The stained glass window within the kitchen gave the room an eerie glow and burned the yellow walls with patterns of blues and purples. This once calming effect seemed to make the air thicker and heavy; sad even. Almost like the house was grieving over the loss of its owner. The young woman, who just yesterday had had tea with her parents in the dining room and smiled for the first time since the attack, was now slumped over the same table with dried tears on her cheeks and an empty pharmaceutical bottle in her right hand.
The team walked into the room and got straight to work. Shawn and Gus began looking around the room for clues and Lassiter and the Chief had left the room mumbling about procedure. Shawn was grabbing a napkin from the table when he noticed that Juliet was still staring at the body.
"Well, it appears to be suicide," said Buzz, eyes moving to the empty pill bottle. "But autopsy will have to confirm of course." Juliet didn't notice but she let a tear streak down her face as she saw her best friends eyes reflected in the girls in the chair. Shawn sighed and put the half empty wine bottle back on the table. He walked over to Juliet.
"Come on," he mumbled as he put an arm around her waist and guided her down the hall. They made it to the backyard and pretended to be admiring the garden. Shawn let go of her but she stayed where she was and put her hands to her face and found the tears that had come unwanted. She wiped them away but they kept coming back. Silence had fallen between them as she tried to compose herself.
"You good?" asked Shawn after Juliet breathed heavily for the last time and moved away from him.
finally noticing the garden, she took in the fresh scents of lavender and roses, leaned against the white fence, and replied, "Ya. I'm ok." Silence once more befell them, this time more awkward. "It's beautiful isn't it?"
"Very," said Shawn but his eyes had wandered away from the the flowers and rested on her face. Juliet looked at him as he smiled at her. She blushed ever so slightly and smiled back. They spoke with their eyes everything thay had wanted to say to each other.
Shawn eventually broke the connection as he leaned down into the garden and grasped the stem of a white tulip. He stepped over to her and filled the space between them.
"We should probably get back to work," said Shawn. He walked back to the house; trying to contain his fluttering stomach. Juliet watched him go then looked down at the tulip he had placed in her hand with a gossamers touch. She blushed once more as she stroked the petals.
"O' Hara! what are you doing?" shouted the head detective. "This is no time to admire a garden! Get back to work!" Juliet sighed and looked down at the flower once more. Lowering her hand, she dropped the white tulip upon the dew stained grass and walked away; leaving the sweet moment behind her.
Back at the station...
"Autopsy just came in. COD is a drug overdose on Vicodin: prescribed after she was attacked. There were no signs of a struggle so we must assume it was a suicide," reported Chief Vick.
"Bull puckee!" said Lassiter. The chief glared at him. "I mean..that can;t be.. you see..heh heh." Defeated, he cleared his throat and surrendered his thoughts to the air. "Well i think he came back and killed her. He wanted to finish what he started so he put a gun in her face and told her to swallow the pills to make it look like suicide. I think we should contact the other victims and warn them."
The chief put her hand to her forehead to control her patience. "Mr. Spencer, are the spirits telling you anything useful?"
"Only that i should grab a blueberry muffin,"noted Shawn as he saw the cart of pastries glide by. Shawn walked out of the office with a confused Gus right behind him; leaving the Chief and Lassiter to talk about motives. He grabbed two muffins and handed one to Gus.
"Where are you going?" asked Gus, a little annoyed that his friend just got up in an important meeting for a pastry.
"I had a sudden thought Gus. People have more than one sense. They have five, well except me of course who has six, but that is neither here nor there, the point is, (he stopped once they reached the Blueberry and turned to face Gus) the other victims may not have seen where they were, but that doesn't mean they didn't hear." With that, Shawn opened the passenger door and got in. Gus followed suit and started the car.
NO, NO, NO! She wasn't supposed to die! I saved her just like all the others! She wasn't suppos- He thought, then he changed from grief to anger. This was all his fault! he's the one who had put his slimy hands around her throat! He's the one who killed her and if i ever find him, ill kill him!
The shadowy figure was alone on the beach today. It was cloudy and the waves were rough;keeping what little civilization existed in the area tucked away inside their comfy homes. He sat down on the beach and began sobbing into his arms. Every second was a second he knew she could be here with him. if only he could have saved her. But now, he was undoing what he had done wrong. He was going to save these women from themselves whether they wanted it or not.
30 minutes later, he returned to his small home and locked the door behind him. He made himself a cup of coffee in his too clean kitchen and went down into his basement. At the sound of stifled sobs, he began to twitch his lips into a smile. Good, she's awake, he thought. As he got closer to her he could see the tears streaming down her face and landing into her soft brunette hair. She was laying in the middle of the floor, blindfolded with her hands tied behind her back.
"Welcome back," he said. The woman on the floor moved her head to the voice that had been haunting her for two days. Mind now lost, she began pleading with him.
"No more! Please, No more! I'm begging you!" cried the woman. Tears once more grasped her face and slid down to her now swollen neck. At the sound of her voice his pale face went even paler.
Unknown to her, the man had lost his somber face and replaced it with a shadowy glare. He dropped his coffee cup and pounced on her; wrapping his muscular hands around her neck. Immediately she began trying to push him away but he was to strong, and her, too weak. She tried to use her knees but his weight kept them attached to the floor. She lasted a lot longer than the others but the result was the same; death.
"O my gosh, Your killing her! Stop! Get off! Let her breath!" he trembled. He removed his hands from her throat and began performing CPR. "Come on breath! You can't leave me! Not yet!" He pushed on her chest again and again but her lungs never stirred. He applied his lips to hers and breathed down her neck. Tears began swelling in his eyes. He began losing hope on this girl when all of a sudden her eyes opened and she started gasping for air. Soon she was able to breath normally but the sight of the man made her panic and lose consciousness; leaving the imprint of his distorted smile as her last waking memory.
