A/N: I like this chapter, no idea why. What about you? Love it? Hate it? There's the review button! Let me know!

~Matilda

Platforms

Clyedale Avenue was a sketchy neighborhood, and though Shawn seemed to be perfectly fine poking his nose around, Gus was becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

"Shawn I hate this." Gus wasn't the type to hide his feelings; Shawn regarded his friend with a small apologetic shrug and continued on his way.

"We're close." Shawn promised. "We only need to check out one building."

"I know." Gus argued. "But the police have already searched the place from top to bottom – what makes you think you can find something they can't?"

Shawn gave a loud "Uh – excuse me? Who have you been friends with the in the last forever and ah half? Seriously Gus, I got this."

Gus glowered; Shawn had been like this all morning – edgy if not a bit over bearing. He had to wonder what the hell happened last night to make Shawn so….so….well so much like his father. Gus watched every determined stride Shawn made for the warehouses and sighed. It was going to be like this for a while wasn't it? Ugh. He hoped not.

"Okay Shawn, you're right I'm sorry. Let's just do this." To keep from a potential argument Gus surrendered.

"Thank you." Shawn smiled, though the smile didn't completely reach his eyes. "Alright, this is the one." Shawn pointed out the building he saw in the photos from the night before – it just had to be the most run down edifice in the area now didn't it?

"Not a bad place to kill someone." Gus mused. "No one in their right mind would come walking through here."

"Exactly." Said Shawn, at this point they were at the entrance that was still blocked off by police tape. Normally Shawn would just step over the yellow tape – but today he was holding a grudge and without a second thought tore the tape down and started wrinkling it into a ball.

"The hell are you doing? !" Gus demanded. "Shawn, have you completely lost your mind?"

"In most respects of the term." Shawn answered, and he slipped inside. Gus took a cautious look around before heading inside too. "This place…" Shawn continued. "This place is a lot bigger than I thought." Shawn moved first straight to the middle of the ware house and did a full 360 taking in every detail he could. He saw the rafters way up high supporting a few ledges, and he saw every cracked window, one of them sporting an empty bird's nests.

"The victim was found here," Shawn pointed out to where the white outline was still stuck to the ground. "-and the entrance is back over there." Shawn pointed to the door. "No tread marks, no trail of dried blood – from what I heard there was a good amount of blood too."

"This isn't the crime scene." Gus ended there. "We're in the wrong place."

"That's the fair assumption." Shawn said. "Or it would've been had the ledges above our heads not existed."

Gus looked up, then around, then around again. "There's no way up Shawn."

Shawn nodded, and again started to look around. Gus was right; there were no stairs, no ladders, not even crates to climb on. Shawn did however spot out a rather big hole in the wall. "Over here." Shawn made his way for the hole, Gus following behind him. "There's a way up." Shawn's eyes travelled from the bottom of the hole to the top, the top reaching one of the lower ledges perfectly. Shawn tilted his head to the side, and continued to stare at the hole.

"What are you thinking?" Gus said. "Shawn?"

"I'm thinking…..I bet I could fit in there." Shawn said, he looked to Gus. "What do you think?"

"You have no idea what's in there." Gus tried. "That's what I think."

"I know exactly what's in there." Shawn grinned. "The way up to untouched search ground." His smile got wider then and he seemed to return to normal, working in the field was helping Shawn forget about the night before. Now he was more concerned with peeking around then he was pissing off Lassie. Shawn didn't think too much of it, and without Gus' blessing he started shifting himself into the hole giving little 'urhs' and 'errrehs…' with every inch of his body me managed to squeeze in. He was about half way in when Gus spoke up again.

"Do I have to point out how ridiculous you look right now Shawn?"

"Hold on." Shawn grunted and shimmied his way further, when he was completely inside the hole he honestly felt like a pancake, his arms and legs were uncomfortably twisted to the side in order to accommodate such a tight fit. "I'm going to climb now."

"Climb?" Gus repeated. "You look like you can't even breathe!"

