Chapter 3

"Now what, Shawn?" Gus asked as he opened the door to his car. He was quite disgruntled at the fact that when they had reached the front of the building, all of the Bluth Company employees had left. Including GOB, with whom they were still supposed to be meeting.

In fact, GOB had been the first one to leave, hopping on his Segway and heading to the pier for 'A GOB' (a double-dipped banana with everything on it. And 2 sticks) to soothe his frazzled nerves.

"How are we supposed to solve a case when we don't have anything to look at and our client doesn't seem to care?" Gus complained.

"Don't be a lazy eye, Gus," Shawn shot back. "We could go visit Lucille in her apartment, check out the banana stand, my personal favorite, or visit the model home."

Gus looked at Shawn with disbelief. "How did you possibly come up with all of those locations?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"No, Shawn, it's not," Gus sniped. "Some of us don't have years of observational training and photographic memories."

"Point taken," Shawn conceded. "First, there was a rent bill on GOB's desk for the Balboa Towers. Second, there was a picture of the banana stand on the wall in the office. Finally, we have this."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a brochure. On the front it proudly displayed a model home and the unfortunate name "Sudden Valley." The location of the unit, dubbed Residence Two, was listed on the back as 1 Lucille Lane and gave vague, incomplete and more or less useless directions to the housing development.

"Well, let's start with the banana stand, since it's the closest," Gus opined.

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When Shawn and Gus reached the banana stand, however, they were unable to ask anyone any questions. There was no one there. The stand was opened up like it had been operating earlier in the day, but there was no one inside. Chocolate was splattered all over the counter and banana peels were thrown haphazardly near the trash can. The lid to the freezer was wide open, showing the empty contents to anyone that looked inside. They could hear it running, but all that it appeared to be doing was wasting money.

"Well, this is disappointing," Shawn commented. "I was really looking forward to a frozen banana."

Gus just shook his head and headed back towards the car.

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At the guard gate for Balboa Towers, Gus told the man that they were there to see Lucille Bluth. After a call to her apartment, they were allowed in and told where to go.

Shawn rang the doorbell when they got to her apartment a few minutes later. A short Mexican woman opened the door. Shawn and Gus glanced at each other in surprise as she rushed past them without saying a word.

"Lupe, don't forget to pack my jewelry!" a woman's voice bellowed, filling the apartment.

"Hello?" Shawn called as he took a few steps forward into the living room.

"Oh, good, you're here," the woman said as she walked out of the bedroom. She patted Gus on the cheek. "Now, be a good boy and carry my luggage downstairs."

"I am not a bellboy!" Gus snapped.

"If you do a good job, I might give you a nice, shiny quarter!" she said, ignoring his protest and giving an exaggerated wink.

Gus scoffed at her offer, but before he could speak again, Shawn interrupted. "I'm sorry, there must be a misunderstanding. I'm Shawn Spencer and this is my partner, Fudge Custard."

"I don't care what your name is. I need my bags downstairs so I can flee the country. Now!" she hollered.

Shawn turned to his partner as he put his thumb and finger to his temple. "I'm sensing she's already drunk enough booze this morning to float a small navy."

Suddenly, Lucille stopped. "Wait, you're that psycho that GOB hired, aren't you?"

"Psychic, Mrs. Bluth," Shawn corrected. "Psychic detective, in fact, and I've got a few questions for you."

"I don't have time for questions! I have to go before they find out I'm planning to leave and throw me into prison. I can't live on Pruno!" she whined.

"We can't help you escape from your likely upcoming prison sentence," Gus stated coldly. "And quite frankly, even if we could, I don't want to help you escape."

"Let's see, where should I go?" Lucille mumbled as she walked past them and towards the kitchen, completely ignoring the pair again. "The house in Cabo is out because they'll extradite me. Maybe I can use one of Saddam's mini palaces. He's obviously not using them anymore…"

"Dude, she may be crazier than my dad!" Shawn whispered to his partner.

Gus nodded. "Come on, Shawn. Let's go before she comes back and tries to make us to do something else demeaning or illegal."

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Posted 2016-04-06