Lassiter's truce was short lived. The detective barely gave Shawn and Gus time to get in their own car before tearing out of the station parking lot at speeds only legal for officers in pursuit. He seemed determined to lose them as they followed him to Newton's house, cutting quickly down side streets and even circling back at one point.

As a result, they arrived at Newton's place a few minutes after Lassiter and Juliet. The detectives were already out of the car and halfway up the path to the house. Lassiter turned as Shawn and Gus headed towards them.

"About time Spencer. Did you get lost?" Lassiter asked with a smirk. Juliet smacked him in the arm and frowned at him. She obviously didn't approve of Lassiter's attempts to lose them.

"The spirits seemed a little confused as to the exact location of the house," Shawn said. "Luckily, I was able to straighten them out." And luckily he had seen the sheet of paper with Newton's address on it at the station, or they never would have found the place.

"Well, now that you and your 'spirits' are here, you get a chance to watch a real detective at work," Lassiter boasted.

"Great. While Juliet is working, what will you be doing?" Shawn grinned as Lassiter's ears turned red and the detective's hands clenched into fists.

"Guys! Focus!" Juliet snapped, looking crossly at both Shawn and Lassiter. "We're here to find a possible murderer."

"Just stay out of my way," Lassiter said, glaring at Shawn. He turned and headed towards the house. Juliet shook her head as she hurried to catch up with him. Shawn and Gus followed along at a more leisurely pace, giving Shawn time to examine the exterior.

It was a blue, two-story building with a porch in front. It seemed in good repair but Shawn noticed the paint starting to peel. The yard was small but well kept. No weeds, and the grass looked like it had been cut recently. A path of paving stones led from the street to the porch. As he climbed the steps, he noticed faint muddy footprints leading up to the front door. There was a small, muddy spot near the door, as if something had been left sitting there rather than bringing it inside.

"SBPD! Open up!" Lassiter called, knocking on the door. It moved inward slightly when he touched it. Motioning Juliet back, he pulled out his sidearm. Juliet did the same. "You two stay out here," he said to Shawn and Gus. When Juliet was in position next to the door, he pushed the door open. Gun outstretched, he checked all visible areas before cautiously entering. Juliet pointed at Shawn and pointed to the porch, clearly reiterating that he stay put, before following Lassiter inside the house.

Shawn waited three seconds before trying to follow Juliet inside. Gus grabbed his arm to stop him. "Dude, we were told to stay here," he whispered as he pulled Shawn away from the door.

"When have I ever listened to what someone tells me to do?" Shawn asked quietly. He slipped out of Gus's grip and headed for the door again.

Gus jumped in front of him. "You promised Juliet you would stop putting yourself in dangerous situations."

"There are two cops in there with guns. I'll be fine."

Gus crossed his arms. "How many times have you been threatened in just that situation?"

"Dude, come on," Shawn whined. Gus gave him a 'this is for your own good' look and continued to stand in his way. Glancing around, Shawn suddenly pointed down the street. "Look, a Labradoodle!" When Gus turned to look, Shawn attempted to get past him.

Shawn guessed he had used the Labradoodle ploy one too many times. Gus turned back quicker than expected and managed to grab Shawn before he could get through the door. Shawn went boneless, but all that accomplished was Gus dropping him in a painful heap on the porch. His friend looked down at him groaning on the floor. "I'm not letting you through."

Shawn slowly and stiffly got to his feet. "Fine, we'll wait." He limped over to the porch railing and leaned against it, glaring at Gus. His 'best friend' stayed in front of the door, watching Shawn warily in case he tried to get past him again.

After several extremely tense minutes, Juliet appeared in the doorway. "It's clear. You guys can come in."

Shawn started towards the door only to have Gus jump in front of him again. "Dude, we're allowed in now," he snapped in annoyance.

"I know," Gus said calmly. "But remember the rules. I do not enter a place first or last." He turned to Juliet. "After you."

Shooting Shawn a confused look, Juliet led Gus into the house. Shawn brought up the rear, wondering why he let Gus make those stupid rules in the first place.