"Er – yeah…." Shawn said. "Got me there." He stopped to think – he knew this was the best up to the ledges but how? Shawn shimmed back towards the hole's exit, and giving the edge a good look over figured it out. He positioned his body so that one arm and leg were still in the wedge, and that his other arm and leg were wrapped around the main wall. It wasn't easy, but Shawn managed to hoist himself upwards.

"Don't fall!" Gus hollered, and Shawn sighed.

"Concentrating!" Shawn hollered back, and he continued to move upward. After a couple minutes, he reached the top, and was on one of the lower edges. The platform was just big enough for one person to walk on. "Made it!" Shawn turned to look down at Gus and to hold one of his arms up in the air in victory.

"Great!" Gus gave a weary thumbs up. "Well -what do you see?"

Shawn set to work; the platform was covered in dirt, twigs, and even old bird eggs. It was a complete mess. "Nothing significant." Shawn started. Which was unsettling, he tried moving some twigs around and even kicked up good amount of dirt but there was nothing on that platform.

"I need to go higher." Shawn announced, and this time Gus really didn't look like he believed him.

"How?" Said Gus. "You barely made it up there!"

Shawn looked up; the lower platform he was standing on was just barely within reach of one of the warehouses support beams. Shawn followed the beam and noted that it ended on another platform – a higher one. "It's like playing Mario." Shawn hadn't played Mario since gameboys were giant hand held grey blocks. "I'm going for it."

Gus watched as Shawn reached for the support beam, and he cringed when the beam made a screeching noise as it struggled to support Shawn's weight. "You're going to fall!" Gus was officially worried.

"Don't worry about it." Shawn encouraged. He was hanging off the beam with just his hands, his feet just inches off the platform. Shawn figured the best way to do this was to pull a James Bond. He swung his legs forward and locked them firmly around the beam.

"Spencer!"

Detective Lassiter barely slept; every time he slid his eyes closed all he could see was Spencer – or the victim, sometimes both. It was maddening. Lassiter had returned to work in the morning to find Juliet and the Chief waiting for him.

"We're going back to the warehouse today." Juliet said. "I thought if we got a few ladders we could look up in the rafters."

"Sounds like a plan." Lassiter was pleased by this, getting up in the rafters was the best idea he heard in the last 48 hours. Especially with the way Aaron described how he found the body.

"He fell from the roof! I swear man I swear!"

"Don't call me man; just tell me what happened from start to finish."

The story? Aaron and his girlfriend Tanya slipped into the warehouse to be alone, they began to argue and just as the argument was becoming more heated something in the rafters had cracked and Aaron had been landed on by the victim. Lassiter and O'Hara had searched the entire premises and failed to find a way up onto any of the platforms. So the following morning when O'Hara announced they now had ladders at their disposal Lassiter was looking forward to getting up to the real crime scene.

The two had reached the warehouse in record timing, and Lassiter distracted by his work had almost completely forgotten what had happened between him and Spencer the night before. Of course – that was before he had come into the warehouse only to see Spencer already dangling from a balance beam.

"Spencer!" Lassiter was furious, not only had Spencer beat him here – but he was already in a compromising position. Lassiter found himself worrying like crazy. What if Spencer had fallen and gotten hurt? Then what? The rafters to the floor wasn't exactly a small drop.

At Lassiter's outburst, Shawn cringed a bit. He craned his head downward to get an upside down view of the detective. He was still pretty irked about last night, but giving Lassie the benefit of the doubt and absolutely loving the look of pure disdain on his face Shawn instead of telling him off took the higher road. "Top of the morning to you Lassie! I'd wave but – you know." Shawn used his head to gesture to the support beam he was still wrapped around.

"Spencer!" Lassiter tripped over his own words. "How the hell did you get up there!" Lassiter then turned to Gus and repeated the question in a more controlled volume. "Seriously, how the hell did he get up there?"

"Climbed up a hole." Gus gestured to where Shawn had hoisted himself up. Inwardly Lassiter face palmed.

"Shawn!" Juliet called out. "What exactly is your plan?" Lassiter shot Juliet a hard glare. "What?" Juliet shrugged. "He's already up there."

