The next day, when Shawn and Gus arrived at the office around nine, Susie was sitting on the couch, awake and alert. She was dressed in a baggy hoodie and jeans. She had no make-up on, and her hair was pulled back in a plain tail. This was quite a difference from last night's outfit. As soon as the two men came into her view, Susie jumped up.
"Shawn," she said. "I've… been thinking. Can we drop Skyler's case?"
"Drop the case?" asked Shawn. "Why?"
"If the band's losing popularity, they probably won't have much money. And since you're not a non-profit kinda guy…."
"As right as you are, the Chief will pay us on this one with money from the state since we're working along side them." Shawn said walking through to the kitchen to get some coffee that Susie made for him.
"Then let them handle the case!"
Shawn turned and looked at Susie. She looked small and a little scared, standing there in the middle of the office.
"Susie," he said, pouring the dark brown liquid into a mug. "Why are you against this case all of a sudden?"
"No reason, I just--"
"Are you sick?" asked Shawn, coming and placing a hand on Susie's forehead. "Gus, come feel her forehead."
"Shawn, I'm not sick," Susie said. "I just don't like the case."
"Don't worry, Suze," Shawn said, taking a sip of coffee. "Everything's going to be fine."
Shawn's cell phone went off in his pocket. He got it out and flipped it open. "Hello?"
"Shawn, we need you down here," said Juliet. "We've got something big."
"Where are you?"
"About one and a half miles from the ramp to the highway," Juliet said. Shawn could hear police sirens in the background. "And bring Susie."
"Susie?" Shawn asked. "Why?"
"Lassiter and the Chief want her here."
"Um, okay," said Shawn. "We'll be there in a few minutes."
"Who was that?" asked Gus as Shawn hung up.
"That was Jules," Shawn said, making his way for the door. "We've got to go."
"Why do they want me?" asked Susie.
"I don't know," Shawn said. "But there's one way to find out."
Minutes later, the little blue car pulled up to the yellow police caution tape barricades. Ducking under, Shawn, Susie and Gus looked around for Jules, Lassiter and the Chief.
Juliet saw them and ran up. "Thank God you're here." she said.
"Jules, what's going on?" asked Shawn.
Before she could answer, a red sports car with a rather large dent in the hood pulled up. Out of the car came Skyler. As he ducked under the police tape, Susie took a step closer to Shawn, so she was half-hidden by him.
"What's going on?" asked Skyler.
"What happened to your car?" asked Gus.
Skyler looked back. "Oh, I uh, hit a deer last night."
"Hm," said Shawn. "You must have hit one of the rare pole-shaped deer."
"O'Hara!" called Lassiter. "What's taking so long?!"
"This way," Juliet said, leading the four to where Lassie and the Chief stood. "We were called here by a passer-by about an hour ago,"
The group stopped in front of a car that was even more banged up than Skyler's in front of the tree line. It was black, with a crumpled hood and deployed air bags. Inside, Shawn could see a body of a male. A young male.
"This is one bad car wreck," said Gus.
"It wasn't a wreck," said Shawn, who had noticed there were no skid marks on the road, which wrecks usually have a plethora of.
"It was a suicide." said Juliet.
"So, why are we here?" asked Skyler.
"Because we found his license. It turns out that this is Billie Crenshaw."
This put a new light on things. "Aw, man," Skyler said. "Are you serious?"
"So, why'd you have us bring Susie?" asked Shawn.
"Because we found Billie's suicide note," said Lassiter, holding up an evidence bag with a piece of paper in it.
"So?" asked Shawn. "What, you want to show her what one looks like or something?"
Lassiter cleared his throat and began to read. "To the World- I'm sorry. My life sucks and I can't take it anymore. I've been told I might as well be dead. So, I'm doing just that. I'm going to be dead. I'm sorry Mom. I'm sorry Dad--"
"Wow," said Shawn. "This is good stuff. I can really feel the emotion. It's not going for a Pulitzer or anything, but--"
Lassiter glanced up and cut Shawn off short. "And to the members of Baby Fall Off the Stage, I'm especially sorry. But Skyler, your little friend Susie was right. Our band is screwed up. And maybe you should get a new drummer. Or just break up. Whatever the case, I've made it easier on you. You now have one less person to deal with. The fate of the band is up to you. just do one thing for me- tell her she was right. Tell Susie she was right. –Billie."
