Chapter 1: Chapter 1
Chapter Text
A little known fact about Detective Lassiter was that he loved to go on morning runs. As a cop he needed to stay in shape obviously but it was more than just a way to remain fit. He actually enjoyed running, the way he had to pay attention to and control aspects such as his speed and breathing, it was just calming in a way.
Early morning Santa Barbara was peaceful too, the early morning sun provided just the right amount of heat while the morning air was cooling and fresh. The streets were much quieter and less populated, it was very pleasant.
He didn't like to have his runs interrupted, so when he had to stop right as he turned down Laguna Street, he was less than pleased.
"Road closed?" He grumbled, reading out the bright yellow sign. He furrowed his brows, he always took the same route, it was perfectly calculated to give him enough time to get back home and ready for work, and was also an incredibly safe and clean street. The man liked routine and order, no spontaneously unplanned change.
He almost considered turning around now and going back home, but ended up deciding against it. He gritted his teeth and continued running down the previous road, turning instead onto Olive street.
Immediately he felt weary despite this literally just being one street over his usual route. He frowned at every crack in the road, every piece of liter that was blown by the wind. Worst of all, lurking around and inside alleyways and on the side of the pavement, were homeless people.
A much more commonly known fact about Detective Lassiter was his hatred of homeless people, he didn't even want to look at them. They were gross and dirty and so irresponsible and idiotic that their choices had led them to sleeping on the streets.
He tried to keep his head down as he ran down the street, trying to make eye contact with any of them, yet still, his eyes strayed away. That was when he spotted the most peculiar thing, something that made him slow down completely to a stop, it was a pair of trainers sticking out from the side of an alleyway. He recognised those trainers, of course he had, it's not like he knew many people that wore bright green trainers customised with pineapples.
That couldn't be... No. Why would he be here? Carlton hesitated, taking a few steps closer to the alleyway. His suspicions were confirmed when he peaked his head round the side of the alley and found none other than Shawn Spencer fast asleep next to the dumpster. There was a box of Chinese takeout next to him and he was snoring gently.
Carlton stood stunned for a moment, staring at the psychic, possibilities raced through his mind, why the hell was he here? He didn't really know wether or not he should leave the man and confront him at the station later. But the voice of concern at the back of his head told him that Shawn could've been injured in some way (the voice of concern had nothing to do with Shawn obviously, he was just weary). So he nudged the man's side with his foot.
"Uh... Spencer?" Shawn groaned and opened his eyes.
"Huh- what?" He mumbled, still half asleep. He looked up and for a split second his eyes widened at the sight of Carlton, before he groaned and held the back of his head. Still, he grinned at Carlton.
"Lassie! What are you doing here? Wait, am I still dreaming? Oooh is this once of those sex fantasies where you shove me into the alley and-"
"Spencer!" He interrupted, not wanting to hear wherever that sentence was going. "I was on my morning run, why the hell are you here?"
"You go on morning runs?" Shawn grinned even wider, he went to say something else but stopped, looking around.
"Wait. Where's Gus?"
"Guster? Why the hell would Guster be here? What were you doing out here? Dumpster diving would be a new low, even for you." Shawn rubbed his forehead in pain.
"Ughhh... I told him that that many shots were not worth the free churros." Oh. So he was out partying, and pretty hard from the look of the disheveled man.
Carlton rolled his eyes.
"Why did I expect anything else?"
"I don't know Lassie, why did you?" He sat up, a smug smile on his face. "Were you worried?" Carlton stepped away, a frustrated look on his face.
He was annoyed and frankly a little embarrassed, he should've known that Shawn was just being irresponsible and unprofessional as usual.
"Don't be ridiculous Spencer. If I'm worried about anything it's the station, and you giving us a negative reputation. What would people say if they thought Chief Vick was hiring people literally off of the streets." Shawn shrugged.
"Who said you were worried?" Carlton glared down at the man.
"Do you even care about your job? It seems you just like to embarrass us."
"Honestly... It is pretty funny." Carlton rolled his eyes and kicked over the box of Chinese food.
"Dude! That was gonna be my breakfast!" Carlton smiled proudly. Then the two awkwardly sat in silence, and Carlton became aware that he was wearing his running shorts and grey t-shirt.
"Right... I'm not going to be late because of you so..." He turned to continue with his run. "Okay, just keep an eye out for Gus!" Shawn yelled after him.
As Carlton ran and rejoined his normal path he replayed the whole interaction in his head. That whole interaction seemed odd for some reason and Carlton couldn't put his finger on it. But honestly when it came to Shawn Spencer, what wasn't odd?
Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Summary:
Typical Shawn and Gus brand of investigation
(Please give me feedback for this one I am not proud of it ...)
Notes:
Okay I didn't want to make the case the focus of this at all and now I managed to yap for like 3500+ words about them literally just investigating an office like wtf
I've had a tough week and I ended up being way busier than I thought so uhm... Sorry
I lost passion for this chapter towards the end and I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit shit please have faith in me the gay stuff will arrive I swear
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"In all my years I have never worked with someone so blatantly irresponsible, it's like we're working with an oversized toddler!" Juliet nodded along completely disinterested in the topic as she stared out of the window. He had been ranting on from the moment he had angrily burst into the station. They had got the call to a crime scene and drove the full fifteen minutes it took to get there and still the man just didn't stop. She almost sighed in relief as she spotted the flashing police lights.
"He was fast asleep in an alleyway O'Hara. He has no self respect, he eats whatever, sleeps whenever, does everything he wants. I swear I'm tempted to go to the Chief about-"
"Oh would you look at that we're here!" Juliet cut him off abruptly, opening the car door before Carlton had even finished parking and speed walking towards the scene. The man did not take the hint and caught up to her just as fast, she groaned internally.
"He just waltzed in here one day, for questioning might I add, and somehow left as a consult!"
"Carlton."
"He constantly tarnishes this department reputation and we just let him get away with it!"
"Carlton!" Juliet exclaimed in annoyance. The man looked and saw that she was now kneeling, examining the body. Right, of course, that's why they were her.
The victim in question was a male with black thick hair who looked impressively smart. Expensive suit, clean shaven, Carlton assumed he would've looked very smart if he wasn't now covered in blood, which seemed to have stemmed from a neck wound.
Juliet gestured aggressively towards the body, telling Carlton to get on with it.
"Right." He kneeled down, grabbing plastic gloves out of his pocket and quickly putting them on. He leaned over the man and tilted his head to the left, exposing the several circular stab wounds to his neck.
"Murder weapon?"
"Not in the immediate zone of the body, they're still checking though."
"Cameras, witnesses?"
"Not sure, I was trying to listen to McNab on my radio but I couldn't hear him over someone." She passive aggressively replied, giving him a pointed look. Carlton looked away awkwardly.
"I'm sorry O'Hara, do we have an identity?"
"Hmm, how about we look for a wallet?" A third voice answered from behind them.
Carlton sharply turned his head to see Shawn and Gus standing directly behind him.
"How the hell did you two get in here? I gave McNab direct orders not to-" He looked past them towards McNab, who happily ate a popsicle.
"I mean, I wouldn't call it bribery but..."
"Nah the popsicle was a gift between friends, it just happened to also serve as a distraction."
Shawn stood on his tip toes to try and get a better view of the body.
"Woah Gus look at those stab marks! It's like he's been stabbed with a pen like the guy from that spy movie!" He nudged Gus but the man just looked away from the body, paling.
"Never say never again?"
"No the other movie."
"The man who knew too little?"
"Wrong era and he wasn't stabbed in the neck."
"Casino?"
"That's not even a spy movie!"
"Will you two shut up?! He wasn't stabbed with a pen." Carlton barked, the two looked at eachother then shrugged at him.
"Do you have any evidence that it isn't a pen?'
"No..."
"The Woody will be the judge of that!"
Gus tensed when he spotted the body behind them again.
"Ugh I think I'm gonna be sick..." Gus dramatically turned his head and put a hand over his mouth, gagging. Of course, Carlton knew that there were other reasons why Gus would be feeling sick.
"You have no one but yourself to blame Guster. I'm surprised you two even showed up, did you even get home last night?" Judgment heavily laced his voice. Gus gave him a confused look.
"Huh?"
"Although I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't remember your previous night. Its honestly surprising, I considered you the responsible one."
"Lassiter I don't know what you're-" Shawn pinched Gus's hand hard and Gus flinched back, yanking his hand away.
Shawn gave him a very specific look that made Gus's face melt from annoyance and confusion to exasperation. He was used to having to suddenly adapt to whatever various lie Shawn had come up with.
"Oh come on Lassie loosen up. Kids will be kids!"
"Shawn, you're in your thirties."
"Exactly, I need to enjoy my youth before-" He stopped and gave an over-exaggerated gasp, bringing his hand to his chest. "Are you saying I'm not young!?"
