LEGAL A/N: Psych and all characters belong to Steve Franks, Tagline Pictures, NBC Universal Television Studios, GEP Productions and USA Network.
6. The Most Dangerous Game
"All right," Shawn said as he rushed into Gus' office at Psych. "I got them." Gus sat at his desk as Shawn placed a printed list of Henry's former partners, along with several details about them, on the table.
Gus looked down at the extensive list. "Whoa," he scoffed. "Your dad sure had a lot of partners."
"Yeah," Shawn sneered. "Apparently, he wasn't the easiest person to work with. Can you imagine?"
"Where do we start?" Gus asked, overwhelmed.
"We've only got solid addresses for two," Shawn declared. "Toby Hooper and Elliot Craven." Gus nodded as he came to a stand and Shawn snatched the list up off the table. "We'll start at Hooper's first," Shawn ordered, "it's only about fifteen minutes from here."
"Should we call Juliet first?" Gus asked.
"We don't need their help right now," Shawn sternly declared as he marched towards the doorway. With a baffled expression, Gus followed him anxiously.
"Shawn," Gus reasoned, "can we just slow down for a second and talk about this?"
"Talk about what?" Shawn said with a monotone voice. He walked out of the doorway and headed for the car parked outside as Gus scrambled for the keys.
"Talk about what you're doing right now," Gus called out to Shawn as he locked the office door as quickly as he could. "You're jumping into this way too deep. You've never been so determined to solve a case before."
"Gus," Shawn sighed with frustration, "there's a serial killer out there."
"So? There's one every day. This isn't the first we've handled… Remember Hiltenbock?"
"What's your point?" Shawn said as he stood at the driver's door impatiently.
"I'm just saying," Gus explained as he walked from the door towards the car. "You can't let whatever feelings you have with your—"
"Gus, we really need to go," Shawn cut him off, reaching out his hand. "Keys," he said with a short tone. Gus sighed and tossed Shawn the keys with a wary feeling in his stomach.
About ten minutes later, just as the sun was setting behind the Santa Barbara coast, Shawn and Gus arrived at the residence of Toby Hooper. The two of them stopped in the driveway then noticed a pickup truck pulling in right behind them.
"Oh, no," Shawn sighed as he glanced into the rear view mirror. Both men jumped out of the Yaris as Shawn tried to ignore the angry shouts coming from the driver parked behind him.
"Shawn!" Henry snapped. "I'm warning you! Get out of here – you have no business."
"Back off, dad!" Shawn shouted across the front yard. Both Spencer men rushed up to the front door, bickering the whole way as Gus stood back with an inundated expression. He glanced up towards the sky with heavy eyes, then shook his head and followed the two crazy detectives up to the front porch.
"Stop acting like a baby!" Henry yelled as he knocked on the door.
"You can't tell me what to do!" Shawn barked.
"I suppose you'll act like a baby on your own, right?"
"Stop acting like you're the better cop!" Shawn declared as he rapped on the door as well.
"You're not even a cop!"
"Hey, they asked me to be on the case!"
"You're a liar!"
"Am not!"
"You guys!" Gus shouted. Henry and Shawn turned to him with an angered expression. "He's not answering," Gus observed with a worried look.
Henry and Shawn's anger vanished momentarily as they glanced at each other warily. Henry reached into his denim jacket and removed a pistol from its holster and cocked it. Shawn and Gus glanced down in slight surprise as Henry held the weapon defensively and leaned into the doorframe.
"Toby!" Henry shouted. "It's Henry Spencer. Come to the door!" After several seconds of silence, Henry reached for the doorknob and found it unlocked. He twisted it and pushed the door open, revealing an empty, dark foyer with a distant noise of screaming over the screeching of strings.
Henry leading them, the men entered the foyer cautiously as Shawn followed the noise of the tinny female screams. He stepped towards the living room, glancing in and confirming his suspicions. He turned back to Gus. "It's the movie."
The three of them moved quickly back into the foyer and down another hallway leading into the kitchen. Shawn, Henry and Gus froze in the doorway and glanced down at the tiled floor, assorted trick or treat candy spilled out across the tiles. In the center of the kitchen, a pale, lifeless man was sprawled out, lying face down against the floor.
They were too late again.
Gus sat on a couch inside the police station with a sickened, disappointed expression as he gazed down at the floor with heavy eyes. Outside, the darkness of night covered and strangled the police station. Another night had come. Another day had passed and they were no closer to solving the case.
Gus glanced up to see Jessica King step up to him carrying a cup of coffee. "I didn't know how you liked it," she sheepishly declared, holding the cup out to him.
"That's fine," he smiled with a grateful nod. He took a sip as Jessica sat down next to him.
"You're not really used to this kind of work, are you?" she noted sympathetically.
"Not in the slightest," Gus explained tiredly. "I'm not so sure I'm really cut out for it."
"Then why do it?"
Gus lifted his eyes off of the cup and glanced across the police station to his best friend who looked even more destroyed than Gus. Shawn sat in the bottom of a chair in front of Juliet's desk as he emotionlessly recounted his false account of having a psychic premonition that led him to Hooper's body. Nevertheless, he was unable to explain why, even with the psychic vision, he was still too late and still no closer to the killer.
