A few hours after Gus left for work, Shawn decided he had watched enough reruns and braved the rainy afternoon to head to the station. He at least was going to pick up his check and get a snicker's bar. If Gus had bothered to come with him, maybe they would have gotten a twix bar and split it.
"Good morning Lassie!" Shawn greeted the head detective. Lassiter was standing at the front desk signing some paperwork.
He rolled his eyes and turned to face the psychic. "Not today Spencer, just no."
"Lassifrass, all I did was come here to pick up my check." Shawn reassured the detective. The older man was definitely in a more pissed off mood than usual. "The spirits are telling me something is wrong." Shawn furrowed his brow in concentration. Nothing about the detective himself seemed out of place. His hair wasn't as horrible as it had been, his ties were getting less ugly, and his suits still plain.
"Spencer, I'm not in the mood for your spiritual bull crap today." Lassiter snapped at him. "Just leave, take Guster with you and go do those ridiculous shenanigans somewhere else." With that he left for his own desk.
Shawn stuck his tongue out at the detective's retreating back. "Oh yeah! Well Gus isn't here today!" He shouted, "Who looks stupid now? You do." He froze as he realized the entire station was watching him. He ducked his head and went over to Jules' desk. She would be easier to glean case information from then Lassiter.
"Not today, Shawn." Juliet reiterated Lassiter's objections as she stacked files on her desk. "It's Friday and we all want to get done as soon as possible so we can head home for the weekend." Shawn pretended to stretch so he could get a look at the file Juliet had open in front of her.
"I can sense you're struggling to find a car thief." Shawn used his distant sounding voice, which usually made the 'vision' more believable.
"Seriously Shawn, Lassiter is on a war path if he sees you goofing off around here he'll throw you out or shoot you." Juliet's tone was clipped.
Shawn followed her as she headed to the file room to put away some of the folders. "Jules c'mon I just need something to do while Gus is away."
"The department isn't here for your entertainment, Spencer," Lassiter's irritated voice snapped. He had come over when he saw Shawn hovering around Juliet. "I thought I told you to scram. Now get out before I have McNab escort you out." Lassiter started to raise his hand to wave the younger cop over.
"No, it's alright, Lassie." Shawn held up his hands to appease the irate detective. "I'll get out of your hair, which looks good today." He headed for the door before Lassiter could yell at him for giving a compliment. He had made it out the door and down to his bike when McNab came rushing out of the station.
"Shawn!" The rookie was out of breath. "Shawn, a call just came into dispatch. A blue Toyota echo hit a light pole down at 16th and Lane." Shawn wasn't sure if McNab said anything after that. He wasn't sure if Lassiter and Juliet had known about the crash. All Shawn was sure of is that he was going to get to 16th and Lane as quickly as possible.
Shawn didn't head back to his apartment after leaving the hospital. He went to the psych office. He needed to figure out what had happened. Gus was a good driver and even though it had been raining there's no way he should have driven off the road and hit that lamp post. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Something at the accident scene hadn't sat right with him, but he couldn't focus on it. Not with Gus hurt and in the hospital. Shawn tried to clear his thoughts. He sorted through the mental pictures of the crash, skipping the ones with Gus in them. He couldn't look at those just yet. There had been something in the car, something that didn't belong.
Shawn had gotten to the scene just after the fire fighters and ambulance did. Within three minutes Lassiter and O'Hara had pulled up as well. The fire fighters had needed to use the Jaws of Life to extract Gus from the driver's side. That's where the car had smashed into the light pole. It hadn't been a skinny metal light pole like you had in downtown. It had been a giant wooden tree of a light pole in the rural area surrounding Santa Barbara.
"Gus! Gus!" Shawn remembered yelling a lot as he turned off his bike and started running for the smashed car.
"Spencer! It isn't safe," Lassiter came rushing up behind him, grabbed the back of the younger man's jacket and wrapped an arm around his chest to hold him back. The rain was still pelting down getting everyone at the scene soaking wet. Shawn pulled away from the detective. The passenger side was facing the street and Shawn could see the door had come open in the crash. The fire fighters had gotten Gus out and the EMTs were stabilizing him as they put him in the ambulance.
Juliet had made Shawn go to the hospital with Gus and that's where he had been until the nurse kicked him out that night. The first night he had spent in the ER waiting for the doctors to tell him anything about Gus. Gus' parents were on vacation in the Bahamas and Joy was working in Milan. Shawn could hear the disappointment in their voices when he had called them from the ER. He could tell they blamed him for what had happened to Gus.
"Gus never drove above 55 before he started on these psychic shenanigans with you." Is what Gus' dad had yelled at Shawn over the phone before hanging up.
Shawn jerked awake out of a fitful sleep. He glanced at the clock and groaned when he realized it was only four in the morning. He slowly stretched the kink out of his neck. The desk chairs he had bought off Craig's List were not ergonomical as they had been advertised.
There were a bunch of messages on the office phone. Shawn had put the office phone on silent after he'd gotten back. Right now he didn't feel like talking to anyone. He had hoped there would be messages from Jules or even Lassie with more information about the case, but the twelve messages were all from his dad. They all contained the same basic request; for Shawn to charge his phone and to call him back.
As soon as it was light, Shawn was out at the accident scene. The police had collected evidence, taken pictures and then the accident site had been cleared. As the cars zoomed by on the road Shawn stood by the tree and looked around. It just didn't add up. Even if Gus had been going fast, this was a perfectly straight stretch of road, he hadn't over corrected to compensate for a curve, he had just veered across the double yellow line and hit the tree straight on. Shawn shivered.
He narrowed his eyes at the pavement and then pulled out his cell to call Juliet. Shawn sighed when he was met again with the blank screen. He'd completely forgotten to charge his phone again.
The blueberry was at the police impound. It was probably totaled. Gus would be crushed. The little blue car had held up so well during their crazy cases, and had even survived Shawn pimping it out a few years ago. Shawn could hear Gus' voice in his head: That is a company car, Shawn. I need it for work. Yeah, Gus was going to crushed when Shawn told him.
Shawn maneuvered his motorcycle into traffic and headed for two places; the hospital and the station. The hospital first.