Carlton was about to give a response but O'Hara decided to intervene, having reached her limit with the boys antics.
"Carlton! We have a case, remember? You know, the dead guy on the floor?"
"Oh- of course O'Hara." He nodded, his face reddening at the fact that once again Shawn had managed to get him to stoop down to his level. "I'll go talk to McNab." Juliet nodded and stood, brushing herself off. She then walked off in the opposite direction to talk to a couple of other officers.
Carlton stormed off, but not before glaring and pushing between the two consultants. Gus immediately turned to Shawn but all Shawn gave him was an innocent smile.
"So, what does Lassiter think we did last night. Because, if I recall correctly, I was in the comfort of my own home watching Golden Girls until I passed out on my couch."
"Wow, you don't remember? You must've been really drunk then."
"What? Why did you tell him we drank!?" He said loudly, Shawn put his arm around him and said in a much more hushed tone.
"Look, he called last night saying the neighbours were making noise complaints so I said that we were just partying and he should come join us." Shawn lied flawlessly, inciting an eye roll from Gus.
"Great, talk about professionalism."
Gus pinched the bridge of his nose.
"How is your apartment anyway. I know you usually go for a place with less neighbours." Shawn had hoped the various aspects of that lie would distract Gus from the fact that he hadn't even seen Shawn's supposed apartment yet.
"Yeah it's fine, I don't think the guy that lives under me like me for some reason though."
"Wow, shocking."
"I also have a great view! It's downtown and in the morning I can admire Lassie going on his morning runs!" Gus's eyes widened and Shawn knew he had fallen into his trap this time.
"Hold on. Lassiter goes on morning runs?"
"I know right! So many possibilities! Dropping water balloons on his head, cat calling, playing trumpet sounds for every step he takes..." Gus snickered.
"I have got to be there for that." Shawn smirked back and the two friends fist bumped.
"Okay, where do we start?" Gus said, getting back to the task at hand.
"I don't know, do you want to go to his house or job first?" Seeing Gus's raised eyebrows, Shawn reached into his back pocket and pulled out the ziplock evidence bag, containing a fancy leather wallet.
"You stole from a police officer?"
"Borrowed. And it wouldn't be the first time."
He turned the front of the wallet back towards himself. "Okay, we can choose between 3718 State street or-" The bag was snatched out of his hand and suddenly McNab was stood between them, giving Shawn an unimpressed look.
"Hey! That was my sandwich !"
"Shawn I could get in so much trouble if people thought I was giving you the evidence, I'm sorry but I need to take this back."
"No problem man, I was just about to return it to you, must've fallen out of your pocket. The officer's eyes widened,
"Really? Don't tell Lassiter!" McNab stuffed the bag deep into his pocket and gave a nervous glance behind him at the Head Detective.
"That's safe with me dude." Shawn made the motion of zipping his mouth shut and McNab smiled gratefully, scurrying back to the other officers.
"Okay then, house or job Gus?"
"Uhhhhmm-"
"Too slow, job it is!" He promptly strolled over towards the Blueberry as Gus trailed behind.
"That's not fair! You barely gave me five seconds!"
"I'm sorry Gus those are the rules, too slow. Anyways..." Shawn pictures the wallet and more importantly, it's contents. He highlights the needed words in his mind.
"The jobs closer, it's some fancy stock thingy job, Charles Shawb?" Gus's face brightened.
"Are you talking about Charles Schwab? Dude isn't that the place right next to that Cajun restaurant?"
"You read my mind." The two shared a grin before getting into the Blueberry and setting off.
--
Besides the quick food stop they arrived in (relatively) no time. They walked into the large empty lobby and we're greeted by the receptionist, a short young woman with brunette hair tied back into a bun.
Shawn's eyes scanned her immediate surroundings, her keyboard was perfectly aligned, the pens were in a neat row, everything seemed to be obsessively organised as if she was worried about messing something up. The only out of place thing was the employee handbook wide open next to her keyboard.
"Good morning, may I have your names?"
"Shawn Spencer, and this is my partner Matthhew Moneybags, spelled with two t's and two h's." She gave Gus a confused look but still proceeded to enter their names into her computer.
"I'm sorry, I don't see either of your names in the system here, who do you have an appointment with?"
Shawn eyes then moved onto the room itself behind the receptionist was a large wall showing every single staff member. He recognised their victim under the name 'Edward Wilson' with the accompanying title of 'Senior Financial advisor'. Shawn decided to go for the person listed next to Edward.
"We're supposed to meet with Felix Kreeman I-" Shawn looked away, pretending to collect himself momentarily, "We really need to see him." Gus glanced in his direction, already suspicious as to where Shawn was about to take this.
"Alright well I'm really sorry but there doesn't seem to be anything on the system. I'd suggest calling him again and trying to set up a meeting."
"No!" Shawn slammed his hand down on the desk and both the receptionist and Gus jumped, "He can't keep ignoring me! We're in debt, he promised he'd help us! We're going to be evicted and we have three dogs! What are we going to do on the streets with three dogs?!"
"Sir please, I-I'm sure if you just book another appointment-"
"I'm done waiting, I can't wait anymore! If you don't let us see him we'll..."
"We'll sue and make sure your reputation is tarnished!" Gus stepped out, helping Shawn out and finishing his sentence.
"Uhm..." The receptionist stammered and typed something quickly into her computer.
"He's uh- not in a meeting right now. I-I don't see the harm in you two going up to talk to him..." Shawn leaned over the desk and held her hands in his.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" She awkwardly smiled.
"It's uhm, just up those stairs, second door to the left." Shawn smiled kindly and turned in the direction she gestured to, Gus followed behind.
"That was just cruel Shawn, the poor woman looked like she was about to cry." Gus said as the walked down the hallway.
"You helped!"
"I said like two words!"
"It's like her first week on the job, I'm basically doing her a favour by preparing her for overly emotional clients."
"How did you know it was her first week?"
"Uniform was brand new, employee handbook was wide open, overly cautious about doing the wrong thing, come on man it was obvious." He shrugged. They stopped in front of the door and were about to go inside when their attention was yanked by a sudden loud slam.
They looked over to see a man storming out of one of the offices further down.
"You can't do this to me! I've worked harder than anyone else!"
"Paul I'm sorry, you're not who I have in mind for the position." A second man stepped out of the office, much more prudently. He was taller and visibly older, probably his superior.
"Bullshit! That job should be mine! I've given all of my effort to this company and this is how you repay me!?"
People started to poke their heads out of their offices at the sound of the commotion, including Felix, who was startled by the two men in front of him.
"Paul, why don't you take the rest of the day off, this whole situation is really hard on everyone and I think it would be best if you left."
"Oh fuck you!" Paul lurched forward and shoved the other man roughly. He fell back against the wall. Suddenly there were people rushing over to pull Paul back and (with effort) drag him away from the other man and out of the hallway.
There was a sudden silence as the last of Paul's yelling faded away and everyone stood for a moment, before people simply returned to their offices. Shawn and Gus looked at eachother.
"Wow. What was that all about?"
"Everyone knows Paul's wanted Edwards job for years, he was always very jealous." The man, Felix, explained.
"Felix Kreeman?" Shawn asked.
"Yes. And... Who are you two?"
"We're consultants for the SBPD, we're here to ask you a few questions." Gus stated. Felix's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Ohhh, this must be regarding Edward then?" The two nodded. "I suppose we should talk in my office." Felix opened his door wider to let the two in.
It was a quaint little office, though incredibly cramped with various items, books and papers. Shawn moved a stack of documents off of one of the chairs and sat down.
"Sorry about the mess." Felix sat down in his desk. "So, what did you want to ask?"
"Lets start with Edwards relationship with his coworkers, was he well liked?" Felix began to laugh.
"Oh god I definitely wouldn't say that! I know we shouldn't speak ill of the dead but... The guy was an ass." Felix noticed the way the two caught each others eye and added, "but, he was the boss right? Who doesn't hate the boss?" Shawn nodded.
"Is there anyone that had it out for him though, other than the obvious." Gus pushed for more information.
"Not in a way that would warrant any level of hostility, I mean I was surprised about Paul's reaction than anyone else."
"Does he sit on his own at lunch?" The question made Felix and Gus turn towards him in confusion. Shawn looked back as if it was a very logical inquiry. "What? Why would you sit with someone you didn't like right?"
"Uhm... I don't even think he left his office to eat lunch. He was very...private." Shawn nodded along attentively.
"So he never spoke to you about the crazy man he found sniffing his clothes in his house?"
"What??"
"Shawn." Gus intervened, "I'm sorry, he's just joking."
"Dude that could've totally gotten something out of him!"
"Are you two really with the SBPD?" Felix questioned, his hand not-so-secretly reaching over to his phone.
"Of course! You can check with Detective Lassiter if you want although, I wouldn't recommend that."
