Chapter Four
"Aislinn! Aislinn! Aislinn!" Aislinn stared at the door of her apartment for a few seconds, deliberating between opening it for Shawn or pretending she wasn't home. She had been in the new place for almost a month now, and her new furniture had been delivered throughout the last two days, most of it unassembled, and all of it definitely not put where she wanted it, and though they had promised to help, Gus was too busy between his real job and Psych, and Shawn had been making excuses to not help her put it together. The only reason he would have to be here now was if there was a new case. She sighed, stood from her one armchair, and opened the door mid knock, almost getting hit in the face. Shawn grinned at her, shoved a blueberry muffin and a coffee into her hands, then pushed past her into the apartment. She kicked the door shut behind her and turned to face him, eyebrow raised.
"You got a computer!" Shawn said, grinning over at a large box containing the pieces of a bookshelf where her computer was resting, playing music as background noise. Shawn glared at it for a moment, then shut the top of her laptop, cutting off the music. "What the hell was that? Soft jazz?"
"I like it. It's soothing," Aislinn said, scowling.
"Yeah, soothing and boring," Shawn said, rolling his eyes and looking around him. "I love what you've done with the place," he said, taking a seat in the armchair Aislinn had just vacated. She rolled her eyes and took a sip of the coffee, then made a face. It was plain black coffee, which she normally preferred, but it was very bad coffee… probably from a gas station. She set the cup down on a waist high box as she passed it.
"Well it would be a lot faster going if my friends weren't avoiding helping me put it all together," she said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Sorry I can't," he said, standing and clapping his hands together. "I have an old sports injury."
"Last time it was carpel tunnel in your elbows," she pointed out, picking apart the top of the muffin. She took a bite, then frowned at it. "Do you always buy breakfast from the gas station? I'm not very picky, but this stuff is disgusting," she said, setting the muffin next to the coffee.
"Well it was probably better yesterday when I bought it," Shawn said, grinning. "I just popped the coffee in the microwave before I came over. Don't you like it?"
"No," she said straight faced. He grimaced.
"Fine, let's go," he said, heading to the door.
"Go where?" Aislinn asked, grabbing her phone and keys and jacket as she passed them on her way towards the door.
"To get a real breakfast," Shawn said in an obvious tone. Aislinn sighed but followed him out to the street.
"It's after noon Shawn," Aislinn pointed out as the reached the sidewalk.
"Breakfast for lunch should be how everyone eats," Shawn said, turning right and walking down the street a ways, then frowning, turning around, and walking the other way down the street. Finally he stopped and turned to look at her. "Which one is your car?"
"Oh I see. You just came down here because you need a ride somewhere," Aislinn said, but pointed to her car. Shawn grinned and opened the door, sliding in to the passengers seat.
"Of course not," Shawn said as Aislinn got into the car. "My motorcycle is right over there," he said, pointing.
"That's a no parking zone Shawn," Aislinn said, glancing into her mirrors before pulling out into traffic.
"It's fine, I've got my ambassador flags," he said, kicking his feet up onto the dashboard.
"Get your feet off the dash," Aislinn said, jerking the wheel to the left a little to make his feet slide off. "Now where are we going?"
"Turn left a the next light," Shawn said when he had finished pouting at her for knocking his feet down. "Okay, right up here, then left again at the next light."
"Are we going to the beach?" Aislinn asked, glancing up at the overcast sky. "It's not really the right weather for that."
"We aren't going swimming," Shawn said, rolling his eyes again. "Okay, park here. Lets go for a walk."
"Oh, a walk on the beach," Aislinn said sarcastically. "How romantic. Will there be a picnic and rose petals?"
"Oh shut up," Shawn said, fronting at her. She laughed. "Come on," he said, grabbing her hand to pull her along.
"Oh we even get to hold hands?" Aislinn said in a fake girly voice. "I hope you know that I'm a respectable girl and I don't put out on the first date." Shawn twisted his hand around so instead of dragging her by her wrist, he was properly holding hands with her, then he swung their hands between them like children did in grade school because they were too awkward to actually hold hands. Aislinn laughed.
"Technically this is our third date," Shawn said, grinning.
"Was I asleep for the first two? You know that's illegal right?" Aislinn said in a grave voice.
"No, first we had the case of the missing books, then we had the case of who tried to kill the jerk," Shawn said as they crested a small hill of sand. She saw the red and blue lights from the police cars before she saw the small crowd gathered around on of the docks.
"Shawn, I'm going to give you a little advice for the future," Aislinn said in a serious voice as they approached the dock. "Crime scenes do not count as dates." Shawn gasped dramatically and dropped her hand.
"Blaspheme," he said, holding a hand to his heart. "Of course they do."
"Shawn!" a voice called behind them. They turned to see Gus walking down from a much closer parking lot than the one they had parked in. "So what's this new case we got?"
"Um, slight error in grammar there buddy," Shawn said. Aislinn stood back from them and the detectives. She glanced at the body once, then away, frowning. She did like the mystery part of solving cases but she really didn't like the whole dead body part. She just hoped that Shawn wouldn't ask her to touch it. She had left in too much of a hurry to grab her gloves, and now she was subconsciously pulling her long jacket sleeves over her hands.
"What part?" Gus asked, frowning.
"Got," Shawn said, flipping through the papers of Lassiter's notes. Aislinn stepped forward to look over his shoulder, but he flipped through them much faster than she could read. She grabbed the papers from his hands letting the flashed of information flow through her mind, then handed them back. "Did you get anything off those?"
"Just that whoever wrote the notes definitely thinks it was a fishing accident of some kind, and that they really had to go to the bathroom," Aislinn said. "But I have all the notes up here now," she said, tapping her head.
"Thats a nice trick," Shawn said, grinning.
"I came all the way down here from the office Shawn," Gus said in a whiney voice. Lassiter began looking around him as he realized he didn't have the notes.
"Gus, don't be a giant snapping turtle," Shawn said. "We'll have a case in like five minutes." Lassiter spotted Shawn reading the notes and stalked over to them, grabbed the notes, then stalked back to the body. Aislinn giggled as Shawn stood there looking lost for a few seconds, then followed him, ducking under the crime scene tape. Gus and Aislinn followed after a slight pause.
"Nobody can explain these puncture woulds," the chief was saying. Aislinn stood back as Shawn and Lassiter bent to look over the body. "We can't rule out an animal attack." Aislinn glanced once at the body, then took a few steps back, looking over the rest of the area. She wandered around the deck supports, returning in time to see Shawn furiously scribbling on a yellow piece of paper. He rambled on a bit about art skills before showing them all a drawing of a dinosaur. Aislinn laughed a little, knowing that Shawn probably had a reason for doing something so stupid after a month of not having any cases and patted him on the back as the cops, and Gus, walked away from him.
