I hope y'all are having as much fun reading this story as I am having writing this. I don't think I've had this much fun writing a story before. I'm just loving it. Also, I probably spend way too much time figuring out the chapter titles. Just curious, does anyone else spend that much time on their chapter titles? Anyway, please enjoy!

Ch. 4: Can You Let The Cat Out Of The Bag If It's Not Your Cat?

Juliet hung up the phone as she pulled into the station. Gus was already there waiting by the door. It only just now occurred to Juliet as they were climbing the steps that they hadn't called the police. Granted, blood on the doorstop didn't necessarily mean anything. Maybe it was a good thing they hadn't called. Shawn tended to get into trouble a lot. Of course, that didn't explain disappearing for three hours...

"Chief," Juliet called out as they entered the station. It was already almost 8:30, but the Chief was only just getting ready to leave.

Juliet and Gus hurried into her office. "Detective Spencer. Mr. Guster." She looked at their faces, her own beginning to become more serious, "Is something wrong?"

"Shawn's missing," Gus blurted out.

"We think he's missing," Juliet said, throwing Gus a look. "He didn't come home, and we haven't seen him for three hours. The Psych office was locked up, but Shawn's car was still parked outside," Juliet swallowed, "There was also blood on the step outside the office door."

The Chief stood up straighter, "Alright. Well, you can ask if anyone here has seen him." The Chief started to walk back to her desk, "Otherwise-"

"Our house was almost broken into," Juliet blurted.

The Chief turned around slowly, "Almost?"

Juliet noticed Gus was giving her the same shocked look. Wincing, she realized she'd backed herself into a corner by telling the Chief, "Yeah. Andi and Xavier were at home alone. Andi called Shawn's cousin and asked him to come check on them," she said cautiously. She had to be careful not to say too much, "When he got to the house, he saw a black van and at least three guys waiting outside our house. He took care of two of them, but the others got away. He got Andi and Xavier out of the house. They're with him now."

The Chief gave Juliet a look and crossed her arms, "Why didn't you call this in immediately?"

Juliet bit her lip and decided to tell the truth, "I just forgot. I was so freaked out about Shawn and my kids. I wasn't thinking straight."

The Chief nodded, accepting the explanation for now. She turned back to her desk. Gus looked at Juliet, mouthing Shawn's cousin? Juliet nodded.

In a few minutes, they had questioned all the staff on hand at the moment; none of them had seen Shawn recently. Deciding it warranted some looking into, the Chief took a few cops and accompanied Juliet and Gus back to the Psych office. The Chief rode with Juliet while Gus drove himself.

Juliet was debating whether or not to tell the Chief about Eliot. It was really Shawn's decision since Eliot wasn't her cousin. Her thoughts were broken when her phone rang. She answered without looking, "Spencer." She tensed when she realized who it was. It was Eliot.

Glancing at the Chief out of the corner of her eye, Juliet tried to remain calm, "Where are you guys now? Ok. Yeah that's fine, just keep them with you. As good as I can. By the way, thank you for doing this. I know you're really busy- Alright. Call me if anything happens." Juliet hung up. She could see the curiosity in the Chief's face, "That was Shawn's cousin. He, Andi, and Xavier are at a coffee place downtown. He's gonna keep them there until I can get them or it closes."

The Chief nodded. Juliet could tell there were a million questions forming in her mind. Juliet gripped the wheel hoping against hope that she wouldn't have to spill anything.

The question the Chief asked surprised her, "Is this Shawn's cousin who was at the wedding?"

Juliet tried to keep her surprise hidden. She'd forgotten that the Chief would have met Eliot at her and Shawn's wedding. Eliot had been one of Shawn's groomsmen. It occurred to her that nobody but maybe Lassiter would recognize Eliot as a criminal just by seeing him. Not to mention she wasn't even sure that Eliot could be convicted of his crimes in the US. It was probably okay to spill a little. Still, Shawn was better at this than she was. Although, she should have more practice. Her father was a con man after all.

Juliet realized that she hadn't responded to the Chief's question and quickly answered, "Yeah. He was one of the groomsmen."

"Eliot, right?"

Juliet bit her lip. Would the Chief know that name? She nodded, "Yeah, that's him."

The Chief nodded and turned to stare out the windshield, the wheels obviously turning in her head.

Juliet focused on the road. She knew that Eliot had done bad things, and she certainly didn't approve of them. But Shawn had talked to her about Eliot. She knew that he regretted the things he had done, most of them anyway. Yeah, by all means he was still a criminal. While she didn't necessarily approve of his methods, he was trying to help people. He was helping her right now. And though having Eliot Spencer alone with her kids should have, in all respects, made her more concerned, it actually made her feel better. She knew that as long as Eliot was with them, nothing bad would happen to them.

"What cases has Shawn been working on?" the Chief asked after a minute.

Juliet had to think for a minute. Shawn had taken a few private cases the last few months, but none of them were recent. "He's mainly been working on the bank robbery case."

The Chief nodded. A bank had been robbed by a crew about a week ago. The security guard had been able to describe only one of the robbers. However, the robber had shown up dead the next day in a hotel room. There were no leads to the rest of the crew or who had killed the other member and why. The stolen money also hadn't shown up. Shawn had been determined to figure it out. It was all he had been working on. Juliet wracked her brain trying to think of any of Shawn's other cases where someone might have a motive to harm him. Nothing stuck out to her.

Juliet parked the car outside the Psych office, taking a deep breath. She could do this. She needed to do this. She needed to focus. Andi and Xavier were safe. Her job now was to find Shawn.

I hope y'all are working on figuring out the case. I'm going to try and set up the story so that you can figure out what is going on before the reveal. Please feel free to post your guesses and predictions. I'd love to hear them. Thank you for reading.