Lassiter popped in the security tape while McNab brewed a pot of coffee on the station's machine.
Shawn, Juliet, Gus and Lassiter gathered close to the small television set and watched the incredibly boring tape.
"Seriously, it's like nothing happens in this town," Shawn whispered to his wife.
Juliet nodded in agreement, but shushed him.
Lassiter ignored them but hit the fast forward button on the remote.
Shawn watched the clock in the bottom right corner of the screen tick by the hours. The parking lot didn't change except for the shadows of the trees as the moon moved across the sky, until the clock hit 3:04 in the morning. A dark colored vehicle pulled into the parking lot, blocking the median where Mark had been found.
Lassiter leaned forward in his chair, focused on the car.
"Is that a minivan?" Juliet asked.
"It's either a minivan or a hotdog," Shawn had his head turned to the side. "The video is a little grainy,"
"For once I agree with you," Lassiter accepted a cup of coffee from McNab. "You should probably invest in a better security system, Guster."
"Well excuse me!" Gus said indignantly. "I wasn't planning on having to catch murderers with my cameras."
The van in the video pulled away and Lassiter paused the video again. He squinted and could barely make out the dark blob leaning against a tree where Wilkens had been.
"Looks like that was our drop," he said, sitting back in his chair. "The timeline fits with Woody's TOD."
"Great, so we know that a dark shadowy figure, driving a hot dog dropped off the body," Shawn grinned. "So, either we need to arrest Oscar Meyer or do a little bit more detective work."
"Oscar Meyer is baloney, Shawn," Gus frowned.
"You're baloney," Shawn challenged.
"It'll take days to get any results back from Grand Rapids," Juliet was thinking out loud.
Lassiter nodded in agreement. "All we have to work with is the knife Wilkens was stabbed with and the word of a compulsive liar about his whereabouts the day before."
"Those whereabouts and the age of the knife both point to Jessica Miller," Juliet mused.
"We'll be clearing that up any minute now," Lassiter stood and looked towards the front door.
Shawn and Juliet turned to see a woman talking with McNab. She seemed upset, but wasn't crying her eyes out.
"Jessica Miller," Gus murmured appreciatively.
Shawn raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Dude, she was having an affair with Mark Wilkens. The man grew a beard for a hobby."
"You two stay out of my interrogation," Lassiter reminded the private investigators and then left to talk with Jessica.
"If he wants us to stay out of his interrogation, then we'll just have to start our own interrogation," Shawn told Juliet.
"You two do that; I've got to go and make sure Ken isn't trying to clear his mind by eating all the donuts at the store," Gus straightened his collar and smoothed down his shirt. He gave the Spencers a wink and a head nod and then left, not before first consoling Jessica with a pat on the arm.
"Has he no shame?" Shawn tsked, shaking his head.
"Of course he doesn't," Juliet leaned her head on his shoulder. "Now what's our next move?"
Shawn squeezed her hand. "What do you think?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"We talk to the widow," Juliet grinned.
"Exactamundo," Shawn laughed. "Talk to Laurie Wilkens and then do some follow up with Jessica after Lassie takes a crack at her."
"I knew I married you for a reason," Juliet teased as they headed for the car.
"I thought it was because I have a great head of hair and a dry wit," Shawn looked offended as he pulled out into traffic.
"That too," Juliet murmured.
OoO OoO OoO
"Mark is dead and you brought me down here, why?" Jessica Miller didn't look happy to be sitting across from Lassiter in the interrogation room.
"We're just establishing a timeline for everyone who might have talked with Mr. Wilkens yesterday," Lassiter kept things general; he would get to specific accusations later.
"What makes you think I saw Mark yesterday?" Jessica crossed her arms defensively.
Buzz frowned and spoke up from where he was standing near the door. "He worked for you," he pointed out.
Lassiter shot a glare over his shoulder at the deputy and then turned back to Jessica. "We have reliable witnesses that say they saw you and Wilkens together at the Muscum Falls Motel."
Jessica was silent just long enough to confirm Lassiter's statement.
"You're seen kissing a man and twelve hours later he ends up dead in the parking lot of Guster's," Lassiter continued. "We'll need to get a statement of where you were and who you were with between the hours of ten last night and three this morning."