"I thought it was a good drawing," she said consolingly. Shawn continued to pout. "Really, with a few art classes you could probably be decent." He scowled at her and walked off. She followed at a slower pace.
"Aislinn!" Shawn called to her when she reached the parking lot. "I'm going back to the Psych office with Gus."
"What about your motorcycle?" She asked, frowning at him.
"You can bring it over," he said, tossing her the keys.
"Shawn!" She said as he got into Gus's car. He rolled down the window. "I don't have a motorcycle license."
"Then don't get pulled over," he said. She stepped back as Gus pulled away from the parking lot. She sighed. She had absolutely no idea how to ride a motorcycle, but maybe she could learn how to from the memories she could get from it when she touched it, like the notes. She had never tried to use that before, but it seemed like as good a time as any to test it out. She drove back to her apartment in silence, parking in her usual place on the side of the road, and approached the motorcycle slowly, half expecting it to fall over when she touched it. It didn't, and she climbed on carefully, using one foot to balance it and the other to push back the kickstand and she had seen Shawn do in his memories. She waited until the flash of information stopped flowing in front of her eyes before she turned the key, put it into numeral, and flipped the kill switch to start, copying the movements she saw in her memories. Then she squeezed the clutch with her left hand and pushed the start button with her right, and nearly jumped as the motor kicked to life. She let go of the clutch slowly, half watching the images of the bike stalling when Shawn had released it too quickly. She grinned as it stayed running and fitted her feet into their proper places. She slid on the helmet Shawn had left hanging on the handle and secured the strap, then leaned forward and squeezed the throttle. Aislinn was much more excited than she was scared now. She turned the bike out onto the road and drove, probably much slower than Shawn did, to the Psych office, luckily having no mishaps on the way. she arrived just in time to see Shawn coming out of the office. She took of the helmet and shook her hair over her shoulders and grinned at him.
"I love this motorcycle," she said, and he grinned back.
"I know, it's great. Come on, we are going to my dads," he said, grabbing the helmet from her and putting it on.
"Shouldn't I have a helmet too?" Aislinn asked, getting off the bike.
"Only the driver has to wear one," he said, getting on and patting the seat behind him. She climbed on and grinned as he started the bike, much faster than she could have done. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he began driving, also much faster than she would have done. It was too loud to talk while they were in traffic, so she wasn't sure why they were going to his dads house, and by the time they got there her hair was tangled horribly. She finger combed it as she followed him up the pathway to the front door, then she smoothed a hand over her shirt and jeans, hoping that she looked presentable. She knew from Shawn's memories that he didn't really get along with her dad, but she also know that Shawn loved his dad and would never say so. He knocked on the door and they waited a few moments before it opened.
"Shawn," his dad said, frowning.
"Hello dad," Shawn said, pushing past his dad into the house.
"Hello Mr. Spencer," Aislinn said, smiling politely. She tucked her hands behind her back.
"Uh, hi," he said. "Shawn, who's this and what are you doing here?" He turned and walked into the house, leaving the door open behind him, so Aislinn took that as an invitation to follow him in. She shut the door behind her, then would the two men in the kitchen.
"That's Aislinn," Shawn said, grinning. "She sours for Psych. She's a psychic." Shawn's dad rolled his eyes. "Aislinn, this is my dad Henry. He doesn't believe in psychics."
"With a child like you I can't understand why," she said in an innocent voice, catching the apple Shawn tossed at her. She set it back on the counter he had grabbed it from. She saw Henry glance at Shawn in question, then saw Shawn nod and knew his father was silently asking him if she knew he was a fake. Henry sighed and ran a hand over the top of his head. "I need to borrow your truck."
"What for?" Henry asked, glancing at Aislinn out of the corner of his eye.
"We are robbing a bank and I didn't want the getaway car to be trailed back to Gus," Shawn said, grinning.
"What are you really doing?" Henry asked, not amused.
"I need to borrow Gus's giant dinosaur head from fifth grade and take it to the station. For a case," Shawn said.
"And what do I get out of this?" Henry asked, crossing his arms.
"I dunno dad," Shawn said, sighing. "What do you want?"
"I want you to get all your junk lout of my attic," Henry said.
"Great. I'll be over right after we solve this case to do that," Shawn said, holding his hand out in front of him, palm up. Henry sighed but gave him the keys anyway.
"Thanks dad," Shawn said, grinning again and heading back to the door. "Come along Aislinn."
"It was nice to meet you Mr. Spencer," Aislinn said as they left the house.
Shawn drove down the street for about five seconds before slamming on the breaks.
"Really Shawn?" Aislinn asked, her feet slipping off the dashboard where they had been resting.
"Payback," he said, then got out of the truck. Gus's parents house was only one street over from Shawn's dads place. She followed him up the steps, then waited as he knocked on the door. A short, slightly plump, well dressed woman answered the door, grinning at Shawn. She pull shim into a hug and he awkwardly patted her back. Aislinn smirked at him over the woman's shoulder, than smiled politely as the woman pulled back from him.
"Shawn, what a nice surprise," the woman said, and Shawn grinned at her. "Please come in."
"Actually Mrs. Guster, we are in a bit of a hurry. I was hoping I could borrow Gus's dinosaur model, it's very important," Shawn said formally. Aislinn nearly laughed.
"Oh of course," she said, smiling. "I've nearly thrown that thing out hundreds of times, but you know how Gus gets. And who's this young lady?"
"This is Aislinn. She works with us sometimes," Shawn said, and Aislinn jumped as the woman wrapped her up in a hug too, then glared as Shawn laughed silently behind her back.
"It's nice to meet you dear," she said, pulling back from the hug. "Well, it's in the garage," she said, turning back to Shawn and leading them both inside, down a short hall, and through a side door into the garage. "Up there," she said, gesturing to a shelf. Shawn grinned and pulled the giant thing off the shelf as Gus's mom opened the front of the garage for them to leave through.
"Thank you," Shawn called over his shoulder, grinning. Aislinn gave the woman a wave and followed Shawn back to the truck. "Now, to the station," he said, climbing into the drivers seat.
"Good, I've had about as much parent contact as I can handle for one day," Aislinn said, sighing. Shawn smiled and drove them to the station in silence.
"Alright, help me lift this thing," Shawn said, climbing out of the truck.
"You know they aren't going to let you put that thing against the dead guy right?" Aislinn asked, helping Shawn lift the thing onto his head like a giant helmet.
"Only one way to find out," Shawn said, grinning from between the jaws of the dinosaur head. "Come on."
