Sorry this is late. Between work being extra busy and preparing for Comic Con (which was totally awesome) I haven't had time to finish editing this chapter. I hope it is good enough to make up for the wait.

I switched the beginning scene to Nikki's POV to give you a look at what's going on in her head and help explain her decisions later in the chapter.

Nikki climbed out of the pickup truck, holding the cup of coffee carefully so it wouldn't spill. "Thank you for the ride, Mr. Spencer."

"I told you to call me Henry, and it was no problem." Mr. Spencer nodded at the cup in her hand. "Tell Shawn to enjoy the coffee."

"Um. . . " She hadn't told Mr. Spencer she had bought the coffee for Shawn but the ex-detective must have noticed she hadn't drank from the cup. She didn't know the Spencers well but she had noticed the tension between Shawn and his dad whenever the two of them were together. She hadn't been sure if Mr. Spencer would have given her the money if she said it was for his son.

"If he's not going to sleep, he should be awake enough to get some work done," Mr. Spencer said. "Just try to convince Shawn to get some rest if he seems like he really needs it. I don't want to hear he got into trouble because he was too tired to know better."

"I'll try," Nikki promised.

Mr. Spencer nodded. "And don't tell Shawn we had this talk. I don't need him getting all girly or emotional."

Nikki hid a smile. "Of course." She closed the door of the truck and waved at Mr. Spencer as he pulled away. The two men had a very strange relationship. It was obvious they both cared about each other but neither one would admit it.

She shook her head as she crossed to the Psych office. Guys could be really weird sometimes.

"Hello?" she called out as she opened the door. "Shawn? Are you here?" She shut the door behind her and ventured further into the office. "Shawn?"

She found the psychic slumped over at his desk with his chin in his hand, staring at the far wall. She walked over to him and waved a hand in front of his face. "Hey! Shawn!"

No response. This close she could see his eyes were nearly closed and he was breathing slow and even almost like he was asleep. She wasn't sure if she could wake him (if he really was asleep) but it couldn't be too comfortable sitting like that. He would get a crick in his neck or something.

"Shawn, I got you coffee," she said, thrusting the cup into his face. Maybe the smell would help bring him out of his stupor. "Here."

Shawn took a deep breath and blinked, eyes focusing on the cup in front of him. He glanced up at her then reached out to take the cup. He took a long sip and closed his eyes, sighing happily. "Thanks."

"No problem." She frowned as he cradled the cup of coffee protectively against his chest. He seemed different than the energetic guy she had met a few days ago. She could see the dark circles under his eyes and the tired hunch to his shoulders. She crossed her arms and frowned. He looked more tired than he did last night. She wondered if he got any sleep at all.

Shawn took another sip of coffee and squinted at her. "You know, that's really annoying." The end of his sentence dissolved into a huge yawn.

"Late night?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "And an early morning." He yawned again, rubbing his face. He looked up at Nikki, really looking at her for the first time since she had walked into the office. "How did you get here?"

"Your dad. He said he needed some supplies for a project and could drop me off on the way." She hesitated, not sure how much more she should say. "He also gave me the money for the coffee. Said if you're not going to sleep, at least you should be awake enough to get some work done." That was more than Mr. Spencer probably wanted her to say but Shawn would wonder where she got the money from and she thought he might like to know his dad was looking out for him.

Apparently not. Shawn groaned, resting his head on the coffee cup. "You can tell my dad I'm fine," he said without looking up. "And to quit worrying about me."

This was really unfair. The only family she had was a dad who probably didn't even know she existed. She was forced to rely on strangers to give her a place to stay and food to eat. She was even wearing one of Shawn's old shirts, which Mr. Spencer had let her borrow since she didn't have that many clothes with her. Meanwhile, Shawn had all these people in his life who cared about him and helped him out and all he did was complain about it.

She ducked her head so Shawn wouldn't see how upset she was. "At least you know he cares," she said quietly.

Shawn lifted his head, looking at her guiltily. "Nikki – "

Gus walked into the office carrying two smoothies. He stopped short, frowning as he looked between her and Shawn.

