Her first thought upon seeing the place was that it wasn’t exactly what she had expected. Then again, it wasn’t unexpected, either. In fact, she wasn’t sure what she had expected at all. The apartment was small, and yet it seemed to hold all of his possessions well. She and her partner entered through the dining area, where there was located a round, wooden dining table with four chairs around it, and a newspaper opened up to the comics section lay on top of it. Ahead of that was the living area, which connected directly to the kitchen area on their left. The living room had a couch and loveseat facing a large entertainment center containing a television, stereo system, DVD player, and Xbox 360 system- one controller of which was off its shelf and had been left on the coffee table. Juliet noticed a pair of his shoes by the couch and a blanket strewn awkwardly across it. She deduced he had spent a night here, or had at least napped, and wondered if he chose this spot over his bed often. The kitchen area seemed relatively clean and Juliet figured he must not do much cooking. She did, however, see several boxes of cereal and a couple pineapples on the counter. She also noticed that the cereal boxes were upside down, apparently having been opened that way.
“Strange,” She muttered mostly to herself, picking up a cereal box.
“He wanted to get at the toy inside faster.” Lassiter deduced with a smirk, startling her. She had seen him head toward the hallway and was not expecting him to be so close.
“Well I’ll be darned,” Juliet laughed, accepting Lassiter’s explanation. She never ceased to be amazed at the quirks that came with Shawn’s child-like personality.
“I take it you’ve never been here before.” Lassiter commented, earning a sharp look from Juliet.
“Why would I have been here?” She shot back, suppressing a smile. Lassiter shrugged,
“Oh, I don’t know….”
“Yeah, well, no. I haven’t been here before, regardless what you might think.” Juliet confirmed,
“Anything in the bedroom?” She asked, heading down the hall and hoping to change the direction of the conversation. Shawn’s bedroom, again, turned out to be a surprise. The bed was neatly made, something she would never have expected. It was a double bed with a simple wooden headboard. There wasn’t a comforter on the bed so much as a large quilt that appeared to be old and handmade. It also appeared to be well cared for, and Juliet sensed that it was somehow important to Shawn.
“Nothing, really.” Lassiter replied, rifling through some papers at a desk by the window, “I found these in the drawer, but they don’t seem to say much…about anything.” Juliet took a look at the papers, frowning. Nothing seemed to make sense in the writing, and some of it even appeared to be written backwards.
“Does he always write cryptically?” Lassiter asked. Part of him wanted to ask about Shawn’s literacy at all, but that was a joke best saved for a later date.
“Not that I’ve seen.” Juliet replied, “But I’ve never seen him take notes. He just seems to keep everything in his head.”
“Well, I’m gonna hold on to these for now, just in case.” Lassiter sighed, “But aside from that, I don’t see anything here. You?” Juliet frowned and shook her head, following her partner out the door.
The detectives rode in silence on their way back to the station, each lost in their own thoughts. It had been the strangest couple days, to say the least, and it appeared the ordeal wasn’t nearly over. It had begun the previous evening, with the two of them responding to an urgent call for a hit and run accident involving a motorcycle. The fact that the two of them had been called for something like this was strange, until they arrived to see that the person involved was none other than Shawn Spencer. Insisting that he was fine, though his appearance betrayed a different story, he had demanded to speak to the two detectives, and was practically refusing treatment until their arrival.
Juliet looked through the notes she had written down on her notepad, hoping to see something she had missed before. Shawn had been awake and talking- highly agitated, and had clearly suffered a head injury of some sort. Her conversation with him had made little sense, if any, though it was very clear to her and her partner that he had something very important to say.
‘Shawn, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath, tell me what happened.’ She’d prompted. He had kept bringing his palm to his forehead, obviously struggling to think clearly, but refusing to give up on the endeavor. The medics had failed at getting Shawn onto a backboard, but at least had convinced him to wear a cervical collar until he could speak with the two detectives.
‘He came at me…’
‘The guy who hit you?’
‘Yes’
‘Did you see him? Did you see the car?’
‘Yes’
‘Can you give me a description?’
‘I…it was a car…’
‘I know that, Shawn. What kind of car was it?’
‘White’
‘Ok. What else?’
‘It…it was white.’ He was obviously in no shape to be giving any statements, regardless of his insistence. Juliet had figured the only way to convince him to get help was to pretend she had what she needed.
‘Ok. Got it. You need to go with the medics now, Shawn. We’ll take it from here.’
‘No! They want to…’
‘They want to what? Who’s they?’
‘Not they…he.’
‘Ok, who’s he? The guy who hit you?’
‘Yes.’
‘What does he want?’
‘I…I don’t know.’
