Chapter 2

Back in the Psych office…

"So what's the plan?" Gus asked his best friend opening the office's door.

"The plan is… I don't know, man… I can't think. I'm so close to starvation I haven't had anything to eat for like half an hour and it's nearly noon we should really grab some lunch. What do you think? Chinese?"

"You know that's right" Gus said while turning on his heels and closing the door again.

On their walk back from the Chinese restaurant (thankfully it was only 200 yards away) they started talking about the case.

"So… the Rose Murderer. Ever heard anything about him?" Gus asked.

"Nope, well just the stuff we heard this morning while eavesdropping on Lassie and Jules but other than that nothing. That guy is pretty creepy, don't you think?"

"Shawn, he's a serial killer apparently with OCD, of course he's creepy." He stated in duh voice.

"You know what I think? I mean I'm not really sure about it but I think our killer might be a woman." Shawn mused.

"Really? That's absolutely not what all the professional FBI profilers said and why do… oh hey Juliet, what are you doing here? If you had said that you were coming over we could have brought you lunch." He smiled friendly at her and gestured her to come in after he unlocked the door.

They sat down around Gus' desk and Shawn put down three plates.

"Come on, Jules, we'll just share our food. Take whatever you want." He pointed at the food containers in front of them. "So what do we owe the pleasure of this surprise visit? You hardly come by the office lately." Inwardly wincing at his own question but not showing anything to his two friends. Of course he knew why she didn't come by that often anymore. She was probably spending every free minute with her precious boyfriend/filthy rich guy Declan Rand. Ever since that two week trip to the Amalfi Coast they were closer than ever. Their relationship going strong for five months now.

"Thanks, Shawn." She put some food on her plate and continued talking but skipping his last remark. "I'd like to officially hire you on today's case."

"What's Lassie saying about that? I bet he's thrilled." Gus laughed.

"He doesn't have a say in this. Chief Vick put me in charge. She thinks Carlton is personally too involved in this case so I'll be leading it." She smiled softly at that.

"Wow that's great for you, Jules. Your first major case. Are you excited?" Shawn smiled widely at her.

"It's a little weird, you know. Especially 'cause we still have to tell Carlton, he's still in the hospital with his neighbour. And this case doesn't really seem like something I can just solve in a few days. I mean this killer has been on the loose for 10 years now without leaving any evidence at all. Chances aren't so big that I'm going to make the big breakthrough but I'm still proud that the Chief trusts me with a major case." Her smile grew wider. "This is delicious by the way." Receiving agreeing nods from the two men they continued their meal talking about lighter topics than a serial killer.

After finishing eating their lunch they headed to the police station together to work on the case. Shortly after they sat down Lassiter came through the doors and greeted them with a nod. Juliet stood up taking a deep breath before walking over to her partner's desk.

"Carlton, how's your neighbour doing?" She asked softly.

"She'll be okay. The doctor's said it was a light heart attack as a result of all the stress she went through. But I called her children and they're on their way to the hospital so she's been taken care of. I assume you didn't find anything at the crime scene." He said trying hard not to show any signs of emotions.

"No, we found nothing. But actually the Chief wanted to talk to the both of us about the case. So we should probably head to her office."

"Alright, let's go then" With that Lassiter stood up and walked up to the Chief's office knocking on the door and entering without waiting for a response. Juliet followed him quickly.

"Detective Lassiter, I know that you're a smart man so I won't beat around the bush and be straight forward with you. I don't want you on this case. I handed over the lead to Detective O'Hara and you won't come near this case under any circumstances." Chief Vick said firmly.

Lassiter surely wasn't prepared for this. "What? Chief with all due respect… I don't understand. I've been working on this case as a part of the special team that was set up to catch this guy. I know everything about every single victim and every crime scene. Why on earth shouldn't I work on this case?" He said raising his voice with every sentence.

"Don't raise you voice against me like that! I made this decision because I think you are emotionally too involved with the whole matter, with your neighbour being the victim and everything happening so close to your home. I won't discuss this any further. You'll stay away from this case and don't even try to pressure your partner into keeping you posted!"

