MONDAY

Carlton and Juliet awoke to a call on his phone from Chief Vick at around 6 AM.

"Sorry to interrupt your time off, but I need you. There's been a death at St. Attalus Church and School. White female; late teens; no witnesses. Father Westley will meet you in front of the scene along with Officer McNab."

"Thank you, Chief," Carlton answered.

Juliet knocked on the door to the guest bedroom soon after when the two detectives were just getting ready to head out.

"The door is unlocked," Maryanne called.

"Hey, Mom. We got called in on a case, so we have to go. Will you be alright today?"

Maryanne laughed. "Of course we will, honey. We were planning to go kayaking at some point, and today works as well as any. We'll see you later."

Juliet walked in to give her mom a kiss on the cheek, then the detectives hopped in Carlton's car and headed to the scene.

The two detectives walked over and began to talk with the priests in charge of the school. Of course, they didn't get far before Father Westley turned and pointed to none other than Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster.

He turned back to the conversation as Father Westley walked away, but quickly realized they needed the older man. He walked over to the other three men.

"If you two don't mind, we're asking the questions."

"If one of them is 'Do the female students wear Catholic school girl uniforms?'" He turned to look at Carlton. "The answer to that is 'No.'"

"Stay. Father." He gestured to Father Westley to return to where they were conversing earlier.

"What else can you tell us about the deceased?" Juliet asked.

"Agatha was a model student," the younger priest began. "Hard-working, well-liked, outgoing. Then about three weeks ago," he looked toward Lassiter, "Something changed. She became extremely short tempered, emotionally unstable. Almost manic. None of us knew what it was."

Shawn came up behind Carlton and touched his left ear. Carlton scratched it.

"There was no history of mental illness," the priest continued as Shawn touched Carlton's right ear, "And her friends say she never touched drugs or alcohol."

Carlton looked behind him, but Shawn was trying to act innocent.

"Was she a fan of the game Grand Theft Auto?" Shawn looked down, then back up. "I know when I play, I become raving mad; foaming at the mouth."

"I had to taser him once," Gus added.

"Which I still feel was excessive," Shawn responded, looking over at his best friend.

"St. Attalus doesn't allow video games," the younger priest clarified, looking at Juliet for some reason.

"They don't allow Catholic school girl uniforms, either," Shawn added sadly.

"Will you let that go?"

"No, I will not," Shawn answered Gus as he turned more toward him.

"Will you two stop it?" Carlton asked through clenched teeth. "Excuse us for a moment, would you?" He reached out and went to put a hand on Juliet's back, then remembered their surroundings. "Detective…"

"Mm-hmm?"

"You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think she was-"

"You're wrong," Shawn interrupted. "I'm sorry, I jumped the gun on that. Please continue."

"I think she was murdered."

"Are you finished?"

"Yes."

"You're wrong. My senses are telling me that this girl committed suicide."

"Well you can tell your senses to kiss my sweet-" Carlton saw a nun walking by. "Love… biscuits?"

Gus looked at the nun, then back at him. "I don't know if you made that any less offensive."

Juliet jumped in to save her partner. "Look, you have to admit there's something weird here. I mean, a girl like Agatha doesn't just randomly go nuts and kill herself. There has to be an explanation."

"I have one," Father Westley piped up.

"Now is not the time Peter," the younger priest admonished.

"No, no. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear what he has to say," Carlton told them.

The two priests walked over. "She was possessed."

Carlton silently considered the man, then nodded slightly.

Shawn whispered something about video games to Gus while Carlton and Juliet exchanged looks.

"So let me get this straight. You think that she was possessed? As in floating above the bed, head spinning, pukes up on the wall, that sort of thing?"

Father Westley disagreed with the detective. "That's the Hollywood version. The real life signs of possession are often more subtle than that."

Gus added, "Though there have been some reports of levitations in exorcism."

"That's true."

The younger priest piped up with, "You'll have to forgive Father Westley, he comes from an era of the church where such beliefs were more widely accepted. Today the majority of us view the concept of demonic possession to be a little far-fetched. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a lecture. Father, you should come as well."

