Note: Yoplait and Go-Gurt are registered trademarks. I mean nothing by mentioning them in the chapter below, and I don't endorse the brand. I was merely choosing to reference a relatively common product. Go-Gurt is the name for the product in the USA & Australia. Go-Gurt is sold as Yoplait Tubes in Canada and as Frubes in the United Kingdom.


Chapter 2: Bursting the Bubble of Happiness

Carlton watched from the doorway as Marlowe tucked their son into bed and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight, Mommy," he said softly.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," she replied.

"Goodnight, Daddy," he called out slightly louder toward his father.

Lassiter gave him a curt nod, which Braxton knew was one of his daddy's ways of showing affection. He smiled ever so slightly before closing his eyes and letting himself drift off into dreamland.


Juliet, still in her wedding gown, refused Shawn's offer to carry her over the threshold and instead walked into her house happily with Shawn directly behind her, and then they both plopped down on the couch.

"I guess the day's over," Shawn said, loosening his bowtie and kicking off his shoes so hard that they flew to the other side of the room. Juliet leaned over to remove her own white shoes less violently - she used her hands.

"I guess it is," she said. "It was really lovely. Everything worked out great," she added with a smile. She was thinking of the ceremony and how Woody had done a nice job, how the catered food was delicious… how the weather had been perfect… so many things had fallen into place just right. Even all four of their parents had shown up – five, if she counted Lloyd – and despite both hers and Shawn's being divorced, everything remained civil and cordial.

Shawn returned her smile then leaned in to give her a quick kiss. "We're married now," he said softly, a hint of excitement in his tone.

"Yeah," she replied.


Gus was home alone tonight. Rachael had thought they shouldn't move in together until after they were married, in order to be good role models for Maximus. He could've still spent some time with them that evening… it was still early enough that he could potentially enjoy an entire movie and some buttery popcorn with his lover, on her couch. But something in the back of his mind told him he should stay available for best man duties. The wedding day would not officially be over until the stroke of midnight. He had his cell phone on and the volume set to high. He was ready to help Shawn out with anything at all on a moment's notice.


Henry emerged from his kitchen carrying two mugs of decaf coffee; one for himself, and one for the love of his life. Madeline would always be the love of his life, regardless of the fact that they'd been divorced for over twenty years and had both dated other people.

She smiled up at him and took her cup. He sat in the arm chair and faced his ex-wife on the couch, and they began to chat. Madeline would only be in town through tomorrow morning, having only come in for the wedding. She had taken up Henry on his offers to drive her to and from the airport, but she'd decided she'd rather sleep in a hotel for this trip. Still, there were a few hours to kill before she needed to get some shut-eye. So she listened as Henry bragged about how their son had solved a recent murder, and she too felt proud as she learned of some of the very small, but significant details that Shawn had not overlooked.


Lassiter was in his pajamas, which consisted of a button-up shirt with some illustrations of various hand guns on them and matching long pants. He was ready to turn off his lamp on his bedside table and stop reading the previous month's issue of Military Magazine when his cell phone buzzed. He turned to look toward the lit up screen and saw the caller ID. It was the precinct. He quickly grabbed the phone then tiptoed hastily out of the room, not wanting to wake Marlowe. Once he was in the hallway and had shut the door behind him, he answered the phone.

"Head Detective Carlton Lassiter," he greeted, a few decibels quieter than usual, but still in his usual commanding tone. His eyes went wide. "When did this happen?" he asked sharply. "I'll be down there in ten minutes," he replied, already working on unbuttoning his pajama shirt.


Juliet and Shawn had the night to themselves. Gus and everyone else who had a copy of their house key knew not to stop by for any reason. Even their cell phones had been powered off. They weren't going to have the same interruptions they had suffered the night they'd gotten engaged. That fiasco had taught them to plan ahead.

Still on the couch, they kissed for a second time, more passionately than before.

"Let me change out of my wedding dress," Juliet said. Shawn nodded and let her disappear up their house's staircase and into the bedroom. He decided he'd go to the kitchen to get a quick snack while she was doing that. He opened the fridge and perused it, settling on a tube of Go-Gurt. He'd be careful not to get any of the pink yogurt on his fancy tuxedo.

He had just finished ripping the top off when he heard a small crash upstairs.