Felix said nothing but his expression began to become increasingly concerned.
"Alright, I think you two should leave now." He placed his hand on his phone and Shawn bolted out of his chair.
"Alright man calm down we're leaving we're leaving!" He grabbed Gus's shirt sleeve and dragged him up out of the chair and out of the room.
As soon as they had left the room though, Shawn turned to go further down the hallway rather than towards the staircase.
"Okay, one more stop before we go." He looked up at each plaque on the doors he passed, searching.
"Shawn what-" Shawn found what he was looking for and opened the door before Gus could get a word in. It was their victims office, of course.
Shawn moved to the desk, opening all of the drawers and pressing the button to turn on his computer monitor. The room wasn't messy per say, but the way some objects were strewn about the room suggested that someone had been hastily searching for something.
"Shawn! If we get caught I'm blaming it all on you."
"Yeah okay can you just come here and figure out this guys password?" Gus's ears perked up at the chance to use his code cracking abilities.
He sat down in the office chair while Shawn dug his hands, glancing at various papers. Gus fiddled with the password for a moment before the desktop revealed itself.
"His password was EdWillson54." He said with an unimpressed look.
"Thanks man, theres just tons of boring number-y stuff in here, let's switch." Shawn slipped into the chair and dumped the stack of documents into Gus's arms.
Shawn went straight for his emails, it was always the best bet after all. Boring boring boring.... Random work emails, various newsletters, random exchanged between clients, but in the deleted emails? That's where it got interesting.
"Gus look." He tilted the computer screen towards his friend.
"Reminder, 14/07, need a refill. Don't be late, or I'll reveal your dirty history." Shawn read out dramatically. "As far as blackmail emails go, very unoriginal, two and a half stars at best."
"When was that one sent?"
"13/07, so yesterday." He scrolled further down and skimmed various other emails going back to about 9 months ago, they were all vague and similarly phrased, hinting at some sort of dark shameful past that the sender had information on.
"Whatever they had on him must've been pretty bad." He turned the documents towards Shawn." These are bank statements. He's been taking out various large sums of money every month." He pointed to various rows amidst the sea of numbers, always around the middle of the month following the same dates listed by the emails, always around 2,000 dollars. It was impossible to know who the money was deposited to because Edward had literally made the effort of cutting the recieving banks accounts details off of the document. Talk about impractical.
Shawn couldn't find any more personal information on his computer, just boring old work stuff, so instead he searched the top of the desk. He flicked through notebooks and found a single post it note that read 'Paul, 8:00pm'. Weird. He unstuck it and folded it up, slipping it into his pocket.
Gus was beginning to get antsy.
"I think we should probably go now." To be fair, they had found a lot of information, based on the man's office it really didn't seem like he would be the private type, his secrets were pretty poorly guarded. But most co-workers of his probably didn't go and look through his office. He turned and looked through the shelf, which held various books and pictures, though once again they were just boring work photos of him at conferences or with co-workers.
"How much do you want to bet his co-worker is behind it?"
"Don't put all of your eggs in one bet Gus."
"That's not the saying, it's baskets."
"Why would I put all of my baskets in a bet?"
"That's not-" Gus groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can we go now?"
"Calm down dude." Shawn turned back to the door.
"I'm hungry, let's go."
"Control yourself Gus, priorities first."
"Eating is my priority." Shawn gave his friend a look and left the room.
"That's not an answer! Shawn?!"
--
"Ah! Gus, hold me, I can feel a vision coming on!" Shawn threw himself into his friends arms and shut his eyes tightly in the middle of the police station. The two detectives stood from their desks, officers turned their heads, but Chief Vicks attention hadn't been grabbed yet. Shawn put his hands around his neck, making choking sounds.
"It's Edward! He wanted to speak to me-" he continued to choke, "but he can't- get the words out!" He opened one of his eyes ever so slightly and spotted Chief Vick sitting up from her desk. She existed her office and crossed her arms.
"Shawn." She said with an exasperated sigh.
Shawn pushed himself out of Gus's arms and spun in a circle, falling back against Carlton who quickly shoved him away against his desk.
"You're not even on that case Spencer! Chief?" He gestured to the man.
"Lets hear him out." Chief Vick said, Carlton groaned.
"Yum... Is that...? Gumbo! And... Jambalaya!"
"What the hell does this have anything to do with his murder?"
"He's at a Cajun restaurant, alone... He doesn't have a lot of friends."
"Poor dude." Gus added. Carlton smiled smugly.
"Well unfortunately he doesn't work at any restaurant Spencer."
"Uh... Actually, there is a Cajun restaurant right next door to his office..." Juliet revealed, Shawn gave her a confused yet appreciative look and she blushed in embarrassment, "I eat there sometimes..."
Shawn brought a hand to his head as if he were in pain.
"I sense... Jealousy! This was an act of vengeance! Does he... Have a wife?"
"Girlfriend." Carlton corrected.
"Oh boy... I do not wanna be the guy to tell her he's been having an affair but..." Carlton rolled his eyes.
"Now you're just coming up with whatever you want. This has been a waste of time as always. O'Hara." The two turned to leave the station.
"Quick, everybody in the Lassie mobile! I'm seeing." He tried to visualise Edwards wallet again. "3718 State Street... Ooh are we going to visit Lassie's mom or something?" Chief Vick gave a surprised look to Carlton, asking him to confirm if what Shawn was saying was true. Carlton gritted his teeth and nodded. Shawn returned to Gus's side, breathing heavily from the psychic strength he had just employed.
Chief Vick said nothing for a moment, looking between the two groups, then,
"Alright, you two, on the case." She snapped her fingers, pointing at Shawn and Gus. The two fist bumped and celebrated. Carlton shot the Chief a distasteful look before stomping out of the station.
"Shotgun!" Shawn yelled, running after the man.
"If you even come close to my car I swear to God Spencer!"
Notes:
I'm still trying to figure out how to properly piece this case together so that Shawn's process makes sense but it's really hard and I'm sorry if I don't do a great job. This case isn't supposed to be anything serious it's just a typical psych episode type case which will lead to Shassie stuff eventually 🙏
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Summary:
More case stuff 🙏
Shawn seems to be putting it all together, key word, 'seems'.
Notes:
I feel the need to apologise for the slow chapter everytime I'm sorry
In typical AO3 writer fashion it seems my life is falling apart, but we always try to make time for writing!
Once again I wrote half of this chapter while I was on a plane and it all deleted💔 I need to learn my lesson and check my saves moreOkay guys I swear uhm gay stuff soon I'm sorry this is more case ramblings
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Carlton kept angrily scowling up at the rearview mirror at the Blueberry, which trailed close behind, because of course they just had to tag along. Juliet remarked that since this morning Carlton seemed to be twice as frustrated with Shawn than usual. She didn't really know why finding him asleep on the street had made him so angry in the first place.
She wasn't surprised about the anger, it was just the type of anger, it wasn't the disgustful anger he had displayed when talking about the subject of homelessness in the past. It almost seemed, worrisome. If anything he should be rejoicing, he had always taken time to rub it in Shawn's face when things went wrong for the psychic. It just didn't make sense. She kept her mouth shut anyway, the three of them were all on a different level of immaturity today and she couldn't be asked to deal with it.
They pulled up in front of the modest house and knocked on the door, not waiting for Gus and Shawn to catch up behind them. A short woman with blond hair tied back in a rushed bun answered the door, nervously eyeing the group. Shawn took mental notes immediately, hasn't been crying recently, showing more anxiety than sadness. He was already trying to peek his head and get a look inside of the house for more promising clues.
"Good afternoon, SBPD, we would like to ask you a few questions."
"Oh? Uhm... Yeah sure that's fine..." She timidly opened the door, beckoning them inside. The two stepped in and she almost closed the door before being startled by the two consultants who had been hiding behind the detectives.
"Haven't you ever heard of teamwork makes the dream work Lassie?" Shawn put a sassy hand on his hip as if he were telling Carlton off, Carlton gave no response.
The front door lead straight into the living room, which annoyingly didn't give Shawn a lot of information apart from the fact that two people definitely lived here. Magazines on the coffee table, self care books on the shelf, a purse on the couch, definitely the girlfriend. The golf club stand, thick blazer on the coat hanger and faint smell of cologne in the air indicated a boyfriend, Edward, what a surprise.
They all awkwardly stood, cramped in the living room area and Shawn immediately began to inconspicuously drift off to the side of the room where he could look down the hallway and try to get a better idea of things.
Carlton began his questions.
"Are you Fiona, Edwards girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"When was the last time you saw Edward?"
"Last night around... 7:00? That's usually when he left to go bowling with his coworkers."
"That's weird." Shawn thought out loud. They all turned to him. "The spirits seemed to think he was disliked at work, I don't get any positive feelings from him about bowling."