Once they were all inside the house, Juliet turned to them. "You can look, but don't touch anything." She stared particularly hard at Shawn when she said this.

"Come on," Shawn complained. "When have I ever tampered with a crime scene? Intentionally?" he added quickly as she opened her mouth to reply.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he behaves," Gus said.

"Oh, you will, will you?" Shawn asked, crossing his arms as he rounded on Gus. "Who died and made you king of the crime scene?"

"One of us has to be the responsible one and that is clearly not you," Gus said.

Fed up with Gus' condescending attitude, Shawn frowned and said, "I can't do this with you right now," before he gave his friend a shove.

Gus looked shocked for a moment, then his look changed to one clearly saying 'it's on,' as he shoved Shawn back. Shawn returned the shove with enough force to knock Gus back a step. The two went back and forth a few times until Gus gave a particularly hard shove that knocked Shawn back into the wall. He hit with enough force it caused a nearby picture to fall to the floor.

"Shawn, what did we just talk about?" Juliet asked in exasperation.

"He started it," Shawn muttered, rubbing the sore spot at the back of his head from hitting the wall.

"I did not, you started," Gus argued.

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not times infinity!"

"Did not times infinity plus one!"

"Boys! Seriously?" Juliet crossed her arms and glared at both of them. "You are two grown men. Act like it."

"O'Hara!" Lassiter yelled from upstairs. "Get up here!"

"Coming!" she called back. She looked at the two of them and sighed, shaking her head. Shawn looked away, hating the disappointed look on her face. "Just try to behave yourselves," she said before heading up the stairs.

Shawn waited until she was out of sight before glaring at Gus. "Great, now I'm in trouble with Jules. Thanks a lot, man."

"Don't blame me, Shawn," Gus snapped back. "You started the whole thing. You could have stopped at any time. It's not my fault you are incapable of acting like an adult."

He thought it was unfair for Gus to say that, considering Gus had been acting just as childish as he was, but unfortunately his friend had a point. He knew Juliet wished he would act more mature and so far he had been failing miserably. He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked sheepishly at Gus. "You're right. Sorry dude." He held out his fist.

Gus bumped it with his own. "Apology accepted."

With the air clear between the two of them, Shawn took a good look at his surroundings. The hallway they were standing in ran all the way to the back of the house. Stairs in front of him led up to the second floor. A doorway to his left opened into a living room with worn but well-cared for furniture and a large flat screen television. To his right another doorway led to a dining room. The furniture was in better condition but judging from the faint traces of dust he concluded that was because this room was rarely used.

Shawn's first overall impression was this place was much cleaner than he would expect for a bachelor living on his own. Shoes were lined up neatly by the door instead of laying wherever they had been kicked off. A gap in the line showed one pair was missing. The mail was sorted into three piles instead of carelessly thrown on the small table in the hallway. The shortest pile contained a single letter with a return address from out of state from a James Newton. Keys were hung on labeled pegs above the table. The pegs under 'house' and 'car' were empty.

From what he could see of the other rooms, they were just as organized. The only thing out of place was the picture that had fallen off the wall.

"This guy sure was a neat freak." Gus entered the room on the left and looked around. "It almost looks like a showroom. You'd think the house was empty if it wasn't for all the books and DVDs on the shelves."

"Anything good?" Shawn asked as he crouched down to pick up the picture on the floor. It showed two similar looking boys, one he recognized as Newton, standing in front of a cabin in the woods. There was a lake in the background that looked vaguely familiar.

He started to stand up when he noticed several red splotches on the otherwise immaculate wood floor. Glancing around, he saw more splotches in a path coming from the front door and continuing past him down the hallway to a door on the far right.

"Nothing we haven't already seen," Gus said, coming back into the hallway. He looked down at Shawn. "Did you find something?"

He handed Gus the picture. "Newton and what is probably his brother at a cabin in the woods. Might be a family place. It's a good place to start looking for him; it's probably pretty isolated." He pointed to the splotches on the floor. "There's also what appears to be a trail of blood going down the hallway."

