Three weeks went by in relative peace. Three weeks without any phone calls or creepy feelings. Three weeks that had Juliet constantly looking over her shoulder. She berated herself for it; she used to be a cop, after all, and she knew how to take care of herself. But as Henry had said, Teddy was all they had left of Shawn. She had to take care of Teddy. There was nothing else.
Gus had taken the news better than she'd thought he would. He seemed to realize that there was nothing they could do right away except remain cautious. Until some more evidence appeared life had to continue as normal. While he accepted the fact that his best friend's pregnant widow was in danger, he "increased his presence", as Lassiter would say, and spent as much time as possible with Juliet-especially when Henry was unavailable.
Juliet was just beginning to relax as the weather began to calm down. The Santa Barbaran summer had been brutal; temperatures higher than normal, though not record-breaking, had caused more discomfort and unease for the pregnant woman. September was nearing its end and the cooler air helped relieve some of the stress she had been feeling since the mysterious phone call.
The sun was bright and a light breeze was blowing as Juliet and Gus wrapped up lunch at an outside café. Gus delivered the punch line of his anecdote and smiled only because Juliet's laugh was so light and carefree, a sound that none of them had truly heard for a very long time. Unfortunately that good feeling would not last much longer.
As they neared the parking lot the smile disappeared from Juliet's face and Gus could feel the tension take hold of her. He recognized her changed posture as that of the police detective he'd worked with all those times. Looking toward the disturbance, he discovered the cause for her change.
Sitting on the hood of her car was a box, wrapped in white paper and tied with a green ribbon. He moved toward it to pick it up but stopped when her hand latched tightly to his arm, ceasing his movements. Her face was pale and her eyes wide, but her voice remained firm and steady.
"Don't. It could be a bomb." Her cell phone was already in her hand, hitting the speed dial that he knew called Lassiter's phone.
"Carlton, we have a situation. There's a package sitting on the hood of my car. White paper, green ribbon, no writing…I'm at Café Shores with Gus…no, I stopped him from touching it…no! I'm not going back inside…why? Maybe because my feet will hurt more from walking back and forth than they will just standing here…I know, but I doubt he'd shoot me before I opened his present…fine, just get here as soon as you can." She ended the call with a frustrated groan.
"He's coming and he's bringing the bomb squad with him."
Gus willed himself not to shake. "You really think there's a bomb in there?"
"I'd rather take the precautions and have it be completely innocuous than to open it and be dead."
Gus swallowed and nodded. "What was that about getting shot? Should we go inside?"
"Lassiter thinks he may have a sniper trained on us, but I don't think that's the case. If he wanted me dead he's had opportunity before. Besides, like I told him, if he really wants me to see what he left inside this…present, he won't shoot me until after I've opened it. There's no way I'm walking back into the café and back out once he gets here, which will probably be very soon. I'll take my chances."
Sure enough Lassiter's Crown Victoria sped into the parking lot a few minutes later, lights flashing and brakes squealing. The bomb squad's trucks followed shortly afterward. Lassiter and Vick spilled out of his vehicle and stood by Gus and Juliet while the bomb squad examined the box on Juliet's car. She noticed that Carlton periodically swiveled his head slightly, which led her to discover that his holster was unlatched, enabling him to grab his gun quicker should anything happen. Although her annoyance picked up, part of her was touched at his protective stance.
They all watched anxiously as the heavily padded men directed a small robot toward the car, inspecting the package with an x-ray scanner. A pick-up drove quickly into the parking lot and within seconds Henry was at Juliet's side. She looked at him quizzically and he whispered "police scanner". Eventually a man looked up from the screen he held and shook his head at Lassiter. The men on the bomb squad visibly relaxed and began to put away their equipment.
"We're all good," the squad leader told them.
All four released their breaths and Lassiter moved toward the car, pulling on a pair of latex gloves. He tugged at the ribbon and placed it in an evidence bag before doing the same with the paper. His pocketknife cut through the clear packing tape keeping the container closed and slowly opened the folds of the cardboard box. They saw his brow furrow as he pulled out another box, wrapped identically to the first.
The process repeated as he removed the ribbon and paper. This time when he pushed back the flaps they saw his eyes widen and his face become a little paler. Within a moment they all had the same reaction, for when the detective's hands emerged from the box they held a large, ripe pineapple.
Juliet felt her heart clench and Lassiter's eyes snapped to hers. "This is about Shawn." She sucked in a deep breath as his words confirmed her fears. Henry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she was grateful for it; she wasn't sure if her legs would remain steady enough to keep her upright. The baby sent a quick jab to her ribs and she prayed he didn't keep that up.
Vick turned to face the group as Lassiter rejoined them. "Guster, I need you to go through all of Psych's old case files and create a suspect list."
"You do realize Shawn didn't keep much in the form of files. I kept a few notes on each case for legal reasons and we've got a few newspaper clippings, but there isn't much else."
The chief sighed. "I should've known. Okay, Carlton, help Gus go through the notes. I'll look through the cases we hired him for and see if anything pops up.
Juliet was surprised at the strength in her voice. "Chief, let me help Gus. My guess is that it's somebody from one of their cases. Maybe I'll see something Carlton won't."
Lassiter's stern "Absolutely not!" was almost drowned out by Henry's adamant "No, no way." Both covered over Gus' firm "uh uh."
Juliet kept her eyes on Vick's the whole time, ignoring the men's outbursts. She knew the moment she had won their little stare down.
"Okay." Vick raised her hand as the men beside her began to protest. "I don't see any harm in her looking through some case files. Guster, bring them over to Juliet's apartment."
Lassiter left with Vick to get the package evidence to the lab and Gus left to get the case files. Henry stood a few feet from his daughter-in-law, his arms crossed over his chest and his face openly displaying his displeasure. Juliet's smug feeling didn't evaporate as she looked at him.
"Henry, I know you don't want me doing anything that might put us in danger, but I need to do something. Three weeks I've been waiting for something to happen. Three weeks! Finally we have some potential evidence. Part of me is still a detective, Henry. I can't ignore it."
She looked him steadily in the eye, daring him to deny her the opportunity to do some police work. She knew he didn't like the idea at all but she really didn't care at this point. She was tired, worried and bored and here was something to occupy her time, a task that was once a daily occurrence. Finally Henry rubbed his hand over his head.
"There's no stopping you, I know that. You're too much like Shawn in that regard. But promise me this- the second you think something's not right, you step back and call me or Lassiter. Promise me!"
She nodded. "I promise. Thank you Henry."
He began to lead her to his truck and she hoped he didn't forget to pick up her car later. "Like I said, there's no stopping you. And you might have a point. If this guy's really been watching you like you think he's been, you may have seen his face. Shawn wouldn't have had any photos of his clients, but he had names. We may get somewhere after all."