Chapter 1
Shawn opened his eyes and groaned, his body ached all over and he still felt like crap. Sitting up gingerly from his lying position on the couch, and raising an eyebrow when a wet cloth fell from his forehead on to his lap, he wrapped the blanket that had been over him around his body tightly and looked over at his friend, who had something white covering his nose and mouth, "Dude, are you wearing a mask?...Seriously?"
Gus looked up from his laptop, "I've got meetings all week Shawn, I can't afford to get sick." Shawn looked like he was about to retort, but it turned in to a coughing fit instead, so Gus walked across the Psych office and passed him a glass of water.
"Thanks man." Shawn managed through coughs, as his shaky hand gripped the glass.
Gus frowned, his friend looked exhausted (not that it was surprising considering Shawn had only managed to grab about four hours sleep), and uncomfortable, the only consolation being that his high fever had gone down, "You should have gone home like I said."
"But I'm in the middle of an investigation Gus..."
"You're still on that?" Gus shook his head, "How are you gonna investigate anything, when it was such an effort for you to just sit up?"
"Oh come on Gus, of course I know I'm too sick to be investigating anything," He put the glass down on to the floor, "that's were you come in."
"No way Shawn, I'm not helping you investigate any imaginary murder."
"Still...With the hallucination thing...Really? Come on man, you know I haven't done that in like fifteen years."
"So? You used to do it every time you got sick Shawn."
"Not every time."
"Well...close enough." Gus started to pack away his sample case, "Anyway, even if I did believe you witnessed a murder...Which I don't, I couldn't help you right now anyway, I gotta go start my route."
"Fine, you won't help, I'll go do it myself!" He huffed, then held out his hand pathetically, "Help me up."
Gus glared at him, "You're not going anywhere Shawn."
"What are you gonna do, restrain me?" He snorted.
Gus didn't answer Shawn, instead he just put his hand in his pocket,
"Gus...What are you doing?"
Pulled out his Cellphone,
"Come on man, we can talk about this..."
Went to his speed dial,
"You...You wouldn't dare!"
And put his Cellphone to his ear.
"Gus!"
"Really Gus? You actually called him..." Shawn shot his friend an unimpressed glare, "You do realise he's the reason I feel like I could cough up a vital organ at any moment, right?"
"Hey, I told you not to drink from that glass Shawn." Henry reminded him, taking on a lecturing tone, "Maybe next time, you'll listen to what I say."
"Ok Dad, first of all, we both know that's probably never going to happen, and secondly, I drank from the side furthest away from you. What did your germs do, hop around the rim?" He looked his father up and down, "Why are you here anyway? I'm a grown man, I can look after myself."
"Gus tells me you've been hallucinating murders and what-not."
"I've not hallucinated anything, there's no 'murders' just a murder, and who says 'what-not'...Seriously, who?"
"So, despite having a fever sky-high, the lack of a body, and absolutely no evidence of an altercation of any kind, you're still adamant that what you saw was real?" Henry shook his head, "Kid, it's time you woke up and got back on the reality train."
"Yeah? Well here's a newsflash Dad, I had fever-induced hallucinations my whole childhood, but I always knew they weren't real afterwards."
"Oh yeah? Well what about that time you hallucinated Mr Farlow getting strangled to death by his own tie?" Gus challenged, "You turned white as a sheet every time you saw him for months after that."
"I was six years old, and you thought he was a ghost too Gus."
"Only because your irrational fear of him was so convincing Shawn."
"You know what? This is ridiculous, a girls been killed, there's a murderer walking around somewhere, probably plotting against his only witness...Me, and we're discussing events that happened over twenty years ago."
"There hasn't been any murder Shawn." Gus insisted.
"Yeah there has."
"No, there hasn't."
"Has too!"
"Has not!"
"Has too!"
"Has not!"
"Has too!"
"Has not!"
"Prove it."
"Ok, I will," Gus headed for the door, "are you coming or what?"
"Oh, you mean right now?" A stress ball connected with his head, "Ow! Why do you have a stress ball?" He pushed himself off the couch and shuffled behind his friend, following him outside, "Ok, I'll bite...Where's your proof?"
"Well, Lets see...No body, check!" Gus started, "No evidence of there ever being a body, or a struggle, check! And..." He shoved a thermometer in to his friends mouth.
Shawn took it out, "What are you..."
Gus' eyes narrowed, "Put it back in your mouth Shawn!"
The fake psychic pouted, "Fine," And put the thermometer back in to his mouth, "his is upid."
Gus ignored his protests, "Ok, read what it says."
"100.5."
"Well that's down exactly 3.1 degrees since the last time I took your temperature," Gus looked suitably smug, "I think we can all agree that this is all the proof I need."
"Wait...You've been taking my temperature? And putting wet cloths on my head..." Shawn did a bad job at hiding a smirk, "Dude...are you like totally broody right now?"
Giving his friend a look that threatened to burn a hole right through him, Gus took out his car keys and got in to his car.
"Aren't you forgetting something?"
Ignoring the stifled laughter coming from his friend, Gus got out of the Blueberry and stormed towards their office. Shawn watched through the window in amusement as his friend jammed the rest of the samples haphazardly in to the sample case; then suddenly something caught his eye:
A smudge on the glass...