"No thanks, I think I'll wait out here," Aislinn said, shaking her head and leaning against the door of the truck. Shawn shrugged, then walked up the steps to the station, wobbling a little.
She only had to wait about ten minutes before he came back out of the station, two officers escorting him down the steps. She shook her head as he approached.
"Told you so," she said, smiling as she helped him lift the thing off and put it back into the truck.
"I'm edging my way in. Those bruises were definitely caused by something like this," he said, waving his hand over the head, frowning. They climbed back into the truck and drove back to his dads house, making sure to hide the dinosaur head int he garage before entering the house.
"Dad!" Shawn called, pushing the door open. "Dad I brought back your keys." Aislinn closed the door behind her and followed him through the house. They paused int he dining room, seeing Gus at the table eating a piece of pie.
"Hi Gus," Aislinn said. "Hi Mr. Spencer."
"Hey," Gus said around a bite of pie.
"Okay, this is creepy. Why is Gus here?" Shawn said, looking between them.
"What do you think Shawn?" His dad asked, frowning.
"He's a hostage," Shawn suggested as Aislinn stole Gus's fork and took a bite of his pie.
"Perhaps I can shed some light on that," a man said, walking out of the kitchen. Aislinn froze, the fork almost to her mouth and Gus grabbed it back from her, scowling.
"Two hostages," Shawn said, turning back to his father.
"Doug is an old colleague of mine from the force. The chief asked me to have him drop by," Henry said. Shawn frowned again and tossed the truck keys down onto the table.
"Why?" Shawn asked.
"Doug is the department psychologist, Shawn," Henry said, walking around the table.
"I need to take this call," Aislinn said, pulling her silent phone out of her pocket and escaping quickly through the side door that led tot he garage. Once outside, she tucked it back into her pocket and went to lean against the passengers side of Gus's car and wait for them to be finished.
She lifted her head as another car pulled up and Lassiter and the chief got out and went toward the door.
"Sup?" She asked Lassiter as the chief knocked on the door, then opened it. Lassiter just glared so she followed them in.
"Karen, do you mind? We're in the middle of an intervention here," Aislinn heard Henry ask as they walked inside.
"We don't have time for that," the chief said.
"But you're the one who asked for it," Henry replied, frowning.
"And I thank you Henry, but I'm afraid that this can't wait," she said, then turned to Shawn. "We just got a break in the case. We just found out the name of the dead man. You want to tell him who he is, detective?" She gestured behind her to Lassiter, who drew in a breath as though in pain. Aislinn circled around him and the chief to stand beside Shawn.
"No," Lassiter said, shaking his head. The chief turned to glare at him.
"His name was Christopher Franzen," she laughed as though in disbelief. "He is a paleontologist." Shawn raised an eyebrow, then looked over at Aislinn in confusion.
"He studies dinosaurs, Shawn," Aislinn said. He made an 'oh' face, then turned back to them.
"As expected," he said, grinning. "Doug," he said, turning to the psychologist. Aislinn backed away from them, toward the door. "The pleasure was all mine."
"Oh no Shawn, mine," the man said, grinning. Aislinn shook her head, then wandered back around the group to the door to wait outside.
"Aislinn," Shawn said, walking down the steps where she was sitting. "Why are you out here?" She shrugged, standing up as Gus joined them.
"I don't like psychologists," she said, trying to be nonchalant. "They all think I'm insane."
"That isn't surprising," Lassiter said, overhearing their conversation as he followed the chief outside as well. Aislinn frowned and Shawn draped an arm around her shoulder and turned her away from them.
"Come on, lets go down to the station," he said, grinning, though she could feel the tension in his words. She smiled a little to reassure him she was fine.
"Yes, lets," she said, pushing him towards his motorcycle. "I'll ride with Gus." Shawn frowned.
"You like Gus better than me?" He asked, pouting.
"Yes," Aislinn said, keeping her face straight. "I'm sure Gus won't take me to a crime scene for our third date." Shawn huffed and stalked away as Aislinn laughed and went to join Gus in his car.
Instead of going to the station, they went to the Psych office to drop off Shawn's bike, then to the university where the dead guy worked. Aislinn trailed behind the boys as they talked, looking around the campus. She had never gone to college. Not that she wanted to go now, but if she did, this was a nice campus. She caught up with them outside the archeology department and followed them inside. Shawn immediately found a guy to show them around, claiming that he was interested in becoming a student there or something. The department was tiny and underfunded, most of their fossils contained in one display case. She wandered around the shelves of different kinds of rocks and smaller fossils as Shawn and Gus talked to the guy.
"Oh come on," she heard Shawn say and turned to look up form the desk she had been snooping around. "He really is on fire. Aislinn, time to go," he called louder, looking around for her. She had been looking through a notebook and had just found a letter addressed to the dead guy. She tucked it into her jacket pocket and went to follow Shawn out the back way, glancing out the window to see Lassiter and Juliet coming up the walkway to the building.
Once back in the car, she pulled the letter out of her picket and shoved it over her shoulder to Shawn in the back seat. He took it, then grinned.
"Look at you Aislinn, swiping dead peoples mail and everything," Shawn said, turning it over to pull out the contents.
"Calm down, it's just junk mail," she said, recalling the flashes of memory she had gotten from the envelope. "The guy was in a hurry for something when he opened it though. He was really impatient to get out of there. I thought you would want the address."
"Righteo," Shawn said, then directed Gus to the guys house.
"Look at this," Gus said, frowning as they pulled up to the curb. "The cops beat us to the dead guys house," he said, shaking his head as they climbed out.
"I don't know how I feel about the police department being so proactive," Shawn muttered as they walked around the side of the house.
"Feeling the heat?" Gus asked, falling into his 'swag walk'.
"What, you think I'm afraid of a little competition?" Shawn asked, dodging around a cop as he walked.
"I know you are afraid of competition. Why else would you have broken the battle zone at the pizza royale?" Gus said, grinning.
"Dude, you beat me once. And only because you used the eyepiece, and then revealed you and pink eye," Shawn said, frowning. "Lets venture off the beaten path," he said, leading them around the house to a shed. He peered around the door, frowning.
"What's wrong?" Gus asked, frowning too.
"Oh I'm just trying to figure out what to do here since theres a rule that we don't break and enter," Shawn said, and Aislinn snorted.
"What do you mean we don't break and enter?" Gus asked, frowning. "The 24 hour motel, the hotel de la cruise, the spell masters box."
"Yeaaaah," Shawn said, squinting at the key pad for the lock. "But we really shouldn't pick this lock."
"You know I wanna pick that lock," Gus said, glaring at Shawn. Aislinn shook her head, then glanced around to make sure no one was watching them.