"Well!" Shawn started, "I was driving along with Gus when I had a vision, I could see the killer up here. There's a clue up here somewhere waiting for me to find it."

"Here's a clue for you Spencer! If anyone's going to find a clue Spencer it's the police who are ACTUALLY working the case." Lassiter refused to let that go. Yes in the past he had been determined to keep Shawn away from police work but this case felt a little more personal. Truthfully the detective just wanted Shawn to not be near possible danger.

"Did you just use word play on me?" Shawn looked down again, "The hell was that?"

"Not intentionally!" Lassiter nearly snarled. "Come on Curious George, get your ass down here and let the real cops do their job!"

"Curious George?" Retorted Shawn. "Really now? !" Shawn huffed and continued on his way up the beam still wrapped around it tightly. "George of the jungle – maybe, he was an alright kind of guy. But a monkey, I'm not a monkey!"

"Oh I beg to differ…" Lassiter grumbled.

"I wouldn't mind being George of the Jungle." Gus mused. "Brendan Fraser did an alright job."

"I don't know…" Shawn thought about it. "I think if I had to choose…I'd go with Joe Lara."

"Joe Lara?" Gus blinked.

"Tarzan in Manhattan." Shawn finished. "Google it!"

"Oh yeah….nice choice!"

"Stop encouraging him!" Lassiter shook his head at Gus and looked back up at Shawn. "Spencer would you get the hell down from there already? !"

"Oh come off it!" Shawn snapped. "I'm already here, just let me do what I do!" Shawn's sudden change of tone had Juliet and Gus raising their brows.

"What the hell dude!" Gus yelled immediately.

"Shawn just be careful." Juliet was quick to try to end confrontation. She turned to Lassiter. "Just a little longer." She said. "Okay? Then we'll solve it our way."

Shawn took the following silence as the green light and started guiding himself across the beam, sliding his legs downward across and using his arms to push forward. It was a lot harder then it looked in the spy movies. All too suddenly Shawn regretted skipping P.E to sneak into R rated movies. None the less, he struggled forward.

"He's an idiot." Lassiter grumbled.

"We have ladders." Juliet reminded him. "He could probably use a ladder."

Gus heard them, and didn't think twice. "Yo Shawn! Juliet says they brought ladders!"

Shawn paused. "Are you serious?" He craned his head back down and looked to Lassiter again. "Lassie! You're holding out on me?"

"I-Oh for god's sake!" Lassiter turned and yelled at the first uniform who had followed them in. "You! Go outside, grab a stupid ladder."

The ladder was a god send it seemed, it was tall enough that Shawn managed to use it to get up to the next platform, the higher platform was bigger than the first one and it had a lot more to offer. Immediately Shawn could see thread marks – yes someone had definitely been up here. How long ago? Shawn couldn't really tell, none the less Shawn began to look around. Like the first platform this one was covered in dirt and twigs. However Shawn could see a definite trail leading towards the support beam that was higher up then the one he had used get up there. Only this support beam was bent in the middle. Shawn took that detail into consideration – probably where the victim had fallen, his eyes travelled down to the outline of the body, it was a near perfect line. In Shawn's mind he could see the victim, already stabbed, bleeding profusely, and trying to use the support beam to get away from his attacker.

The others from down below were watching Shawn quite intently – Lassiter's brows were furrowed considerably. "Can I please ask why we're not up there doing this ourselves?" However Juliet and Gus both cut him off with a prompt 'shh!' Lassiter could only shake his head. Why the hell was it always three against one?

Shawn continued to look around the platform, so far nothing significant was coming up. At least not until Shawn carelessly kicked down a pile of dirt. It was pure luck, kicking the dirt aside had revealed a letter opener. It was matted in dry mud, and under the mud? Shawn was willing to bet blood. Shawn recalled the victim's stab wound in the picture. The wound hadn't been that big however it did look like it had been deep. Shawn was certain he was looking at the murder weapon. Normally when making this discovery Shawn would've just left it and did a whole show with Jazz hands and whimpers to guide the police here, but since the police were already here Shawn just decided to give the murder weapon over.

