CHAPTER 5-           

            Shawn and Gus headed for Sal Greason's office right after talking to Carlton. They had a lot of investigating to do and not much time to do it. The desperate act of trying to kill Lassiter in public revealed that the killer or killers were just that. Desperate.

            After some convincing, and claiming to be 'tax auditors for the recently diseased,' they were shown to Sal's rather small office.

            "What exactly are we looking for here, Shawn?" Gus asked as they started to check the paperwork. "And why the rush?"

            "Gus, they don't know when and if Arnou would talk, or what he would remember. So they're going to take every opportunity to nail him, and that means Lassie is in danger until we help figure out who killed Sal." Shawn picked up a paper and saw it was an invoice for renting a property for filming purposes. It was dated almost two years before and had to have been from the first movie. The amount of zeroes in the bill was shocking. "Holy cow. I thought you said the first movie was an independent film. How could they afford all this?"

            "Independent film doesn't always mean cheap, Shawn," his friend explained as if everyone in the world should have known that already. "It just means that they don't have a major film company backing them. Some of the best movies out there are independent films. Pulp Fiction, for example."

            Gus knew how much Shawn liked Pulp Fiction. "God bless Quentin Tarantino."

            "You know that's right."

            Underneath the first bill there was another for almost as much as the first. It was a dizzying sum. "So, how do independent films get financed? Did the director just fork over his own money?"

            "Sometimes that." Gus shrugged and handed him yet another charge slip. "Sometimes it's the producer's job to procure funds. Some movies got funded in pretty interesting ways." He turned to Shawn with wide, interested eyes. "Did you know one director sold his body to science to pay for his movie?"

            Shawn curled his lip in disgust, "How could I possibly know that..." Wait, did Gus say producers get money for the film too? He put a hand to his temple and closed his eyes.

            Arnou's statement of events had the killers asking Sal for their money and commenting on the film's success. If the producer didn't know the film would become a cult favorite, and promised a portion of the profits to someone and didn't deliver, that would be a good motivation for murder. He'd seen people kill for less before.

            He lowered his hand and opened his eyes. "Gus! I think I've got it. Sal needed help funding the first movie and found someone to back them, then bailed when it was time to pay out. Judging by the bills here, it looks like he got a lot of money from that someone. All we need to do is find out who that someone is, and we'll have our killer." Shawn knew that was the right track. He could almost feel it.

            "So, we back track through the financial records and look for a large deposit?" Gus asked and Shawn nodded, looking dejectedly at the large file cabinet. "Dude, that's going to take forever."

            "Well we don't have forever, and neither do Arnou and Lassie." Shawn sighed and grabbed more papers. "Let's get to work."

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            Three hours of searching, and many paper cuts later, Gus stood up from his seat on the carpet, since Shawn had procured the one desk chair in the room. "I think I've got it! Ten million dollars." He handed the paper to Shawn, who needed to see the amount for himself. "That's a lot of money to borrow out privately. No wonder he got killed."

            "Yeah, no wonder." The psychic's eyes zeroed in on the name the transfer was from. "Jack Saulinni." He giggled. "Sounds like a fancy type of lunch meat."

            "Well that fancy lunch meat is probably a murderer. We have to phone this in and see if we can get the LAPD to question him." Gus grabbed his cell phone and gave their Los Angeles Police contacts a call.

            While Gus was distracted, Shawn decided to check in with Juliet. She picked up almost immediately. "Shawn! How is everything going?"

            "Good, we got some leads on the killer."

            "That's great!" There was a pause. Shawn hated awkward pauses and was about to say something, when Juliet's voice came back over the line. "Shawn, I talked to Carlton this morning, and I heard what you did for him."

            Shawn rolled his eyes, "I bet he told you it was all my fault and I ruined everything."

            "No−Well−yes he did say that, but I also saw that you saved him. It was very brave of you, and I'm sure he appreciates it in his own way."

            "It was nothing Jules, really. Certainly not something I can hang over his head for years to come whenever I need him to do me a favor."

            She laughed, and it made his heart flutter to hear it. "Well, keep me posted. I'll let the chief know."

            "SHAWN! Quit chatting up Juliet and let's go!"

            Shawn winced and mouthed horrible threats to his best friend, knowing that Juliet had to have heard that, but luckily she didn't say anything. "I guess you have to go. Say hi to Gus for me."

            "Oh, I will." He was still glaring at Gus. "Catch you later Jules." After he closed the phone, he had to bite his tongue to stop the expletives that wanted to come pouring out of his mouth. As far as he knew, Juliet didn't know how much he really liked her. With the recent events and her tendency to date older men like Arnou, it was embarrassing when Gus put him on the spot like that.

            Unfortunately for Gus, him holding his tongue didn't stop him from smacking his friend in the chest as he went to the door.

            "Uuuh!" Gus  cried out in pain. "That wasn't necessary Shawn! Jeez."

            "There's more where that came from, blabby. Now, let's go catch us a murderer." Shawn continued to walk out the door, and wasn't surprised when his earlobe was flicked as Gus ran past him to get to the driver's seat. I'll get him later.. Right now though, they did have a job to do and hopefully some lives to save. An action which tended to give him major brownie points with a certain Junior Detective.

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            The sun was hanging low in the sky as Henry and Arnou returned to port after a long, and successful, day of fishing. Henry couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun out on his boat. Sure, it was relaxing when he went by himself, but having someone who genuinely enjoyed fishing, and someone who was willing to learn, sitting next to him was something he rarely got to experience.

            While they fished, the retired detective had learned a lot about the actor.. The fact that Arnou Coswell wasn't his real name was probably the most shocking. Arnou had explained that "Harold Grunsweiger" wasn't considered a very good 'action hero' name, and he'd finally come up with Arnou Coswell after a binge drinking session with a couple of friends in acting school. They'd both laughed long and hard about that one. He didn't even worry about scaring away the fish.