"Yes I do," Shawn said, patting Gus on the shoulder and grinning as Gus moved in front of the lock. Gus then proceeded to do some weird noises as he pushed the buttons of the pad and the two of them tried to open the door. All three of them slipped inside.
"I can't see anything," Shawn complained.
"Oh, I got it," Gus said, pulling a tiny flashlight out of his pocket and shining it around, hitting Shawn in the face. Shawn held up an arm and whined as he looked away.
"Gus, that thing is brighter than the sun," Shawn said loudly. Aislinn nervously peered out the crack in the door, watching for people coming this way as the boys looked around. "I think you just gave me glaucoma."
"You can't give someone glaucoma," Gus said, shining the light around the shed. Suddenly the overhead lights came on and Aslinn blinked, then peered around them.
"Thank you," Shawn said impatiently and began shuffling through papers on the desk. "Aislinn, come touch some stuff."
"I'd rather not, Shawn," she said, still keeping watch out the door.
"Wow, this is better than the entire university department," Gus said, looking around.
"Sure is," Shawn said.
"And this is some high quality digging supplies. Looks like some of them are missing," Gus continues, walking further into the shed. "Part of a portable light kit, a lot of brushes, and fine finishing equipment which I'd assume he was only using in the lab." Shawn picked up a photograph of the dead guy but continued going through the things on the table, picking up a dirty piece of thick paper.
"Dude I got something," Shawn said, and Aislinn turned to look too.
"What?" Gus asked, coming closer.
"He was the worst tic tac tow player in the history of the world," Shawn said, holding up a chart with grids and a lot of X's on it. Aislinn rolled her eyes but came closer anyway.
"We're investigating and you're analyzing his doodles?" Gus asked impatiently.
"Actually I'm just standing guard," Aislinn said, smiling.
"Doodles are the window to the soul, Gus," Shawn said, peering at the paper again. Aislinn shook her head and turned back to the door, then frowned.
"We have company," Aislinn said. "Lassiter's here." Shawn refolded the paper and the three of them left the shed, closing the door behind them.
"That guys like five minutes behind us everywhere we go," Shawn grumbled. They watched from around the corner as Lassiter and Juliet tried to open the shed and failed, then they walked around like they had just gotten there.
"Spencer," Lassiter said, frowning. "Enjoying your time riding my behind?" Aislinn snorted and Shawn hit her arm lightly. "This lock is too high tech for a shed. We need to find someone who can crack this code," Lassiter was saying to Juliet.
"There's already someone here who can crack this code," Shawn said, and Gus smirked and made to step forward, only to be held back by Shawn's arm. "That person is Aislinn."
"What?" Aislinn asked at the same time Gus did. Shawn turned to speak to them in an undertone.
"Come on, they need to get used to having her around," Shawn whispered. "Can you open it?" He asked a bit louder.
"Of course I can," Aislinn hissed back, frowning. He grinned, then straightened and gestured for her to step forward.
"Well make yourself useful," Lassiter said sarcastically. She narrowed her eyes at him, then stepped forward to rest her hand over the lock. She got hundreds of images of the dead guy punching the code in, then the most recent one of Gus doing it, and pulled her hand away, frowning slightly.
"As I thought," Lassiter said, seeing her frown. She scowled and reached forward again, punching the numbers in too fast for him to see, then grinned as it clicked open. She pushed on the door and frowned, then gestured for Lassiter to pull it open.
"That was amazing," Juliet said, grinning as she walked through the door.
"I'll give you that one," Lassiter said, almost smiling.
"Sorry Gus," Aislinn said as Shawn followed them into the shed.
"No problem," Gus said, walking inside. Aislinn followed.
"I can't see a thing in here," Lassiter said, peering around.
"Oh I got it," Gus said, pulling his flashlight back out and clicking it on.
"Wait I'm sensing a light switch," Shawn said, then flicked it on. Gus huffed and shined the flashlight right into Shawn's face. Shawn flinched back and pushed Gus's hand away as Aislinn shook her head.
"There are tools missing," Lassiter said, frowning as he looked around.
"Good work detective," Shawn said in a slightly sarcastic voice. Aislinn sighed.
"He had a blunt force trauma," Juliet said, pulling out a small notepad to take notes. "That could be supplied by one of these missing items." the three of them followed the detectives to the back of the shed.
"Maybe this rock hammer, or this medium shovel," Lassiter said, pointing to the empty spaces in the tools rack.
"But where would they be?" Juliet asked, frowning.
"The bed of his pick up," Lassiter said. "It wasn't parked out front or at the university." Gus looked at Shawn who shrugged. Apparently they had all missed that. "We find that truck we find the murder weapon. Let's go O'Hara, we're burning daylight." Lassiter and Juliet turned to leave the shed, Gus and Shawn trailing behind them.
"Man you missed the truck?" Shawn asked, frowning at Gus.
"I'm not the 'psychic'," Gus said as a defense, then turned to Aislinn. "No offense meant."
"Don't worry, I missed it too, but then, I'm not a detective so I have an excuse, what's yours Shawn?" She asked in an overly sweet voice.
"Technically, since you work at Psych, you are a detective," Shawn argued as they made their way back to Gus's car. "My question is, why would someone frequent a fruit stand thats over fifty miles away?" Shawn asked, looking back at the shed. "Did you see those boxes?"
"I did," Aislinn said, nodding. "I didn't know they were important though."
"Everything is important, Aislinn," Shawn said, grinning again as they got into the car.
The next morning they piled into Gus's car and drove out to the fruit stand, singing along to the oldies music for nearly the entire trip. Aislinn had to admit that it was more fun that assembling the furniture in her apartment. She looked around the fruit stand as Shawn and Gus talked to the man running it. After trying the peach Shawn had tossed at her, she shelled out money for a few more of them. They had to be the best peaches she had ever eaten. The three of them drove up the hill the man had directed them to, coming to a stop at a gate that had a no trespassing sign on it.
"Another dead end," Gus said, frowning. "Let's turn around."
"Wait," Shawn said, taking off his seat belt. "Hold on a second." He got out of the car, Aislinn and Gus following him to the gate. "This looks like a place someone's been sneaking into," Shawn said, pointing to the latch on the gate which wasn't secure. They all lifted up on the wire, managing to open the gate enough for them to slip inside one at a time. hey walked up the pathway a ways, looking around them.
"What is this?" Shawn asked.
"It looks like some kind of farmland or something," Gus said, looking around. "Or a grazing plain."
"Oh look at that," Shawn said, pointing to piles of overturned dirt. "It's like that movie. That one with, um, Sigourney Weaver."
"Aliens?" Gus said.
