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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here is Chapter one. Not a whole lot goes on and I hope I don't bore you! The next chapter will be much more exciting.

 

 

Shawn calmly walked through the Santa Barbara Police Department, his eyes and ears open for any information he could use to his advantage. He caught snippets of conversation as he passed by officers, but nothing had yet to catch his attention.

As he came close to Lassiter’s desk he slowed his pace, trying to make himself invisible in plain sight. He slipped behind a pillar and leaned back against it, trying to look casual. He carefully listened to Lassiter’s conversation with Juliet.

“-don’t have time for this, O’Hara,” argued Lassiter, his tone annoyed. Shawn rolled his eyes. When did Lassiter not sound annoyed?

“I think this is a solid lead, Carlton,” countered Juliet, sounding tired. “It’s the best we’ve gotten so far on these murders.”

“I am not going to act on a tip, O’Hara. I’ve had it with anonymous tips.”

“Since when?” asked Juliet.

“Since Spencer!” growled Lassiter. “We can do this job ourselves, O’Hara. We don’t need outside help. Besides, I think I’ve figured out who the killer is.”

“What?” Juliet sounded shocked. “Who?”

“I just need to double check my source and then I’ll divulge it. I’m just not entirely sure of it yet.”

“Carlton, I’m your partner. We’re supposed to share information.”

“And I will, when I’m sure of its validity.”

Shawn could hear Lassiter standing up from his desk and he readied himself for some quick maneuvering to not get caught eavesdropping. He listened carefully.

“Carlton!”

Juliet’s barely restrained yell caused Shawn to jump, his ears attuned to small noises and not prepared for the angry yell. As he recovered, he heard Lassiter sigh loudly.

“What, O’Hara?”

“If you don’t let me in on your information, I’m checking out this lead on my own.”

“Fine!” Lassiter yelled, garnering the attention of a few neighboring officers. Shawn slunk closer to the pillar.

“Go ahead and check it out, O’Hara,” Lassiter continued, “It won’t lead to anything.”

“Fine,” returned Juliet.

“Fine,” Lassiter returned right back.

Suddenly, Lassiter barged right past Shawn’s pillar and Shawn flinched away, not wanting to be seen but unprepared for the man’s sudden exit. The next second, Juliet stormed past on the other side of Shawn and he flinched the other way, throwing his arms up slightly in a ridiculous attempt at disappearing.

Shawn slowly blinked and then stared after Lassiter’s and Juliet’s retreating forms. Neither one of them had noticed his presence, too angry to see anything but where they were heading, Juliet to the Chief’s office and Lassiter down to the lockup.

“Whew!” Shawn sighed, shaking his head slightly. “Talk about trouble in paradise.”

Shawn didn’t understand it. He thought Juliet and Lassiter were getting along better as partners, what with Juliet defending Lassiter against Shawn’s criticism during the Weatherman murder case.

Pursing his lips, Shawn walked over to Juliet’s desk and studied it. He was looking for anything about the case the two detectives were arguing about. He saw several folders, one open and the others closed underneath. With a glance to make sure he wasn’t watched, Shawn snatched up the top folder and quickly scanned through it.

Three murders. All three victims were women between the ages of 28-33. All were also blond and established in their careers. All were murdered in the same way, their throats sliced. It looked as though Lassiter and Juliet were on the trail of a serial killer! Shawn’s eyes widened as he put that folder down and picked up another, reading through the information and studying the victim’s pictures. He grimaced at the sight of them, but forced himself to take in every gruesome detail.

He frowned when he noticed they were all wearing the same necklace around their blood-coated throats. It was obvious that the killer had put the necklace on his victim’s after he had killed them, as they were bright silver and unmarred by blood.

The killer’s calling card was a silver necklace? Odd, Shawn thought. He squinted at the evidence photos of the necklace. Something about the pendant was bothering him. Shaking his head slightly, he pushed the feeling away for the moment and continued to read. From what he could discern from the files, the killer targeted strong willed women among the other similarities. All three victims were in very respectable jobs and were considered leaders in their field.

Fear suddenly shot through Shawn at a realization. He couldn’t help but notice that Juliet fit the profile of the killer’s victims. He felt sick at the thought of the killer going after Juliet, so he forced the thought out of his mind; he couldn’t deal with that right now.

As he read on, Shawn also noticed that all three women reported to the police about being stalked. They said a white van had been following them and would park outside their homes at night.

So, he stalked them before he killed them. Probably to learn their habits so he could choose just the right time to kill them. But why? What was the killer’s motive?