A look of surprised confusing hit her face.
"Uh yeah... The company made him join their company's bowling team, he had gotten complaints about his lack social skills. How did you know that?"
"Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective." He gave her his classic 'charming smile' and dramatically extended his hand out, she shook it and awkwardly smiled, though there was a sharpness in her eyes that made Shawn feel as though he was being judged.
Carlton cleared his throat and she quickly turned back to him.
"Was he behaving weirdly on the night of his death or in the events leading up to it?" She let out a small gasp as he said the word 'death', bringing a hand to her mouth.
"Sorry I'm... Still trying to process everything. I think maybe he was, as Shawn said, more secretive? He was spending a lot more time at work that's for sure."
"He wasn't going to any new places, mentioning any names you didn't recognise, he wasn't any more irritable than usual?"
"No, he didn't really go anywhere other than work, and... I don't think so anyway." The weird pause she had left and the fact that she was stating things in such an uncertain way made Shawn think she knew more than she was letting on.
"And what were you doing when he left the house last night?"
"I was just watching TV, then I went to bed, some nights his bowling sessions lasted a while and I'm not much of a night owl, so I went to sleep without him. When he wasn't in bed in the morning, that's when I got worried."
"Did you call the police?"
"Yeah, about as soon as I realised he wasn't anywhere in the house, so around seven. That's when I found out..." She stopped, stifling another sob. Gus's lip quivered and Shawn really hoped that he wouldn't start crying too.
"Do you have an alibi for your whereabouts last night?"
"Uh... No." There was a pause and Fiona fidgeted with her hands nervously as Juliet scribbled onto her notepad.
Shawn quickly found himself getting bored with the interrogation and stepped back so that he was standing right in the entrance of the hallway. He leaned back against the wall casually and looked down the hallway, there were shelves on one side with little decorative objects and a bowl of keys. Above that were various pictures of the two, they looked like a picture perfect couple. On the other side was another room that Shawn couldn't see into based on his angle.
The short hallway lead to the kitchen, Shawn spotted a plate with half eaten food on it laying on the counter, they seemed to have interrupted her lunch. There was a set of cabinets above the counter and a calender was pinned to its side. There were two marker colours, red for Fiona's events, blue for Edward's. As Fiona had mentioned, he saw that every Thursday was circled for his bowling, but other than that Fiona seemed to do the most activities. Teaching a yoga class on Tuesday, girls nights at least once a week, roller skating lessons Thursday. On the back of one of the chairs was Edward's bowling shirt, a cellphone lay beside it. Was there a phone on the body? He'd have to check with-
Gus grabbed his arm and he snapped his head back towards the group. He locked eyes with Carlton, who seemed to have been watching him as he conversed with Fiona.
"Thank you for your time, we might call you into the station for more questioning but you don't need to worry about that right now." Fiona nodded and pulled out a tissue from her pocket, dabbing her eyes.
"Anything you feel the need to add Spencer?" Carlton jeered, though the weird lack of interruptions from the psychic was weird.
"Actually..." Shawn looked around quickly, spotting a picture of Edward with a brunette woman at his side. He pointed at it.
"Who is this?"
"What importance does this have Spencer?"
"I don't think I can explain Lassie, the psychic-ness of it all would blow your mind. Carlton scoffed. "So?" Shawn returned to the subject.
"Oh, that's Edwards sister, he hasn't seen her in years though."
The picture depicted two people, Edward, who appeared to be much younger, with his arm holding the waste of a brunette woman. The way they held eachother seemed a little more than sibling like but Shawn didn't want to make factless assumptions.
Shawn nodded silently, Carlton expected him to say more but he didn't.
"Wow, useless information, thank you for your help as always Spencer." He opened the front door and Shawn waltzed past him confidently.
"No prob Lassie, no information is useless information!"
Shawn practically skipped down the pathway.
"Okay where to next? I think we should wait till it gets dark and set up a proper stakeout, I'll be in charge of getting the steak obviously." Shawn turned to gage everyone's reactions but found that Carlton and Juliet completely dismissed whatever he was saying in favour of talking amongst themselves. "Guys? Come on we're on a role and I believe that through the power of friendship-" Carlton stopped him.
"If all you two are going to be doing today is trailing behind me and O'Hara uselessly then I suggest you instead spend your time doing literally anything else. The adults are working." Juliet flashed an apologetic look to Shawn, but didn't disagree with what Carlton had said.
"Alright Lassie, for your information we've been more than useful today, especially considering that this case is solved."
Everyone stopped.
"What?" They simultaneously exclaimed. Shawn remained nonchalant.
"We have all of the pieces right here already, honestly I'm surprised you haven't cracked it yet Lassie." This challenge further irritated Carlton, but he didn't take the bait, O'Hara however was curious.
"Who do you think did it?"
"His girlfriend!" He spotted the perplexed look on her face. "Oh come on, you didn't really believe those waterworks, she was not behaving like a grieving girlfriend." Her body language was all off, she was twitchy and and upright, not closed off or slumped, along with a million other things Shawn's mind listed.
"Interesting theory Spencer, I'm sure you have a mountain of evidence to back up your though claim, right?" Carlton was absolutely done.
"No problem, I'll just need three amethysts, two quarts, a diamond and as many candles as you can find, then-" He wasn't allowed to finish as Carlton and Juliet got into the car. Carlton rolled down the window.
"Sorry Spencer, important police work to do, you wouldn't understand." He put his sunglasses on and drove off.
The two consults stood in a stunned silence.
'Woah, that was hot.' was Shawn's first thought, tho he dismissed it before his brain even had time to process it.
"Is it just me or is Carlton more... Aggressive than usual?" Gus said.
"I know, he keeps cutting me off!" The two walked round to get into the car but then Gus stopped. "Wait, where are we going?"
"Celebratory meal?"
"I need to get back to work!"
"Oh come on you blow off work for food all the time."
"Shawn." Gus wasn't playing around.
Was it really just work? Or was it the case itself?
"Oh come on Gus! You believe me right?"
"Fiona seems perfectly normal Shawn."
"And so did Al Bundy."
"What?"
"The serial killer?"
"Al Bundy is a sitcom dad from like... The 70's, do you mean Ted Bundy?"
"I've heard it both ways."
"You definitely haven't."
"Do you want to get lunch or not?"
"If we don't have a good suspect we don't get paid, and if we don't get paid we can't keep getting lunch. I'm going back to work."
"Gus. Trust me. When have I ever let you down?"
"Do you want a list?"
"I've never broken your trust, I've tested it. There's a difference."
"We need actual evidence Shawn."
Shawn was good at convincing Gus, especially when it involved getting food, but he sensed that he wouldn't be getting anywhere this time. So he caved.
"Okay, let's go bowling."
"The case Shawn."
"I'm talking about the case man keep up! It's probably the last place he was seen, if his girlfriend was telling the truth anyway."
"Why are you trusting her word for it if you think she's guilty?"
"We'll, if we go check it out now then I can easily prove her wrong." Gus stared at him, unconvinced.
"Look, I'm going to the bowling alley, just drop me off at the Psych office at least."
Gus pondered the statement for a moment, then he checked his watch. Shawn knew as annoyed as he acted with being pulled away from work, he always subconsciously worried about Shawn and felt the need to back him up during cases. But, as people seemed to forget, Shawn was a grown ass man and it was just a bowling alley.
"I think I can probably drop you off and still catch up on my route."
"Great, lone wolf style for me then."
-
It was your average bowling alley, 80's themed, with vibrant neon colours and the smell of nachos wafting in the air. Since it was a Friday it was relatively full with many groups gathered on the various alleys. To his right was the front desk and to his left was the bar/restaurant area, it's tables full with observers.
Shawn went straight to the front desk, a grumpy looking teenager did not look up from his book as Shawn arrived.
"Hey man." The teen gave him a blank stare. "I'd like to bowl?" The teen sighed, putting his book down and slowly sliding the sign up book across the desk.
Shawn flicked through it, stopping at the page from last night. He saw the name Paul and assumed this was the group, there were two other men who signed in at the exact same time as him, a Troy and Oliver, and of course, Edward.
Okay, so he had arrived at the bowling alley. Shawn flicked back to other weeks. Always the same four men, at roughly the same time, except... Shawn looked back to the most recent date, he kept flipping the pages back and forth, comparing all of the names. Edwards hand writing had changed. It was large and slanted on all of the previous weeks, but yesterday it was straight and not as large. It was similar enough that no one would bat an eye, maybe he just wrote it in a rush.
Okay, book was boring and he was sure he wouldn't find anything in the bowling alley, he looked through his memory of the house, how could he follow in Edwards footsteps?
Shawn's memory suddenly flashed back to Fiona's house and that bowl of keys. He envisioned a little silver key, with a little blue keychain and the number 7781.
"Do you guys have those little lockers too? It always makes me feel more professional."
