So sorry about the delay guys. Between the surgery, school starting up again, and my roommate wanting to marathon season one of Prison Break I have been kinda busy. (really, its all my roommates fault;) )And then I got my other friend addicted to Psych...so I was rewatching Psych with her...I've been very unproductive ok!
January. 2012.
"I got it Gus!" Shawn jumped up and down excitedly. "I'll take Juliet up in a hot air balloon and propose to her over Santa Barbara." Sirens wailed loudly behind them.
Gus frowned. "And what happens if you drop the ring?"
Shawn's face fell. "That would be a problem," he admitted. With a dejected sigh he slid under the crime scene tape and headed towards the East National Bank.
They jogged up the steps of the bank and latest crime scene. "Well what about-Jules!" Shawn plastered an innocent grin over his face as his girlfriend approached. Juliet cocked an eyebrow.
"Hi Shawn," she grinned and watched as the two best friends exchanged not so secret glances at each other. "What's going on?" she asked sweetly, smirking at her oh-so-obviously-up-to-something-boyfriend.
Shawn snapped his mouth shut. He swallowed and smiled casually, "I was just about to ask you the same thing Jules," he gestured towards the bank.
Juliet's face turned grim, "Bank robbery. Five robbers came in, took $50,000, shot and killed the bank manager…then managed to get away. Wait-did the Chief call you in? I thought you were working the home invasions in Romero Park?"
"Oh that's solved. It was the head of the neighborhood watch committee," Shawn shrugged, much more fascinated by this new case, even though they hadn't 'officially' been called in on it yet; he loved his police scanner. It was so useful for dropping in on crime scenes without an invitation.
He pursed his lips as he considered Jules's words. Fifty thousand was a pretty small amount of money to steal from a bank. He glanced down the street. Three armored cars were parked outside. Which meant that money was being transferred to or from the bank right before-or as-the robbery had happened. There was more money vulnerably sitting outside the bank then what the robbers made off with. They easily could have taken more without even stepping foot inside the bank. Heck, they could have taken the money from the armored cars as they left.
The trio made their way inside the building. Black and whites were taking witness statements while forensics guys were snapping pictures of the dead bank manager and trying to collect forensic evidence.
The bank manager was a short balding man in his fifties. He was slumped against a blood stained wall. Shawn counted five bullet wounds in his chest. Shawn pursed his lips. That seemed way too excessive for a random killing-especially at such short range.
The fake psychic put his hand to his head, "I am sensing that this was about more than just money," he said cryptically.
"You're right Spencer," Lassiter glared as he strode towards the psychic, "It was about a lot of money," he glanced back at the crime scene, "Unfortunately when they heard the police sirens they panicked, shot the bank manager and left before he'd had a chance to let them into the vault," Lassiter smiled sarcastically at the consultants. "This is a bank robbery, not the Thomas Crown affair. We can handle it on our own."
Shawn grinned, about to retort and comment on his amazement that Lassiter had made a movie reference when another voice joined the conversation. "Actually, you won't be handling this case at all Detective," a surly, well groomed man in a black suit said as he waltz up to them. "Edward Summers, DEA," he produced his badge.
Shawn pursed his lips, "Really? If you're going to make up a secret government agency at least give it a better name than that," he huffed.
Juliet closed her eyes. Sometimes Shawn was painfully unaware, "The DEA is the Drug Enforcement Administration Shawn," she explained slowly.
Shawn grinned and winked at her. Juliet rolled her eyes and managed to fight off the smile that threatened the corners of her lips; her boyfriend knew what the DEA was, he just loved being infuriating more than he loved sounding intelligent.
Lassiter bristled. "Why is the DEA getting involved?" he asked, brushing his hand against his jacket casually, revealing his holstered gun. The DEA didn't impress him and he didn't need them hampering his investigation.
Summers smiled suavely, "Martin Welsh, you're dead bank manager, has been a person of interest to us for some time. We believe he has ties to Jack Moretti."
"The Moretti family? As in the mob?" Juliet crossed her arms, unable to stop her eyes from darting quickly to Shawn. Her boyfriend looked delighted by this new revelation. She glared at him openly until he managed to wipe the gigantic grin off of his face. Even after being shot and learning that a serial killer had stalked him his entire life, Shawn still managed to see every new case as a fun game or puzzle to solve and not as something that could get him hurt, arrested, or killed.
"Indeed. We believe he managed their finances," Summers agreed, brushing dust off the shoulder of his impeccable suit.
Much to Juliet's horror, this information seemed to excite Lassiter as well, "You think it was a rival mob hit?" she could almost see the cogs turning in her partners eyes. Lassiter had been dying to shoot somebody all week-mobsters would be the perfect source to work out his aggression on.
Summers scratched his chin, "Not exactly. We have reason to suspect that Welsh was skimming money from the Moretti's for months. The DEA believes that Jack Moretti found out and order a hit on Welsh to set an…example," he shrugged casually.
Shawn furrowed his brow then shook his head, "That's completely absurd. Look around, there are no cement shoes or even a baseball bat to bust knee caps with," he pursed his lips; if the DEA was right-which he highly doubted-then this was a lamest mob hit ever.
"So?" Summers sounded bored.
"So? Jack Moretti has ordered hits before. He's a fan of the classics," Gus chimed in.
Summers smiled insincerely, "I'm sorry, who are you exactly?" He glanced between the consultants and detectives with open disdain.
Shawn grinned, "I'm Shawn Spencer, Head Psychic for the SBPD. And this is my associate Ichabod Cranium," he nodded to Gus.
Summer giggled and turned his attention to Lassiter, "You hire Psychics?"
