I'm so so glad Psych is back! Updates, with reviews, will come quickly. I want to be done with my trilogy before the Yin trilogy concludes on the show.

Shawn finished analyzing the crime scene and headed backs towards the Blueberry. Ricky Connell had been stabbed through the stomach-or he had fallen on the stick-the coroner's report would confirm which. The burly six foot four man with a blonde buzz cut had died decked out head to toe in, what was now, blood stained camo gear. Ricky's jacket was old, obviously worn regularly; it was even ripped in a few spots. The guy had definitely been a very serious hunter. And more importantly, he could obviously take care of himself. Even in death, the dude looked about as ripped as an ox.

Shawn fisted his hands into his pockets as he walked, pausing only when he noticed Lassiter pleading with the Chief near their cars. Jules stood nearby silently supporting her partner. Vick shook her head at Lassiter and Lassie pointed at his stomach. Shawn grinned; Lassie knew something in his gut did he?

Motioning to Gus to join him, Shawn practically skipped over to where the detectives were arguing.

"Chief, I know this is connected. Just let me stay and-," Lassiter was pleading.

Chief shook her head again, "No Carlton. You are going. This is not a negotiation."

Lassiter sighed and gritted his teeth, "But Chief-"

"Detective Lassiter. That's my decision. Psych is already on the case," Chief motioned to the two consultants who were now with them. Gus waved. "They will work on this case with me as their liaison. And you will accompany Detective O'Hara to the Detectives Retreat this weekend."

Lassiter's nostrils flared in disagreement, but he kept his mouth shut.

Shawn raised an eyebrow, "I'm going to assume our invitation to this retreat was simply lost in the mail Chief?" Shawn inquired, sounding hurt. Or, at least, he would have sounded hurt, if he didn't have a big grin on his face.

"The retreat is for detectives only Mr. Spencer," Vick smiled. Shawn nodded slowly in understanding. Vick excused herself to go deal with the press; a body couldn't wash up on the shore of a public beach without the public crying "West Coast Jaws". She rolled her eyes.

"Lassie, what is it you think is connected?" Shawn asked as soon as Vick was out of ear shot.

Lassiter sighed, "There's been a string of disappearances all over Santa Barbara. Until now there have been no bodies, and there's still no apparent connection, no real reason to suspect foul play in any of the cases but…" Lassiter shrugged, "Something feels off."

Gus frowned, "We've had two people stop by in the last week asking us for help finding someone."

"Do you remember their names?" the detective asked.

Shawn put his hand to his head, "Samantha Ford came by to hire us to find her brother Timothy Ford, and Theo 'The Boulder' Gavin came by to recruit us to find his cousin Julian Wyatt."

"The Boulder was in your office?" Juliet sounded horrified.

Shawn pursed his lips, "Yes," He answered slowly.

"He's one of the biggest drug dealers in Santa Barbara," Lassiter growled. He paused, "He's also weighs about 500 pounds. How did you two morons turn him down without getting your knee caps busted?"

Shawn and Gus exchanged glances, "There may have been some girlish screaming and begging involved," Shawn admitted.

Gus nodded, "There was also some running away in terror."

"We locked ourselves in the Blueberry and drove to my dad's to hide," Shawn added. "He's out of town fishing so…"

Lassiter and Juliet stared at the pair in a mix of horror and amusement.

Shawn cleared his throat, "It's a rather long…slightly traumatic story," he nodded looking at the ground.

Juliet frowned, "Wait, if you two needed the money so badly, why did you…"

Gus glared at Shawn, who shrugged, "When Sam came to us we were heavily invested in another case that needed our full attention."

Making a noise of disagreement Gus clarified, "A waitress at Tom Blair's had hired us to find out if her boyfriend was cheating."

Shawn rolled his eyes, "Marie's problems deserved our full attention Gus," Shawn scolded, "And we felt obligated for…moral reasons not to take the case 'The Boulder' offered us."

"'Moral Reasons'?" Lassie asked.

Shawn nodded.

"He told us he was looking for Julian because Julian owed him money," Gus explained, "And then he showed us his baseball bat," Gus shuddered.

"I'm pretty sure Timothy Ford and Julian Wyatt are part of that string of disappearances Carlton," Juliet said thoughtfully, turning to her partner.

Lassiter nodded, "They are. Actually, they were the first two to go missing. But that was over a month and a half ago," he mused.

Gus shrugged. "I guess they got tired of waiting for results," Shawn grinned and the two fist bumped.

Juliet rolled her eyes and walked away as Lassiter growled, lunging after the two. Shawn and Gus let out girlish screams and ran to the Blueberry, locking themselves in.

"Move! Move, move!" Shawn screamed as Gus slammed the car into reverse and skidded out of the parking lot.