"Uh yeah but they're reserved for people who come here regularly or are in like a league."
"Great, I want one, but evaluate them first, make sure they're up to code. I take my bowling seriously." The employee gave him an annoyed and judgy look, but couldn't be asked to care too deeply.
"Just over here then." He pointed to the door adjacent to the front desk.
Shawn entered the cramped room and was greeted with hundreds of little red lockers, seemingly starting at 7000. Why did places do that? Why wouldn't you start at 0?
He had to go down to the end of the room before he found what he was looking for, then came the roadblock. How was he going to get into it without the key?
He rummaged around in his pockets and produced a comb, which he obviously kept at all times, this hair didn't do itself of course. It was either this or the various food wrappers in his pocket, so he snapped one of the teeth off, which made him wince, and jammed it into the keyhole.
He spent about five minutes insesently wiggling it about, and by some miracle, it actually opened.
"Sweet." Shawn said under his breath.
The locker was relatively empty and held a few boring items, why even get a locker if you're just going to fill it with crap? On the top of the pile we're various scraps of paper, lists of names and numbers, wow, they were betting on bowling. Out of all of the things he could've been betting on this was the lamest. There was a pair of folded up shorts, gross, and a sweat rag, even grosser.
It was the scarf that caught his eye, finally something he could use. It was made of thin material, spirals of black and white as the pattern. He pulled it up and as it unravelled a card fell out. Shawn picked it up, 'Motel 6- Goleta'.
This was enough. The pieces seemed to be fitting together and Shawn's coworker theory was now fading far away. He needed to call someone.
--
Carlton was beginning to build a theory about one of the victims coworkers, and it was looking very convincing. He was going to be bringing in some of the men who bowled with Edward in for questioning, though his eyes really were on Paul. He was at his desk writing up a report on the case thus far when Juliet's phone rang.
"Hello?" The expression that he saw her make was one that he only ever associated with one person. "Shawn? What are you talking about?" Carlton wished he could hear what Shawn was saying right now. "Shawn what? I don't understand? Is this factual evidence?" Carlton's fist tightened around the pen he was holding. Juliet held the phone to her ear for a moment longer before putting it down and sighing. "He's going to Fiona's house." Carlton knew she probably had no further information other than that.
"God damn it Spencer."
Shawn had tried to explain what was going on to Juliet, keeping it vague so that the big reveal would be more dramatic. Turns out the cheating husband and vengeful girlfriend was actually true.
He could see it in his head, it took one phone call to his coworkers for her to confirm it probably. One check with the hotel to fuel her anger. He was using his bowling time as an excuse to see this mysterious other woman. He was secretive but apparently not as intelligent as suspected, he had left his bowling shirt at home when he was supposed to be out there. He could see the argument, them fighting round the back of the bowling alley. She didn't mean to kill him, she was just so angry.
She had messed up, she wasn't thinking, she didn't even expect the detectives to come so quickly. She had an alibi, those stupid roller skating lessons, and yet she had said she was at home.
Shawn chipped away at the rock that was this case, trying to flesh out all aspects of it so that it would flow smoothly for Carlton and Juliet's arrival. He zoomed on his motorcycle, adrenaline pumping through his veins.
He should probably call Gus, he'd do that once he arrived at Fiona's house. Hopefully he would get there before the detectives and have a face off with Fiona, personality de-masking her horrible crime.
As he sped down the motorway, Juliet and Carlton were in the car, they had not requested for back up, not yet anyway, Juliet did hold them on standby though, much to Carlton's frustration.
The motorbike was already discarded in front of the house when they had got there, and they noticed that the front door was already hanging open. Carlton's mind told him that it was stupid but still he reflexively had a hand on his holster, ready.
They approached the house with caution, though not as much as they would if they were planning to make an arrest. This was just another Shawn throw-everything-out-there moment.
Shawn was standing in the short hallway, the one that he had been peeking down during their first visit.
"Spencer. What is going on?" Carlton inquired.
"Uhm... Not what I thought was going on." Shawn stepped to the side as the detectives approached him, letting them go past him and see for themselves.
"What are you-" Carlton stopped, Juliet's eyes widened.
Lying face down on the ground, stabbed with her own kitchen knife, was Fiona.
Notes:
Really hope you guys kind of enjoyed this, I feel like I'm just yapping on about god knows what like 3000 words of random rambling omg😭😭
It's really hard to make this case love in a satisfying way but I'm trying my best <3
Chapter 4: Chapter 4
Summary:
Shawn is confused and frustrated about the case, Carlton is confused and frustrated about Shawn.
Notes:
This chapter was gonna be way longer but I was editing this chapter and realised that this could make a fine chapter on its own while I worked on the rest of the other half, so here you go🙏
I swear to god if my life keeps getting worse every time I post a chapter I might be dead before I finish this🙏 sorry for the slow updates, motivations going crazy
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Shawn was very frustrated with himself. He was frustrated for getting the wrong suspect, and even more so for letting a new person die.
Carlton immediately jumped at the opportunity to tell Shawn off, mixing his anger and smugness together in a way that got to Shawn way more than he cared to admit.
Soon enough however his dialogue faded into white noise as Shawn's brain went over all of the facts of the case in his head once more, deducting where and how he had gone wrong. He didn't understand it at all. Yes, his theory had been weak and he knew that but making weak theories work was his thing!
Carlton also jumped straight back into his duties after he was done being unprofessional. He mentioned that they couldn't spend a huge amount of time looking through the house as they needed to head back to the station. Some of Edwards coworkers were waiting for him there. Shawn knew for an absolute fact that none of the coworkers were behind it, but thought it was still a good idea to tag along and try to get any missed pieces of information.
They were soon rushed out of the house, despite the amount of fight they put up (or the amount of fight Shawn put up) and despite valiant efforts trying to distract McNab or sneak in through the back window, they eventually gave up.
He then decided to move onto plan B, if they weren't allowed in the house then they would go where the next best place to find information was, the station (not to mention there were good snacks out in the break room for them to feast on while waiting for the detectives to arrive.)
Upon arrival Carlton was immediately against having Shawn and Gus there, especially not after 'that stunt he had just pulled'. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't say much against Chief Vick's word. Still, that didn't stop Carlton from locking him out of the interrogation room, much to Shawn's annoyance.
So they sat, Shawn and Gus, staring into the interrogation room through the one way mirror as Carlton and Juliet got to work on the three men.
All in all they continued to be an absolutely useless thread however. They had never gone out with Edward other than the obvious bowling, based on their description of him he was always there to provide a good laugh, well, until they started playing and he rinsed them dry of all of their money. One of the men, Oliver, stated that they were always head to head to try and get first place.
Other than the bowling they were completely clueless about his life, one thought he had a wife and kids, the other could've sworn his first name was Ethan and Paul sat off to the side for most of the interrogation.
Shawn couldn't tell wether or not he was just making a poor attempt at hiding his disdain for Edward, or if he was withholding information. He thought back to the crumpled up post it note in his pocket, he would definitely be needing to speak to Paul at some point soon.
Afterwards the two consults left the station, unsure of what to do next. The most infuriating part of this whole case is that it just seemed so simple, it should've been such an easy solve. He was a boring man with a boring life impulsively murdered for seemingly no reason. But Shawn had learned that what seems boring on the surface tends to lead to the most interesting things.
At the same time, Shawn had to admit that he was a little distracted. As they drove back to the Psych office Shawn had kept his eyes peeled, looking into every nook and cranny of every street they passed and analysing their pros and cons. He still needed a place to sleep, the thought constantly lingered in his mind and made it difficult to turn all of his attention onto one thing.
He needed to get his head in the game, with every new case came a possible excuse to sleep in the Psych office for one extra night, so he could always fall back on that if needed. It would annoy Gus, but sacrifices had to be made.
Shawn went straight to work when they arrived to the office, it was late afternoon by now, nearing evening time. Shawn found that creating the case in front of him could be very helpful, yes of course he could imagine it in his head. But having it layed out before him was just much more satisfying.
He rolled out his trusty pin board, once more thinking about how this really shouldn't have been a pin board worthy case. He spent the rest of the evening finding, printing out and pinning down pictures. He wrote down notes and cut them out, drew crude representations of the bodies, and tied everything together with red string.
Gus was probably doing some work stuff on his computer, Shawn didn't really pay attention. He came and went and got them Chinese at some point, which Shawn wasn't really in the mood for since he had had crappy Chinese in his alleyway the night before. He was sure Gus had said something before leaving, probably about not staying here too late or remembering to lock the door, but Shawn was too transfixed in his work.
When he had finally finished, he stepped back to admire his work, but, he didn't really feel that accomplished. Staring at it only gave him a weird growing feeling that this was not a puzzle, but a puzzle piece, the real story had not even begun being revealed to him yet.