"Murder weapon!" Shawn called out. That was all the invitation Lassiter and O'Hara needed. Pretty soon both detectives were on the ladder, and joining Shawn on the second platform with gloves and a plastic baggy.

"He's right – it's the murder weapon."

Later on that day Lassiter and O'Hara had returned to the morgue, they had dusted the letter opener for prints and were now waiting for a match. As they waited they decided to match the letter opener to the victim's stab wound. Lassiter wasn't entirely keen on seeing the victim up close again – he had to keep reminding himself that the body on the table wasn't Spencer.

It really was uncanny though, and no longer surprising but rather creepy. Lassiter stared at the victim's face for a good amount of time.

"Carlton? Carlton?" He finally looked away and back to O'Hara.

"What was that?" Lassiter sounded like he just dropped in from space.

"I said Shawn was right." Juliet went on. "The letter opener is our murder weapon – are you okay?"

"Peachy." Lassiter lied. "Alright, we'll go back to the station write up the report on the weapon and hope that we get some damn print results by tonight."

Nothing came up, by that night whoever the prints were proving to be useless – no matches were being found on file. It was steadily getting later, and while Lassiter was determined to stay and keeping looking for a match -Juliet could barely keep her head up. "Home." Lassiter instructed her. "I'll keep you posted."

An hour after Juliet had left and nothing still had come up, Lassiter was debating making himself some coffee when the full weight of Shawn Spencer dropped unexpectedly into the chair O'Hara had been sitting in earlier. "Still looking for prints?"

"Yeah…" Lassiter was giving up, if Spencer was going to poke his nose in this regardless of what he said than there really wasn't anything he could do. "If you want to have a vision, or a vibe, or dramatic episode – be my guest."

"Does this mean you're letting me on the case?" Shawn sounded surprised.

"Got to clear it with the chief, but if you're going to be poking around anyway. You might as well get paid."

"Appreciated." Shawn said, he fell silent next to the detective. Needless to say it was a little uncomfortable – all Lassiter could think of now were Shawn's lips, and the way Shawn had said his name breathlessly.

'Lassie…'

"Lassie?" Shawn was really talking now, and Lassiter looked over to the other man – had Shawn's eyes always been that shade of blue?

"What?" Lassiter pretended like he didn't notice the way Shawn smiled then, like he knew what Lassiter was thinking about.

"Nothing." Shawn said teasingly. In Shawn's mind, Lassiter was being adorably clueless. Suddenly Lassie was more than an over bearing closet case – he was a challenge. A very delicious challenge. However currently they were working. Shawn returned to the issue on hand. Shawn looked around, his eyes landing on the new photos that were on Lassiter's desk. "Murder weapon?" Shawn asked.

Lassiter nodded, and Shawn flipped through the pictures. That letter opener. Shawn knew that letter opener! Shawn took a long breathe – he didn't manage to get a good look at the letter opener earlier but now that he was staring at the picture he was shocked to see that he recognized the weapon – when he really shouldn't have. The letter opener or at least a similar letter opener had been a gift. A gift from Shawn to his old 'pa'l Marcus. Oh the memory was all too clear.

"What's this?" Marcus Tuly was older then Shawn by about seven years, having met Spencer early in the morning. Tuly was working the morning route as a mail man; Shawn had been on his way to school. It was Shawn's graduating year.

"A letter opener." Shawn commented, by the time he had given Marcus the letter opener the two had become a little more than friends – Shawn meant the gift as ironic, he was a funny guy like that. Marcus looked over the letter opener skeptically. The older man did not want Shawn telling people about their tryst. It was embarrassing to say the least; he wasn't gay until he had met Shawn. He honestly believed Shawn made him gay. Of course Shawn didn't see it that way. "You're a mail man." Shawn chuckled. "Now you can go through people's mail."

Marcus did think it was funny, but he had to ask. "Why are you giving this to me?"

"It's been six months." Shawn was happy to announce. "I'm a romantic, I like marking down occasions."

Marcus grinned and held the letter opener up to examine it. "It is really nice." Marcus said. "I can't accept it though."