"Blood?" Gus asked, putting the picture down on the table. "Are you sure?"

"Let's find out." Shawn followed the blood trail to its end and opened the door. He found himself in a small bathroom and immediately started snooping around for clues.

Gus watched from the doorway. "What are you looking for?"

"This." Shawn picked up a trash can and held it out to Gus. Inside was a lab coat, slightly damp, with blood on the left sleeve. "What would you bet this is Cooper's blood?"

Gus waved the can away, looking slightly green. "OK, so we have established Newton is the killer." Shawn put the trash can back where he found it and joined Gus in the hallway. "The question is why."

"Cooper is obvious," Shawn said as he headed back down the hallway. "Cooper found out that he killed Sanders and had to be silenced. Cooper probably confronted him in the lab and he had to act quick. That's why this murder is messier than the first one." He reached the stairs and started up them.

"Then why kill Sanders?" Gus asked.

"That's what we need to find out." Shawn paused at the top of the stairs. He could hear voices coming from the first room on the left. "Let's see what Lassie and Jules found first."

Lassiter and Juliet were conversely quietly in the corner when they entered. After a quick glance, Shawn already knew several things. One; Newton had a weird obsession with the Incredible Hulk. The bedspread, posters, even action figures, showed the green hero. Two; Gus was becoming way too interested in said superhero memorabilia. And three – "I'm sensing Newton left in a hurry."

Lassiter snorted. "Tell me something I don't know." While the rest of the house was immaculate, this room was not. Drawers were left half-open and clothing was strewn about on the bed. The closet was open and looked like it had been dug through, then had its contents thrown haphazardly back inside. A bare spot in front of a monitor with loose wires showed where a laptop once was. In short, even the most rookie cop could tell someone packed in a hurry. Still. . .

"Polar bears are left handed."

Lassiter looked at him in confusion. "What does that have to do with the case?"

"You asked me to tell you something you don't know," Shawn reminded him. "Did you know polar bears are left handed?"

Lassiter frowned. "No."

"Then there you go." Shawn paused. "Although the killer was also left handed, so I guess it could have something to do with the case."

"Are you suggesting a polar bear killed Sanders?" Lassiter asked skeptically.

"Of course not," Shawn laughed. "That would be ridiculous." He grabbed a notebook off of Newton's desk and threw it to Lassiter.

The detective barely managed to catch it. "Spencer, what the hell are you doing?" he asked angrily. "This is a potential crime scene!"

"Check the handwriting. I'm betting Newton is left handed, just like our killer." Shawn gave Lassiter a smug look. "Or you could check the downstairs bathroom. I'm sensing there is a lab coat that may have the victim's blood on it."

Lassiter passed the notebook to Juliet. "Let's check it out. If he's right, we'll call forensics." He gave Shawn a stern look. "Don't. Touch. Anything," he said forcefully before heading out the door.

"Good work, Shawn," Juliet said. She smiled at him as she headed after Lassiter.

"And like that, I'm back in Jules' good graces," Shawn said, taking a bow. "I am just that good."

"You still need to figure out why Newton killed Sanders," Gus said.

Shawn threw Gus a disgruntled look. "Can't you let me have my moment?" he whined.

"Your moment doesn't pay the bills," Gus answered.

"Fine." Shawn sighed. "Well, Lassiter and Jules probably picked over this room pretty well. Let's go check out the others."

They went back out to the hallway and Shawn opened the door directly across from them. "Nope," he said after a quick peek inside. He went to the next one. "Nope." And the next one. "Nope." He had almost circled back to Newton's room before he found a likely candidate. "Gus, open this door."

Gus came over and tried to turn the handle. "It's locked."

Shawn rolled his eyes. "I know that. Pick the lock."

"I don't know how to pick locks," Gus said.

"I thought you had that subscription to a safe cracking magazine," Shawn said in confusion.

"That's for safes, not locks," Gus said. "Picking locks is illegal. Figuring out safe combinations is not."

