Shawn and Gus waltzed through the SBPD, aka their second homes, and said hello to various officers and colleagues until they made their way to the head detective's desk.
"One great thing about your new desk, Jules, is how outrageously awesome the view you get is." Shawn smiled at her while Gus collected their check.
"It certainly beats my last desk. I can't tell you how many car accidents I witnessed while sitting near that window."
"And though you don't get a wide eyed view of the beach like Lassie, you do get a glorious view of the nearby park. Look, there's frank, the ice cream man. He makes his rounds every afternoon around this time."
"The kids are with your dad, right?" She asked.
"Yes they are, my dear. Grandma is making cookies and they will be occupied all afternoon. I will pick them up in a few hours and Gus will grab Lamb from his nerd camp. They can all play from there. You have nothing to fret."
She smirked and she got some papers together. "I'm not fretting. I'm just making sure our summer schedule is going as it should."
McNab walked over with a grin on his face. "Hey Partner!"
Juliet smiled at Buzz. "Hi, Buzz! Did you get those reports from the Missing Person file?"
"The chief has them now!" He said as he handed Shawn a pineapple smoothie. "You still love these, right Shawn?"
"Awe well thank you Buzz! It's nice to get some consideration for once!" Shawn patted his shoulder. "You are doing a good job!"
Juliet gave him a stern look as Buzz walked off. "You realize it isn't his job to fetch you things anymore... In fact it never was!"
"Jules, the guy offered! I would easily get him one too!"
She rolled her eyes and took a sip from the smoothie. "Well at least you have decent tastes."
Before he could respond, Chief Lassiter emerged from his office and glared in the direction of the couple.
"Spencer!" He hollered.
"Yeah?" Shawn and Juliet both responded at the same time.
Lassiter groaned. "Just-Just both of you get in my office!"
"I think he just likes calling that his office." Shawn smirked as he and Juliet walked into Lassiter's office.
Various awards from throughout Lassiter's life were plastered all over the place.
"You do realize everyone gets these "participation" trophies right Lassie? And I had no idea you were the towel boy for you pee wee soccer team!" Shawn observed.
Lassiter rolled his eyes. "What in blazes is he even doing here?"
Juliet gave him a funny look. "I'm more amazed that you're actually asking that question."
He shrugged. "One of these days I silently hope that he's in here for the sole reason of telling us he is dying from a poison that would kill him in 48 hours."
"Whoa." Shawn said.
"Carlton!" Juliet scolded.
"Is that chief Carlton to you now?" Shawn asked curiously. No one dignified that with an answer though.
Lassiter violently ran a hand through his hair. "Enough! What I wanted to tell you, O-Spence-Juliet- is that that missing person was last scene in your neighborhood."
"You mean our neighborhood." Shawn grinned as Lassiter shot him a glare. "You only live a block away."
"I live with the high end civilians in that neighborhood, Spencer. I live with dukes and kings while you and your little brat pack live along the miscreants."
"You realize our kids go to school together, right?" Juliet asked.
"Not true. Your-er- offsprings inhabit grades kindergarten and second. Mine are in first and fourth. Little Carlton only has a few years before middle school."
"Ah middle school, where society forces immature little monster like beings to come into contact with more immature monster like beings. It really is like putting out a fire with fire right?" Shawn said.
"Anyway-" Juliet cut him off. "What's the deal with this missing person?"
Lassiter cleared his throat and sat behind his desk. "You see, detective, that's the strange thing. The last "official" time she was seen was 10 years ago. However, an eye witness claimed to have seen her just two days ago, 2 houses down from you."
"I'm sorry two to the left or two to the right? Because Gus's next door neighbors are the Hendersons and they are both blind."
"To the left." He emphasized.
"The Riddles are a shady bunch. You know what they are, a mystery of some sort... Kind of like a- what's the word, Jules?"
She sighed. "A riddle?"
"And here I was going to say unknown and unanswerable. Lassie, why don't you leave the talking to ME. I know what's up."
"Maybe you should let me, the chief of police, actually tell you a little more information first?"
"Sorry, my third eye has a habit of being impatient."
"Anyway, her name is Holly Wood and she went missing when she was 23 years old. She was coming home from work from the Hopscotch grill when she was seen being taken away by someone in a black corvette in the parking lot. We scoured the country for that corvette, but eventually we had no choice but to pronounce her dead."
Juliet looked down. "I remember that case."
Lassiter nodded. "Me too. I was lead on the case and we just couldn't do it. The guy actually outsmarted us... Until she apparently got away long enough to be seen by someone in your neighborhood."
Shawn wrinkled his brow. "Did you guys ever figure out any sort of motive?"
"It's weird, because most people that are kidnapped are kidnapped because whoever took them knew their shift inside and out. But when we looked into it, she wasn't even supposed to be working that late." Juliet said. "She simply switched shifts with another waitress and was planning on telling the manager in the morning."
"Did you guys talk to the other waitress?" Shawn asked.
"What kind of rodeo do you think we ran?" Lassiter scowled. "Of course we did."
"And?"
"And she had an alibi!" Juliet said. "She was at her grandmother's funeral in San Diego and it was locked and confirmed."
"No one was even in the place when she was closing. It was like a ghost town." Lassiter said.
Shawn whistled. "Woo! Where was I when all this went down? Psych could have came in an manned up!"
Juliet paused to think. "You, Gus, Henry, Buzz, and Woody went to Vegas for your bachelor party."
Shawn grinned at the memory, but then frowned. "Well what about when I came back?"
"I had my bachelorette party so I couldn't tell you." Juliet shrugged.
"And I didn't want to tell you."
"Okay, well it sounds like a big case, why wasn't it mentioned after that?"
"We got married." She said.
"We sure know timing, don't we Jules?"
"And that I handled everything back here while you two were on your stupid honeymoon." Lassiter grumbled.
Juliet and Shawn both hummed at the memory of that. "Oh yeah..."
He rolled his eyes. "Karen Vick from the bureau-"
"Wait the chief is involved in this case?" Shawn asked.
"I'm the chief now, Spencer! She's FBI! But yeah, yeah she is. Anyway, I want you two and Guster to find this girl. I guess you can bring McNab if you want. I'd rather not have him moping around the station."
"Oh cool! We get to solve a kidnapping our own backyard!" Shawn clapped his hands.
Author's Chapter Notes:
And now we have Shawn, Gus, Juliet, and Lassiter 10 years from now!