‘Ok, Shawn. Please just go with the medics. I promise we’ll talk about this in the morning. You can’t help us figure this out if you don’t take care of yourself first.’ She had insisted, and thankfully, it worked. Shawn finally allowed himself to be seen by the medics, and apparently just in time, as he had lost consciousness almost as soon as he was placed on the backboard and loaded onto the ambulance.
“What was that?"
Juliet snapped back to the present to see they were stopped at a red light, and her partner was watching her quizzically,
“You asked me something…or you were talking to yourself.” Lassiter informed her. She shrugged simply,
“Oh, sorry. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on here.”
“You still think there’s something else going on? Spencer got knocked around a bit, and the jerk who did it took off. These things happen.” Lassiter replied matter-of-factly.
“It can’t be that simple,” Juliet argued, “He’s so sure that there’s more to it. You saw him at the hospital this morning- we’re missing something major.”
Lassiter sighed deeply, trying to keep himself from saying anything that might hurt or offend his partner. Knowing the underlying feelings those two shared for each other, and considering that Spencer could have gotten himself killed less that 24 hours before, it only made sense that O’Hara would be going through some significant feelings right now. What he had seen at the hospital that morning was seemingly nothing more than a guy with a bad concussion who was very confused about the events surrounding and leading up to said concussion.
“Listen, O’Hara,” He finally gave in, “Why don’t we just take a good look at what we’ve got when we get back to the station. Spencer will be home later today, maybe he’ll be doing better, and we can go talk to him then. We’ll make a decision on what to do after that.” Juliet couldn’t argue with this, and reluctantly agreed with her partner. It was, in fact, the most logical step to take, whether she liked it or not.
*******************
Lassiter watched Shawn pacing around his apartment later that afternoon, desperate to get his point across. His right forearm was protected by a long brace extending past his wrist, and he held it close to his body, as if moving it away would cause him pain. He also struggled against the pain stemming from two bruised ribs, and Lassiter noticed in him the obviously uncomfortable movements of someone who was sore from head to toe, thanks to the various bumps and bruises he had received. As painful as it must have been for him to be up and walking around as he was, it seemed that those watching him were feeling the pain more than him. He definitely appeared to be too engrossed in his agitated state to notice what was going on with him physically. Indeed, if it were anyone else, Lassiter would have already gotten up and walked out. However, Spencer seemed so sure of himself, and he had an annoyingly perfect record when it came to his “hunches.” He at least deserved a closer look. Looking through the nonsensical mess of notes he had taken, Lassiter tried again to get somewhat of a clear story out of the younger man,
“Why don’t we start at the beginning? You were on your way home, correct?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure I was. I was headed westbound, right?”
“Based on what the investigation shows, and what Guster said, yes you were.”
“Of course I was,” Shawn nodded, “Yes, I had to be, because I had to figure something out.”
“Figure out what, Spencer?”
“I don’t know!” Shawn was pacing again, back into the kitchen, pulling out a cutting board and putting a pineapple on it, but stopping short before pulling out a knife.
“It was bad,” He continued, “They were gonna hurt people.”
“Who was gonna hurt people? Who were they going to hurt?” Juliet spoke up now.
“I don’t know!” He pulled out the knife now and brought it heavily down on the pineapple, “Damn it, I don’t know! I can’t remember!”
“Shawn, calm down.” Gus spoke up, “You’ll get it, just sit down and relax.” He had agreed to come stay with Shawn a couple days during his recovery, and was having a hard time seeing Shawn so agitated when it was his job to help his friend get well. If it were completely up to him, he would have asked the detectives to leave so that Shawn could get his rest. However, he also knew the delicate line he had to walk between playing caretaker and being his best friend’s partner.
Shawn ran a hand over his mouth, reluctantly taking a seat next to Gus.
“I can’t relax.” He said, mostly to himself, “There’s no time.”
“No time for what?” Juliet asked. Shawn looked up and met her eyes now, his own opening wider with realization,
“There’s no time, I was in a rush, because we have to stop it in time! And I can’t figure out what it was we have to stop…”
“Oh, now we’re working against the clock? Spencer, if this is another one of your wild ass ideas…” Lassiter began
“I’m not messing around” Shawn said seriously, his voice cracking, “I’m serious, I know something was going on, and it was big.”
“So you’re saying that you know there was a case, and you know it involves people getting hurt, and you know we’re up against the clock, but you can’t tell us the real details, like who, what, when, and where?” Lassiter chided, and Shawn was quickly on his feet again,
“I’m NOT messing around! Damn it, Lassiter, People are in danger here!” Juliet was also on her feet now, standing between the two men,
“Guys!” She exclaimed, “Carlton, please. He’s really trying, and he’s asking for our help. Shawn, we’re not going to get anywhere if you keep letting this work you up like that. Let’s just work through this. When you had your accident…sorry…when you were hit, Gus said you had been on your way home to get something that was a big clue. He asked us to come look, and we didn’t find anything. Can you think of something related to the case that you would have had here, at your place?” Shawn looked around for a minute, focusing as intently as his abilities allowed him to, but was left frustrated in the end.