Shawn sighed. On to plan B. "Then go watch the stairs for Lassie and Jules." He knelt down in the front of the lock and pulled a small packet from his back pocket.

"Are those lock picks Shawn?" Gus asked nervously. "Do you know how much trouble we'll be in if you're caught with those?"

"That's why I asked you to watch the stairs. Now let me concentrate." Gus walked over to the stairs and worriedly looked down them. Shawn examined the lock. It had been a few years since he had done this, so he was a little out of practice. He selected his picks and got to work.

"Bingo," he said after a couple of minutes. He waved Gus over and entered the room.

It appeared to be a combination library and laboratory. One half of the room contained a desk with bookcases lining the walls. The other half contained a table covered in lab equipment. The shelves along that half of the room were filled with more equipment and chemicals. Gus headed over to the table while Shawn went to check out the desk.

"This looks like a replica of Sanders' experiment," Gus said after a moment. "There's some notes here as well." He picked up a notebook, knocking a beaker on the floor in the process.

Shawn looked up from the desk at the sound of shattering glass. "Dude, Lassie said don't touch anything," he complained.

Gus rolled his eyes at him and bent down to clean up the glass. He glanced under the table and jumped back with a yelp.

"What is it?" Shawn asked. "Did the dust bunnies scare you?"

"There's something under there," Gus hissed, pointing at the table with a shaking hand.

Worried by the scared tone of Gus' voice, Shawn grabbed a metal statue off a shelf and cautiously approached the table. Taking a deep breath, he crouched down and peered underneath.

Two yellow eyes stared back at him from the darkness. "It's just a cat," he said, looking at Gus with scorn. "Man up."

Gus looked at the cat. It hissed at him. "That thing is evil Shawn."

"Nonsense," Shawn said, putting the statue down. "He's just scared. He's been locked up all alone for hours and just wants company." His voice quickly dissolved into that cutesy tone used when talking to animals. He reached under the table towards the cat. "Come here little guy."

Quick as a flash, the cat's paw slashed out. "Son of a bitch!" he yelled, pulling his hand back quickly. Four oozing claw marks covered the back of his hand.

"Told you," Gus said smugly. "You can never trust a cat."

"Well, unless the cat wants to live under that table for the rest of its life, it has to come out," Shawn said. He had always had a soft spot for cats. With Newton on the run, the poor thing needed someone to take care of it. He couldn't bring it home (he had learned the hard way Juliet's cat wasn't the friendliest with strange animals) but he could bring it to a shelter. He reached cautiously toward the cat again.

It waited until he was almost touching it before shooting past him out into the room. In the bright light he could see it was a gray tabby. It ran to Newton's desk and jumped on top, sending papers flying. It scrambled across the desk and launched itself through the open door.

Shawn and Gus just sat there a moment, staring at each other in shock. "At least it's not under the table anymore," Shawn said at last. Ignoring Gus's disgruntled look, he took in the mess the cat had made. "Think Lassiter will believe the cat did it?"

Gus sighed. "I'll clean up the glass. You pick up the papers."

Shawn walked over to the desk and survived the damage. Nearly everything from the desk's surface had ended up on the floor. He couldn't help but feel somewhat impressed. The cat had caused maximum dispersion of the desk's contents in under three seconds.

He heard distant yelling and a loud thud downstairs. It sounded like Lassiter and Juliet had found the cat. Knowing he didn't have a lot of time, he started picking up the papers. He frowned as he noticed that some of the pages looked familiar. He grabbed a handful and quickly started sorting through them on the desk. He soon had several separate piles and knew this was the proof they had been looking for.

"What are you doing?"

Shawn looked up. Gus had finished cleaning up the glass and had come to stand in front of the desk. He handed Gus one of the piles. "Look at this."

Gus glanced at it. "It's a paper on a new plastic polymer."

"Now check the dates of the experiments."

Gus flipped the pages. "May 2006 to April 2008." He looked up at Shawn. "So?"

