"Mr. Spencer, not you too," Vick groaned.

Shawn shrugged, "Chief, I am sensing very strongly that these missing person cases are connected."

Vick hesitated.

Shawn licked his lips and looked her in the eye, "Both your Head Detective and your Head Psychic think there's a connection," He grinned, "If you don't trust Lassie at least trust-"

"Fine Mr. Spencer," she groaned, leaning back in her chair. Usually Lassiter and O'Hara would intercept these crazy claims, but they had headed out on the retreat as soon as the initial paperwork on Ricky Connell's body had been put in. And she'd made the mistake of allowing the older Spencer time off at the same time. Henry had gone fishing, and it had left her here to baby sit his son.

Shawn grinned as he and Gus bounced out of the Chief's office holding the case files. The files weren't allowed to leave the station, but since Juliet was currently on a police retreat the two settled in at her desk. Six files. Five missing people and one dead one.

Thumbing through the initial autopsy report for Ricky Connell confirmed that he had been killed when someone had stabbed a large stick into his chest. In the report their rather off beat coroner emphasized that based on the angle and damage from the wound there was no way the man had simply fallen on it. It was murder. However, the body had been in the water so long-Woody estimated over a week-that all trace evidence was gone, there were no prints on the branch in Ricky's chest or on his person.

Shawn recognized two of the other names from the cases he and Gus had turned away; Julian Wyatt, age 27, had done a stint in jail for possession with the intent to sell. He'd made a deal with the D.A to turn in his boss and had gotten out early; his boss was a very powerful player in 'The Boulder's' crew. And then there was Timothy Ford, a 42 year old conman with an extremely thick file. Shady characters; it wasn't hard to believe that there might be people out there who wanted them dead. But a connection between the two was hard to believe. There was a vast age gap, they lived clear across town from one another…He sighed; maybe Lassie was wrong after all.

He flipped through the new files next. Vicky Queen was a 32 year old stay at home mother of 4. She had two DUI's and there were notes in the file that seemed to imply she was the prime suspect in an unsolved Hit and Run case from 06. Apparently the judge had ruled key evidence inadmissible.

Then there was David Burton, age 34. A mechanic and alleged wife beater. There was a note in the file that said he had recently been evicted from his apartment, so it was possible he had simply skipped town. But his mother was convinced that something horrible had happened; she was, of course, the one who had reported him missing.

The last missing person was Katherine Winslow, a 26 year old nurse. Shawn frowned. That was all that was in her file. No arrest records, no shady history, not even a parking ticket.

Tapping his fingers against the file Shawn waited, with surprising patience, until Gus had finished reading the last file.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I think we should pay 'The Boulder' another visit," Gus said when he finished. "Julian was the first one to go missing."

Shawn pursed his lips and bopped his head as if giving it serious consideration, "No can do buddy. We need to look into this one," he said thrusting the Winslow file at his friend. This wasn't like the Hiltonbock case, it would be so boring if it was, and turning the case upside down wouldn't do them any good.

Gus grinned at his friend, "Shawn, do you remember when you guessed that it was the butler who kidnapped Millie Jordan?"

Shawn nodded slowly, not liking where this was going, "Yes I did Gus, and I feel I should remind you that I did so in record time."

Gus's grin stretched wider, "Then I'm guessing you also remember this morning when you said that Ricky Connell was probably just on vacation?"

Shawn rolled his eyes.

"And I'm guessing you also remember when we found his body washed up on the shore." Gus grinned as Shawn shook his head.

"Fine," the psychic said glumly, "We'll follow your lead."

Later:

Shawn had known the second he agreed that this was going to be a bad idea. And now, sitting across from a 500 plus pound drug dealer who vaguely resembled Michael Clarke Duncan, Shawn was sure of it. He glanced angrily at his best friend. Gus swallowed, obviously stifling a scream or the desire to lose his lunch.

"We came by when we realized we may have been a little hasty in dismissing your case," Gus tried, and failed, to sound smooth.