He stood there for a long time, just staring at it, analysing, planning his next move.
Ultimately, he decided the next best place to go tomorrow would be the house, hopefully it was mostly cleared of police officers by now. He still thought this story of infidelity might have some ground, so checking out the hotel that he had originally assumed was where Edward was meeting up with his mistress could be a good idea.
The best move for him now was to get some well earned sleep, he was very grateful to be able to spend a night not sleeping on the cold hard surface that was the alley floor.
--
The Psych office was absolutely not on Carlton's way home, so he had no idea why he had ended up on the route towards it. There was just this absolutely infuriating feeling gnawing at the back of his head, he couldn't explain it and it was beginning to drive him insane. But it was fine. If driving past the Psych office would help put it to rest then he was willing to do it, he could compromise his pride.
He had spent his day searching the crime scene (Edward and Fiona's house) and then taking the body to get an autopsy, though, the cause of death was clear. Shawn and Gus were fortunately not allowed inside the house, though they did attempt to get in multiple times. Carlton assumed they had given up and returned to the Psych office to wallow in their idiocy.
He couldn't believe Shawn, of course Fiona hadn't done it! It's times like these where Carlton wondered if he should start building up a box of evidence to prove Shawn's incompetence to Chief Vick.
When they got back to the station to get their paperwork done, however, much to Carlton's dismay, they found Gus and Shawn lingering around waiting to help the two detectives with their interviewing of Edwards coworkers.
At least they ended up not being allowed in the room, Carlton had thought, he wouldn't have been able to handle much more of them.
His evening after that was fine, he should've been calmer without Shawn's presence lingering around. And yet his mind couldn't stop thinking to that morning, he didn't understand it. Shawn was obviously fine, the chances that he was homeless were basically impossible, with how he leeched off of Gus all the time there was no way he wouldn't jump at the opportunity to live with him, or even Henry and Juliet. There was no reason for him to be thinking about this.
But the human mind works in mysterious and incredibly annoying ways, so here he was, driving down the street he had run down hours prior. He may have been paying more attention to the street as he drove down, his eyes glancing to the sides of the street before quickly staring forward once more.
He didn't spot who he was looking for until he reached the office, driving up he could see that the lights were still on and the blinds still up, even though it was beginning to get fairly late by now. He slowed down and steadily drove past, looking into the office.
It was easy to spot Shawn, standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed, staring at a large board. He was so still, so focused, Carlton had never seen him like that... well, ever.
For a second he thought about stopping the car and going into the office, but the thought dismissed before he even had a chance to consider it. Obviously, because why in hell would he ever do that? Once the office was out of view Carlton quickly sped up and got back on track to his route home. He pushed all of the thoughts to the back of his head, refusing to acknowledge anything, he needed to forget about that morning encounter. It was just a weird interaction with an even weirder man.
When he arrived home, he didn't think about it, he sat down on his couch and watched TV. He didn't pay attention to the program though, but it definitely didn't have anything to do with Shawn. He then gave up on TV and decided to have an early night, it's not often he got these as a cop.
But of course the one night he wanted to sleep was the one night he was unable to. He tossed and turned in bed, unable to quiet down his mind. This had nothing to do with Shawn. It had been a full day, yeah, that's what it was, he didn't care about Shawn, there was a man he would never lose sleep over. This had nothing to do with Shawn.
Notes:
As always, please give me feedback, I appreciate every comment and always want to improve!
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Summary:
Ooooo we're building up to the classic Shawn reveal guys 🤩
Notes:
This was supposed to come out the other day I was gonna finish it on the plane, unfortunately I had a crazy flight and like the plane couldn't land and we were stuck flying in circles it was wild so I was focusing on that💀
IM EXCITED FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER THIS IS ONE OF THE SCENES I'VE BEEN WAITING TO GET TOOO
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter :3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
The next morning Shawn and Gus walked into the station bickering, Shawn had been right, Gus was not happy about his most recent stay at the office.
"Oh come on Gus why did we put all of that non office-y stuff in it unless we were planning on using it!"
"We have all of that stuff because you threw a tantrum over not having constant access to snacks!"
"We both know that was you Gus. And anyways it was just one night-"
"No Shawn I am putting my foot down! Four nights you slept in there, you completely trashed the place and finished all of the food! I am not letting that happen again."
"For my sake or the foods sake?"
Gus gave no response, just sped up in the direction he was walking, which was to go speak with Woody.
They sped walked past where Carlton had been retrieving some paperwork, broadcasting the rest of their conversation to Carlton along with the rest of the Santa Barbara police department. It wasn't Carlton's fault that he had overheard the conversation, it's not like he had perked his ears up immediately at the sound of the two entering the building... Upon hearing this information though, Carlton became even more confused.
"Four nights..?" He said to himself. Shawn heard Carlton saying something and did a double take, turning to give him a weird look, which quickly turned into a smile and wink. Carlton felt awkward and quickly turned back around and returned to his desk.
Four nights, he thought again. Could mean nothing, probably meant nothing, the man was lazy and didn't want to drive himself home.
Carlton got back to his work.
--
Their check in with Woody had provided no more useful information, their original victim had no defensive wounds, there was no DNA left on him by any other person, no way of figuring out who did this. Woody did confirm however that the stab wound could have been caused by a pen (Shawn had made the remark as a joke, he didn't actually think it was a possibility?). He hadn't had the chance to finish his autopsy on Fiona but it probably wouldn't bring them any closer to finding their killer so they decided not to wait around for it.
Stabbing someone was a much more difficult thing to do then say shooting or poisoning them, so Shawn had his bets on it being someone that Edward had been close to.
But who had he been close to? Other than his wife Edward wasn't really close to anyone. That had made her the obvious choice, which admittedly, Shawn didn't like to go for. Now that she wasn't a possibility anymore Shawn had to set his sights on someone else. Namely, this mystery mistress.
Originally, he thought Fiona had found out about the mistress, but maybe it was the other way around. Maybe she had found out he was married and it had sent her into a jealous rage, she killed him and then the wife whom she was jealous of.
From this Shawn concluded that their next best stop would be going to the hotel where he assumed the couple had been frequenting.
He didn't really know where the weird emails and money fit into all of this. It didn't make sense for the mistress to have found out about his cheating and started bribing him as it destroyed his jealous rage theory. Unless she had been blackmailing him for money and he had just come short for one of the payments. Still, it would've been weird to kill the wife afterwards, unless she had discovered some information about her husband's killer.
He set himself the mental reminder to perhaps go search Edwards home aswell, by the time they had gone to speak with the hotel most of- if not all of the police officers would have vacated the home by now.
They walked out of the station and Shawn spotted Carlton at his desk, there posed another problem for Shawn. He had been so weird ever since yesterday morning.
Shawn kept catching Carlton giving him weird glances and paying a weird about of attention to him and Gus instead of blocking them out like usual. It was just so... Not Carlton. He needed a way to get the man off of his back, knowing Carlton he was probably trying to gather up evidence to make light of his homelessness to the Chief and get him fired. Shawn wouldn't let him get close to finding anything substantial however, and he knew that right now the detective had nothing on him.
Ugh, there were too many questions and seemingly no way to fit them all together. Fortunately, they still had many places to search and people to speak to for answers. Right now both Shawn and Carlton had a job to do and as long as Carlton was on a case Shawn knew he would be prioritising that over investigating Shawn. After all the case was always the most important thing to Carlton.
--
The first thing Shawn became aware of was that the route they were taking to get to the hotel was awfully familiar.
He thought about it briefly before coming to the realisation that this was the way to the bowling alley he had visited yesterday. He said nothing about it however, Santa Barbara was only so big after all.
The hotel was actually much better looking than the dingy establishment he had imagined in his head. The building was a decently sized two floored building in a coat of white chipping paint and a low terracotta roof. There was a large clean pool out front, though the place did look quite barren.
The most interesting detail Shawn noticed was that it was in fact right behind the bowling alley. You could literally see it if you tilted your head to peak around the building.
The two walked up a set of stairs which went up the side of the building and into a small reception/lobby. At the front desk was a middle aged woman with curly black hair.
"Good morning, welcome to Hotel 6, how many I assist you?" She said in the monotonous voice of someone who had done this millions of times before.
"Greetings, my name is Shawn Spencer and this is my partner Benedict Weinbaum." He smiled and gestured to Gus behind him. "We have a friend who previously stayed here, gave us the recommendation, Edward, do you know him?"
The woman immediately shook her head,
"Doesn't ring a bell." Shawn politely smiled but tapped his finger on the top of her computer.
"Could you check to see if he's in the system, Edward Wilson? I want to make sure we have the right hotel."
"He's very particular about where he stays." Gus backed up.
The woman stared between the two with slight annoyance on her face before typing into her computer.