"When I was doing research on Sanders, I looked at some of his recent research articles." He pointed to the article in Gus's hand. "This paper almost exactly matches one of his articles. Only the dates of the experiments were changed."

"Why would Newton have a research paper of Sanders' with different dates?" Gus asked.

"He wouldn't," Shawn said. "Unless the dates of the published papers were wrong." He pointed to the paper in Gus' hand. "I think this is the original. Sanders was his adviser. I bet Newton gave him the paper to review before he published it."

"So Sanders stole one of his research papers?" Gus gave a low whistle. "That's cold."

"Not just one." Shawn gestured to the piles on the desk. "I'd say at least five, if not more. Probably all the recent papers he published he stole from Newton."

"That would make a guy pretty angry," Gus said, getting excited.

"And that, my friend, is motive," Shawn said with satisfaction. He and Gus bumped fists just as they heard noises in the hallway. "Quick, throw the papers back on the floor." He swept the pages off the desk, scattering them on the floor.

"Why?" Gus asked. Shawn grabbed the papers from his hand and threw them on the pile before pulling Gus to the other side of the room. "Can't you ever just tell them anything?" Gus asked in annoyance, catching on to what Shawn was trying to do.

"What kind of psychic would I be if I did that?" he asked innocently. He quickly put his hand out and closed his eyes, adopting an expression of fierce concentration. Moments later Lassiter and Juliet entered the room.

Lassiter surveyed the wreckage. "Spencer, I told you not to touch anything," he said angrily.

"It was not I who moved these objects," he said in a lofty voice, eyes still closed.

"I swear, if you say it was the spirits," Lassiter growled. Shawn fought the urge to smile as he imagined the shade of red Lassiter was turning.

"It was a cat," Gus said quickly, giving Shawn a nudge.

"You mean that poor gray tabby we saw downstairs?" Juliet asked in a soft voice. From her tone, Shawn could tell she was worried about the cat too.

"You mean that gray menace that tried to kill me," Lassiter corrected.

"It did not try to kill you," she said, an eye roll evident in her tone. "It was scared."

"It was on the attack," Lassiter said fiercely. "It tripped me into that table."

"Can we focus people?" Shawn asked, opening his eyes. "I'm trying to divine something here." He wasn't used to being ignored while having one of his 'visions.'

Lassiter leaned back against the door frame. "Go ahead. Divine away." He looked at his watch. "You have fifteen minutes until forensics shows up. Make it fast."

"So I was right about the lab coat?" he asked. He already knew he was right, but he just loved hearing it.

Lassiter nodded grudgingly. "The coat was where you said it would be, blood and all."

"We also found shards of glass in one of the pockets," Juliet added. "We're hoping it matches the shard found in Cooper's neck."

"So we have the killer," Shawn said. "Now we just need motive." He closed his eyes and pretended to concentrate. He gave a fake wince. "I sense the killer was here, hatching his plan. He replicated one of Sanders experiments, tried to determine how to make it go horribly wrong." Opening his eyes, he went over to the table, pretending to 'sense' the glassware. He stopped over the two beakers he remembered having the wrong chemicals in them. "Right here, he made a switch." On a hunch, he grabbed the notebook Gus had pointed out off the table and threw it to Lassiter. "All that is explained in here. But the question is; why did he do it?" He started licking his hand, and then wiping his face. He got down on all fours and crawled over to Lassiter. "Meow," he said and rubbed against the detective's legs.

Lassiter pushed him away violently. "Knock it off!" He looked over at Gus. "What the hell is he doing?"

Gus shot Shawn a look that said he hoped he knew what he was doing. "He's channeling Newton's cat."

Shawn considered rubbing against Lassiter again but didn't like how close the detective's hand was resting to his gun. Instead, he crawled over to the pile of papers next to the desk and started scratching at them. "Meow," he said, looking pointedly at Lassiter and Juliet.

She hurried over, while Lassiter followed reluctantly. As she started to pick up the papers, Shawn pretended to snap out of his trance. He coughed hard. "Hairball," he explained at Juliet's concerned look.

