“Detective,” Chief Vick spoke up, approaching the desk without acknowledging the girl sitting on the other side. “I need to talk to you.”

Lassiter stood up, glaring at Alexis warningly. “Don’t do anything stupid. I’ll be right back.”

“I’m not stupid,” she shot back.

“Then, your hairdresser is,” Lassiter snapped. “Just stay put. And don’t even think about coming up without another story.”

Before Alexis could respond, he had stalked away into Vick’s office.

Vick shut the door behind them, clearing her throat carefully as she crossed to her desk and slowly took a seat behind it. “He’s not leaving me with a choice, Detective,” she spoke softly. “We got a hit on the vic’s prints. His name’s Raymond Carbone. He has priors. A lot of them, mostly for assault and racketeering.”

“What the hell would Ty be doing mixed up with scum like that?” Lassiter demanded.

“I don’t know,” Vick shook her head. “He still isn’t talking about it. But we have his prints at the scene now, too. He doesn’t have an alibi…I don’t have a choice, Carlton. I have to arrest Benji. I wanted to tell you first.”

“You can’t--!”

“I don’t have a choice.” She repeated the words more firmly the second time.

As if that made it okay.

As if somehow those words absolved her, absolved all of them.

Lassiter wasn’t looking for absolution.

He spun on his heel and was out the office door in less than a heartbeat, but it was too late.

Juliet was already bringing Ty out of the interrogation room, handcuffed.

His dark, hard eyes met Lassiter’s as the detective came out of the Chief’s office. Neither man spoke.

There weren’t any words.

For the first time in thirteen years, there was a wall of secrecy between them.

Finally, Ty looked down at his feet, avoiding the gaze.

From Lassiter’s desk, Alexis saw them. She stood up, air trapping in her lungs as she tried to exhale.

“Benji,” she called, dashing the entire distance of the precinct in the span of time it took Lassiter to take a single step, stopping less than a foot away from the handcuffed man. “Bejni, I told them you were with me.”

Ty looked up at her, a grin flitting across his pale face. “I told you. Carl’s too good a cop to believe that. Aren’t you, Carl?” The words were spoken without his eyes ever leaving the girl.

Lassiter just shook his head at first, then finally realized Ty still wasn’t looking at him.

“No,” he spoke gruffly. “I didn’t buy it.”

Finally, Ty’s eyes shifted to Lassiter, their dark depths so opaque Lassiter wasn’t even sure he was looking at Ty.

If Lassiter wasn’t searching for absolution, Ty certainly wasn’t offering it.

“I didn’t tell her to lie, Carl. I’m not lying to you. I didn’t do it.”

“I know,” Lassiter confirmed, his tone frosting over before it revealed anything. “I’m working on it.”

“I know,” Ty nodded.

“Come on, Benji,” Juliet spoke up gently, nudging him forward. “I have to take you to booking.”

Ty didn’t protest or fight it. He just nodded and focused his eyes straight ahead and marched towards booking.

*                            *                                              *                                  *

“I told you I’m not leaving,” Alexis told Lassiter as they both stepped out of his car.

“I know,” Lassiter grunted, rolling his eyes as he tried to stave off the familiar headache of listening to a moron prattle on.

“Then, why are we at a psychic’s office?” she demanded, following him up the sidewalk and into the Psych building.

“Because if Ty’s not going to help, we need someone who can get into his head,” Lassiter explained, not about to tell her the truth.

Spencer was a damn good distraction, and he wasn’t about to be followed around by a kid while he tried to figure all this out.

Shawn was sitting behind his desk as the detective and the girl walked in. He looked up at Lassiter, blinking in surprise.

“Lassie!” he grinned, casting a glance at Alexis. “Is this your girlfriend? Isn’t she a little young for you? Will she even be able to drink at your wedding? Or buy a lottery ticket?”

“Ew!” Alexis gagged dramatically. “Do you seriously think I’d date him?”

“No one’s dating me!” Lassiter shouted, suddenly regretting his decision to recruit Spencer as a decoy.

“Maybe that’s because of all the shouting,” Shawn suggested helpfully. “A smile goes a long way.”

Lassiter scowled as he stomped across the room, jerking Shawn out of the chair by the shoulder and dragging him to the corner of the room where Alexis wouldn’t be able to hear them. “I’m not here for your smart-ass remarks,” he growled in a low voice. “I need you to babysit Ty’s girlfriend while I look into the murder. Keep her the hell out of my hair.”

“Girlfriend?” Shawn beamed, shaking the detective’s grip off his shoulder as he crossed the room back to Alexis. “So, our little Benjistein finally found someone.”

“Benjistein?” Alexis snorted. “Does he seriously let you call him that?”

“We have an understanding,” Shawn assured her. “We go way back. I’m kind of like his mentor…a father-figure, if you will. I knew the big dog back when he was a puppy. I took that puppy, molded him, shaped him…taught him not to piddle on the carpet. Now, he’s a full grown Benji dog. He must have mentioned me. Spencer. Shawn Spencer.”

“He never mentioned you,” Alexis told him.

Shawn was devastated. “Never?” he scoffed. “Maybe not by my slave name. He may have called me Captain Amazing.”

“He didn’t,” she assured him.

Shawn sighed, shaking his head. “And I got him chew toys for Christmas.”

“If you’re such a good friend,” she challenged, her eyes narrowing. “Why aren’t you help me prove he’s innocent?”

“I was waiting for the call,” Shawn shrugged. “When Lassie needs my help, he likes to use the psychic signal. It’s like the bat signal, only instead of the bat logo the light projects my third grade school picture.”

“Why your third grade school picture?” Alexis asked.

“Have you ever seen my third grade picture?” Shawn asked. “I was adorable. My hair was never better. The perfect combination of body and natural highlights.”

“Well, the light’s flahing now,” Alexis informed him, jabbing her finger at his chest. “If we’re going to clear Benji’s name, we need all the help we can get.”

“Wait a minute!” Lassiter spoke up, suddenly realizing his plan was going horribly awry. “I didn’t mean--!”

“I’m there,” Shawn agreed, cutting the detective off. He and Alexis were already on their way out the door. “You can drive, Lassie,” he added over his shoulder.

Lassiter groaned, but it was too late.

Now instead of one idiot on his hands, he had two.

“When will I learn?” he growled, stomping out the door. “You don’t fight morons with morons.”