Father Westley turned to Gus. "I'm speaking the truth, Gus; you have to believe me. I don't arrive at such conclusions easily."

"Father Westley," the younger priest called.

"Yes," he responded as he turned.

Carlton's phone rang. "Lassiter."

Juliet got a chill as she thought about the case.

"You have a little shiver over there, Jules?"

"No, It's all this talk of devil and possession. I don't scare easily, but that stuff makes me shake in my boots."

Carlton noticed her talking to gel-head and company, and he decided this would be a great time to interrupt, even if with words he would rather not speak.

"I'm talking to Vick, she wants to know if you two dopes are on the case."

Shawn began, "Well, Lassie, my friend, I'm afraid the answer is a big fat-"

Yes!

"Yes," Gus interrupted.

No!

"And by yes, he means-"

Yes!

"Absolutely."

No!

"May I speak with you in the 'stop openly contradicting me' room, please?"

Gus looked at Lassiter. "You can tell her we'll take it."

"Karen, they're on the case. Are you sure we need them, though?"

Juliet chuckled as she laid a hand on his arm.

"Can do, Chief."

He hung up and looked at her.

"We're solving this case. No way in hell is Spencer one-upping us this time."

A nun shot him a very harsh look, and he bowed his head and led Juliet away from the scene.

A few hours later, Carlton and Juliet found themselves having lunch at Mony's again.

When they got back to work, it was a boring afternoon of conducting research and doing reports.

Juliet did find a clue in the form of a boyfriend named Cameron, and they scheduled a meeting at his apartment near the church for 11:30 AM the next day.

For dinner, they took Juliet's parents to Alcazar Tapas Bar.

With stomachs full of tacos, the group settled in for the last night Juliet's parents would be in town for a short while.

TUESDAY

Juliet's parents headed out to the three-day convention early the next morning.

"Make sure you stop at Vegan Mario's. The food is amazing, and it's on the way to the convention. It's technically Oak View, but it's worth the extra few minutes of driving. I'll send you the address," Carlton suggested as they hugged the older couple.

"Thank you, Carlton, we will," Maryanne answered with a smile as she shut the passenger door.

Once her parents were out of sight, Carlton and Juliet hopped in his car to go to their meeting on the other side of town.

Carlton knocked on the door. "Cameron, open up. SBPD."

The door opened to revealed a kid with pierced ears that somewhat resembled Buzz McNab.

"We called yesterday?"

He nodded at Juliet. "Come on in. Is this about Agatha?"

The detectives nodded.

"We need to ask you some questions," Carlton requested, gesturing toward a chair.

He nodded and sat.

"Uh, what was her major?"

"It's Christian Studies."

"Christian Studies," Juliet repeated as she wrote it down.

The door opened, and Shawn and Gus walked in. "Unbelievable. Lassie has now beaten us to a suspect. I'm afraid history will not look too kindly on your tenure as lead investigator."

Carlton and Juliet looked at each other, both thinking, "led investigator?"

Gus hit Shawn, but Shawn kept walking. "Hey, kids, what did we miss?"

Juliet gestured to the boy next to her. "This is Agatha's ex-boyfriend."

"Let me guess," Shawn started with a finger to the side of his head, "Your name is Cameron."

"That's right," the boy replied.

Juliet looked annoyed.

"You guys broke up two days ago," Shawn continued.

"Wow."

"And you weigh a solid 225."

Cameron looked slightly less amazed. "You're about 50 pounds off."

"I got greedy," Shawn told Gus.

"Gosh, I'm sorry to hear about the breakup," Carlton told the kid, looking anything but sorry. "Those can be tough."

Juliet wondered where he was headed with this.

"Let me guess, you dumped her, but she wouldn't accept it?"

Seemed plausible, and Juliet looked to the kid for confirmation.

Cameron shook his head. "No, Agatha was the one that broke up with me."

Juliet wrote this down.

"I was willing to make it work."

Juliet looked back up at the kid. "Where were you last night when she jumped?"

He looked away from the harsh gaze of Carlton Lassiter. "I was in the desert at burning man."