"No," Shawn said, peering around them.
"Alien," Aislinn said, looking around too.
"No," Shawn repeated.
"Alien: Resurrection," Gus said, nodding.
"No the one with the holes and Shia LeBeouf," Shawn said, getting frustrated.
"They had holes in Shia LeBeouf?" Gus asked, frowning.
"No, dude, the holes were int he ground, like that," Shawn said, gesturing to the dirt piles. "And Jon Voight was walking around all crazy."
"Oh," Gus said, nodding in understanding. "Anaconda."
"Yeah, never mind," Shawn said, giving up.
"Gorilla's in the mist?" Gus asked. "Death and the Maiden?"
"No," Shawn said, sighing.
"Half moon street?" Gus asked.
"Just let it go," Shawn said.
"I think it was just called Holes," Aislinn said, then the three of them ducked as a gunshot rang out.
"I'll be damned!" Shawn said as they walked in half crouches to a small stand of trees.
"What?" Gus asked, panicked.
"Somebodys shooting at us!" Shawn said, frowning.
"That's rude," Aislinn said, looking around to see where the shooter was. She had noticed that the bullet hadn't come anywhere near them, so the shooter was probably just trying to warn them off.
"Oh god!" Shawn cried in a mock worried voice. "They're shooting! We're gonna die! Run guys! Run like the wind!" They both tripped over Gus as he stumbled. "No get up!"
They made it back to the car at a run.
"Come on, get in the car! Hurry up!" Gus said, whining.
"Start it, start it, go go go," Shawn said, looking around them. Gus started the car and began backing down the road at a high speed, half crouching over in his seat. "Dude, look at the road while you're driving," Shawn said, smacking Gus on the head.
"I'm staying down for safety," Gus said, making the car swerve.
"He was shooting directly into the air," Aislinn said, rolling her eyes.
"Bullets go up, they have to come down," Gus protested, though he sat a little higher in his seat.
"Do you know what the trajectory would have to be for that to happen?" Shawn argued.
"Don't you dare argue physics with me, not while we're in the process of almost being killed," Gus said, finally getting to a spot on the road where he could turn the car around. "Didn't you see that sign?" Gus whined, pointing to a 'Trespassers will be shot' sign on the side of the drive.
"Oh yeah," Shawn said, relaxing now that they were farther away from the field. "It totally said that, my bad."
Aislinn shook her head and settled in for the hour long ride back to town.
"Aislinn!" Juliet called as the three of them entered the station. They had been on their way to the chiefs office so Shawn could have a 'vision' about the farm. Aislinn looked up at Shawn, silently asking if he needed her to be there. She pushed her shoulder towards Juliet then continued toward the chiefs office. Aislinn warily made her way over to the blonde woman.
"Hi," Aislinn said, not sure what the woman wanted.
"Hey," Juliet said, smiling. "I just wanted to say that it's really nice to have another girl around here, I mean besides the chief. I'm really glad you are working on this case."
"Uh, thanks?" Aislinn said, her words almost forming a question. Her face must have shown her confusion.
"I just wanted to say that it would be nice if we could be, you know, friends," Juliet said, smiling.
"Oh," Aislinn said, then smiled too. "I'd like that. The boys can be kind of…"
"Stupid? Immature? Useless children?" Lasster chimed in from bend her, making her jump. She hadn't noticed him approaching.
"I was going to say overwhelming," Aislinn said, turning to look at him. "So yes, I would like to be your friend," she said, turning back to Juliet.
"Great," Juliet said, grinning. "Maybe we could have lunch together sometime."
"Sure," Aislinn said, smiling.
"Great, well if we are done braiding each others hair and painting each others nails, we have an investigation to continue," Lassiter said, walking toward the chiefs office. Juliet and Aislinn followed behind him, and Aislinn caught Juliet rolling her eyes and grinned at her.
"Lassiter found the paleontologist's truck," Juliet said to her as the entered the office, letting everyone inside overhear it. Aislinn made her way over to stand beside Shawn while the detectives stood in front of the desk.
"You helped," Lassiter conceded, smiling.
"I did help," Juliet said, also smiling. "It was his hunch."
"It was down at the old marina," Lassiter said. "I just had a feeling. I also found the prints of a certain grad student named Eather Robinson along with a stack of letters from said grad student demanding that the professor stop ruining his life. We're sending a car over to pick him up," Lassiter said, then smirked over at Shawn in a mockingly regretful way. "Oh I'm sorry, am I interrupting your trance?"
"I don't buy it," Shawn said, shaking his head.
"Which part?" Lassiter asked, his face smug now. "The damning evidence or the murder weapon?"
"There's more going on in this guys life," Shawn insisted, facing the chief now. "I'm sensing digging." He mimed someone shoveling a pile of dirt over his shoulder.
"Yeah, the archeology department was going under," Lassiter said, nodding. "He was trying to make a big discovery, put him on the map, get more funding."
"The farm," Shawn said, waving his hands about. "I can see the name of the farm. It's wallll… wall… Walker Farms." Lassiter said the end of his sentence with him, nodding along.
"Yeah, we got that lead off the phone records. Yesterday," Lassiter said, looking back at the chief. "Our victim made a series of phone calls to the farmer trying to buy some of his land, but it wasn't for same."
"Farmer was forthcoming, cooperative," Juliet continued. "Definitely not a suspect."
"Anything else?" Lassiter asked, smirking at Shawn.
"I have to say, you have been very thorough," the chief said, nodding in approval.
"We're just doing what any good cops would do," Lassiter said, smirking again. They led the room, Shawn and Gus following behind, then Aislinn. Shawn led them back out to the parking lot, scowling the whole time. He took Gus's keys and climbed into the drivers seat, starting the car as they climbed in.
"Where are we going now?" Gus asked as Shawn pulled out onto the road.
"My dads," Shawn said. The drive only took about five minutes, Shawn speeding the whole way.
"Shawn, what are we doing?" Gus asked as they all climbed out of the car.
"Yeah what are you doing Shawn?" Henry asked, meeting them in the driveway.
"I need to borrow some tools," Shawn said.
"What kind of tools?" Henry asked suspiciously.
"Digging tools," Shawn said. "We've got a little digging project going on."
"Are you still on that dinosaur thing?" Henry asked, following Shawn into the garage.
"We're still on that dinosaur thing?" Gus asked, following behind them.
"What is there an echo in here?" Shawn asked, looking around and grabbing two metal shovels. "Yes, we're still on that dinosaur thing. We step foot on the far end of this guy Walker's farm up in Ojai and he starts blasting us with buckshot. We know our dead guy was there every night leading up to his death, digging around the periphery of this property."