Nikki forced a smile on her face. "Hi Gus."

"Nikki." Gus looked back at Shawn and sighed. "I thought we agreed no coffee."

"Blame her," Shawn said quickly, pointing at Nikki. "She gave it to me."

Snitch. She narrowed her eyes at him. He stuck his tongue out at her.

Gus put down the smoothies on his own desk and walked over to Shawn. "Give me the coffee."

"Nuh uh." Shawn shook his head and clutched it closer to his chest.

Gus grabbed the cup and after a brief struggle (which Nikki was sure would end with Shawn covered in hot coffee) was able to wrench it from his grasp. Gus gave Shawn a disappointed look and shook his head. "You can't blame Nikki. You're an adult. You're responsible for your own decisions." He took the cup over to the sink and dumped it down the drain.

"It was my decision to drink the coffee," Shawn muttered, scowling at Gus.

Nikki sighed and grabbed the bright yellow smoothie off Gus' desk. She guessed this one was Shawn's since she knew his favorite flavor was pineapple and the other was a mottled red. She placed it down in front of the sulking psychic. "Here. Stop whining."

"I wasn't whining," Shawn whined. She gave him a look, which he pointedly ignored as he grabbed his smoothie. He took a sip and sighed happily. "Good old pineapple." He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk with a groan. He sipped his smoothie and closed his eyes, looking worn out.

"Is he always like this when he's tired?" she asked Gus, glancing worriedly at the other man.

"Pretty much," Gus said with a sigh. He tossed the empty coffee cup in the trash and walked over to his desk. He sat down and took a drink of his own smoothie. "The more tired he is, the more infantile he becomes," he said with a smirk.

"I call time out on the name calling," Shawn said without opening his eyes. "At least until I'm awake enough to call them back."

Gus gave her a look that said 'see what I mean?' She decided if Gus wasn't too worried about his friend, she shouldn't be either. So it was time to satisfy her curiosity.

She dragged a chair in front of Shawn's desk. He opened his eyes as she sat down and crossed her arms. He raised an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

"What happened after you left last night?" she asked eagerly. He winced and she lowered her voice. "Did you find out anything at the bus station?"

"Nothing," Shawn said, half-heartedly covering a yawn. "Newton was long gone by the time we got there and none of the night shift workers remembered seeing him."

"What about his car?"

Shawn shook his head. "Clean. Not so much as a candy wrapper. Nothing that would give us a clue where he is going." He sounded frustrated. She guessed she would be too if she had been up all night with nothing to show for it.

"Okay, so last night didn't go so well," Nikki said. "How about this morning?"

Shawn sighed heavily. "Let's see. It started with the Chief calling us in for a seven am interview with Pratt. The bastard insisted he had to come in that early so it wouldn't disrupt the plans he had for later in the day."

Nikki watched Shawn tiredly rub his face. "I'm guessing it didn't go so well either," she said slowly.

Shawn snorted. "If by 'not well' you mean almost ending in a lawsuit. Lassiter took a swing at Pratt and had to be dragged out of the room." He rubbed his side. "He didn't go easily either. His elbows are pointier than they look." He slurped down the rest of his smoothie and sat up to place the empty cup on his desk. "We didn't even get any useful information."

"Lassiter really took a swing at Pratt?" She knew from Shawn's stories that the detective had a temper but she was surprised he had gotten so violent. He hadn't seemed like the type when she had met him at the crime scene.

"Yep," Shawn said with a smirk. "I'm not the only one who suffers when they don't get their beauty sleep."

"Wow." She shook her head, really glad she would never have to meet the guy who kept pissing off Shawn and his friends. It was too bad he wasn't guilty; he sounded like a really horrible guy. "So I guess you guys are at a dead end, uh?"

"Not quite." Shawn fiddled with the smoothie cup. "We got a call from the bus station a couple hours ago. One of the day shift ticket sellers remembered seeing Newton." He tried to balance the cup on its edge and spin it with one finger. "Apparently he bought a ticket to Santa Maria." The cup fell over and rolled off the edge of his desk.