She told him decidedly knowing exactly that that was just what he wanted to do.

Lassiter glared at her one last time, turned on his heels and stormed out of the office.

"Well, that went well, don't you think detective?" Chief Vick turned to the young female detective. "Get back to work, O'Hara, and catch this guy."

Juliet nodded and exited the office returning to her desk where Shawn and Gus were still waiting both having chocolate bars in their hands.

"Guys, we just ate like half an hour ago…ugh… never mind." She sighed. "How about we move this to an interrogation room? I guess we could work more efficiently if we had more space."

So the three set up their office in interrogation room one displaying all the case files on the table in front of them. Arranging the crime scene photos on the wall in a way they could compare them to one another. They did the same with the photos of the victims. Gus put up a USA map marking all the sites of crime with a pin, trying to find out if there was any specific pattern the killer used.

One week later…

"Ugh, I can't look at this stuff anymore." Sighed Juliet, clearly exasperated. "We've been going through all this crap for a week and we haven't found anything. There's just nothing that could even suggest a lead."

Just as Shawn wanted to speak up Buzz McNabb stormed into the room. "Detective? The Chief needs to talk to you ASAP, she said it's urgent!"

Juliet looked at Shawn who was working the case alone with her this morning since Gus had to work his normal job. "I'll be back in a second." He nodded.

10 minutes later Juliet entered the room again looking a little paler than before.

"There's been another homicide. Seems like it's the Rose Murderer again. Chief said I should go there and take a look at the crime scene." She stated in a low voice.

"Where did it happen?" Asked Shawn.

"In… wait…" She glanced at the case file. "In Ellensburg, Washington. That's around 100 miles east of Seattle. Well, the Chief had Buzz already book a flight so I'll stay there at least two days to talk to the local authorities and potential witnesses. How about the two of you take break from the case in the meantime?"

"What? You'll be going there alone?" Shawn asked worried. Juliet nodded. "No, there's no way I'm going to let you go there alone. Tell McNabb to book a flight for me as well." He said determined.

"Shawn, as nice as that is, but …" She began but was soon interrupted by Shawn.

"No, no, Jules! I don't want to hear any 'but's'! I won't let you go there alone. Period. I'll be off this case and I won't ever help the police again. And I will never, and I mean never in my whole life, talk to you again if you do this alone. Understood?" He was standing right in front of her by the time he ended his little speech looking directly into her eyes.

Juliet had never seen him this serious before with that amount of determination in his eyes. So the only thing she could do was nod silently looking away from him. But Shawn didn't let her do that. He cupped her face with both of his hands turning her head to face him again.

"Do you understand that, Jules?" His voice not as harsh as before but soft instead.

It took Juliet a moment to realize that their faces were only a few inches apart. She blushed a little at the thought that they were nearly as close as they were when the close talking incident happened a few years ago. I have to do something or I don't know what will happen. She thought begging her body to move away, praying that her cop instincts would kick in that would allow her to push Shawn away. But nothing worked. She wasn't able to move a muscle. It seemed like her body protested against her better judgement and wanted to stay like this forever. Stay so close to Shawn forever.

"Do you understand that, Jules?" She heard his oh so soft voice echoing in her ears again slowly pulling her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah." Was all she could manage to say while her head was screaming something entirely different. Say no, damnit, Jules, say no! You can't spend two days with him alone. Not here and definitely not in a city that you never been to before and where you don't know anyone else. Just say no!

It was Shawn who finally after what seemed like an eternity let go of her and moved away a few feet. "Okay, now that that is settled. When do we start our little trip? Do you know what the weather is like? I bet it's freezing up there. Better go start packing, huh?" He was back to his cheery self, while Juliet was still standing at the same spot with a confused look on her face. Okay, Jules, just try to act normal as if nothing has happened. If he can do it I can do that, too! She told herself. "I…uh… upstairs…tell McNabb…uh…talk to you later." She stammered rushing out of the room so he couldn't see the giant blush that crept up her face.