"No, Shawn wait," Henry said, following Shawn back out to Gus's car as he carried the shovels.
"Oh, Gus will leave his class ring as collateral," Shawn said shutting the trunk of the car.
"No I won't," Gus said.
"Yes you will."
"No, I won't."
"Sure you will."
"No I won't," Gus said, getting into the drivers seat and slamming his door.
"I can't support this," Henry said, crossing his arms and frowning as Aislinn opened the back door.
"Well theres a shocker, you not being supportive," Shawn said, frowning too.
"Would you shut up and listen? I'm saying I can't support you going somewhere where you might get shot," Henry said, sighing.
"What, are you worried about me?" Shawn asked incredulously.
"Shawn, I've been worried about you since you were three years onld and started eating your own toenails," Henry said. Aislinn laughed and slid into the car so she could avoid the rest of the argument. Shawn climbed into the car as Henry stormed back into the house.
"You know, you could be nicer to him. He's just worried," Aislinn said as Gus pulled out of the driveway. Shawn didn't say anything so she sat back in her seat, staring out the window for the hour long drive back to the farm. The cautiously made their way back to the field where the guy had been digging, watching out for the farmer.
"Perfect, this will be easy," Gus said sarcastically as they stared at the fifteen or so holes int he ground.
"Oh theres a pattern here," Shawn said, looking around. "Those guys dig with a reason."
"How do you know that?" Gus asked, frowning.
"Gus, I worked at the museum for almost an entire weekend before I go canned," Shawn said, shaking his head. "Wait a second," he pointed to the dirt piles. "Those weren't tic tac toe boards, those were ally he places he'd dug."
"There were like 25 X's," Gus said, looking around them. "No way he scored that often."
"The X's were misses," Aislinn said, remembering the boards too.
"In this case, O marks the spot," Shawn said, then pointed. "And that's the O."
"This is the only hole filled with a bulldozer," Gus said as they approached it. "No self-respecting paleontologist would use a bulldozer."
"Why do you know that?" Shawn asked, frowning at Gus.
"Because, Shawn, if you use a bull-"
"Gus, I don't actually want to know," Shawn said, interrupting him.
"Then don't ask," Gus said, huffing.
"This shouldn't take long," Shawn said, hefting his shovel and the leaf blower he had strapped over his back. "Grab a shovel. And keep an eye out for that farmer." Aislinn grabbed the shovel from Shawn knowing full well he wasn't going to be doing any work and began digging with Gus. They worked up a sweat quickly even though there was a nice breeze.
"How are you doing on your side?" Gus called to Shawn after a sold fifteen minutes.
"Good, solid," Shawn called back. Aislinn rolle dyer eyes, seeing Shawn leaning back against a dirt pile. "I'm holding up."
"Shawn," Gus huffed, spotting Shawn.
"What? I'm keeping watch, that's how the other guy died. What you aren't worried at all?" Shawn said, then jumped as Gus threw a shovel full of dirt on top of him. "All right, I get it! It's my turn," Shawn said, getting up and accepting the shovel from Gus as he and Aislinn climbed out of the hole.
"This is the end of the loose dirt," Shawn called about five minutes later. Aislinn and Gus jumped down into the hole.
"This is weird," Gus said, frowning at a white lump.
"What, that there's rocks int he ground?" Shawn asked.
"These aren't rocks, Aislinn said, running a hand over one of them. "They're fossils."
"But they've been processed, finished off, residue, rocks chipped away. Stuff you would normally do in a lab."
"So Franzen found something," Shawn said, nodding. "So why wouldn't he just take it out and do the work in the lab where it should be done? Unless…"
"Unless it was too big to move," Gus finished for him. They all looked at each other in excitement.
"Dude, I'm gonna go get the leaf blower," Shawn said, climbing back up then hopping down a moment later. He started up the leaf blower before Aislinn could protest, covering them all with dirt. When the dust settled and they had finished coughing, they stared at the dinosaur head they had just uncovered.
"Holy crap," Aislinn said.
"I just discovered a dinosaur," Gus said, his mouth almost hanging open.
"Come on," Shawn said after another moment of staring. "We need to fill in the hole and get out of here before farmer shootypants comes back." They climbed out of the hole and all began pushing the dirt back into the hole. They drove back to Psych, Gus complaining about them getting dirt in his car the shoe way, then took turns showering in the office bathroom. Luckily, all three of them had changes of clothes there, Aislinn because she had yet to collect the bag she had brought there the first night she slept on the couch, and Shawn because he kept clothes everywhere, and Gus because he always carried a change of clothes in his car, just in case.
"Filling that hole was the worst idea ever," Gus said as the three of them lay on the floor of the office, exhausted.
"It had to be done," Shawn said. "We have to save it for when we unmask Franzen's killer."
"I still don't get it," Gus said.
"He was on the trail of a fossil graveyard that led him right to Deacon Farms," Shawn began explaining. "Farmer wouldn't let him dig on the land, so he takes matters into his own hands after hours."
"But why wouldn't the farmer let him dig?" Aislinn asked, frowning.
"Maybe he didn't want his farm disturbed," Shawn suggested.
"A dig like that is worth millions to the land owner," Gus said, shaking his head. "And the fossils I discovered weren't even on crop land."
"You discovered?" Shawn asked incredulously.
"Don't try to take away my dinosaur discovery Shawn," Gus said. Aislinn cleared her throat. "Our discovery," Gus corrected himself.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Shawn said. "I'm sorry. It was all you. And Aislinn. I'm very proud of you both."
"Don't you think once they unearth that thing there would be a swarm of people crashing in from all over the world?" Gus said.
"Why didn't he just lease the land?" Aislinn asked.
"I don't get it," Gus said, shaking his head.
"I've got an idea," Shawn said, grinning as he sat up.
"What?" Gus asked.
"Let's ask him," Shawn said, grinning.
"What?" Gus asked, louder this time. "We're pretty sure we just found a cold-blooded murderer, and you want to go to his house and ask about it?"
"We can ask nicely," Shawn said, smiling.
"No," Gus said, standing up.
"All right all right," Shawn said in defeat. "We come up with a cover story. We're vacuum salesmen. No, traveling gipsies. No no no! We'll do Of Mice and Men. I'm Lennie."
"No," Gus said again, shaking his head.
"George," Shawn said, adopting a horrible voice. "You said that I could take care of those rabbits, George."
"Shawn," Gus protested.
"And later on you're gonna cook those beets," Shawn continued.
"Shawn," Gus said again.
"Beets make me go-"
"No Lennie," Gus shouted. Aislinn shook her head as they led the Psych office to go back to Gus's car. Gus drove them all out there again, arguing the entire time about Shawn's ideas.