"Every superhero needs a sidekick," Gus shrugged humbly.
"Superhero?" Jessica repeated with a smile.
With a frown, Gus explained, "Apparently, we're not very good ones." All the humor in his voice completely vanished as he added with a melancholy tone. "He had a wife, you know. Hooper had a family."
Jessica nodded with understanding. "One crime, many victims."
Shawn sat back in the chair with a tired expression on his face. Juliet looked up and couldn't help but feel sympathy for what was impossible to notice. "Shawn, I think we have everything we need here," Juliet declared. "You need to go home and get some rest."
"Rest," he said with a small scoff. "Sure."
"I'm serious," Juliet insisted. "You don't need to burn yourself out. Maybe your abilities aren't at top level because of your lack of energy. Did you ever think of that?"
Shawn glanced up at her with emotionless eyes which masked a small feeling of self-loathing. "Right," he nodded in agreement. "That must be it."
Juliet sighed, knowing that she was not getting to him at the moment. She leaned back in her chair as both of their attentions were pulled towards the raised voices in the chief's office. Lassiter stood with a man and a woman dressed in business suits, all of them standing having a heated discussion of some sort.
"Wait a second," Shawn observed, his humor at half-power, "I thought I was Lassiter's flogging boy. Since when does he start sharing the love?"
"Yep," Juliet sighed. "It looks like Lassiter has another reason to be mad." Lassiter yanked the door open and marched out into the main station with the straight-laced man and woman following.
"Detective O'Hara," he ordered, "I'd like you to hand all the information on the Cobra case over to Agents Marion Crane and Bret Ellis."
"Agents?" Shawn repeated.
"With the F.B.I.," Lassiter said through gritted teeth. "It seems that Kane Hodder escaped from prison a couple of weeks ago."
"What?" Juliet exclaimed.
"That would've been information vital to our case, sure," Lassiter declared as politely and spitefully as he could, "but it seems that it's a federal matter. Out of our jurisdiction. We're all off of the case." With that final announcement, Lassiter marched to the back with the two agents following in victory. Juliet and Shawn sat across from each other with blank expressions.
"The Cobra Killer is really back," Juliet sighed in defeat. "And now there's nothing we can do to stop him." She came to a frustrated stand and picked the files up off her desk, carrying them away.
Shawn watched her disappear with unmoving eyes as he stared down at the desk with a bitter feeling. A shadow formed over the desk as he glanced up and saw his father's silhouette against the ceiling lights.
"Did you hear the good news?" Shawn asked.
"Every word," Henry declared. The two of them were more or less alone in the conversation, everyone else being gone or preoccupied with other things. "This is the last time I'm gonna warn you, son," Henry added. "Get off this case now."
"Sorry, dad," Shawn said stubbornly as he calmly came to a stand. "The F.B.I. might not want any help from our beloved SBPD, but even they need psychics."
Across the room, Gus watched the scene with a worried expression with Jessica at his side, not being able to hear what was being said. "Your friend looks kind of upset," Jessica observed.
"Oh, uh," Gus tried to explain, "he's just… um, disappointed because he won't be able to throw his annual Halloween party."
"Really?" Jessica stated, staring at Shawn and Henry with a bewildered expression.
"Don't test me," Henry said, a sudden, sharp coldness forming in his voice. "Do the math, Shawn. There's a very angry man in the back who happens to be the current interim chief of this department and he's looking for something to cheer him up. Arresting a pain in his ass would be just the cure." Shawn stared at his father with brief confusion, but suddenly understood the depth of his warning. "You and I both know the truth about you and your little charade, Shawn, and I will tell your buddy Lassiter everything."
Jessica asked, watching from afar, "Are you sure they're arguing about a party?"
"Probably," Gus shrugged.
"Well, you can tell him that you're both welcome to come to my friend's Halloween party," Jessica offered. "Have you ever heard of the Montecito Mash?"
Gus' eyes lit up as he glanced over at Jessica. "You're kidding…"
"No, my friend Cristina Kubrick is throwing it," she explained. "You two are welcome to come if you have costumes."
Gus tried to contain the burst of excitement. "We'll be there," he blurted with a giant beam on his face. "You think Oprah will be there again?"
Back across the room, Shawn stared at Henry darkly as his father declared, "Back off or I'll tell him the truth."
Shawn stepped back, clenching his jaw with burning rage. He dared not make a scene or lash out or draw attention to the fact that he had been cornered. His father had outsmarted him once again.
Shawn glanced around, trying to control his anger, and leaned in calmly. "I just want to tell you one thing," he whispered to Henry. Their eyes met and Henry could not doubt the seriousness in Shawn's voice. "I hate you," Shawn declared.
Henry was still and silent, staring back at Shawn. His son backed away from him with a cold glare and turned away, marching out of the station. He dared not look at Shawn as he disappeared from view.
Gus watched Shawn storm away and knew everything had hit the fan again. "Uh, um…" Gus stuttered to Jessica. "Let-let me get back to you on a time and place. You've got my number. I…I… Later…" Gus jumped up out of his seat and ran after Shawn.