said?

The person marrying you
is a serial killer.

Marrying you.

Who had married her and Shawn?

Not Father Chris. It had been the new priest.