Nikki chased after the cup and threw it in the trash. She sat back down in front of Shawn, thinking hard. "I don't think he's going to Santa Maria."

"Me neither," Shawn agreed. "But the police seemed convinced otherwise. Lassie and Jules are checking it out right now."

"If you don't think they are right, why are you here," Nikki asked. "Why aren't you out trying to track Newton down or convince them they're wrong?"

"That's why," Gus said as Shawn yawned widely. "Juliet called me to come pick him up from the station. He was practically dead on his feet." He looked pointedly at Shawn. "He's been pushing himself too hard. She wanted him to get some rest."

"I'm resting," Shawn protested. "I had my feet up and everything."

"She meant you need to sleep and you know it."

"I don't have time to sleep," Shawn grumbled. "I need to figure out where Newton went." His statement was punctuated by yet another yawn.

Nikki felt kind of bad for being one of the reasons Shawn was working so hard. Maybe she could do something to help him. "Well, does he have any family?"

"Don't encourage him," Gus said sternly.

"If he's not going to sleep, we might as well help him," she said to Gus. She turned back to Shawn. "Any siblings?"

"One brother," Shawn said. "Jules checked him out yesterday before we found Newton's car. He used to work for Mendorra Construction until they shut down. Now he's working freelance on a job site up the coast. The cops already checked his place out just in case."

"Wasn't Mendorra the one working on that building on State Street?" Gus asked.

Shawn nodded. "They never found anyone to continue the project. It's been abandoned ever since." He yawned again, struggling to keep his eyes open.

Gus and Nikki exchanged a look. "Dude, maybe you should go lay down. You look exhausted," Gus said carefully.

"I'm fine," Shawn said irritably. He yawned again, leaning back in his chair and almost falling over.

"Nikki and I can do some digging while you get some rest," Gus suggested. Nikki nodded in agreement.

"I said I'm fine," Shawn snapped. Nikki glanced worriedly at Gus again. Shawn was looking really bad. As she watched he slumped over at his desk and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"Shawn?" she asked softly. He looked up at her, blinking bloodshot eyes. "You really need to sleep. Even if it's just for an hour."

He nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, maybe you're right." He got up slowly, grabbing his phone. Nikki watched him carefully. He was leaning as he stood and she hoped he wouldn't fall over. "Let me know when you find something." He yawned again and stumbled to the back room.

She chewed her bottom lip, glancing at Gus. "Is it my fault he's so tired?"

Gus raised an eyebrow. "Not unless you were actually the one who killed Newton."

Nikki sighed. "But maybe if he wasn't working on my case too he wouldn't be so bad."

"Trust me, Shawn would be just as bad even if you weren't here," Gus said. "He gets like this on cases sometimes. He just would have thrown all his energy into Newton's case instead of splitting his focus."

"Then maybe he would have solved it already, if I wasn't a distraction," Nikki said.

Gus crossed his arms. "You know, I was against Shawn taking your case at first but now I can see why he wanted to help you. You both care too much about other people."

"Thanks?" she said uncertainly.

Gus sighed. "If you really want to help him, then we need to figure out where Newton went."

"I doubt we can come up with anything the police haven't already thought about," Nikki pointed out. "You went to Newton's house. Was there anything there you think might help."

"No, I – " Gus stopped. "There was a picture on the wall that Shawn knocked down that showed Newton and his brother when they were kids at a cabin by a lake."

"Sounds pretty isolated," Nikki said. "It would be a good place to hide out. Could you tell where it was?"

"No." Gus snapped his fingers. "But I might know a way to figure it out." He opened his laptop and sat back down at his desk.

Nikki walked over to peer over his shoulder. "Can I help?"

"Yes. Your eyes are probably better than mine." Gus pulled up a topographical map of the area. "Ready to get started?"

Glad to have something she could do to help, she nodded. "Tell me what to look for."