Shawn saw Gus shake his head as he got up and moved out of the detectives' way. He sat down in Newton's desk chair and waited as they examined the papers.

Juliet spread a handful of pages across Newton's desk. "These look like research papers." She started sorting them into piles like Shawn had done earlier.

Lassiter picked up one of the piles and leafed through it. "This looks familiar."

She looked over his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure that's one of Sanders' research papers. I glanced through a couple when doing the background check. He published half a dozen papers in the last few months alone."

"I'm sensing something about the dates," Shawn said, squinting his eyes and putting his hand to his head. "The dates in these papers don't match the dates in the published papers."

"Why would Sanders change the dates of his experiments?" she asked with a frown. "It shouldn't matter when the experiments took place."

"It does if your rival is watching everything you do," Shawn replied. "A rival that knows all the research you are pursuing. A rival that happened to take a sabbatical seven months ago."

"During which time no one was paying close attention to what work Sanders was doing in his lab," Lassiter said thoughtfully.

Shawn nodded encouragingly. The detective was almost there. "Or if he was doing any research at all," he prompted.

"Sanders was Newton's adviser," Lassiter said, slowly putting it together. "He would have reviewed anything Newton was planning to publish." He looked over at Juliet as comprehension dawned on her face.

"Sanders stole Newton's research – " Juliet started.

" – And passed if off as his own." Lassiter finished.

"That seems like pretty solid motive to me," Shawn said, standing up. "Looks like my work here is done."

Lassiter was busy sorting the pages into separate papers. Juliet nudged him. He looked at her and sighed heavily. He glanced at Shawn and mumbled something.

"I don't think he heard that," she said, nudging Lassiter again.

Lassiter cleared his throat. "Um, good work Spencer," he said gruffly. He never looked up from sorting the papers.

"Thanks Lassiepants," Shawn said. "Always happy to do – help you do your job." He changed his sentence midflow at a look from Juliet. She nodded approvingly at him.

After a moment of awkward silence, he said, "Time to go Gus." He grabbed his friend by the arm and pulled him from the room.

As they headed down the stairs, he noticed Gus grinning smugly at him. "What?"

"She owns you man," Gus said. "You and Lassiter."

"She does not own me," he protested. No one told Shawn Spencer what to do. Well, except maybe in bed but that was entirely different and something he had promised Gus he would never, ever talk about in front of him again.

"So it was your idea to have that very touching moment with Lassiter?" Gus asked, grinning.

"I was just trying to make her happy," he said defensively. He moved aside to let the forensics people past before heading out the front door.

"So her happiness is more important than what you want?" Gus asked, still grinning.

"Yes. No. I don't know." He threw up his arms in frustration. "She does not own me."

"Whatever you say," Gus said, getting into the car.

Shawn joined him. "Just for that, you're paying for pizza," he said, buckling up.

"We can't," Gus said. "I have a date tonight and you have dinner at your dad's."

Shawn groaned. He had forgotten he was supposed to go over to his dad's tonight. Nikki would be there and he still didn't have any answers for her. He pulled out his phone and sighed. Still no calls. "What am I going to tell Nikki?" he asked quietly.

Gus looked at him seriously. "The truth. You're doing everything you can to find her dad. Sometimes it just takes time."

"But what if I don't find him in time? What if she has to go back to foster care?" He heard the panic in his voice and looked away. He didn't know exactly when Nikki had become so important to him, but he could barely stand the thought of letting her down.

"You'll find him," Gus said with confidence. "You've solved harder cases than this one."

Shawn looked at him and saw Gus was being completely serious. He smiled, glad at least one person believed he could do it. "Thanks man."

"No problem," Gus said. He glanced at the clock. "I've got to hurry. Rachel likes me to arrive early for our dates so we have extra time to talk."

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Now who's owned by their woman?" He laughed at the glare Gus gave him. "You're the one that started it, not me."

"Shut up, Shawn," Gus said, putting the car in gear and pulling out onto the street.

Shawn continued to grin, noting silently to himself Gus hadn't argued the point.