"I hope you can prove that, buddy."

Juliet write down the alibi, then looked up at Lassiter with a look that he knew meant, "Innocent until proven guilty, Carlton."

Shawn stared at something in the room. "Well, it looks like you guys got this one covered. Gus and I are going to throw back a couple shots and hit the confessional booth."

Carlton and Juliet looked at each other in confusion, then looked back at Cameron.

"We'll be in touch after we check out your alibi," Carlton told the younger man.

With that, they turned and walked out the door.

At the station:

As Juliet was walking to her desk, she noticed Shawn leaning up against a pillar.

"Still think she was possessed, Shawn?"

She picked up the file and began to read it.

Shawn sighed, "There has to be an explanation for why Agatha was acting nuts. Tell me you have something there."

She shook her head. "I wish we did. Her toxicology report just came back negative."

Shawn snatched the file, and she tried not to look annoyed.

"Whoa."

"Are you getting a premonition?"

He looked at her. "No, just a head rush. Happens to me quite a bit when I'm sleep deprived."

She could no longer hide her annoyance.

"Spencer," Carlton greeted as he approached, "You're wrong about this one. That girl was murdered."

"I'm afraid that's not humanly possible," Shawn replied.

"And how come?" Carlton asked, crossing his arms.

"First, because you think she was murdered."

"Well, I guess we'll see."

"Yeah, we will see."

"Yeah, we'll see."

"I just said that."

"No, I said it-"

"Boys," Juliet interrupted, looking moreso at the supposed-adult she'd been spending all her time with.

Carlton walked away, and Juliet rolled her eyes.

"So, if she had any drug of any kind in her system, it would show up on this report?"

She looked at the report, then back at him. "No"

He looked confused. "No?"

"No, just the ones they test for. The standard narcotics and a handful of others, why? Do you have a specific drug in mind?"

He considered this. "Not yet."

With that, he handed her the folder and frolicked away.

"That was weird," she commented to herself.

That night, since Juliet's parents were out of town, Carlton decided to go home. He cooked himself a frozen meal from the microwave, settled in with some COPS, and headed to bed around ten. He found, however, that he couldn't sleep.

At 1:23 AM, he gave up and called Juliet.

"You couldn't sleep either?" she asked when she picked up the phone.

He sighed. "No."

A brief pause occurred, then Juliet spoke. "Well, you could, I mean if you wanted to, come over?"

He sighed again. "I hate to be a burden, and-"

"I never mind having you around, Carlton, and this week has been amazing. Do you want to come over?"

"I- yeah."

She smiled, "Then I'll see you soon."

When he arrived at Juliet's, he was met with a great big hug.

"Is it weird that I missed having you around? Even though I was just with you not eight hours ago?"

He laughed slightly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "No, because I missed you, too."

She smiled brightly at him and hugged him again. "Okay, so I'm gonna take a chance here because I feel like I may not be alone in this."

"What is it, Juliet?"

"Do you think maybe we could try the dating thing for real?"

His smile could have brightened the blackest night, but dropped. "Are you sure? I mean really sure? Because I don't do halfway, Juliet."

She laughed, then kissed him. "Does that answer your question?"

He smiled. "Definitely."

She grabbed his hand and led him away. "Then let's go to bed, Carlton."

WEDNESDAY

The next morning, Shawn called to tell them that he had a vision involving Father Westley, Agatha, and drugs. They immediately ran a new battery of tests to check for more obscure drugs that an old man might take.

Juliet looked up the kinds of medicines that could cause someone to lose it enough to commit suicide, while Carlton looked at the medicines Father Westley regularly took and the medicines in Agatha's system. They found a match in the form of L-Dopa, a Parkinson's medication that Father Westley took daily.

"Time to bring him in," Carlton stated.

They got to the church and went right over to Father Westley.

Carlton put cuffs on him without malice, then read him his rights.

When they left the church, Shawn and Gus were standing right outside.

Juliet received a phone call from Shawn just as she and Carlton were finishing up with lunch.

"Carlton, Shawn had a vision and he says he solved the case."