His ringing cell phone woke Shawn up from an uneasy sleep. He grabbed it and peered bleary eyed at the screen. When he saw who it was, he cursed before answering. "What do you want, Dad?"

"And hello to you too," Henry replied. "You got a minute?"

Shawn sighed loudly. He pulled the phone away from his head to look at it. Judging by the time, he had barely been asleep twenty minutes. He put the phone back to his ear. "Do I have a choice?" he asked sullenly.

"I'm replacing some of the old boards on the back porch. I need an extra set of hands." It sounded more like an order than a request for help.

"I'm in the middle of a case right now," he whined. "Can't you bother someone else?"

"I wasn't talking about you," Henry said. "Nikki's still there, right?"

"Yeah, so?" he asked, brain still fuzzy with sleep.

"So it's time she starts earning her keep," Henry explained. "I'll see you in ten minutes." He hung up before Shawn could reply.

He groaned, pulling the blankets over his head. He considered going back to sleep and forgetting the entire conversation. But his dad would just call back, and keep calling until he got Nikki over there. With a sigh, he threw back the blankets and got up.

When they had first started Psych, Shawn had put an old army cot and some blankets in one of the back rooms. It gave him a place to crash if he was working on a case all night (or when he was between apartments, which had happened a couple of times in the early days). He had cleared off the cot by the simple process of dumping everything on the floor and was asleep almost before he had pulled a blanket over him. Now he climbed around the scattered boxes, vowing to have Gus clean it up later, and headed out to the front room.

Gus was sitting at his desk, doing something on his laptop. Nikki was behind him peering over his shoulder. "What about this one?" Nikki said, pointing at the screen.

Gus shook his head. "None of these houses have the right view of the lake." He looked up as Shawn entered the room. "I thought you were sleeping."

"I was," Shawn said irritably. He held up his phone. "My dad called. He wants help on some project of his."

"Tell him we're busy with a case," Gus said.

"He doesn't want us." Shawn came around to look over Gus's other shoulder. On the screen was a topical map of Santa Barbara and the surrounding areas. "What are you doing?"

"I remembered that picture in Newton's house, the one we knocked over," Gus said, looking at him. Shawn nodded. "Well, there was a cabin in the background. I'm trying to find it."

"It's a dead end," Shawn said. "The family sold it ten years ago. The police sent someone to check it out already. The place looked abandoned."

"Oh." Gus closed his laptop and gave Shawn a disgruntled look. "It would have been nice to know that earlier."

"You didn't ask," Shawn pointed out.

Gus sighed in defeat. "So why did your dad call, if he doesn't want our help?" he asked, returning to the previous topic.

"He wants Nikki's help." Shawn turned to Nikki with a grin. "Something about earning her keep."

Nikki sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice, huh?" she asked.

"Nope," he said cheerfully, glad it wasn't him helping out for once. He rolled his eyes at her disappointed expression. "Relax. It won't be that bad."

"I'd rather stay and help you find Newton," she said, frowning.

Shawn took pity on her. It wasn't easy working with his father, after all. "Alright, here's what you do. Pretend you have no idea what you are doing. Make him show you how to do everything. Wait until he gets really focused on the job, then say you have to use the bathroom. You can sneak off for a good thirty minutes, sometime up to an hour." Her expression brightened as he explained the plan. "But remember, you can only use the bathroom trick once per project, so choose your time wisely."

"Thanks, I'll remember that," she said, brightening considerably.

Gus glared at him. "Is that how I keep getting stuck doing all the work whenever we're helping your dad out?"

He winced. "It's not going to work anymore, is it?"

"Shawn," Gus said sternly.

"Okay, okay," he said placatingly. "I promise: no more sticking Gus with all the work."

Gus looked slightly mollified at the statement. "When does your dad want us over there?" he asked.

He checked his phone. "About now." He looked at his two companions. "We should probably get going."

"OK," Nikki said. She looked slyly at Shawn. "Shotgun!" she called, before racing out the door.

"That's not fair!" he complained, chasing after her. "I'm the psychic. You're the apprentice. My senior status automatically gives me shotgun."