Shawn’s brow lowered and he shook his head, laying the last file back on Juliet’s desk. He knew that serial killers didn’t really need a motive, just a deluded reason that what they were killing was the epitome of everything that went wrong in their lives.

Shawn theorized that the killer was most likely male and his trigger for his killings was probably a mother that abandoned him when he was young to pursue a successful career or something to that extent. The mother probably gave birth to him at a young age and at around her late twenties, early thirties, abandoned him to further her own life.

Shawn couldn’t help but see some similarities in his own mother in his reasoning. She had left to further her career as a doctor, leaving Shawn to live with his father alone when he was fifteen. Oh, that wasn’t the only reason for the divorce. Shawn’s mother and father had been fighting nonstop, if it weren’t about money or work, it was about Shawn and how Henry was raising him. Shawn hadn’t understood it. If his mother was so bothered about how Henry was raising him, why didn’t she take him with her?

Shawn ran a hand through his hair and looked around Juliet’s desk again, shaking those thoughts away. There had to be more. Suddenly, his eye caught on the notepad next to the phone. There were depressions on the paper from something being written on the sheet above it. In a flash of memory, Shawn remembered the note Juliet had clutched in her hand as she stormed off to the Chief’s office.

Quickly, Shawn grabbed the marked paper and tore it from the notepad. That done he made his way over to Lassiter’s desk. Again, Shawn glanced around to see if he was being watched. He frowned slightly when he saw no one paying attention to him. He guessed he’d been spending so much time at the precinct lately that his presence was just accepted and trusted. Shawn winced at that, hating that he was lying to the police all the time, but seeing no other way to continue his ruse.

He analyzed Lassiter’s desk, rolling his eyes at how neat and precise everything was. His eye caught on the folder sitting in the center of the desk and he flipped it open. Shawn’s eyes narrowed as he scanned it. Apparently, someone in lockup knew details about the serial killer and was coughing up information for a deal.

So, that was Lassiter’s big source? Shawn understood Lassiter’s reluctance to divulge where he was getting his information. Felons looking to make a deal certainly weren’t very trustworthy in their information. That didn’t explain his refusal to clue Juliet in on the information, though.

Finished with his snooping, Shawn looked down at the paper in his hand and then stuffed it into his pocket. He had to pay a visit to Gus.






“No way, Shawn,” refused Gus, walking to his car from the Pharmaceutical building. “Just forget it.”

“Oh, c’mon!!” whined Shawn, jogging after his friend. “Gus! This case is huge!”

“I said no, Shawn,” argued Gus, unlocking his car door and throwing his briefcase in the backseat. He turned to face his friend, “I have two reports to write about the new pain killers that just came in and I want to get them done tonight.”

“Gus,” toned Shawn, disappointed. “Reports? Seriously? You wanna do reports instead of investigating a… serial killer?”

Shawn whispered the last two words in a conspiratorial manner, and just like that Gus’ interest was peaked.

“A serial killer? For real?”

“Yeah, man,” nodded Shawn, excited. “I’m actually shocked it isn’t all over the news. The cops must be keeping a tight lid on it.”

“A serial killer?” Gus repeated again, shocked. “Damn. That is huge.”

“Damn straight,” agreed Shawn, “So, you in?”

Gus looked undecided, “I don’t know, Shawn. This may be out of our league.”

“Out of our league?!” cried Shawn in indignation. “Gus, nothing is out of our league.”

Gus stared at Shawn, his expression serious, “I mean it, Shawn. A serial killer is like the mother of all murder cases. This is major, man.”

“Exactly,” Shawn said, throwing arm around Gus’ shoulders. “This would put Psych in the big time, man. We’d have no trouble getting cases when we solve this.”

“IF we solve it,” stressed Gus, trying to bring Shawn back down to reality. “A lot of serial killers get away, Shawn. They are smart.”

“But they aren’t smarter than me,” pressed Shawn, “C’mon, Gus. Let’s take this case.”

Gus stared at his friend, weighing his options. He didn’t know why he even tried anymore, Shawn could convince him to do anything. He sighed.

“Fine, we’ll take the case.”

“Great!” shouted Shawn and then walked to his side of the car. Before he got in though, he looked across at Gus. “Now we just got to convince the Chief to let us in on the case and we’re set!”

“What?!” shouted Gus, but Shawn ignored him as he shut his car door. Gus looked to the sky, then shook his head and got in the car. The question of how Shawn always managed to get him into these things hung heavily on his mind as he drove to the Police Department.


Chapter End Notes:
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