The Boulder growled. A small whimper escaped Gus's throat as he looked to his friend for help.

Shawn shrugged, "Well don't look at me," he turned to the imposing man, "I personally don't think we were hasty at all," he added flippantly. He winced as Gus's foot came down hard on top of his.

The large man growled again, louder this time and made eye contact with a lackey standing behind the duo. Shawn shot to his feet, dragging Gus up with him "You know what," he laughed casually, "We can see ourselves out." They bolted. Screaming.

"Move! Move, move!" Shawn screamed as they ran from the warehouse The Boulder had been in. Although no one was following them, they locked the doors for good measure before the blueberry skidded out of the parking lot.

Elsewhere:

Juliet O'Hara didn't think she'd ever been more grateful to get out of a car. She loved her grumpy socially awkward partner. She really did. But six hours in the car with him, listening to him rant about how Shawn had stolen his case was too much. And if she was honest with herself, with the exception of her partner, the Chief, and Buzz, she didn't really like anyone else at work all that much. Sure she respected them, but they weren't people she would choose to spend her Thursday night through Monday morning with. Unpaid.

Carlton surprised her by grabbing her suitcase along with his own as he continued his rant and dragged the luggage into the gigantic lodge. There was a main foyer, with a fireplace and a check in lobby all of which were about as cliché and tacky as they came. The large entrance hall also housed long picnic tables for the buffet style meals they would be provided; Juliet felt a wry smile spread across her face. The city couldn't even swing for pizza, just a continental buffet. Getting farther into the lodge Juliet grimaced. Besides being ridiculously tacky it also reeked of smoke.

Her partner coughed as his lips curled in distaste. His eyes searched around the room finding the source of the noxious smell. There was a group of hunters sitting at one table, celebratory cigars in mouth. He growled irritably until Juliet put her hand on his arm warning him not to do anything stupid.

The other detectives were lumbering down the hall way they were directed down, and Juliet was glad to see all of them looked equally unhappy with their forced vacation. They were ushered down a long corridor and through a giant set of double doors and Juliet froze.

Bunk beds. Lots of them. She heard the instructor announce happily that in order to enhance their cooperation activities they would be cohabitating as much as possible; even in their sleep. Oh god. She shot Carlton a glance and saw that his face was bright red and he was avoiding looking at her. She and her partner had very strict boundaries; and there was no scenario in which this could end well. And, she swallowed …Her eyes darted around nervously at her mostly male companions. These were her coworkers. They so did not need to see the Knight Rider t-shirt she slept in.

In that moment, Juliet O'Hara would have given anything to be back in the car.

Elsewhere (And on the trail of a proper lead):

The duo enter through the doors of the hospital casually. After Gus's failed lead Shawn had insisted on following his. This was where Katherine Winslow had worked up until her disappearance three weeks prior. With the exception of Ricky Connell, she was the most recent disappearance.

Miraculously, flashing his fake laminated police badge was enough to get them in-the guard at the front desk had heard of Psych. And they were soon sneaking into the nurse's locker.

"Gus, keep an eye out for Patrick Dempsey, he could be anywhere," Shawn whispered, glancing down the narrow rows of lockers to make sure they were alone.

"Grey's Anatomy takes place in Seattle Shawn," Gus rolled his eyes.

Shawn turned to his best friend, horrified, "I cannot do this with you right now," he muttered, scanning the lockers until he found the one with Katherine's name on it.

Shawn grinned; they had left Katherine's locker completely untouched. Shawn set his pineapple smoothie down on the bench before digging in.

Usual items, spare clothes; both civies and work outfits. Couple packs of gum. Make-up. Notebooks. Oh, Shawn felt his face split into a grin, Bingo. Buried at the bottom of Katherine's locker was a digital camera. Shawn started skimming through the pictures stored on it; the earliest were shots from a vacation, dated from over a year ago. He flipped through growing frustrated, pictures of her cat, her and a friend at a Dodgers game, and then-a barbeque. There weren't many of the barbeque; she been too caught up in the actual moments to snap photos. It looked like a friend had stolen her camera as Katherine was in many of the shots.

