Shawn's jaw hung open just for a moment as he stared at the detective with a look of stunned bewilderment, but he quickly recovered from his shock.
Lassiter smirked.
Spencer wasn't the only one with a psychic mojo, after all.
Before Shawn could say anything, however, the coffee shop door opened again and Juliet walked in, her eyes scanning the room until they rested on her partner.
"Oh, crap," Lassiter groaned, rolling his eyes as he slunk as low as he could, just hoping Juliet wouldn't see them. "Of all the damn coffee shops in the all the world..."
But it was too late.
She had spotted them.
"Carlton!" she called, waving as she jogged across the room, weaving in and out of the crowd of increasingly aggravated customers waiting for their caffeine fix.
"Yes?" Shawn called back to her before Lassiter could open his mouth.
She ignored him, however, stopping dead in her tracks a few feet away from them, her eyes growing wide as she took in the bright shirt Lassiter was wearing.
"What are you wearing?" she snorted at her partner, caught somewhere between laughter and horror.
Lassiter straightened his ridiculous shirt defensively. "A shirt," he growled, glaring at her.
She cocked her head to the side curiously, her brow furrowed in confusion. "But that doesn't look like your shirt. It looks like--"
"What are you doing here?" Lassiter cut-in quickly, glancing at Nancy.
Juliet held up her phone. "I got a text saying we had a case and to meet you here."
Lassiter glared at Shawn, who just grinned innocently. Juliet's eyes quickly darted between the two of them, appraising Shawn's neatly-pressed suit. She raised an eyebrow questioningly at him, immediately knowing something was very wrong with this picture. Finally, she glanced at Nancy.
"I'm Nancy Jayne," Nancy offered with a smile, stepping forward and extending her hand. "I'm doing a story on the SBPD, and Detective Lassiter is letting me ride along with him today."
"Oh," Juliet nodded slowly, still looking somewhat bewildered. "I'm Detective O'Hara. I'm Carlton's partner."
"Oh!" Nancy's face brightened. "Then I'm glad you're here! Maybe you could answer some questions for me."
"Uh...sure," Juliet agreed slowly, still looking at Shawn for help, trying to figure out what was going on.
Shawn just shrugged, as if nothing at all was amiss. "Do you like the suit?" he asked her, grinning slyly. "I think it makes me look heroic...like a real-life gruff Irish cop."
Nancy smiled at Juliet, apparently not hearing Shawn's quip. "I still don't quite have enough for an article, Detective O'Hara. Do you mind if we have a seat?" she asked, gesturing at one of the tables in the corner of the coffee shop.
Juliet shrugged. "I guess I have a few minutes...it looks like there's no case, after all."
She followed Nancy to the table. Shawn started after them, but Lassiter pulled him back by the collar.
"You called O'Hara?" he growled, his fingers tightening around the fabric.
"I didn't call her," Shawn corrected him, raising a single finger in the air. "I texted her. Totally different."
"What the hell is the matter with you?"
"You know, I get asked that more often than you might think."
Lassiter's grip tightened even more, his knuckles turning white as he got dangerously close to strangling the cheeky fake head detective.
"Watch the suit," Shawn warned him, wriggling out of his grasp. "It's yours."
Lassiter's scowl deepened as he finally let go, not wanting to get bloodstains all over his own suit. "Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you when that reporter leaves?" he growled, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the psychic.
"Uh...yeah," Shawn snorted. "Why do you think I called for back-up? You can't kill me with Jules around."
"Wanna bet?" Lassiter muttered, following as Shawn pushed past him and made his way to the table.
"So...how long have the two of you been partners?" Nancy was asking Juliet as the two of them approached.
"A few years," Juliet replied, looking up as Shawn slid into the chair next to her.
"Yeah," he agreed with a playful grin. "O'Hara here's the best darn partner on the force. And you should see her wield those handcuffs..."
He draped his arm around her shoulder, smiling coyly as he winked at her. Juliet stared at him for a moment, once again sizing up the suit.
She looked over at Lassiter, who was scowling at them as he sat down next to Nancy.
A slow grin spread across her face as the realization dawned on her. Lassiter's eyes grew wide with horror and rage as he realized that his partner was about to throw him under the bus.
"Oh, I'm not the best partner," she protested in a flat, deadpan tone. "I just do my job, Carlton. That's all."