Flash! A females face pressed up harshly against the window...
"That's it!" Shawn got in to the Blueberry and started up the car.
"Shawn, what are you doing?" His best friend demanded as he exited their office, sample case in hand.
"I'm going to the Police Station Gus, I know how I can prove that someone was murdered here last night." His voice was high (if not a little hoarse) with excitement, as he started to pull out of the driveway.
Gus walked forward desperately, "Shawn, get back here, I need my car...Shawn!" He watched in despair as his friend drove off.
As Shawn walked in to the Chiefs office, which Lassiter, Juliet and the Chief herself were occupying, he took a look over Lassiter's shoulder at a case file he we holding in his hand.
Deaths. Homeless. Organs Missing. Serial Killer.
Lassiter felt a presence behind him and turned around, narrowing his eyes and slamming the file shut when he realised who it was, "What the hell is he doing here?"
"I was about to ask that same question." Chief Vick looked up expectantly at Shawn, "Well Mr Spencer?"
"I can prove that somebody was murdered outside the Psych office last night...BOOYAH!" He called out victoriously.
"OK, ignoring that last part...How exactly?" As always, Chief Vick was genuinely curious.
"There was a smudge on the window."
"Wait no! An actual smudge on your window...Get out of here!" Lassiter's patronising tone turned serious as he looked at the Chief, "You're gonna let me get him out of here, right?"
"I can't say I'm not considering it."
Realising he was losing his audience, Shawn decided it was time to play his psychic card, "Wait, I'm getting something," He put his hand to his head, "I'm seeing a face, and it's being pushed up against the glass." He put his hand down, "Chief, if you swab the window for saliva, you'll get her DNA."
Juliet looked at him skeptically, "Shawn...Did you just fake a psychic vision?"
He could hardly believe the irony in that question, "Yes...?"
The Chief had had enough, "Ok Mr Spencer, I think it's high time you went home"
"But Chief I..." With the looks on all their faces, he knew it was no use, "You know what, fine! If no one will help, then I'll just solve this thing on my own!" And with that he stormed out of her office.
"Shawn wait!" Juliet called after him, "Shawn!" She grabbed his arm.
"What?!" He snapped as he turned around, frowning when she let go, "I'm sorry Jules, I..."
"I know," She half smiled, "I just wanted to tell you that I've checked through all the missing persons files over the last 48 hours."
"Wait, you actually did that?" He was unable to keep the surprise from his voice.
She looked oddly offended, "Shawn, I gave you my word."
"I know your words good Jules, it's just...I figured you were just humoring me..."
"Why would I do that?" The female Detective asked in confusion.
Shawn looked over at Chief Vick and Lassiter, "Oh...No reason." He turned his attention back on to Juliet, who was already at her desk. "So, how many missing people do I need to look through?" He asked as he walked over to her.
"None."
"What?"
"Well, no females anyway...I'm sorry Shawn." She passed him the file.
He flicked through it quickly, "What about further back than 48 hours ago?"
"Shawn..."
"Come on Jules, can't we just check?" He sat at the edge of her desk.
She sighed, "Ok." And pulled it up on her computer.
Shawn quickly scanned the photographs on the screen. To his disappointment there was no features on any of the people in the photographs that matched the girl he saw through the window, that he was sure of, even if the lighting had been terrible.
Despite the fact his trip down to the Police Station had been a big waste of time, and had only succeeded to help in proving everybody else right, Shawn still wasn't deterred from carrying out his solo investigation. He was positive, without a doubt that what he'd seen was real. As he walked over to the Blueberry his own motorcycle caught his eye.
"Buzz!" Shawn smiled as he spotted McNab coming out of the Police Station.
"Oh, hey Shawn how are you feeling?" He asked, then carried on talking before the fake psychic had a chance to answer, "You know,I had a fever induced hallucination once, although I don't actually remember anything about it, apart from being stuck up in a tree afterwards...It took two firemen to help me down." He suddenly looked very thoughtful, "One month on and I still don't know how I got up there."
"Right...Anyway, Can you do me a favour?"
"Sure, what is it?"
He tossed the keys to the Blueberry over to McNab, "Give these to Gus when he gets here."
McNab caught the keys and looked down at them, "OK..."
"Thanks buddy." Shawn smiled as he put his helmet on and got on to his bike.
Shawn had been driving around practically in circles for close to half an hour, trying to get his head straight; searching his memory for any sort of clue that would help in his investigation.
Flash.
A females face pressed up harshly against the window.
He tried to concentrate as much as possible, he needed to find something...Anything that might help.
Flash.
A knife.
What sort of knife was it? Where there any definitive features? He attempted to answer those question, but it was to no avail. He definitely wasn't at the top of his game.
Flash.
Merciless eyes.
Shawn was rudely brought back to real-time as a silver truck connected with the back of his bike, sending him flying in to the air.
Landing with a thud, his head slamming in to the ground, Shawn groaned and watched as the offending vehicle drove on; blinking desperately as he attempted to read the licence plate:
5 N... Shawn blinked desperately now, his vision really starting to blur...0...He was so tired, but he fought hard to keep his eyes opened...7...Black...