Not alone

Gus got out of the car. Seeing the Psych office was still sending chills down his spine. After it had been rebuild, thanks to the insurance he always had made sure to pay regularly, it almost looked as if nothing had ever happened to it. It was amazing how a few months of work could erase terrible events. At least from the outside. Hadn´t it been for the fresh paint on the walls that lacked the usual dirt of the years on the corners and some of the spots he and Shawn had caused themselves, he hadn´t seen any difference. But he saw the difference. I just looked too neat to be real. It wasn´t the same office they had rented some years ago. And yet it was alike. Still, Gus had a hard time to see it, not to mention going into it.

The first time he had been back here, following Shawn who wanted to show him how great it had become, he had found himself unable to enter it. This office that had been his for years. He never had expected it to scare him. But something within himself had just refused to keep walking when he had tried to enter. He had needed time. If it had been any other building, he probably wouldn´t have even bothered. But this office was his and Shawn´s. This place had been a second home for him and he wanted it to be that way again. That was the reason why he had kept trying. Every day a little bit. And at last he had been able to enter it again.

He had stepped through the door, Shawn watching him even more tensed and excited than he had been, and then he had been standing inside. No explosion had blown him up and no fireball had chased after him. He had been able to stand there for a minute, then the sounds of the computer, the fridge, the coffee maker and even the sounds of the working wood had driven him out again.

Shawn hadn´t given up. He had lured him back inside. Again and again and finally Gus had found himself able to sit behind his desk again and to even do some of his work there. It had taken him almost two months but he had managed it. Now he could enter the psych office almost on his own. He only needed company and two or three deep breaths before he could go in. But he was on a good way.

Now he was anxious to see if Lassiter really had taken Shawn´s advise to come here. He slowed down when he approached the door though. Shawn didn´t notice and went in without waiting for him. Gus reached the door and stopped to take his usual three breaths.

Meanwhile Shawn had already rushed in, half expecting to find the office empty. But the head detective truly was there. He sat quietly in one of their armchairs, his cell phone in both hands, as if he was praying through it. When he heard Shawn enter, he looked up at him. His face was wasted. He also still wore the same clothings like before. A small detail Shawn had already forgotten over the situation they were in. When he was reminded on that certain fact by seeing it, he stopped in the movement. All his tries to pretend that there was nothing that disturbed him, were useless.

„That is …" he begann an explanation but gave it up, facing Lassiter´s tired eyes. Gus´ late entry saved him from an awkward explanation. Though his friend looked as awkward about Lassie´s appearance as he did.

„Ehm …" Gus started. „Shawn told me what happened. I´m very sorry, Lassiter and I assure you, that we´ll both do everything we can, to help you."

Lassiter just dropped his gaze again and stood up. „I probably never should have come here." he murmured to himself.

Shawn and Gus exchanged a silent glance. That was so absolutely not the Lassiter they both knew.

„What are you talking about?" Shawn asked.

„They said, no one else into this." Lassiter recalled using his cell phone to point at them. „If they find out that I´m here …"

„But they won´t." Shawn insisted. „Lassie. You have to start to trust us."

„Trust you?" Carlton replied doubtfully.

„You say you don´t trust us?" Shawn asked confrontative.

There was a moment of silence before Lassiter spoke up again. Again he used his cell to point at Shawn. „This is not a usual case, Spencer." he said. „You don´t work on this just because it´s fun for you. This is not a game." At his last words he was standing right in front of him and though he hadn´t yelled or anything, it was pretty obvious how much he meant it.

„I know." Shawn assured him never leaving the detective´s eyes. „Believe me, I know."

Carlton´s angry eyes calmed down a little at this.

„We are here to help." Gus reminded again. Usually he wouldn´t think that it was necessary to repeat that fact, but right now he felt that it was. Lassiter was so distracted, that he probably would need a lot of repeatings before this case was solved.

„Did anything happen already?" Shawn asked with a gesture at the cell in Lassiter´s hand.

„No." the detective said grimly. „I don´t know why he didn´t call already. It´s been already thirty minutes. Maybe he knows that I´m here after all."

„You should stop that, Lassie." Shawn suggested and immediately Lassiter was at him again, flashing with anger. But before he could yell at him, his cell phone started to ring and he flipped it open.

„Yes!" he said. He listened. Shawn and Gus couldn´t do anything but watch. Lassiter´s face changed from fear to thoughtful to tired again. The whole process took somewhat about ten seconds. Then he just lowered his arm and closed the phone. When his legs became rubbery he sat down at the edge of the desk.

„What is it?" Gus asked.

„I´m supposte to bring the money up into the hills." Lassiter answered toneless, not looking at him or Shawn. „At noon. To a place called Lone-Larch. It´s a wide area, they say. No place to hide anyone. Just me and him … and Victoria."

Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance. Or not, they both added in silence but none of them said it out loud. It was pretty obvious that this could be a trap, and under any other circumstances Lassiter might have thought so too. But in this case he didn´t even consider it. Suddenly he jumped up and searched the room for his bag. When he spotted it in Gus´ hand, he grabbed it.

„I´ll drive out there right away." he said and was already on his way to the door.

„Wow!" Shawn cried and ran after him to block his way. „Wait a second. You can´t go now."

„Spencer, either you move now or I´ll pull my gun." Carlton hissed.

„You know what?" Shawn replied. „I´m sick of these threats. If you want to shoot me for trying to help you, go ahead. But I´m not stepping aside until you hear me out."

„Shawn." Gus chipped in a little nervous, but neither Shawn nor Lassiter payed attention to him. They were still busy trying to stare each other down. Surprisingly Shawn stood his ground pretty good.

„There is no need to hurry." Shawn pointed out. „They said, you shell be there at noon. It´s only …"

„Half past nine." Gus helped him out.

„Half past nine." Shawn finished his sentence. „To get up there you´ll only need …"

„Eighty minutes tops." Gus guessed.

„Eighty minutes tops." Shawn said. „That means we still have …" he looked at Gus briefly but then just went on: „ … more than enough time to talk about what we will do, just in case this exchange shouldn´t work out the way we hope. What do you say, Lassie? Is that too much to ask? That we take a moment to actually think about what we should do next?" He cocked his head, surprised about what he just said himself. „Dude, I don´t believe that I am the one who insists on common sense." he said. Gus couldn´t do anything else but shrug in agreement.

Lassiter dropped his shoulders and turned halfway back to the office. „You´re right, Spencer." he admitted. „I´m not acting rational."

„It´s all right, Lassie." Shawn replied carefully. „Just calm down and have a seat. We can talk about it."

„What is there to talk about?" Lassiter asked and threw the bag to the ground. „I can´t do anything but do what they want."

„What is about that rule that we don´t negotiate with kidnappers?" Gus asked.

„Don´t try to be a smart-ass on me." Lassiter warned.

Gus threw Shawn a helpless look and he answered it with a calm-down-gesture of his hand.

„All right, Spencer." Lassiter said. „Go ahead. I´m ready. I listen. What´s your plan?"

„My plan is, we´ll do exactly the opposite of what the kidnappers want."

„No way."

„You have to let me finish, Lassie. I´m not talking about you. You´ll go ahead and do what they said as if nothing had changed. But Gus and I, we will try to figure out the kidnappers whereabouts."

Carlton dropped his gaze in astonished agreement and then nodded thoughtfully.

„Okay." Shawn went on. „First, I want you to think. When they called you the first time. Did you hear anything, that could tell us, where they were?"

Lassiter stared at him in disbelieve. „That´s all?" he asked. „That is all the great psychic detective is offering me to help? What do you think I did after I got the call?" Before Shawn could shrug save answer, he went on: „I of course checked the recordings to see if I could hear anything. But there was nothing."

„You have recordings of the calls that come to your home?" Gus asked confused.

„They called me on my cell phone." Lassiter corrected. „But yes. You never know what sick bastards call you to threat you. I have a special account in my system, where I store the recordings."

„You had any luck with those … recordings?" Shawn wanted to know after he took that info in.

„I was lucky that I could hear their voices." Lassiter said. „There was a heavy noise in the line. They probably did this on purpose, so I wouldn´t get any background sounds. No, I can´t do anything but do what they want … and trying to get those bastards in the process."

„What … you mean arrest them?" Shawn asked confused. Lassiter just looked at him without saying a word in response.

Shawn shook his head with a nervous chuckle. „Lassie, you don´t know how many they are." he tried to be reasonable. „They could be heavy armed. Or worse. Gus, tell him that he´s crazy."

„I´d rather not." Gus replied, facing Lassiter´s grim face.

„You hear it." Shawn went on talking to Lassiter without even noticing that Gus hadn´t given him the support he´d expected. Lassiter frowned for a moment.

„Listen, Lassie." Shawn said and cleared his throat. Lassiter looked at him, waiting for him to go on but Shawn hesitated. It was not easy to speak out what he was about to suggest next. But he had to say it. So he forced himself to open his mouth and said: „You might consider to report that incident to chief Vick after all."

Lassiter´s face went hard and dangerous again. It spoke a loud and clear warning for Shawn not to go on if he wanted to stay unharmed. But Shawn ignored it anyway. He said: „You are in this business long enough. You´ve seen it often enough to know what happens in kidnapping cases when the police is kept out. Do you really want to risk that?"