Nikki grinned at him from next to the front door of the Blueberry. "Are you saying you're old?"

Shawn gaped at her. "Gus," he whined, turning to his best friend to back him up. "Tell her she's not playing fair and I'm not old."

Gus looked between the two of them. "If she's really your apprentice, then she needs to learn when to call 'shotgun.' Think of it as a learning exercise."

"See?" Nikki said triumphantly, getting into the front seat of the car.

Shawn glared at both of them. "Fine. But I'm not old." He scrunched himself in the back seat, slamming the door shut.

"Don't slam the door," Gus said, getting into the car himself. "You're acting like a five year old."

"It's better than being old," Shawn muttered. He rested his head against the window, ignoring the other two as Gus headed for his dad's house.

Shawn walked into his father's house, Nikki behind him. "Dad! We're here!"

"You're late," Henry said, entering the kitchen. "I expected you fifteen minutes ago." He was dressed in a ratty pair of shorts and an old t-shirt (thankfully not one of his usually eye-watering designs).

"Gus got stuck in the little boy's room." Shawn sighed and shook his head. "I told him those burritos looked funky."

Henry crossed his arms and looked disapprovingly at him. "You're thirty-six years old, Shawn. You shouldn't be relying on your friend to drive you everywhere."

"Did you want me to drive Nikki over here on my motorcycle?" he asked sarcastically. "Because that seems just a little irresponsible." He normally didn't let his dad get under his skin, at least not this quickly, but he was too tired to play nice and take his father's crap today.

"Irresponsible?" Henry snorted. "That's rich, coming from you. You haven't been responsible a day in your life."

"Hey, I run a business," Shawn said, insulted and feeling his temper start to rise. "I've been responsible loads of times."

Henry snorted. "Like when you got arrested looking for treasure with Jack? Or when you were part of that 'think tank' and ended up responsible for an assassination attempt?"

"First off, you were arrested right along with us and we found the treasure in the end, which cancels out anything bad that happened." Henry looked like he wanted to argue that point but Shawn pressed on before he could. "As for the think tank, I wasn't the only one duped and we caught the bad guy in the end, which is what matters."

"So the ends justify the means, huh?" Henry asked, narrowing his eyes. "What about when you ran off without backup snooping where you didn't belong and got yourself shot? You got the bad guy, so no harm, right?"

Shawn inhaled sharply. What happened still gave him nightmares sometimes and for his father to use it against him was a low blow. Well, two could play at that game. "How about when you got shot? I seem to remember I was the one who got the guy and you didn't seem to care how I went about it then," he snapped angrily. He glared at his father who crossed is arms and glared right back. It was shaping up to be a no holds barred, mano a mano staring contest until movement out of the corner of Shawn's eye distracted him.

Nikki was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, watching the two of them nervously. Shawn had gotten so caught up in his argument he had forgotten she was standing there. He took a deep breath and pushed his anger aside, not wanting to make Nikki anymore uncomfortable than she already was.

"You're right, I'm irresponsible," Shawn said, earning a surprised look from Henry. "So let's just drop it." He glanced at Nikki, than back at Henry. His father followed his gaze, taking in Nikki's discomfort with the situation.

"Fair enough," Henry said. He turned to Nikki. "Sorry about that. My son and I don't get along well at the best of times."

"It's okay," Nikki said quietly.

"Why don't you go upstairs and change?" Henry said gently. "I'll meet you out back to show you what we'll be doing."

"OK," she said, sounding relieved. She glanced at Shawn before quickly crossing the kitchen and heading up the stairs.

Shawn rubbed his temples, feeling his headache coming back. He noticed his father watching him. "I'm fine," he said, hopping to forestall a lecture.

Henry left the room. Before Shawn had time to wonder what he was doing, he came back with a bottle of Advil. "Here," Henry said, throwing it to him.

Shawn fumbled the bottle and nearly dropped it. Henry filled up a glass of water and placed it in front of him. "Thanks," he said gratefully. He opened the bottle and popped out a couple of pills. He tossed them back along with the entire glass of water. Putting the glass down, he leaned on the counter, hoping they worked quickly.