            Arnou went on to explain that even though he had been an actor for years, he hadn't gotten his big break until one of his independent films went cult classic and a studio requested two back to back sequels. The shooting schedule hadn't given him much time to do anything in his personal life, so when reporters asked if he had a new girl, the answer was always no.

            It was a shame because Henry had really been looking forward to asking the man for a few pointers. Especially since the woman he'd been seeing the last couple weeks now refused to talk to him because she hadn't been allowed over for the past few days. He'd have to find some way to make it up to her.

            "Hey Arnou, can you get the tackle boxes?" The actor nodded and grabbed the rest of the items. While he grabbed the poles and started heading for his truck, he noticed a couple teenage boys eyeing them. Instantly suspicious, Henry switched the poles to one hand so he could keep his shooting hand clear. He was still guarding a witness and couldn't take any chances.        

            Arnou must have noticed something and asked, "What is it?"

            Henry nodded in the direction of the staring boys. "We're being watched."

            The actor's eyes widened. "Oh no. I've been spotted." Henry thought he should be more scared than that. Arnou almost sounded exasperated.

            "Get in the car." Henry started pushing him towards the vehicle, instinctively putting himself in front of his charge protectively.

            "Henry, stop. It's okay!"

            "What are you talking about!?" The kids were coming closer and he started reaching for his firearm.

            "Mr. Coswell! It's you isn't it?" one of the boys asked excitedly and Arnou nodded.

            What in the hell? Henry watched as the actor smiled and stepped forward. Then it hit him. They weren't assassins, they were fans. He let go of his gun and stepped back, letting the kids have their chance to meet the actor. He was still leery about the situation. Arnou was still technically in witness protection, but he didn't see how letting a couple of kids take his picture would hurt anything.

            "Oh my gosh! We loved you in 'Razor Sharp Axe!' It was the coolest! Can we have your picture?"

            "Sure! Henry, could you?" Arnou handed him the cell phone, and took a stand in front of his truck with the two young men. He finally figured out that the little camera on the screen was the 'shutter' and he was able to get a really good picture of Arnou with his fans.

            The way the kids' faces lit up was amazing. They thanked them both and ran off whooping in triumph. "No one is going to believe us! Oh my gosh!"

            Watching Arnou watch them run off, Henry realized why the actor sacrificed so much of his time and energy: he did it for the fans. It earned a lot of respect in Henry's eyes. "Alright Arnou, let's get back to the house."

            Breaking his gaze away from the running boys, Arnou nodded and headed for the truck. "Absolutely." He paused by Henry and shook his hand. "I had a lot of fun today. Thank you Henry."

            "No problem. C'mon, I'll show you how to de-scale fish before it gets dark."

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            Jack Saulinni, loan shark and gang leader, stared at his phone while clenching his jaw so hard it popped. He was looking at the impossible; it was two Facebook pictures of Arnou Coswell from some brat in Santa Barbara that were posted less than fifteen minutes before. The impossible part of it was that his eyes on Arnou, Sammi, said that the actor hadn't left the apartment until he was ready to go out for the night. There was no way the actor could be in two places at once. Something didn't smell right, and Jack hated people making a fool out of him.

            Sal found that out the hard way.

            He got a tip from someone who owed him, and for the last five minutes, he'd been finding out everything he possibly could from the pictures. He originally thought the truck they'd stood in front of in the first picture belonged to the kids' parents, until he saw a second shot of Arnou waving from the cab of the truck as it pulled away. Whoever had that truck knew where the second Arnou was.

            He could make out a license number on the car they were standing in front of: California plates, 3JR0158. If they found the owner of the truck, they would find the other Arnou. It was probably a look alike, cashing in on the fact that he resembled the actor, but it was worth a look. Arnou hadn't talked yet, but he could and Jack couldn't have that.

            The whole situation called for a change of plans. He'd already let Sammi know to stick with the original plan for the Arnou here. The botch up last night had been too public and there was no way for him to get close to Arnou again when he was expecting someone to go after him, especially with his new bodyguard or whatever the man who saved him was. Even so, the actor was too stupid to keep to himself, and was still going out for a night on the town.

            Jack decided to use that to his advantage.

            When the actor and his body guards left, Sammi would sneak in and wait for him to come back. Then take care of him. By the time the body was found, no one would know who did it. It would become just another Hollywood conspiracy theory about an actor who was killed in his prime.

            The change would be that he'd have to send out his right hand guy to find the owner of the truck and question him about Arnou. It would take his man a couple of hours to get to Santa Barbara, which worked out well because the party Arnou was at wouldn't be ending for a couple of hours either.

            After explaining the situation, Jack wanted to make sure things didn't get messed up again. His reputation was on the line. "Mickey, get it done. You mucked up enough letting him get away twice. In fact, this whole business is screwy."

            "But what if it ain't him?"

            "Then just−" Jack's words were cut off when a banging on his door made him jump.

            "Jack Saulinni! This is the LAPD! Open up!"

            "Damn it! Just do what you have to do, Mickey!" He yelled in the phone and stuffed it in his pocket. He opened the door and his eyes widened as he saw five police officers at his porch, with a warrant.

            "Jack Saulinni, you're being detained for questioning in the death of Sal Greason. Come with us please."

            Jack did his best to calm his nerves. The police couldn't have  proof because they hadn't left any. He figured they had to be checking him out as an acquaintance. No reason to worry. Plus, the officers had just given him an air tight alibi. Arnou Coswell would die tonight, and how could he have done it when he was in police custody? A smile spread across his face, knowing he was off the hook. "Alright officers, I'll come quietly."