"No Edward Wilson here. But I can assure you this hotel is well rated and-"
"Are you sure? He goes here with his wife, he's about this tall, black hair, like an older Rob Lowe in 'Bad Influence'?" The woman was quickly losing patience.
"Look, are you two gonna get a hotel or not?"
Shawn started nervously wringing his hands together, looking at Gus in a panicked way, Gus played along, placing a hand on his shoulder to 'soothe him'. Shawn shakily grabbed his phone out and pulled up a picture of Edward from his work's website.
"You're sure you haven't seen anyone coming in here that looks anything like this man?"
"Sir am I going to have to call the staff?" Shawn was about to increase the dramatics of his act when Gus spoke.
"Shawn- Let's go." He grabbed both of Shawn's shoulders and dragged him out, despite Shawn's protests.
Gus dropped the act as soon as they left the lobby. He was not in the mood for this.
"I can't believe we completely wasted our time." He grumbled, pressing the button to unlock his car.
Shawn maybe a little bad, after all, he had based their entire purpose of visiting on a card he had found in Edwards locker.
"Relax Gus! Okay it's been a rough start but third times a charm! I bet you we find something in his house."
"If the police haven't already removed all of the evidence."
"Are you really trusting the cops over me right now?" Shawn almost felt offended for a moment.
"Let's just go Shawn, I'm starting to feel like your personal chauffeur."
Shawn got into the passenger seat.
"Hole, you're my best friend." He joked, subconsciously trying to lighten up the mood and make his best friend feel a little better.
"Shawn, you know quoting that line makes you Daisy, the elderly white woman, in this scenario?"
"Crap." The terrible reference made Gus want to smile briefly before he realised he was still supposed to be annoyed with Shawn. He turned his attention back to the road.
--
They pulled up to their next stop, Edward and Fiona's house, now disturbed by police tape police care and tire tracks on the lawn. As predicted, everyone had cleared off by now leaving Shawn and Gus with easy access to the house. Shawn opened the door and then crouched underneath the tape, while Gus took a large step over it, catching his foot on the end of it and almost falling over. He caught himself on the shelf beside the door and it wobbled, sending a picture falling to the ground.
"Gus! This is all important evidence!"
"Oh shut up Shawn, you damage enough evidence per week to be put away for life." Gus bit back, though he was very obviously embarrassed as he hastily picked up the now smashed picture. It was the one Shawn had picked up the last time they were here, the one of Edward and his sister.
As Gus lifted it something fell out of the frame, unlike the glass that dropped off, this hit the ground with a clink, bouncing and rolling underneath the shelf. Shawn crouched down and grabbed it, pulling out a silver ring, encrusted with what seemed to be diamonds.
"Is that an engagement ring? Was he going to propose to Fiona?" Shawn made no reply, continuing to inspect the ring.
"No, this is old, definitely used..."
"Looks like Edward was more of a player than we thought." Gus joked, chuckling to himself. Shawn gave him an unimpressed look, stuffing the ring into his pocket.
"Let's just stop smashing everything up and check out this players 'love shack'." Gus cringed at Shawn's phrasing as the two began to ascend the stairs.
"Gross Shawn."
"Science shows that boring couples are the freakiest in the bedroom Gus."
"There is no way in hell that that's true."
"Oh really? Behold!" Shawn dramatically flung the first door he found at the top of the landing, unfortunately, it was just a study.
"Well... It could just be some weird roleplay."
Shawn decided to look around the study just for the sake of it, his 'senses' had led him to this room first anyway, could've been worth looking through briefly.
The room had clearly been looked through, and Shawn saw that some of the drawers of the desk and filing cabinets were left open. Shawn assumed that the police had taken a few of his clients files to investigate, he had undoubtedly been working with some sketchy people.
He sat down at Edwards desk chair, flicking through the various names but nothing stood out to him. Meanwhile Gus was admiring Edwards vast book collection.
"Wow, he really knew his stuff, 'The Trusted Advisor', 'The Fundamentals of Finance', no wonder he was so high up. Looks like there's one missing though." Shawn pretended to yawn as Gus rambled on.
"Wow, that's really interesting Gus, you know I'm starting to think he might actually have been murdered for being the most uninteresting man in the history of men."
Shawn spun round in the chair, standing up and glancing around the classically decorated room. The two looked around a little further but if there had been any evidence in the room it had definitely been taken by the police already.
Thankfully, the next door led them to the room they were originally looking for, the bedroom.
The bed had been left unmade and the overall room held a theme of whites and greys, because of course it did. They each had a bedside table, Gus went over to Edward's side, where there were words searches and sudokus stacked against his lamp.
"A man after my own heart." He said, lifting one up and flicking through it.
"You two probably would've been great friends." Replied Shawn, sitting on Fiona's side. Both sides were relatively bare, the police had probably taken any electronics they found which was usually Shawn's go-to to search foe.
Fiona's desk was pretty empty, unsurprising at this point. There was only a book which lay next to her lamp, 'Story Selling for Financial Advisors'.
That felt odd, but maybe they were both into the exciting world of being a financial advisor. He picked up the book and opened it at the book mark. Turns out, the book mark was not a bookmark, but in fact one of Edwards client files folded in half.
He opened it up, much like the files in Edwards office is was just a confusing amount of numbers, big numbers though, all in hundreds and thousands. The name read 'Durrell Flenche' and was circled in red marker.
"Does the name Durrell Flenche ring any bells Gus?"
"Uhh... No? Why?"
"I found Eddie's missing book, I think he might've been looking into one of his clients, or he was at least suspicious."
Shawn waved the file up and Gus leaned over to check it out.
"Oh yeah, this is definitely weird, large sums of money being deposited into multiple different accounts, there's some sketchy stuff going on here." Shawn nodded, keeping the file in his hand and moving on to other areas of the room.
Annoyingly, the police had either done a good job of sweeping any interesting evidence from this house (unlikely), or there really wasn't anything else to be found. This carried on as they moved to different rooms in the house, there were little hints at a more interesting life, pictures of Fiona partying with her friends, interesting fashion choices in Edwards closet which indicated they tended to get a little 'creative' in the bedroom. ("I told you so Gus!") But the entire place felt like the most fun sucking, dull and sad house Shawn had ever entered, other than his own dad's house of course.
When they finally finished and were able to leave, Shawn was relieved, skipping out of the house and dramatically putting his arms out.
"Sunlight! Colour! Oh I missed the outside world!" He crouched down, preparing to start gratefully kissing the floor, but Gus pulled him up by his collar.
"Shawn, get up, we've spent over two hours running around looking for clues and I'm tired."
"Is that your way of saying you want lunch?" Gus gave him a look, shrugging.
"C'mon son."
--
The craving today (after careful deliberation) was to have mexican. Gus was happily munching on a quesadilla while Shawn ravaged a large burrito bowl, which Gus remarked with annoyance was one of the most expensive items on the menu, Shawn of course didn't care, it wasn't his money.
The waitress came back around with a glass of diet coke for Gus and some Pineapple flavoured Fanta for Shawn. Gus smiled at her, winking, and the waitress returned it with a giggle as she sauntered off, Gus watched her as she left. Shawn was of course used to this by now, it was the entity Gus always forced him to call 'Player Gus'.
Gus looked away from her and back at Shawn.
"Oooooh now I know for a fact that that shortie is giving me clear signs." Shawn cringed at the way Gus spoke whenever he got like this. Still, for once, Shawn had to agree that there might actually be something there. Unlike the other countless women Gus always says are 'giving him eyes'.
"Actually, I think you might have a shot." Gus was caught back by this response.
"Really?"
"Yeah man, I say go for it." Shawn partly said this because it was always entertaining to see Gus trying to talk up any woman, but also because Gus was his best friend and the man definitely needed more confidence in the dating department.
Gus nodded, doing his trademark nose flick as he tried to catch the waitresses eyes once more. After a few minutes of tilting his head in every direction to try and get her attention, she finally noticed him. By now, Shawn had finished his burrito bowl and was not so subtly trying to finish off Gus's now cold quesadilla.
The waitress gave a kind smile as she returned.
"Are you ready to pay?"
"Uh... Yeah, and I was wondering if I could order you on the menu cause baby you're an absolute snack." The line came out rushed which just made Shawn cringe harder, he wanted to hide his face purely put of second hand embarrassment for his poor desperate friend.
The waitress looked mildly surprised before laughing, she bent down and pulled the pen out of Gus's breast pocket, scribbling onto his napkin. That's when Shawn spotted the glint of her wedding ring in the sunlight.
"Uhh Gus... Might want to ask about a ménage-a-trois situation before agreeing to anything..." Shawn pointed at her hand and she quickly pulled it away, a look of shock and embarrassment on her face.
Gus was upset, but before he could say anything she spoke.
"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I'm not- it's not like-" she removed the ring,
"You were about to cheat on your husband, shame woman!" Gus's face twisted immediately into an appalled and shocked expression. He pushed his chair back with a loud screech and stood.