Henry was still watching him closely. "I'm not going to tell you to take it easy or get some rest," he said after a moment. "You're too much like me. You won't rest until the case is done." He leaned against the counter next to Shawn. "But if you wear yourself out, you won't be any good to the police. Or Nikki."

Shawn turned his head to look at his father. He was surprised by the concern he could see on Henry's face. With all the fighting, sometimes he forgot how much his dad cared about him. "I'll keep that in mind." He pushed himself away from the counter. "I got to go. Gus is waiting outside and I have a killer to catch."

"Be careful," Henry said gruffly.

Shawn grinned. "Life's no fun if you're careful." Henry snorted as he opened the door and walked outside.

"Make sure you eat something," Henry called after him.

Shawn shook his head, pulling the door closed behind him. Worried Henry was almost as bad as mad Henry. At least mad Henry he knew how to deal with. He went over to the car and got inside.

"How'd it go?" Gus asked.

"Could have been worse," he said, buckling his seatbelt. He pulled out his phone and groaned when he looked at the blank screen.

"What's wrong?" Gus asked.

"My phone died," Shawn said. "Between all the running around last night and this morning, I must have forgotten to charge it again." He had broken the charger at the office, so he would have to get the one at the house. He hoped he hadn't missed any calls. "Can we swing by my place to pick up the charger?"

"Sure," Gus said. "But only if we can also stop to pick up something to eat. I'm starving."

"Deal." Shawn closed his eyes against the bright sunlight as Gus pulled out of the driveway. He yawned, feeling drowsy. "Wake me when we get there." He settled back comfortably in the seat, dozing off before Gus made it down the street.

The first thing Shawn did when he got back to the office, after tripping over the pile of mail by the door, was plug in his phone. He sat at his desk, tapping his foot as he waited for the phone to boot up. Gus collected the scattered bits of mail and brought it over to his own desk.

The phone beeped at him. One new voicemail showed up on the screen. The number attached was for the PI in Denver. "Damn it." He pressed the button to retrieve the message. Of course the guy would call the one time he didn't have his phone on.

Gus looked up from sorting the mail. "What is it?"

"I missed the call from the PI," he said with a sigh. Gus shook his head in sympathy. Shawn queued up the message. "But he left a voicemail." He put the phone on speaker before hitting play.

"Hello Mr. Spencer," the PI said. He had a slightly raspy voice and Shawn immediately pictured one of those classic noir detectives, complete with trench coat and fedora, sitting in a shadowy office. He almost expected jazz music to start playing in the background. "You called asking for information about Nicole Peterson's father. Interesting case. I have a name for you, but I would rather not leave it in a message. Let's say it's a complicated situation." He chuckled to himself. Shawn and Gus exchanged a look. "I'll be out of the office the rest of the day. I should be back by noon tomorrow. If you want the information, you can call me then." He left his phone number. "Good luck with the child."

"I hope it's not too complicated a situation, for Nikki's sake," Gus said. He went back to sorting the mail.

"Me too," Shawn said, staring at his phone. The entire message had seemed a little weird. Like the detective was hiding something he found amusing in some way. There was also the way he ended the message. 'Good luck with the child.' The phrasing of it struck Shawn as a little odd.

"Hey Shawn," Gus said, interrupting his thoughts. "What hospital was Nikki's mom admitted to?"

"University of Colorado Hospital." He looked up from his phone "Why?"

Gus held up an envelope. "Someone from the hospital sent you this letter." He walked over and handed it to Shawn.

He put down his phone and grabbed the envelope from Gus. It was indeed from U of C Hospital. "Weird. I didn't use my real name when I talked to that nurse." He looked at the return address. He didn't recognize the person listed.

"Well?" Gus said impatiently after Shawn spent a minute examining the outside. "Aren't you going to open it?"