Later (And a safe distance from Lassiter):

Shawn was legitimately freaked out. And judging by the slight gasp that his best friend had failed to stifle, Gus was to. Sitting in Charles Connell's living room was truly a frightening experience. The police had already notified him of his son's passing, and the elder man admitted that sadly, he had already begun to suspect the worst when he had hired the psychic detectives. But Gus was adamant that they stop by to offer their condolences. Shawn hoped that was code for 'pick up their check'.

Shawn glanced slightly to his right, seeing a stuffed Lion staring at him savagely. Above the man's fire place was a large buck's head, and behind Gus was a snarling wolf. Gus gulped. There were stuffed animals all over the place; and not the cute kind, the creepy kind that had actually once been living.

"You have quite the collection here Mr. Connell," Shawn observed, trying to keep his voice even as a squirrel stared menacingly at him from a shelf. Shawn shifted his chair slightly and about screamed; the thing was so following him with it's eyes.

Mr. Connell gave a soft chuckle, "Yes that I do. Took up hunting when I left the Army Rangers; keeps the skills sharp."

Shawn had already known about the man's military history because of the commendations that were laying next to the squirrel, but he couldn't resist asking, "Is that anything like the Power Rangers?"

Gus elbowed him in the rib, but Mr. Connell appeared to have not heard, as he was slowly shuffling around to behind his desk, "It was the only thing that Ricky and I really agreed on," he opened a drawer and pulled out a picture. He handed it to Gus.

The father and son were considerably younger, dressed in camo and holding up the head of a killed deer. Gus stifled the urge to be sick, and quickly passed the picture off to Shawn. "When I wasn't working I was out hunting, so if Ricky wanted to spend time with me he'd come along. And as he got older I taught him more and more," the father grinned again, nostalgically, "He was one of the most natural shots I'd ever seen."

"He would have followed me into service but he messed up his ankle in a car accident during his junior year," Connell looked out the window, tears forming in the corners of the old man's eyes, "He was being a teenager. There was alcohol involved. I…it drove a wedge between us for a long time. I was disappointed that he wouldn't follow in my footsteps." The man drew a ragged breathe. "We had just started to patch things up. He was calling every other week; stopped by for burgers the day before his trip."

The man grinned as he remembered his son's final visit, "He was really excited about the trip."

Gus frowned, "Was that unusual?"

Connell wiped his eyes and turned back to the detectives, "Ricky loved hunting. About six months ago he went on an expedition to Africa with his best friend and they hunted big game there. He'd hunted every type of game there was successfully. I just don't know what had him so excited about a hunting trip around here. He went on the expedition because he'd become bored with all the hunting options 'round here." the father mused. "Oh, that's them," Mr. Connell shuffled over to a picture on the wall, "He gave me this after the safari." Shawn saw Ricky with four other hunters posing in front of the savannah.

The older man sniffed again, "I'm sorry, I want to be helpful, I just…"he trailed off as his voice betrayed him.

Shawn glanced at Gus and rolled his eyes as his friend started to well up sympathetically.

"Gus," Shawn hissed.

"I'm sorry," his friend blubbered.

Shawn sighed. "Well thank you for your time Mr. Connell." Shawn stood to leave, dragging Gus up with him. He paused, "Who were the other hunters on the trip with Ricky?"

"This weekend? Or the safari?"

Shawn shrugged, "Either. Both." Any lead would do.

"Ricky's best friend Marcus took him on the safari. Marcus is a hunter too and apparently he has a group of friend at work who they went with ."

"Marcus have a last name?" Shawn asked.

"Cruz; oh, and I think Ricky said that Marcus was going on the trip this weekend too." Connell added.

They said goodbye and exited the house.

"So what now?" Gus asked as he composed himself.

Shawn plopped down into the blueberry, "I think we should stop by the department. Look at the files Lassie thinks are connected." Shawn tried to take a sip of his smoothie. Empty. He sighed, "And then we need to refuel."

Gus nodded in agreement about the smoothies. "You think Lassiter is right about the connection?" Gus asked, sounding like he had just seen Hell freeze over. Since when did Shawn trust Lassiter's hunches?

Shawn sighed. It was more like he didn't trust himself. Shawn shrugged, "Anything's possible. Besides, we've seen stranger things." Gus gave him another look. "What! Remember that case with the werewolf? Much stranger than this."

Gus rolled his eyes and shook his head in disagreement, "Since it wasn't actually a werewolf the case wasn't that weird."

Shawn sighed, "How about the one with the arson-urderer?" he asked. Gus shook his head, "Dude come on! We got to make up the name for entirely new type of crime!" he said as he stomped his foot on the floor.

"Shawn! This is a company car!" Gus scolded, "And it's still not weirder."

Shawn crossed his arms across his chest pouting.

"How bout the one with the Nanny Cameras?"

"Now you're just desperate," Gus stated as they drove away.

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enjoy!