"Gus, you know I've been waiting to pull out my Lennie," Shawn begged. Aislinn snorted again.
"No, Shawn, we do the National Paleontologist Society thing as agreed," Gus said.
"And we keep it very, very simple," Aislinn agreed as they climbed out of the car when Gus parked in front of the fruit stand.
"And why are we stopping here?" Gus asked.
"Have you tried these peaches?" Aislinn asked, walking over to the owned.
"You're back!" The old chinese mad said, obviously excited.
"Yes, sir, we are," Shawn said. "We're addicted to your citrus."
"Peaches aren't citrus," Aislinn said.
"They're stone fruit," Gus added.
"It's the same thing," Shawn said, frowning.
"No, not the same thing," Gus said. "They have pits. {etches, Cherries, Plums, and Apricots."
"I can't do this with you right now," Shawn said, frowning as Aislinn began going through a crate of peaches and picking out the best ones.
"Does your fruit come from Deacon Walker Farms?" Shawn asked the old man.
"Oh, no. We grow on our own little pacel of land," the man said, grinning. "Deacon Walker's farm used to be a supplier of ours years ago, but they don't grow nearly as much as they used to."
"Thank you so much for your information," Shawn said, grinning. "If you have a moment, my friends and I would like to buy every peach on that truck. Including the one you're eating." Aislinn rolled her eyes as Shawn walked back towards the car.
"Sorry for my idiot friend," she said, shaking her head. "We don't want to buy every peach. Just some of them." She gestured to the cardboard box full of the peaches she had picked out, grinning, then fished through her pockets for the cash she had brought exactly for this purpose. She made gus carry the heavy box back to the car, then climbed in beside it. All three of them ate a peach as they drove up to the farmers house.
"You sure you don't want to do Of Mice and Men?" Shawn asked as they got out of the car.
"If you so much as slur one word, I'll give you an Indian burn so hot your socks will catch on fire."
"Indian burn," Shawn said, laughing. "I haven't been threatened with that this millennium."
"Take a shot if your ulna feels safe," Gus said smugly as they climbed the steps to the porch.
"I don't think the ulna's in the forearm," Shawn said as Aislinn took the lead to sand in front of them.
"It is," she said, then knocked on the door.
"How can you Indian burn a bone?" Shawn muttered behind her.
"Stop analyzing my threat," Gus whispered.
"Well get it right," Shawn said.
"I got it right," Gus mumbled as the door swung open.
"Deacon Walker?" Aislinn asked in her best professional voice, even though she was wearing jeans and a blank t-shirt. The man glared at her for a moment, then frowned.
"Sullivan Walker," he replied.
"Oh, well, is Deacon Walker home?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There is no Deacon Walker," he said.
"That's confusing," Gus said behind her.
"I've got nothing," Shawn added.
"Then why name the farm Deacon Walker Farms?" Gus asked, and Aislinn sighed.
"Because it used to be called Deacon Walker Farms," the man said. "Roger Deacon was my partner, he's not anymore."
"Aaaaah," Gus said in understanding.
"That cleans it up nicely," Shawn added. "May we come in?"
"No," the man said. "What do you want?"
"We're from the National Paleontologist Society-" Aislinn began.
"Not interested," the man said, then slammed the door shut.
"Clearly he's not interested," Gus said, turning around to leave. Aislinn moved aside as Shawn stepped forward to knock on the door again.
"We would like to make you a very sizable offer on a very small portion of your-" Shawn began when the man opened the for again, but was cut off as it slammed shut once more. He knocked again and waited for the man to open the door, then pushed his face against the screen. "Hello, my name is Lennie. I like to-" the door slammed shut a third time. "You think he'd open up if I knocked again?" Gus ignored him and Aislinn shrugged, then followed them down the porch steps.
"I'm glad it only took us an hour to get up here," Gus said sarcastically. "Not like I wasted a whole day." He walked around to the drivers side of the car as shawn frowned.
"Franzen dug up here too?" Shawn asked, glancing once at the door, then around the side of the house where a few dirt piles were visible. They walked over to them to get a closer look.
"No he didn't," Gus said, pointing out the tracks int he dirt. "these are all new. And dug with a bulldozer."
"A real paleontologist would never use such an indelicate tool," Shawn said sarcastically. "I got it. So our farmers been digging too."
"Right," Gus said as the headed back to his car.
"But if the gold mines out there, why is he digging over here?" Shawn asked, then frowned as his phone began to ring. "It's my dad. Think he wants his leaf blower back?" He flipped the phone open and listened for a second. Aislinn was just close enough to hear the conversation.
"Shawn? Shawn, you're not anywhere near that farmhouse, are you?" Henry asked.
"Dad, how dare you? Of course not," Shawn replied, grinning at Aislinn who rolled her eyes.
"Good, stay away Shawn. I know why I remember that farm. Deacon Walked Farm. I was up there about twenty years ago. A girl reported that her boyfriend went missing. Roger Deacon. He was a partner in the farm. He was never found, Shawn." Shawn looked up at Gus, then over at Aislinn.
"Never found?" He asked.
"That's right. The farmer claimed he went back to England or some nonsense," Henry said. "The point is, we never found out where he went."
""I think I know where he is," Shawn said, frowning.
"Where?" Henry asked.
"I might be looking at him," Shawn said.
"Shawn!" Henry called over the phone.
"Gotta go," Shawn said, then hung up the phone and looked at Gus. "Dude."
"What?" Gus asked. Shawn grinned an dialed another number on his phone. "Jules. I'm getting a really sting vibe that we all need to go to the Ojai Valley, to Deacon Walker Farms. I guarentee that in ten minutes I can solve the Franzen case, nab the killer, close an additional unsolved murder from twenty years ago, and," he paused for dramatic effect. "And unearth a dinosaur." Gus huffed and Aislinn laughed while Shawn waited not he phone. "Great, see you in an hour." He hung up. "They are on their way. I suggest we wait at the fruit stand." They climbed into the car, all of them glad to get away from the murderer. They spent the next forty five minutes eating peaches and lounging around the fruit stand, then when the others finally arrived, Shawn convinced them to get the farmer to lead them out to the field where they would be waiting.
"This is as far as my property goes," Walker said, pointing to the fence line as the small group made their way across the field toward the filled in holes. "That's all there is. Well, I've answered all your questions detective," he said. "What more do you want from me?"
"I'm not entirely sure, sir," Lassiter said, shrugging.
"We just have one more person we need you to talk to," Juliet said. Shawn took that as their cue to step out of the copse of trees they had been hiding in and walk over to them.
"Lennie?" The farmer asked as he spotted Shawn. Aislinn chuckled.