Jessica gave a shocked look to both Lassiter and McNab. "You don't think that I had anything to do with this? Mark and I were ending the affair. I'm moving to California in three weeks."
"What about the museum?" McNab asked.
"Haven't you read the paper?" Jessica pulled a kleenex out of her purse and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm selling that place. Time to get out of Muscum Falls."
"We're going to need the name of the person you're selling the museum to," Lassiter pushed a piece of paper across the table, "and we're still waiting on that alibi."
OoO OoO OoO
Laurie Wilkens cautiously opened the door after Shawn had rung the doorbell.
"Mrs. Wilkens," Juliet put on a comforting smile. "It's us, the Spencers."
"If the church sent you down with dinner, don't worry I have enough," Laurie whispered, and started to close the door again.
"Actually, Laurie," Shawn put his hand out to stop the door. "Juliet and I are working with Sheriff Lassiter, we just want to ask you a few questions."
Laurie swallowed and then let Shawn push the door the rest of the way open. "My mother always said I would make headlines someday, but I don't think this is what she meant." She burst into tears again.
Immediately Juliet was at her side, helping her sit on the couch and offering her a kleenex.
"Mrs. Wilkens, Laurie, I know these questions might be hard, but they need to be asked." Shawn sat down on the chair across from her.
"I know you're going to ask about Jessica," Laurie blew her nose and took a few moments to steady herself. "Hank swore up and down they weren't staying at the motel, but I know they were."
"Did you ever confront Mark about the affair?" Juliet asked quietly.
"N-never," Laurie stuttered. "I was going to ask him, but then Jessica announced she was selling the museum to the Fletchers."
"Amos and Meg?" Shawn raised an eyebrow. Amos and Meg Fletcher were the newest residents to Muscum Falls. They were an older retired couple that had decided to move away from the big city. They were nice people, but Shawn hadn't considered that they would be interested in owning the rundown Muscum falls museum.
"Yes, they were taking ownership in a few weeks and Jessica was leaving so I figured that would be that." Laurie sniffled again. "Mark was worried he wouldn't have a job after the switch. He and Amos never really got along."
"What was he going to do if that happened?" Juliet prompted Laurie to continue.
"Well, he was selling some things on ebay." Laurie was overcome with sobs again.
"Is there any chance I could take a look at his computer?" Shawn asked hopefully, ignoring the glare Juliet was giving him.
"Do you think it will help figure out who killed him?" Laurie looked up at Shawn.
"It couldn't hurt," Shawn told her.
Laurie showed Shawn and Juliet where Mark's office was. "I'm sorry I don't know any of his passwords." She looked sadly at the surrounding pictures.
"Laurie, I think we handle this by ourselves. Why don't you make yourself a cup of tea," Juliet gave the woman a reassuring smile.
Laurie returned the smile and nodded. "Tea sounds good," she gave one last look at the pictures on the wall and then left.
As soon as Shawn heard the water running in the kitchen, he quickly brought up a web page on the computer.
"How are you going to crack his password?" Juliet asked quietly.
"I don't have to," Shawn replied, typing fast. "There are less than 1000 people in Muscum Falls and how many of them are selling things on ebay." He narrowed down the field by zip code and scrolled through the twelve listings all from the same account.
"MWilk is probably him," Juliet reasoned.
Shawn pulled out his cell phone and took a quick picture of the list. "I don't know who buys this kind of stuff, but it seems a little odd that Mark was selling old maps, books and other things you might find in a museum."
"Especially with a change of ownership about to happen," Juliet agreed. "We should go see if Lassiter found anything out from Jessica."
"Or," Shawn gave her a sideways look. "We get a jump start on talking to the Fletchers and then meet up with Lassie and trade info."
Juliet raised an eyebrow at him. "Going behind Lassiter's back?"
"It's what we do best," Shawn reminded her.
"No, that's what you and Gus did best," Juliet sighed. "We'll drive to the Fletchers', but I'm calling Carlton and finding out what his next move is."
"You sure know how to sweet talk me," Shawn gave her a kiss and then headed for the door.
With another round of condolences to Laurie, the duo was on the road again.