Shawn froze.

Ricky Connell was at the barbeque. The large burly man was, surprise surprise, wearing camo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt that said something about Monster Trucks Shawn couldn't make out. Ricky was standing in the back of the shot talking to another man. The other was almost ridiculously tan with curly coal colored hair. Shawn put a hand to his head; the guy looked so familiar. He squeezed his eyes shut tight until the memory came to him. Shawn grinned and skimmed through a few more pictures before he felt satisfied. Then he giggled.

"Gus, this is easily the biggest jack pot ever!"

"What, you found out who the murderer is?" His friend asked excitedly.

"No! Better, I found the first connection between the victims!"

"How is that better?"

Shawn pretended to not hear his friend as he leapt to his feet.

"Look at this," he waved Gus over to the camera and pointed to Ricky.

"Ok, so Katherine and Ricky knew each other. What about the others?" Shawn's grin faltered.

"Well, I'm not sure yet."

Gus rolled his eyes. Of course not; that would be too simple.

"BUT," Shawn added, his grin still wide as he lowered his voice to a whisper dramatically, "That's not all that this picture tells us. Look," he steered his friend's attention to the other man.

"He looks familiar." Gus frowned, trying to remember where he might have known the man from. It wasn't one of the victims.

"This is Marcus Cruz."

"Ricky Connell's best friend?"

"Ricky Connell's best friend." Shawn confirmed, still whispering dramatically. He recognized the man from the safari picture Ricky's father had shown them. Shawn's face split into a giant smile. He had one last reveal. "And that's not all," He told his friend, shaking his head up and down his eyes got big.

Gus rolled his eyes, more then use to his friend's dramatic flair.

Shawn clicked to the next picture, "Look."

"Woah."

"I know!"

"Cruz was dating Winslow!' Gus's voice adopted Shawn's hushed whisper. Shawn grinned a he returned his gaze to the picture a friend had taken of Winslow and Cruz locking lips.

"So Cruz is clearly linked to two of the victims," Gus summarized, his brain working in overdrive. Shawn was unusually quiet next to him.

Gus snapped his fingers; "Winslow and Connell had an affair and Cruz killed them."

Shawn frowned at him quizzically, "Gus, we don't make reckless accusations like that without evidence."

Gus merely glared at his friend. Deep in thought, Shawn shook his head slowly before continuing, "No, I don't think that's quite it buddy. It doesn't explain any of the other disappearances."

Gus shrugged, "You said Winslow was the odd one out. Maybe her disappearance isn't connected to the others."

Shawn shook his head. There was just something he wasn't seeing. It had to do with Cruz. He knew he'd seen the name before. Specifically the name. Not the face. He closed his eyes. Why was he having such a hard time focusing lately? Cruz, Cruz…Shawn eyes shot open.

"Dude. An M, Cruz, an assistant District Attorney was involved in the Vicky Queen hit and run trial." Shawn licked his lips. "We need to make sure it's the same Cruz," thinking on the spot he hit his friend on the arm, "Dial this number," Shawn put his hand to his head as he recalled the contact info listed in the case file, "555-0815." He grabbed the phone from Gus as his friend muttered a disgruntle protest.

Shawn grinned giddily as Marcus Cruz's office answering machine greeted him, stating that Marcus wouldn't be in until Tuesday.

"Marcus is out till Tuesday," he relayed to Gus who frowned in suspicion.

"Personal time?," Gus guessed, " With his girlfriend missing and his best friend dead?" Shawn shook his head; something about it just felt off.

"Are you talking about Katherine?" a voice inquired suspiciously from behind, startling both men so much that Gus-Shawn was positive it was Gus-made a squeaky noise in the back of his throat similar to a small gerbil. They turned around quickly to see a lanky nurse with short spiky red hair staring at them with a frown on her face. Her name tag said Becky.