He nodded and grabbed his keys. "Where to?"

Shawn and Gus were waiting outside when they arrived, and the foursome walked to Cameron's room together.

Shawn knocked on the door. "What up?"

"Hello, Cameron," Gus greeted.

"Hey, guys. What are you doing here?"

"Unfortunately, we're here to tell you that you are under arrest for possession of an illegal hot plate."

Carlton rolled his eyes.

Cameron looked at Shawn in confusion. "What?"

"Just messing with you, man. We were in the neighborhood. We thought we'd come by and say hey," Shawn replied as they all walked in.

"Uh…"

Gus took in the two glasses of wine. "Are we interrupting something?"

"Well, actually-"

"Cam?" Lucy interrupted.

"Whoa," Gus said as Shawn whistled.

Carlton and Juliet looked at each other.

"What's going on?" Lucy asked.

"Put a sock on the door next time," Gus scolded.

Cameron tried to cover by saying, "Lucy and I were just comforting each other."

"Is that what the church is calling it these days?"

"You wanna tell us what's going on, Shawn?" Juliet requested.

"I know who was drugging Agatha, and it wasn't Father Westley."

"You don't think it was me, do you?" Cameron asked.

Shawn looked over at Carlton. "What do you think, Lassie?"

"Absolutely."

"Great, now I know for sure that it was…" He pointed at the young couple. "Lucy."

The detectives both looked at him in annoyance.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Come on. Admit it," Shawn admonished. "You wanted Cam the whole time that he and Agatha were together."

She shook her head. "No, no, no. That's so not true."

"Yeah, Lucy and I have always just been friends," Cameron supported.

"Oh, Cam, don't be so naive. Men and women can't be friends."

"When Harry Met Sally taught us that," Gus pointed out.

"It also taught us that women often fake orgasms," Shawn added.

Shawn looked over at Juliet.

Carlton also looked at Juliet, and she looked back at him. She gave him a half-shrug that he knew full-well the meaning of, then gestured back to the proceedings.

Shawn kept talking. "Lucy, you wanted him badly. So badly that it was filling you with guilt. So much guilt that you had to go and confess to someone in order to get it off your chest, isn't that right?"

"Did Father Westley tell you about that?"

"No, you just did."

"I know how this movie ends," Juliet spoke.

"Yep, she desperately wanted them to break up. So she stole Father Westley's medication and secretly gave it to Agatha in hopes that the poor girl would act so crazy that Cameron would dump her."

Gus picked up where Shawn left off. "But Agatha ended up dumping him, but that didn't matter. Because Lucy got what Lucy wanted. But there was a problem. The medication made Agatha too crazy."

"And then Lucy was trapped. 'Cause it was only a matter of time before someone uncovered your little plan."

"Then she overheard Father Westley's proclamation. And she figured she had the perfect thing to throw us off the trail."

"But props to you for your performance as a possessed girl. Linda Blair would be proud. And now you can do your best impression of her in Chained Heat."

"And?"

"Red Heat."

"Right."

"Two prison movies!"

Both began to make gun noises and gestures.

"Is this true?" Cameron queried. "Lucy?"

"No, no, I never meant to hurt her, honest. I just-I just knew that she wasn't right for you."

Carlton pulled the cuffs out of his back pocket and handed them to Juliet.

Juliet walked over and cuffed her. "Let's go."

She read the girl her rights as she and Carlton walked out the door.

Thursday and Friday were composed purely of working and reports. Nothing too interesting happened. A few petty larcenies and a domestic dispute were the highlights of the two days. On Friday evening, after a quick trip into the Chief's office to explain the new state of their relationship - she wasn't surprised - the two headed out to the Farmer's Market to pick up supplies.

When Juliet's parents pulled up at around seven that night, Carlton and Juliet met them with fresh and piping hot burgers.

Okay, so hopefully this makes up for the length of the last chapter and the long time in between. The next chapter will be the last, and it will be composed of the last two days as well as an epilogue. Thank you for sticking with me through this whole journey, and thank you for bearing with me as I deal with my crazy life. I love every single one of you!