"Why not?" Shawn asked, and he pouted.

"Because Shawn. This entire relationship is – inappropriate."

"Secret." Shawn corrected.

"Illegal." Marcus said. "You're barely 18 – I'm in my 20's Shawn."

"I'll be 18 soon enough." Shawn shrugged it off like it was no big deal. "Wait – are you nervous that my dad's a cop?"

"Of course not." Marcus said lightly, it then clued in what Shawn had just said. "Wait -Your dad's a fucking cop? !"

"Er – yes?" Shawn honestly thought Marcus knew.

Marcus started to panic. "Oh god I'm going to jail, I'm having sex with a minor….Your dad's a cop…..oh god…Not Jail, your dad probably knows how to hide bodies….I'm going straight to hell! This is a sign – God is punishing me…."

"God isn't punishing you." Shawn blinked. "Did you just completely blow your lid?"

"No I did not just blow my lid!" Marcus hollered. "I just found out your dad's a cop! A fucking cop Shawn!"

"It's fine." Shawn insisted. "My dad and I aren't exactly Bonnie and Clyde, so even if he knew I don't think he'd care. As far as I know he doesn't give a damn whose gay or not."

"I'm not gay!" Marcus cut him off then. "I'm not gay Shawn."

"Bi then." Shawn said. "That's cool, I'm bi."

"I'm not any of that!" Marcus' voice was getting louder. "Not now, not ever!"

"Because what we just finished doing on your mom's couch is SO straight." Shawn said, he used sarcasm and was getting pretty pissed Marcus was suddenly freaking out so much.

"You did this to me…" Marcus said. "You seduced me!"

"All I did was pick up my mail on the way to school." Countered Shawn. "You're the one who said hello – hmmm you know what, I take it back. It was my fault. I should've been honest with you from the beginning, my real name is Recneps Nwahs. I just spell it backwards on earth as to not raise suspicion, but really I'm a demon sent to collect men's souls and add them to Satan's big gay army."

Shawn thought he was being funny, Marcus was already pissed so what was the worst that could happen? That question was answered when Marcus had lost control; he punched Shawn right in the face. Shawn was down but he wasn't out – and he just looked at Marcus confused like he couldn't believe the other man had just hit him.

"Get out of my house!" Marcus yelled. "Get out of my house!"

Shawn had left the house with a black eye. and in a run – that was the last time Shawn had seen Marcus Tuly.

"Shawn?"

Shawn snapped back and realized he was still in the police station; Lassiter was peering at him with a concerned look on his face. "You've been looking at that photo for awhile. "

"I have." Shawn said lightly. "It's familiar." Shawn went with that for now – just because the letter opener looked the same, and because the victim looked like Shawn didn't mean Marcus was a suspect.

Oh but it does,

It was only a matter of time before the police got onto Marcus' trail, but Shawn decided to get there first. He handed the photo back to Lassiter. "I have to go."

"Go?" Lassiter was confused. He just let Shawn in on the case – and now he was leaving? "You're leaving?"

"I'll be back." Shawn promised, and he was up. Lassiter didn't think, he sat up to and was grabbing Shawn's arm. He wasn't going to say it out loud but he didn't want Shawn to leave.

"Where the hell are you going?" Lassiter had never seen Shawn act so – finicky, what the hell did Spencer just see? Should he follow him? Shawn slipped out of his grasped and just looked to him apologetically before bolting out of the station.

Lassiter decided against following Shawn – for now, and continued to look for prints. Shawn on the other hand had hoped on his bike and was across town within 20 minutes. The house he came to looked the same – small and a bit run down, it wasn't the safest of places to be but Shawn knew his way around and figured he'd be okay. Shawn knocked on the front door, and waited.

The man who opened the door was not the man Shawn remembered, Marcus Tuly was older – nearing his 40s and he had lost a considerable amount of weight. He regarded Shawn with a confused look. The confusion finally turned to recognition then and he seemed to come awake. "Shawn what hell are you…?"

"Oh was just in the neighborhood," Shawn said casually "and I just wanted to ask if you've killed anybody lately."