Shawn recovered quickly, "Yes, my partner and I work for the SBPD I'm Shawn-"

"I know who you are." The nurse said darkly.

Shawn blinked in surprise before recovering, "Well obviously not or you would be much happier to see us."

The nurse didn't smile.

"You were talking about Katherine." She said seriously.

Shawn nodded, "Yes, that's quite right. We are investigating her disappearance."

Becky relaxed slightly, "You mentioned a boyfriend?"

"Yes, the spirits have informed me that she was dating someone named Marvin…Mincus…Marcus! …Cruz?" Shawn divined as he put his hand to his head.

Becky frowned, "The 'spirits' are a little behind the times then. They broke up about three weeks before she disappeared."

Gus scoffed slightly in disbelief, "She and her boyfriend break up and she disappears within the month? That's…suspicious," Gus had trouble believing even Lassiter would miss that.

Becky grimaced in agreement, "I mentioned that fact to the lead detective. But Marcus had a rock solid alibi apparently. He was in court the entire day she disappeared," the nurse shivered, "He was such a creep. You think District Attorney's are all straight laced but he was…" Becky paused, trying to find the words, "You know those people you just feel are bad news?" Becky shrugged and seemed almost guilty, "I mean, he obviously didn't do it but, I didn't blame Katherine when she cheated on him."

The two sleuths exchanged looks; that was a little something they in the private eye game liked to call motive.

"Did Marcus find out?" Gus asked innocently.

Becky nodded, having warmed up to the pair considerably, and judging by the conspiratorial glance she sent around the room, Shawn was beginning to suspect she was the hospitals go-to gossip. "They had a huge fight in the hospital lobby. Marcus threatened to kill the guy she was seeing," Becky shivered again dramatically, "And with all the guns he owns, I bet he could probably do it."

Shawn and Gus nodded with false enthusiasm, eager for more important information. Shawn knew for a fact she hadn't shared any of this with the cops. Lassiter had probably insisted on asking the questions; hadn't listened to her gushing. "I know the guns were part of the reason they broke up," she added in a whisper, "He was out hunting every weekend, rain or shine, with his buddies." Shawn and Gus looked at each other excitedly. They knew where Marcus was now, and he was the one they needed to follow. He glanced at Becky who was not talking so fast that even Shawn couldn't keep up with her. Now all they had to do was find a way out of this one.

Later; MUCH MUCH Later; Psych Office:

"Yahtzee!" Shawn yelled raising his hands over his head like he had scored a touchdown.

Gus rolled his eyes.

"Dude, I know where Marcus is this weekend with his attorney hunting buddies."

"How does that help us?"

"The man is linked to three of our victims Gus. I would call him not only a but THE prime suspect." Shawn explained getting to his feet excitedly.

Gus sensed that whatever Shawn was about to tell him he wasn't going to like.

"So, what? We call Vick and have her send someone to bring him in for questioning?"

Shawn shook his head, "No. Vick wil want hard concrete proof before we have her drag a District Attorney in on his weekend off for questioning. We need to get closer to him so I can get a reading."

Gus scoffed, "So what exactly are we going to do Shawn? Show up in the middle of the woods and ask if we can sit in the trees with them while they execute innocent animals? Get their permission to ask a couple questions?"

Shawn shook his head at Gus's mocking tone. "Marcus Cruz paid for a spot at a lodge this weekend. He's a regular actually. As are four other D.A's. And Ricky Connell. It's a crazy reclusive place. Fairly cheap, but it's been known to host events," Shawn paused as his grin got even wider, "for instance, this weekend it's hosting a Detectives retreat for the Santa Barbara Police Department."

Gus laughed, "Your joking."

Shawn shook his head, "I know! How lucky is that?"

Shawn pulled out his phone, "Chief. It's Shawn Spencer. It looks like Gus and I are going to need in on that police retreat afterall."