„The police isn´t completely out of it." Lassiter argued.

„You can´t do that on your own." Shawn cried frustrated about that stubbornness. „Gus."

„He´s right." Gus finally agreed.

„Let us at least get Jules on board with us." Shawn suggested. „She could help us track you and …"

„No." Lassiter interrupted sternly.

Shawn just stared at him. „I don´t get it." he cried in complete disbelieve. „How can you be so goddamn stubborn?"

„I don´t know." Carlton replied. „Maybe because it´s my wife we´re talking about?"

„Your ex-wife." Shawn corrected automatically. He´d rather kept his mouth shut on this, because a second after he said this, Lassiter was up and at him. He grabbed his collar and pushed him into the wall so fast that Shawn wondered how he´d gotten there in the first place. For the first two seconds he lost all the air from his lungs.

„Don´t you dare to correct me with my terms, Spencer." Carlton hissed at him and pushed him even harder against the wall.

„Okay." Shawn croaked. „Okay, I got it. She´s your wife. Can I keep breathing now?"

After one more push to remind him what had happened, Lassiter let go of him. Shawn rubbed his throat and chest, while Gus looked back and forth between him and Lassiter, not sure what to do or to say.

„All right then." Shawn said. „No Jules. But we can do something anyway." He looked at Lassiter, waiting for his response before going on. The head detective gave him a face.

„What?" he asked not really expecting something helpful.

„The same plan as before." Shawn explained. „We do our thing while you keep going as they want. You go to that exchange as if nothing had changed. Fool them. Make them feel save. And let me try to find her." When he saw Lassiter hesitating, he repeated with even more confidence: „We´ll find her. You know what I can do."

For a moment Lassiter´s familiar reaction, a doubtful glance that said `Oh please´ was visible on the detective´s face. But this time Shawn didn´t mirror it, as he would have done usually and like he already felt it tickle again behind his forehead that wanted him to go on with his usual reactions to Lassie´s. Old habits are hard to overcome. Especially when your name is Shawn Spencer, the infinite Joker. But somehow he managed it to hold it back. Instead of joking around he looked serious at Lassie. He had to convince the man, not to push him.

„All right." Lassiter finally said, but there was still a small ounce of hesitation behind his words. „But if you …"

„We won´t." Shawn assured him.

Lassiter studied his face almost surprised. Then he nodded in agreement. „All right." he repeated. „You do whatever it is you do. But you better do it right. There is no room for mistakes and four outrageous shots in the dark before you finally hit the mark with the fifth try. Not in this case."

„I know." Shawn said absolutely serious. It was as if he was surprised that Lassiter could even think of the possibility that he wouldn´t understand how serious that was. „Believe me, Lassie. I know."

Lassiter dropped his eyes and nodded.

„All right." Shawn said but at this point his ideas went thin on how to go on. He tried to think. Hard and most of all fast. There had to be something. No clue, no time and no police. But there had to be something. Something he overlooked so far. And then he just knew it.

„When do you go?" he asked Lassiter.

„Why, as soon as we´re done." Lassiter answered confused.

„Good. I´m just asking you to wait another … hm … twenty minutes. You should eat something before you go. It´s not good to do something like that on an empty stomach. I could need a snack now. How about you, Gus?"

„Shawn."

„Sweet. I´d say tacos then. I take mine with much vegetables and less sauce. You of course with lots of meat, Gus, you don´t need to remind me. How about you, Lassie?"

„Spencer, I don´t care about a snack at all. My wife is hold hostage."

„And that´s exactly the reason why you should collect and save your strength, Lassie. You´ll need it up there."

„You don´t know what´ll happen." Gus agreed with Shawn´s argumentations.

Reluctantly Lassiter started to think about it. He had to admit that there was something about that argument. He hadn´t had any breakfast after all. After receiving the call, he had thought of anything but eating. Finally he nodded.

„All right, but hurry. There is no time to lose. I also don´t know the traffic conditions on the way to the meeting point."

„We could check them out while he is getting the food." Gus suggested with a gesture at the computer.

„Sweet." Shawn cheered. „You do that. I´m back in five minutes. Ten if there is a long line."

With that he was out of the door. Gus tapped Lassiter at the arm and went over to the computer. The detective followed him after he threw a last musing look at the door. Then he put his attention at the traffic reports, Gus started to bring up.

Outside Shawn had just rounded the corner. With a last checking glance over his shoulder to make sure the two of them couldn´t hear him anymore, he took out his cell phone and flipped it open. He kept walking. They expected three tacos in less than ten minutes after all and he intended to bring them. Though he had never felt so tensed while going to get some food. Come on, he begged in silence. Answer the phone. After a few rings he got his answer.

„Dad." he said. „Hey. I need your help with something."