She was thankful, because at that moment it would have cost her boyfriend his life.
Shawn himself stood slightly traumatized by the sight of his girlfriend almost shooting him at point-blank range. Now, it was his hands that shook as they struggled to hold onto the lilies that he had gotten Juliet at the florist up the street. Biting his lip, he stepped cautiously toward her.
"What is this? 'Scare the beans out of your boyfriend day'," Shawn quipped, dispelling the tense atmosphere as Juliet replaced her service weapon in her purse.
"Shawn, you should know better than to sneak off on me like that!"
"I know, I should have told you where I was going," Shawn said, as he took in the worried look on her face. "I just thought you'd like some flowers, and once I got the idea in my head…" he trailed off as she smiled at him.
"Well, that was very sweet, but please tell me next time," she said, grabbing the lilies in his hand and setting them up in her purple glass vase in the dining room.
"Are you hungry," he asked, showing her the to-go bag in his other hand.
Inside the bag was two Combo Number Threes from one of the only Mexican cantinas in Santa Barbara, La Baja Mercado.
"Starving," she replied, retrieving the cups and forks from her kitchen cabinet.
They were half-way through their meal when a knock at the door interrupted it. Getting up from the table, Juliet answered the door. She was met with a very agitated, and yet nervous under the surface Gus.
"Juliet, what's going on? Have you heard anything? I tried to get here sooner, but the traffic was terrible. Wait, Shawn," he asked after he noticed his friend sitting at Juliet's table, burrito still caught inside his mouth.
"Hey buddy," he said nervously after swallowing and then turned to Juliet. "You called Gus?"
"I needed someone to help me find you," she said, her tone telling him that she was still more than peeved. Then she turned back to Gus. "Apparently, I jumped the gun."
"Shawn, how many times have I told you that you need to tell Juliet where you're going?"
"Including this time? Once."
"Well, you need to Shawn. This is a serious situation."
"I know, buddy," he said, obviously relenting
"Alright, do we have anything?"
"Other than heartburn from the incredible goodness that is these burritos? Nothing."
"Shawn, focus," Juliet chided
"Well the only connection we have so far is that they are a family of criminals, who are after me for canning one of their own. It looks like they're taking their time, sort of. They're taking turns with me. Like I'm their guinea pig or something."
"Great, you're a guinea pig. What does that tell us?"
"Nothing good. Just means that it only gets worse."
"What's worse than trying to blow you up?"
"Let's hope we don't have to find out."
"So it's a game," Gus chimed in finally pushing the couple to stay on track.
"Yeah, except it's in the sudden death round."
"What's our move then?"
"As much as I hate this, I think the only move we have is to wait."
"Well while we're waiting we should put a few precautionary measures in place," Juliet suggested.
"Like what?"
"We could tap your phone, just for the time being. It'll help us pick up on if he's already tapping you, and if he is we can trace the signal. It may lead us to him."
"Okay," Shawn answered reluctantly. "What else?"
"We put an officer on watch down the street, just in case his next game has us traveling."
"And what if he suspects something?"
"He won't. It's not like we're going to put a black and white down the street. We'll put someone undercover in one of the houses in the area. As far as he knows it's going to be like a new neighbor just moved in."
"And?"
"Neither of us leaves the house without a phone and a sidearm."
"Deal."
"So what do we know about the Duffys? Any idea on a location," Gus questioned Juliet.
"Not yet, but Carlton's working on it. Haven't made any headway though."
"Then why don't we start there?"
"I would say yes, but that doesn't seem like a very good use of resources with Lassiter working on it already."
"I've got an idea. What if, the next time he calls, I agree to a meeting?"
"You want to arrange a meeting with a guy who's trying to kill you? Shawn, I think you're missing the point."
"And what's that?"
"Uh, staying alive?"
"I don't see how that could happen if I still have a faceless opponent."
"In other words, you think the best solution is to put yourself into the line of fire?"
"It's not like I'm going to be alone. You could put a back-up team in place."
"Without being noticed? Seems just about impossible."
"But it can be done. It's been done before. All we have to do is make sure we set them outside the perimeter."
"So what happens when you get shot while the back-up is still fielding through the perimeter," Juliet questioned finally.
"I'm not going to get shot."
"Really," Juliet asked incredulously
"Jules, if this really is about proving their selves no one is just going to shoot me out in the open. I mean, come on. That's way too easy."
"And what about snipers?"
"If they had snipers, I would have been dead a long time ago. But if it makes you breathe a little easier, we can post our own snipers outside the perimeter."
"Shawn, I don't think this is a good idea. There's too much room to make a mistake. I think the best choice we have, until we can figure something else out is to lay low."
"Jules, I can't. I have to make some head-way otherwise all I'm doing is sitting around waiting for one of the Duffys to finally kill me."
"Well, you're going to have to Shawn. Out of the three of us, I am the only one with any actual authority when it comes to dealing with criminals. We'll figure something else out."