The next day, Chuck woke up bright and early, hoping to get a few hours of work in at the Buy More before going back to Santa Barbara with Sarah and Casey. He had managed to get himself completely ready for the work day when Sarah called, saying that Shawn had called her and had asked her to come to the Psych office immediately because he had pertinent information.
When he had arrived at Castle, Chuck changed his clothes and he and Sarah began to make the trip to Santa Barbara, with Casey driving the white van behind them. "So, what do you think about, uh...Shawn?" He asked her once in the car.
"What do you mean? As a person? Chuck, you can't possibly think I'd actually be interested in him!"
"I don't. I mean, I didn't. It's just that he's...you're not, are you?"
"Chuck, I'm just doing my job."
"Actually, when I asked you what you thought about him, I meant to ask if you thought he was FULCRUM."
"Why didn't you just say so?"
"Because I-" He stopped. "Never mind."
"I'm not sure. He's lying to nearly everyone about being psychic, and I don't know how likely it is that he could be performing at that level without having an Intersect."
Chuck nodded in understanding. "What about Gus?"
"Guster probably isn't working directly for FULCRUM, but if Shawn is, he probably knows a lot."
They were silent for a little while until Chuck changed the subject and they began talking about something different. He knew that Sarah was probably right, unfortunately, no matter how likeable these suspects were.
When Chuck and Sarah entered the Psych office, they found Shawn and Gus to be sitting at their computers. Shawn jumped up when he saw them. "Good morning, Sarah. Charlie."
"Good morning, Shawn," Sarah said in a very smooth tone.
Gus got up from his chair and walked over to join the other three. "We have some more information on your case, Sarah. Yesterday, after you guys left, Shawn got a vivid premonition about that body shop we found the business card for. Even though he gave the card to Sarah, he was able to see the number in his mind and called it."
"I wasn't able to get Ollie on the phone because...wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiit..." Shawn slowly raised up his hand and then brought it down in one swift motion. "He's been on vacation for a few days now, and nobody knows where or even when he'll be back."
"Shawn and I also asked about Brent's passed dealings with the place and found out that he went to get his oil changed there on Tuesday, exactly one day before Ollie left for vacation, and two days before Brent went missing," Gus said.
Chuck had to keep himself from smiling. This was all so cool! Everything was going just as the counterfeit case file had directed.
"So...this is all about Brent's car?" Sarah asked.
"Maybe," Gus answered. "Today, we're planning on making a visit to the body shop so that Shawn can do his thing."
"Yes, I need to touch, feel, sense, even though the inflection of someone's voice can tell me volumes psychically," Shawn added. "And after we're done at the body shop, we'll go back to police station and talk to Jules."
The fake body shop surpassed Chuck's expectations by a landslide. There were cars of every make and model everywhere with their hoods open or with someone under them. Workers with dirtied uniforms and stained rags milled around everywhere. Oil stains had been put on the floor here and there. Chuck found it amazing the length that the NSA was going to on this case.
Shawn walked up to a random worker and asked about a Mr. Fargo. They were directed to a man in normal clothes sitting in an office alongside garage. Chuck hadn't seen the man before, but to him it was obvious that he was an undercover NSA agent.
"Hello there, Mr. Fargo. I'm Shawn Spencer, head psychic for the SBPD, and this is my associate, Lucky Charmer." Gus gave a sly smile and Chuck and Sarah stared in confusion. "We spoke on the phone yesterday," Shawn continued.
"Oh yeah, yeah, you wanted to know about Ollie. Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you much more. All I know is, on Tuesday the guy you asked about brought in his car for an oil change. We asked our new guy, Harold, to take care of it, and he did. Wednesday morning, I got a call from Ollie saying he'd be gone for a while, he didn't know how long. I don't know anything else."
"Might you know where we could find this...Harold?" Shawn questioned.
"Yeah, he's right over there."
Harold was short and skinny, and a baseball cap covered his wavy red hair. Shawn and Gus approached him and the other two followed. "Hello, Harold," Gus greeted. "We need to ask a few questions. We work for the police. Would you remember doing an oil change an a particular car on Tuesday?"
"I do oil changes all the time. Let's see, Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday..."
"It's a two-door, dark blue convertible. That's all I know, I'm sorry," Sarah said.
"Ah, yes, I remember now," said Harold. "It was a nice car, but I remember something strange about it. There was a paint scratch along the bottom of the door, and there seemed to be some sort of gold foil or something underneath the blue, and it wasn't paint. I asked Ollie about it, because he's very schooled when it comes to cars, and he told me he'd take a look at it. Then I went home."
"Thank you very much, Harold," said Gus.
As they all walked out of the fabricated body shop, Shawn stopped in the middle of the small parking lot and closed his eyes, reached his hands out in front of him, gripped air, and acted like he was steering a car. "Sarah was right! I'm sensing that this is all about Brent's car. Yes, the car. The car is the key! And I'm also sensing Ollie. Ollie is putting out terrible vibrations. We have to go tell Jules."