“I’ve got nothing.” He said dejectedly. He had always been able to rely on his perfect memory, and losing it like this was severely disorienting. Even more so, his frustration at not being able to remember was giving way to a feeling of insecurity, and perhaps even…dare he admit it…fear? His father had trained him to focus on and remember every detail of his surroundings at all times, always reminding him that details were everything, and often the key to solving a case or staying alive. Disoriented and afraid were definitely the words for how he felt right now, having to maneuver an apartment that was now holding a secret from him. Not knowing where to look or where to turn in his own home had to be one of the worst feelings ever. He figured this had to be what it felt like to lose a sense, such as vision or hearing.
Lassiter and O’Hara stayed around long enough to review what they had to this point, and finally left with the promise that they would at least continue to consider what he had presented. Once they were gone, Shawn and Gus walked around the apartment together, trying to see if they could spot anything that might jog Shawn’s memory.
“How about this?” Gus suggested, picking up a book off the loveseat, “There’s no other reason for you to have a book in your apartment, is there?” Shawn swiped the book from Gus’ hand, annoyed,
“Don’t be ridiculous, Gus. This is a book covering the types of fish and sea life in our area. With Dad and Lassie both always out on the boat, I’m not gonna let them use their knowledge of fishing to get the upper hand on me…again.” He put the book back on a nearby shelf, “Who would have known that not all fish like salt water, anyway?”
“I did.”
“Of course you did.”
“Your dad and Lassie did.”
“That’s harsh, Gus.”
“Hey, be thankful for your dad’s hobby and that he’s out for the week with his lodge buddies- you know how he feels about you and your bike. Your ass just got saved from a 2 hour lecture.” Shawn was annoyed, but couldn’t argue with his friend’s logic. Besides, his ongoing headache was really hampering his ability (or will) to continue the argument.
“Fine. Let’s not get caught up in details here. I’ve got a case to solve. And once I solve the case of ‘what can’t Shawn remember,’ I can move on to something a lot less ridiculous, like a case where people’s lives are in danger.” Shawn returned to cutting up the pineapple, hoping that the sweet treat might jog his memory while Gus carefully avoided Shawn’s wrath and continued the apartment search. He finally gave up and sank down at the dinner table to flip through the newspaper, the pineapple cutting coming to a sudden stop when Shawn saw him flipping through the pages,
“Gus! Give me that!” He ran over to the table, feeling dizzy at the sudden movement, but ignoring it in his rush to find the one hint that might unlock that elusive memory. He snatched the paper away from his best friend and turned it back to the front page, his eyes desperately scanning through the print.
“Dude! What?…” Gus tried to object, but Shawn held his hand up to cut him off. Gus knew from experience in seeing that look in his best friend’s eyes that he was in deep focus and concentration. Shawn scanned the first five pages with the exact same focus, until he turned back to page 2 and finally took a seat, allowing himself to take a closer look at the rest of the page.
“What is it?” Gus tried again as Shawn focused on a picture at the center of the page. Following his gaze, Gus saw that Shawn appeared to be looking at a picture of the city’s science museum.
“Is that what you were trying to tell Lassiter and O’Hara about?” He asked. It was another 30 seconds before Shawn replied,
“I don’t know. Maybe. There’s something about that picture.” Closing his eyes, he tested himself to see if he could still memorize it as he was used to doing, and was pleased when the picture in his mind became crystal clear. It was a step in the right direction, at least, although he could still not be sure this is what he was supposed to be focusing on.
“Is there anything going on with the Science Museum sometime soon?” He asked further. Gus shrugged and read through the article, seeing that it appeared to only be covering the place as a family friendly option during school breaks.
“No, there’s nothing here. Are you sure this is what you were supposed to be investigating?”
“No, Gus. I’m not. I can’t remember, or did you forget, too? Is this amnesia thing contagious or something??” He snapped. Gus said nothing in return, assuming that Shawn didn’t mean to come off as harshly as he just did. He was still reeling from that confrontation between Lassiter and his friend earlier, especially considering that Shawn rarely was this agitated and irritable. Of course, he knew that the agitation was most likely a side effect from the head injury, but that still didn’t make it any less difficult to manage. Knowing how disorienting a head injury like this could be, Gus had to be honest in admitting that if it hadn’t been for Shawn calling him about this case before the accident, he would likely not have even believed in its existence at all.