The group stood, speechless. Susie had gone pale and her eyes were wide open, staring at the ground. Each time Lassiter read her name, she dug her nails into her palm.
"This doesn't make sense," said Shawn. "How did Susie's name get into a suicide letter from a kid she's never even met?"
"You sick son of a bitch," whispered Susie.
"Excuse me?" asked Shawn, looking at her. But she didn't look back at him. She looked behind her. Then she took off at a sprint.
"Jesus, she's leaving another crime scene." said Lassiter. "Spencer, keep her on a leash or something."
Shawn looked behind him. what he saw was very strange. Susie was chasing after Skyler, who had somehow slipped away while Lassiter was reading the note. Shawn and Gus took after her, and Lassie, Jules and the Chief took after them.
Susie caught up with Skyler just as he reached the tape. Susie jumped and knocked Skyler down. He rolled over and she pinned him.
"Susie," he said. "If I'd known you liked to be on top, I'd have done that last night."
Susie punched him in the throat, not hard enough to do any permanent damage, but hard enough to leave him choking. "You bastard," she said as the adults approached. "You used us. You knew where Billie was the whole time."
"Suze," Shawn said, approaching her.
"Is this true?" asked the Chief.
Skyler, still coughing, shook his head.
"Of course it is!" said Susie, getting off Skyler, but leaving her foot on his wrist so he couldn't get up without doing damage to himself. "He knew where Billie was. he told him what I said last night. That's how my name was in the note."
"But why?" asked Juliet.
"Because they needed the press," said Shawn. "The band was losing fans at a fast pace. He had to figure something out to get the, in everyone's minds. So he hid Billie somewhere and convinced the rest of the band that he had just 'disappeared' again. And then he went out to find a detective that got lots of press coverage." Shawn looked at Lassiter. "That would be me."
"Spencer--"
"So he came up with the idea that the detective could magically find the missing drummer right before a gig. It'd be in the paper, and people would come to the show, to see the newly found drummer."
"So, how'd Susie's name get in Billie's note? Twice?" asked the Chief.
"He must have blabbed to Billie about her. I don't know why, but--"
"It's because he was drunk," said Susie. "That's why Skyler's car is banged up. He was driving drunk."
"I was not," said Skyler, his voice cracking.
"Shut up," said Susie. "Detective Lassiter, please take him away."
"For what?" asked Lassiter. "It was a suicide."
"How can you be sure until you run the handwriting of the note? Skyler could have easily done this."
"I don't think so," Lassiter said. "I've seen this before. It's a suicide."
"But what about that chain of 'suicides' that actually turned out to be murders?" asked Gus.
Lassiter grumbled. "Still," he said. "We can't hold him until we have evidence. Forensics is still combing the car. Skyler's innocent until proven guilty."
"What about lying to an officer of the law?" asked Susie. "He told you he didn't know where Billie was…."
"We can't give him much time for that--"
"Lassie, it ended in a guy's death!" said Shawn. "At least take him away in cuffs for questioning."
"Fine," said the head detective, agreeing under the pressure from the looks that he was receiving from Jules and the Chief. He walked over to Susie and Skyler. Susie stepped away and Lassiter put his cuffs on Skyler.
"Damn, bitch," said Skyler as Lassie pulled him off the ground. "You weigh a ton. If last night had gone the way it should have, you'd be a few pounds lighter."
'Really?' thought Susie. 'That's the best you can come up with?' "Detective Lassiter, when you get to the station, you might want to test our little rock-star for drugs."
Skyler's eyes grew wide as Lassiter dragged him away to a squad car. Juliet followed after him.
"That was weird," Shawn said. He turned to Susie. "What happened last night?"
"Nothing," said Susie, who walked under the police tape and towards the car. Shawn and Gus followed.
"So, can I assume that what Sky said was a slightly more polite version of the famous quote from 'Showgirls'?" asked Shawn, getting in the car.
"You know what happens when you assume," said Susie.
"Yeah," said Shawn as Gus started the car. "Suze, I'm really sorry you had to see all of this at your young, vulnerable age."
"Like I haven't seen it a million times before on T.V."
"Still. It's always more devastating in person," said Gus.
Susie looked out the window. "Yeah," she said. "I guess you're right."