"Lennie?" Juliet whispered to Aislinn as she came to stand beside them.
"Don't even ask," Aislinn said.
"My name is not Lennie, Mr. Walker," Shawn said. "But if it were, I would have been amazing."
"No you wouldn't have," Gus said.
"Would have brought tears, Gus," Shawn said.
"Guy's," Juliet interrupted. "The point?"
"The truth is I'm a psychic," Shawn said, lifting a hand to his temple. "I work for the SBPD and the mystic vibrations of the sea have brought me here to solve not one, but two murders."
"Your a what?" The farmer asked, and Aislinn chuckled again.
"Christopher Franzen was a persistent annoyance, huh? He couldn't help it, he department was going under. He was desperate to find something significant to save his career, and he knew that your property held the key," he said, flailing his arms about. Aislinn sighed, half wishing he would just get to the point already. She heard Lassiter sigh too and smiled. "But you wouldn't let him dig," Shawn continued, and Juliet and Lassiter, seeing where this was going, moved to stand behind the farmer in case he tried to run. "You couldn't let him dig. So he did what any self respecting paleontologist would do. He dug anyway, secretly, under the blanket of night and into the early morning. And he dug, and her dug, and he found something. And that's when you found him. You knew the magnitude of the find. Once word got out you'd never be able to keep the rest of the world from digging here too. And you couldn't have the rest of the world digging here either, could you?"
"Shawn!" A voice called, and they all turned to see Henry jogging across the field.
"Dad?" Shawn asked, frowning. "What are you doing here?"
"I was worried,: Henry said, panting as he came to a stop beside them. "About my tools." They all looked at him. "What? If I had known you were finally smart enough to being backup I wouldn't have had to come up here, Shawn."
"Shawn, will you tell them why Walker wouldn't let him dig?" Gus asked, trying to get them back on track.
"Roger Deacon," Shawn began.
"Deacon is buried on the property!" Henry said, fingering it out.
"Dad!" Shawn protested. "Dad, you ruined the big reveal."
"You already mentioned his name, Shawn," Henry said, rolling his eyes.
"They don't know that Deacon was the parter Walker killed twenty years ago," Shawn continued, his voice still protesting.
"Hey now, wait a minute here-" the farmer began.
"He what now?" Lassiter asked, finally interested.
"Yeah, he killed Deacon and buried him somewhere on the farm," Shawn said, his voice sullen now. "And he can't remember where. Isn't that right, Farmer Shooty Pants?"
"I don't have to stand here and take this," Walked said angrily.
"No, actually, you kinda do," Lassiter said. "What doest his have to do with Christopher Franzen?"
"He kileld Franzen when he caught him standing over his dinosaur skull discovery, sending him flying right into the teeth of the dinosaur," Shawn explained. "But he couldn't bury him here. No, no, no, he had called the farm, he had snooped around the farm. There was a trail to the farm. No, he had to dump him somewhere where there'd be no forensics. Like the ocean. Just let the salt water clean the corpse and wash it ashore. And the murder scene? Well, he just hopped on his handy bulldozer and filled the hole."
"I'm getting a bad feeling about your streak," Juliet said to Lassiter.
"You too huh?" He asked, frowning.
"I think i need a lawyer," Walker said.
"I think you're right," Lassiter said. "Put your hands behind your back."
"What?" Walker asked in protest.
"You heard me," Lassiter said.
"You still haven't answered the question why he dug all the holes around the house, Shawn," Henry said.
"Dad, thats the finale," Shawn said with a groan. "That's why I don't invite you to these things." Shawn turned back to the others. "He was looking for Deacon's body," he muttered. "Whatever."
"Are we done here Mr. Spencer?" The chief asked.
"No we are not dun here," Shawn said, growing excited again. "For my final demonstration I will now discover a dinosaur."
"Shawn!" Gus protested.
"Actually, Gus will now discover a dinosaur," Shawn said, handing Gus the shovel. Gus grinned, then frowned.
"Wait a second. You just want me to dig this hole," Gus said, glaring.
"I do not," Shawn said.
"I'm not falling for that, Shawny boy," Gus said, throwing the shovel back at Shawn. "You dig it."
"I'll take credit for the discovery," Shawn said, picking up the shovel as the detectives turned back towards the house, Walker in handcuffs. Aislinn briefly considered staying, but decided against it as Shawn and Gus began shouting at each other.
I can't believe I've drive out here three times this week," Gus complained as they drove back to the city. "I've put so many miles on this car.:
"You know, we could have taken my car," Aislinn said from the back seat, trying to talk around another mouthful of peach. "I actually own my car. And it doesn't look like a giant blueberry." They were silent for a moment.
"We are taking your car next time," Gus said as Shawn switched not he radio. Aislinn grinned, recognizing the song at the same time the boys did, which was just in time to belt out the lyrics to the chorus, very off key, with them.
The next morning Aislinn was at the Psych office, sitting at her newly installed desk, putting little nick backs from her old house onto it when Shawn came in.
"Hey, want to come with me to my dads to return his shovels?" Shawn asked.
"Sure," Aislinn said, standing. She helped him carry the tools to her car, then drove to the beach front.
"Oh come on guys," Shawn said as they walked into the kitchen. Aislinn frowned, seeing the psychologist and Gus there too. "We;re still doing this intervention thing?"
"Yes, yes Shawn, we are," Henry said, pacing across the room to take a seat in one of the dining chairs. "Son, you have no sense of responsibility. And lately you've been purposely putting yourself in a severe amount of unnecessary danger. On top of which you are constantly belittling the good work of-"
"Actually Henry, I may have stretched the truth a bit," the psychologist said, stepping forward. Shawn grinned. "This isn't about Shawn, it's about you.
"What?" Henry asked, confused.
"Can we talk about your obsessive need for control?" The psychologist asked.
"You come into my house," Henry began, standing up angrily. "You lie to me?"
"Lets try to be rational," the psychologist said as Gus and Aislinn began inching toward the door. "Did you really drive all the way up to Ojai just to crash Shawn's crowning moment?"
"Get out," Henry said, standing. Aslinn opened the door, letting Gus push past her.
"Henry, we're here for you. At least listen," the psychologist said, now scooting closer to the door as Shawn followed.
"Out, now," Henry said, pointing to the door. "Get out."
"I'd like to start," Shawn said as they were practically pushed out of the house. "When I was about seven, he-" Shawn was cut off as the door slammed behind them. "You up for some peaches?" He asked the others as the psychologist shook his head and walked away.
"Sure," Aislinn said. "We can have them at my apartment and you guys can finally help me put the furniture together." They both groaned but followed her to her car anyway.