"Psychic. Singular. Not Psychics. Ichabod just has a magical Cranium," Shawn moved his hands around Gus's head, gesturing to its perfection.
Summers continued to chuckle, "Well, I can tell you right now Psychic…" his tongue darted out across his lips as he leaned towards Shawn menacingly, "I don't want you anywhere near my crime scene." He shoved his index finger into Shawn's collar bone forcefully.
Holding back a wince, Shawn glanced around the bank, "I don't see your name on it anywhere," he shrugged and smiled innocently. This guy was more entertaining than Lassie.
"Get this clown out of here," Summers turned to Lassiter angrily.
Lassiter smiled tightly. He'd rather work with Spencer than with this government yuppie but it wasn't his call. "Right away," he muttered gritting his teeth. "Spencer," he hissed warningly as Shawn opened his mouth to protest.
Shawn stomped his foot angrily. "Man, come on Gus," the psychic sighed and started towards the exit.
"We aren't really backing off are we?" Gus asked dejectedly.
"Gus, when have we ever done that?" Shawn was horrified by the very idea of abandoning a case. "We'll just conduct our own investigation and beat the police-and in this case the federal government-to the real suspects," Shawn grinned and raised his fist.
Gus raised his and they fist bumped. "You know that's right."
June. 2015.
Shawn frowned as he strode through the front door of the SBPD. It had been years since he'd walked through these halls. His expression darkened. He could still remember the last time he had.
"Shawn?" Juliet's eyes were wide in surprise as she froze mid stride. "What are you doing here?"
"I got a call from Lassiter," Shawn explained with a frown.
Juliet blinked in surprise. "Seriously?"
Shawn nodded. Yeah. It had been weird to him too. "He left a message," Shawn smiled, "Since the Raymond murder might be connected to the one from Vancouver he wanted to bring me in, at least for a little while; see if I notice any other similarities," Shawn explained shifting awkwardly.
"I see," Juliet nodded.
Shawn licked his lips, "Look, Juliet," he sighed, "If this is too weird or... uncomfortable I understand," he swallowed. "I can tell Lassiter no."
Juliet smiled slightly, "No Shawn, its fine." Was it wrong that she really didn't mind having him around? She swallowed hard; the station had been way too quiet for much too long.
They stayed silent for a long moment, "Well," Juliet said finally, "I was just on my way to the Chief's office. We brought Willow Paige in."
Shawn grinned until a realization struck him, "Oh crap! I promised Gus I'd bring him in on this!" He pulled out his phone, "I'll be right there," he excused himself.
"Gus! We've got a case," Shawn said excitedly when his friend picked up the phone.
"What? Shawn where are you?" Gus smiled; it had been way too long since his best friend had said those words to him.
"I'm at the police department. And Gus," Shawn grinned widely, "Guess who's in Lassie's office right now?"
"Halle Berry?"
Shawn paused, "Well…no," Gus grumbled, "But-Willow Paige is."
Gus made a small gasping noise, "Willow Paige? As in the former cover girl for Sports Illustrated and the lead actress from the new Green Spirit movie?"
"The one and only buddy,"
Gus made another squeaking noise and then coughed, "You know…Mrs. Pickles death has been very difficult," Shawn could practically see Gus's grin through the phone, "I think I might need some more time off work. I'll be right over."
Pocketing his phone, Shawn chuckled as he waltzed towards Lassie's office. It had been too long since he'd worked a case with his best friend. He felt a flutter of excitement in his chest and paused. It had been years since he'd felt excited about a case.
Shawn flung the double doors to the office open with more force than was necessary. He had never been able to resist the opportunity to irritate the perpetually grumpy Irish Detective, and this latest antic did just that.
"Ah, Lassie," he grinned enthusiastically as the Chief of Police clenched his fists silently. "Miss me?"
Juliet tried unsuccessfully to bite back a smile as Carlton growled and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
Not waiting for a response, Shawn glanced around the room and pursed his lips, "Where's Willow?" The only blonde in the room was Juliet.
"Right here," a loud bubble gum pop punctuated the words as a girl with cropped raven black hair turned to look at Shawn. Shawn's eyes widened; the Willow Paige in front of him was riddled with piercings and tattoos. She looked nothing like her head shot or any of her Sports Illustrated covers.
Shawn nodded his head slowly, "In person you look a little more Noomi Rapace than Amanda Seyfried," he smiled confidently, oblivious to the way Juliet bristled behind him.
The actress smirked, "I get that a lot…sort of," she openly checked him out.
Juliet cleared her throat, "We were just telling Ms. Paige about her potential connection to the Raymond murder," she said calmly, determined to get the conversation back on track.
Willow rolled her eyes. "Look, it's sad that someone killed that guy. But I have no idea who he is."
"No," Juliet said calmly. They'd already explained all of this to the rather stubborn actress. "But, there's reason to believe that David Raymond's killer sees a connection between the two of you," she cut the younger girl off as she attempted to retort, "Whether or not a legitimate connection actually exists."
The actress huffed irritably, "Let's be clear Detective," she leveled Juliet with her most bored glare, "I'm only here because the company signing my paycheck insisted on my cooperation with your 'investigation'." Willow used air quotes and smirked when she saw Lassiter's ears turn red. She turned her attention back to Shawn and again allowed her eyes to wander up and down his body appreciatively.
Juliet grit her teeth, resisting the urge to role her eyes; this bitch was already starting to get on her nerves.
These guys are having a super tough time. They have to deal with Edward Summers AND Willow Paige. Their lives are hard.
I'm hoping to continue pretty rapid updates. However, school started up again and I'm taking a screenwriting class, (which, surprise surprise, does have to come first-it sucks, I know)
Enjoy and Review!