When they had reached the police station, Sarah and Chuck had to walk quickly to keep up with the swift paces of Shawn and Gus. When they had reached Juliet's desk, Shawn dramatically through his hands in the air and threw them onto the surface.
"Shawn, what are you doing?" Juliet said.
"Quickly, Jules, look up the name Ollie Jenkins."
"Oh, is this for your missing person's case?" She asked, looking at Chuck and Sarah.
"Yes, and we think we have a good lead. Look him up, look him up!" Shawn whined, shaking his hands.
"Okay, okay, just calm down, Shawn." She quickly typed in the name and looked back up at him. "Everything looks normal."
"No accounts of embezzlement or any other sort of outrageous thievery?"
Juliet shook her head.
"All right, that's okay. I can still work with that." Shawn began to pace; then suddenly stopped. "I have a theory."
"What is it?" Asked Sarah.
"Sarah, are any of Brent's relatives scandalously rich?"
"Yeah, I think his uncle was. He died last year. In fact, I think Brent inherited the car from his uncle."
Shawn closed his eyes tightly yet again. "Yes, yes, I see it now. After the passing of his uncle, Brent gets a magnificent car, but unbeknownst to everyone else, under the smooth blue paint is a layer of gold."
"Gold? Shawn, are you crazy?" Asked Gus.
"That's what Harold said he saw," Shawn said.
Chuck smiled. "I saw something like that in a comic book once."
Everyone stared at Chuck for a moment, not saying anything. "Good point," Shawn said, finally. "Someone has thought of it before, so is it really that far-fetched? Bless you for your input, Carlos."
Chuck scratched behind his head and grinned, liking all these nicknames. Sarah smiled warmly at him, and he could tell it was genuine.
"Go on, Shawn," said Gus.
"So there was gold under the paint, and Brent may or may not have known about it. Maybe it was stolen gold, and the uncle was trying to secretly unload it onto his nephew. Anyway, it was there. Harold told Ollie about the scratch and when he went to look at it, he saw the gold and made the quick assumption that it was real. I'm sensing that Ollie scraped off more of the paint along the bottom so that Brent wouldn't notice it, and when he saw that the gold was all around, he knew that this car had to be worth, much, much more than it appeared. That day, he probably followed Brent home, took note of his address, and made a plan. Maybe, maybe he's got Brent, or maybe..."
On cue, Sarah began to cry and Chuck watched in awe. Shawn put his arm around her and pulled her in close, and Sarah played along by putting her head into his shoulder tenderly. "I'm so sorry, Sarah. But I promise you that Gus and I are going to get to the bottom of this."
"If there's anything that I can do for you, Miss Walker, please let me know," said Juliet.
"Thank...you," said Sarah in a very shaky manner.
"Shawn, are you sure you know what you're saying?" Said Gus. "I mean, it seems like you're jumping to a lot of conclusions here."
"Gus, please, don't underestimate the power of the spirits," said Shawn. "For Sarah's sake, I wish I were wrong, but unfortunately, I'm not."
Gus rolled his eyes.
"Well, since it seems like this case is getting more serious, maybe you guys should go talk to the chief again," suggested Juliet.
"Good idea," Shawn said softly, his arm still around Sarah. Again, she motioned for Chuck to stay where he was, maybe to keep an eye on Juliet, who was again looking at Shawn and Sarah. She turned herself away and looked back at her computer; then looked up at Chuck. "Um...Shawn and Sarah...are they-"
"Uh, I don't know," said Chuck quickly.
"Okay," she said. Again, went back to what she was doing and then spoke up again, with a smile on her face. "Do you like her?" She whispered.
"I...well, you know, that's...that depends on your definition of, you know, that word."
Juliet just grinned at him. "Does she know?"
"I'm really not sure. Uh, you know, Detective, one of those muffins you offered me yesterday is sounding pretty good right now."
"Sorry," she said. "I shouldn't have asked. And there aren't any muffins left today. There's coffee if you want some."
"No, that's okay, but thank you."
Chuck probably would have told Juliet about his relationship with Shawn if she weren't a suspect. He supposed he could have asked her about her relationship with Shawn to get more information about the case, but things like that weren't really something that men asked women about, especially ones they barely knew. Besides, that sort of thing was outside of Chuck's comfort zone anyway.
They both were silent until the chief came out of her office with Shawn, Gus, and Sarah. "O'Hara, Lassiter," she said, "I now want you both on this case. I'm going to ask you two to go with Mr. Spencer, Mr. Guster, and their clients to Calloway's house and take a look around. I know that four of you have already been there, but it can't hurt to sweep the place a second time."
Juliet and Lassiter got up from their desks and did as they were told, following the other four out the door and outside.