"No! We're still married technically... But we're getting a divorce!"
"You're quick to throw yourself back into the dating pool." Gus quipped, disgust lacing his voice. Shawn felt bed for ruining Gus's moment, but he knew Gus would quickly get over it, being overly dramatic was just his way of doing damage control.
"Yeah I am! That asshole cheated on me with some random girl!"
Suddenly, something clicked inside of Shawn's head. One of Edwards coworkers had thought he had had a wife. What if... He tried to visualise the paperwork that had been laying on Carlton's desk the previous evening, he could see some of the contact details of the coworkers. Carlton had his arm in the way, he couldn't see the phone numbers, god damn it Lassie!
Gus was having none of whatever the waitress was saying so Shawn decided to cut their argument short.
"Alright Gus come on, there's plenty of fish in the tank." Shawn stood. Gus locked his eyes onto Shawn.
"Plenty of fish in the sea Shawn."
"What's the difference?" He deliberately asked to annoy Gus, quickly tilting his head, gesturing to the waitress that she should leave quickly. She humphed and marched off, flipping her hair.
"Plenty of fish in the tank would imply that I've trapped a set of women in one place and I'm forcing them to date me!"
Gus began rambling on about all of the ways Shawn's version of the analogy made no sense and Shawn began leading him away from the table, back to the car. And Gus thought Shawn was easy to distract!
When they arrived at the car Gus stopped.
"Wait." He spun around and turned back to the restaurant, "I wasn't done talking to her Shawn!"
"Yes but... Wait... Can you hear that?" Shawn put a hand to his ear.
"What?"
"It's the calls for justice! They're getting louder Gus! I could hear them at the table, we have to go!"
Shawn tried the car door handle but it was still locked.
"Seriously? That woman was being shameful Shawn, shameful!"
"Yeah... I think she got that message. Can we go now?"
"Where are we even going?"
"I've got to pay Lassie a visit, I'm sure he really misses me." Gus was a little torn, Shawn always just made some vague statement that had some sort of connection to his real plans. For once he would've really loved to just get a straight answer from the man. Gus sighed and unlocked the car.
"Okay."
--
"Police! Stop right there!" The psychic yelled as he and Gus stepped into the station, pointing at Carlton.
Carlton would really just like one day where his work isn't interrupted by Shawn fucking Spencer.
Usually when Shawn stopped by he would speak with Juliet, annoying Carlton at the same time was just for fun as he knew Carlton would always refuse to help him with any case. But for some unknown reason since the start of this case it seems Shawn has decided to set his sights on Carlton. Or maybe Carlton has just been noticing him more.
"I know I'm just a consultant but I'm probably allowed to say that right?" Shawn said, sliding as he jumped to sit on Carlton's desk.
"No." Carlton gruffly answered, pulling papers from underneath where Shawn sat so that he wouldn't scrunch them up. Shawn grabbed them out of his hands and started flicking through them. "Spencer!" He snatched them back. "These aren't toys and you do not have the authority to look at them."
Shawn then turned his attention to the rest of his desk, leaning back to get a better look at the papers. Carlton pushed him off.
"What do you want Spencer?" He practically hissed through gritted teeth. Shawn stumbled as he fell off of the desk but quickly moved around Carlton's chair to the other side of his desk, picking up another pile.
"Sorry Carly there's just a number I can't remember off the top of my head, it's the one you're supposed to dial in an emergency uhh..."
"Are you talking about 911?" Gus said incredulously, having appeared out of nowhere behind Carlton. Carlton was trying to take back the papers Shawn was looking at but Shawn kept a firm grip on them.
Shawn snapped his fingers at Gus.
"Oh thanks Gus! That was really bothering me! It's like when you can't remember the name of an actor, it was on the tip of my tongue." Shawn finally let go of the papers, apart from one which he triumphantly pulled from between the other pages.
"Oh! Now that I'm thinking about it I needed this one too, thanks Lassie!"
Carlton aggressively reached out for the paper once more but Shawn pulled it away from him, quickly memorising Oliver's number.
"Spencer I am not messing around! This is all classified information." He practically barked, Shawn tried to lift the page out of his reach but unfortunately for him Carlton was way taller and this time easily ripped it out of his hands.
Carlton grabbed Shawn my his shirt and pulled him away from his desk, he let go of the shirt and Shawn stumbled into Gus. Shawn had already seen all the information he had needed to however.
"Alright Lassie we're going! You're lucky I don't call my lawyer for that assault!" He pulled his phone out of his pocket. "And to think I was about to let you in on some insider information, I'll have you know a certain someone spoke to me from beyond the grave."
Gus made an 'ooOoOoO' sound, which merited a glare from Carlton. He wanted to resist taking Shawn's bait, after all he couldn't give less of a crap about any of the psychic bull he always spewed. But, after another death he was a little more open to finding another lead. He didn't want to admit that to Shawn though, so he instead stayed quiet, a silent invitation for Shawn to keep talking.
Shawn didn't talk, but instead, put his finger up, signaling for Carlton to wait. Great, this probably wasn't going to be worth his time. Carlton sat at his desk and crossed his arms impatiently.
Juliet came back from the filing room and spotted the trio, her eyes locking to Carlton's scowling ones. She came over and was about to have a go at a kinder approach at getting the two to leave them alone when Shawn began speaking.
"Hello Ollie! Yes hi I'm Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective for the SBPD, you haven't met me but I've... Seen you." Even though he was on the phone, he still brought his finger to his temple. "Hey man the spirits led me to you, don't worry though your aura is clean. What did you say you knew about Edwards wife?"
Carlton wanted to correct Shawn, Edward had a girlfriend not a wife, but he stopped himself, watching to see where this was going. Shawn listened for about fifteen seconds, before grinning.
"Yes, it's all coming to me now, I can see what happened!" He hung up on Oliver and then his arm stretched forward, sending Shawn stumbling to the side along with it. It was like he was being dragged by an invisible force outside of the station. Gus chased after him.
"I think Shawn's being led to the murderer! Come on, let's go!"
Gus ran after Shawn but however, the two detectives were much more hesitant. Juliet looked to Carlton, asking him what they should do. Carlton had half a mind to just let those two do whatever they were off to do without them, they always called if they needed them anyway.
However, for some reason, he instead grabbed his keys off of his desk and left the station (at a much less brisk pace than Shawn or Gus), following the two delinquents to god knows where.
Notes:
As always, please comment, it makes my week. Always open to feedback :)
AshleyMarie1684 on Chapter 1 Mon 14 Jul 2025 12:59AM UTC
Comment Actions
FearedWhatWeBecame on Chapter 1 Mon 14 Jul 2025 01:34AM UTC
Comment Actions
Carola_Canela on Chapter 1 Mon 14 Jul 2025 01:52AM UTC
Comment Actions
FearedWhatWeBecame on Chapter 1 Mon 14 Jul 2025 10:37AM UTC
Comment Actions
Carola_Canela on Chapter 1 Tue 15 Jul 2025 02:51AM UTC
Comment Actions
Pigeon_milk121 on Chapter 1 Wed 16 Jul 2025 11:30PM UTC
Comment Actions
Pigeon_milk121 on Chapter 2 Thu 24 Jul 2025 12:19AM UTC
Comment Actions
Beetle_boi on Chapter 2 Thu 24 Jul 2025 10:57PM UTC
Comment Actions
Pigeon_milk121 on Chapter 2 Fri 25 Jul 2025 09:57PM UTC
Comment Actions
starfishspencer on Chapter 3 Wed 06 Aug 2025 09:36PM UTC
Comment Actions
Beetle_boi on Chapter 3 Wed 06 Aug 2025 10:18PM UTC
Comment Actions
starfishspencer on Chapter 3 Wed 06 Aug 2025 10:31PM UTC
Comment Actions
Lazy405 on Chapter 4 Sun 17 Aug 2025 07:48PM UTC
Comment Actions
pineapplepeaches on Chapter 4 Sun 17 Aug 2025 09:29PM UTC
Comment Actions
Beetle_boi on Chapter 4 Sun 17 Aug 2025 09:34PM UTC
Comment Actions
pineapplepeaches on Chapter 4 Sun 17 Aug 2025 10:51PM UTC
Comment Actions
EM__ME on Chapter 4 Mon 18 Aug 2025 01:28PM UTC
Comment Actions
starfishspencer on Chapter 4 Wed 20 Aug 2025 10:16PM UTC
Comment Actions
Nona (Guest) on Chapter 5 Sat 30 Aug 2025 07:13PM UTC
Comment Actions
starfishspencer on Chapter 5 Sun 31 Aug 2025 12:19AM UTC
Comment Actions
Levi_Rivaille933012 on Chapter 5 Mon 01 Sep 2025 09:53PM UTC
Comment Actions