"Patience, Gus." He looked the envelope over one more time before carefully ripping it open. Inside was a folded piece of paper and what looked like a photograph. He was about to remove the contents when his phone started ringing. Glancing at it, he saw 'Papa Bear' on the screen.

"What does he want now?" he grumbled. He picked up the phone with his free hand and answered it. "Whatever it is, the answer is no."

"Where have you been?" Henry asked anxiously. "I've been trying to call you for the last half hour."

"My phone died. We stopped to pick up my charger and get some food." He looked up at Gus worriedly. His dad wasn't one to overreact. "Why, did something happen?"

"Nikki's gone."

He dropped the envelope on the desk. "What do you mean, she's gone?" he asked, almost shouting into the phone. He put the phone on speaker as Gus came over to stand next to him.

"She went inside to get a drink," Henry said, voice distorted over the phone. "When I noticed how long she had been gone, I went in to look for her. I figured she was trying to ditch work, like you always did." Shawn let the dig slide, too worried about Nikki. "I found a note on her bed next to a map of Santa Barbara and a couple of old newspapers."

"What did the note say?" he asked urgently.

Henry cleared his throat. "'Police wrong. Newton's still in town. Be back later.'" There was the sound of paper rustling. "On the back is a note to you. 'Shawn, I think it has to do with Newton's brother.' Do you have any idea what this means?"

"I'm not sure," Shawn said slowly. It sounded like Nikki had figured out where Newton was hiding and had gone to check it out. He'd be impressed if he wasn't so worried. Newton had proved he was willing to kill to avoid getting caught. "Don't worry, I'll find her."

"You'd better," his dad said. "You got her involved in this case. It's on your head if anything happens to her." He hung up before Shawn could reply.

Shawn threw his phone on his desk. "Why didn't she just say something?" he asked Gus. "Why did she have to run off after him?" He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Why don't you ask yourself the same question?" Gus said. "You do it all the time."

"That's different," he snapped. He started pacing in front of his desk. "The police think I'm psychic. So I have to know things I shouldn't to keep them believing that." He glared at Gus. "I don't just run off into a dangerous situation completely unprepared without telling anyone!"

"Really?" Gus asked sarcastically. Shawn gave him a murderous glare, causing Gus to put up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, not helping."

Shawn continued to pace, trying to get his tired mind to focus. If this was how everyone felt whenever he ran off after a lead into potential danger, no wonder they were always so mad at him. This really sucked. "I just don't understand what she was thinking," he muttered.

Gus pulled him to a stop, forcing Shawn to look at him. "I do. She feels guilty."

Shawn blinked. "What?"

"She can see how hard you've been pushing yourself working both her case and Newton's. She's trying to help you."

Shawn huffed. "She could have just told me where she thinks Newton is."

"Maybe she didn't want you winding up with another dead end because of her." Gus gave Shawn a look. "You certainly complained enough when that happened last night."

Shawn sighed. He had to run across the one teenager who wasn't self-centered and actually cared about other people. "I guess I can understand that. It doesn't help us figure out where she went though."

"What about the clue?" Gus looked at expectantly at Shawn. "What do we know about the brother?"

"James Newton, 32. Lives over in Summerland." Shawn said, reciting the info he knew about the brother. "Worked for Mendorra construction. Now works freelance." He stopped as something clicked in his mind. "Didn't you say Mendorra abandoned a project on State Street?"

"Yes, the half-finished building," Gus said. He went to his desk and pulled out a map of Santa Barbara. Shawn came over as he unfolded the map. "Here."

Shawn studied the map closely. "That's not too far from the bus station where we found Newton's car." He looked up at Gus. "Certainly within walking distance." It was a long shot, but it was the best lead they had.

"You think that's where he's hiding?" Gus asked uncertainly.

"I'm pretty sure Nikki does," Shawn said, getting excited. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. "Newton's smart. We assumed he would run, so the safest thing for him to do is stay in town." He pointed to the map. "That building is empty and we would never think to connect it with him. It's perfect."

"Then let's go," Gus said.

Shawn paused just long enough to grab his phone off his desk before running out the door.