"Jules?" he called out, wondering what had caused the noise. He figured she had accidentally dropped a hanger on the floor when hanging up her dress or something similar. It was likely nothing to worry about. He meandered back over toward the couch, slurping the delicious Strawberry Splash-flavored yogurt out of the tube as he walked. He sat down, thinking about how he wished Yoplait would introduce a pineapple flavor into the mix of fruity options.

After he finished his snack and had gotten up to throw the plastic packaging away, he started to get impatient for Juliet to return. How long did it really take to get out of a $300 dress? He started to head upstairs himself, realizing that Jules probably wanted him to change out of his rented tux anyway. She'd probably be in the mood to… consummate their marriage now, he thought with a childish grin. And their bed was in the bedroom, of course, which was always the best place for "doing it".

What he saw when he entered the bedroom, however, was nothing like he expected.


Gus jumped at the sound of his cell phone ringing. Shawn was calling. Ha! He knew he'd still be needed on best man duty tonight.

"Hey, Shawn. What's-" his greeting was cut short by Shawn interrupting.

"She's gone!" he cried out. "I don't know what happened, but Gus, she's gone!" He sounded very upset.

"Woah, Shawn. Calm down. We're talking about Juliet, or…?"

"No, Gus. Your mom. YES JULIET!" he screeched. "Why aren't you freaking out? I'm not saying she left for our honeymoon early, dude. There's all this glass, and a little blood, and her… her dress isn't even in the closet, so she must still be wearing the thing…"

Gus's eyes went wide. "What? Blood? Glass?"

Gus listened as his best friend took a deep breath.

"Jules came up here… I mean up to our bedroom to change out of her wedding dress. I was in the kitchen grabbing a snack, 'cause you know, all that dancing… I burned off a lot of calories and my body needed to replenish some. I heard a… 'crash' is I guess what you'd call it, but man, I thought it was nothing. If I had just…"

"Shawn." Gus tried to get his friend back to telling the story.

"Right. So by the time I finally did come up here, she… I think she's been kidnapped!"

"What do you see?" Gus probed.

"The window's been broken from the outside, and there's a ladder propped up to it. I think someone probably did all this while we were out at the wedding, and then waited inside the bedroom for Juliet to come in here. They probably took her out the window. But idk how they could've unless they…" Shawn hesitated.

"Unless they what?"

"Unless they, like… threw her down there then climbed down themselves! God, Gus! She's probably pretty badly injured! I can't see anything down on the ground, it's dark outside."

"Okay, okay. Focus back on what's inside. You said something about blood?"

"Well, it's just a little bit… maybe the person who broke the window hurt himself trying to get inside?" he suggested hopefully.

"There's also just… normal bedroom stuff. I don't think anything's out of place. The closet's open but I think I left it that way when I left the house this morning…"

Gus nodded, even though no one could see him.

"Shawn," he said, "have you called the cops about this yet?"

"What? No, dude. I didn't even think. I just called you on instinct. That's a good idea-"

"Wait. Shawn. You call your dad. He can help too. I'll call the police and inform them of everything. Don't you worry. We'll find her," he said in a reassuring tone.

Gus hung up with Shawn and then took the briefest of moments to let what he'd just found out from Shawn sink in. Yikes! Juliet had been abducted?

That bubble of happiness that Gus had thought was impenetrable had clearly been burst. And once a bubble pops, it's gone. It's not a type of object that can break – it's either whole and perfect, or it's completely disappeared. Their wedding day wasn't even over yet! How could this be happening?

Quickly, Gus hit the speed dial he had programmed into his phone for Lassiter. (They'd exchanged phone numbers back in their tap dancing days.)


Madeline was chuckling in reply to a silly story Henry had just told her when the phone rang.

"Hang on, let me get this," Henry told her as he stood up and walked toward the phone he had in his kitchen. He picked it up off of the receiver. "Hello?"

"Dad?" Shawn sounded distraught. Henry looked toward Madeline. He didn't want her to worry.

"What is it?" he asked quietly and calmly. He knew it must be something serious.

"Can you please come over here right now?" Shawn begged. "Something's happened to Juliet."

Henry wanted to ask questions like 'Was she hurt?' but he didn't want to raise any alarms for his ex-wife. So all he responded was, "Sure. I'll be right there." He hung up the phone and then walked back over toward Madeline.

"I'm really sorry, but I have somewhere to be, actually," he told her vaguely. "Can I drop you off at the hotel now?"

"Sure," she replied. "But where do you have to be at this hour? I thought you were retired?"

"Oh, it's just some friend," he fibbed. "Got himself in a bind…"