The sweet smell immediately flooded his senses, his body tensing slightly. Unlike last time, Shawn was able to ignore the smell by focusing on the warmth of his girlfriend pressing against his side, her scent more prominent than that of the blood surrounding them. Shawn moved his eyes over the crime scene, first examining the body laid out on the floor before moving over the rest of the room. Besides the gash on the women’s throat, he didn’t notice any other signs of abuse, meaning that she probably was taken off guard and didn’t have time to fight back. The blood smeared about the room didn’t seem to have any pattern. Shawn noticed a blood soaked rag sitting on the middle of the island in the center of the room. With the amount of blood soaked into the material, this was probably how the killer moved the blood from the floor to the rest of the kitchen. “Are you picking up on anything” Juliet whispered to him. He pursed his lips as he continued to look over the room. He was just about to shake his head when he noticed something odd. Blood was smeared over every surface in the room, all except the windows which remained completely spotless. At least they appeared spotless. With his improved vision, Shawn noticed a small dot of something dark colored in the middle of the window, so small that the human eye would overlook it.
He reached to his right and grabbed two pairs of protective shoe covers, handing one over to Juliet before bending down to slip them onto his own feet. Once they were both ready, Shawn led them over to the window, stopping once he was inches away from the glass. Now that he was closer, he could see that the dot was actually a small smear of blood. The dot was slightly smeared, almost like it was smudged with someone’s finger. Lassiter, who had been keeping his eye on the psychic ever since he stepped back into the room, approached the pair and stopped an arm’s length behind Shawn. “There’s blood on the window” Shawn finally spoke, reaching his finger up to point at the small smear. He felt Juliet lean in closer to get a better look while Lassiter just scoffed behind him. “Really Spencer, that’s what you’re looking at? If you haven’t noticed, there’s blood everywhere” Lassiter said, his voice filled with disdain. Shawn rolled his eyes slightly, not at all thrown off by the detective’s tone. “Lassie, the killer took the time to smear the blood everywhere, but he clearly avoided the windows. And if you look closer, this isn’t blood that got splashed up. The drop is smeared down, almost like someone ran their finger through it on purpose.” He leaned forward slightly so that his nose was an inch away from the glass and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, allowing the smell of blood to flood his senses. While the blood covering the room smelled sweet, making his throat burn with thirst, the blood on the window has the opposite effect. He recoiled slightly at the bitter scent, his eyes opening as he studied the smear. “This isn’t the victims blood.”
“And how would you know that?” Lassiter asked accusingly. Shawn turned his head towards him and gave him an annoyed look. “Come on Lassie, are you really asking me that?” He opened his mouth in a retort, but quickly closed it again as his brows pulled down in a frown. “Demmings!” Lassiter called out to one of the officers currently working to process the room. “Take a sample of the blood right here and make sure its cross matched back at the station”. The officer stood up from his spot knelt by the body and grabbed his bag and eagerly nodded at his superior. “Yes sir!”
Shawn couldn’t resist the temptation to return his eyes back to the body laying in the center of the room, focusing on the open wound. He felt ashamed that he was even having these thoughts about the poor woman. He should be more focused on figuring out who killed her, not on what her blood tasted like. Disgusted with himself, he forced his eyes away and looked down at his shoes. Juliet, who was slightly pressed into his side, noticed his change in mood and moved her body so that she was better facing him. “Hey, look at me.” she urged quietly. Shawn flicked his eyes up so he could focus on her blue eyes. “You’re doing great Shawn. Without you, we wouldn’t have found this lead.” Juliet smiled at him, support shining in her eyes. Shawn held her gaze for a moment before the corner of his mouth lifted. “Thanks Jules.”
Their moment was ended by Lassiter clamping his hand down on Juliet’s shoulder, causing her to jump back, creating more distance between them. “O’Hara, this isn’t personal time. Don’t forget we actually have a job to do.” Shawn noticed the look of discomfort on his girlfriend’s face. Something deep within him didn’t like the detective’s hand pressing down on her shoulder so he took a step closer and released a low growl, his eyes glaring daggers at the tall man. Lassiter’s eyes widened slightly at the unnatural noise coming from the psychic, his hand on his partner unconsciously tightening. Juliet, quick to react, shook her partner's hand off her shoulder and moved herself back into Shawn’s space. “Shawn…” she pleaded with him, trying to draw his attention away from her partner and back to her. When his glare remained trained on the man behind her, she reached her hand up and gently cupped his face. “Why don’t you head back to the station now. Gus is probably waiting for you outside and i'll meet back up with you there when we’re done here.” His eyes finally returned to hers when he felt her thumb lightly trace up and down his cheek. He leaned his face into her hands and closed his eyes. He really needs to get a handle on his emotions. He’s only been here for a half hour, and he’s already snapped at Lassiter twice. “Ok, that’s probably a good idea. I should probably go check on Gus anyway. I doubt the iron stomach is holding up very well at the moment.”
Juliet gave him a meaningful look before pulling her hand away and taking a step back. Shawn gave her a small smile before stepping past her to the door, shooting Lassiter an apologetic look as he passed. Once outside, it didn’t take long to find his friend leaning against his car along the street, looking pale and queasy. “Come on Gus, this is just getting embarrassing.” Gus pushed himself off the car and crossed his arms. “It was just stuffy in there Shawn. You know how bad my allergies get.” Shawn rolled his eyes. “Oh ya, cause it was definitely dusty in there. I must not have noticed.” Gus went to defend himself, but Shawn cut him off by throwing open the passenger door and hopping in the car. Gus followed his friend and got in the car, making sure his seat belt was secure before pulling away from the curb and onto the street. “So did you see anything?”
“Well, as you saw before you ran away like a little baby, someone clearly came in through the window in the living room. I don’t think it was a random break in though. The killer clearly made sure not to break the window and even locked it once they got inside to avoid drawing any attention.” Gus nodded his head in agreement. “And there were no signs of blood in the living room so they either left somewhere in the kitchen or made sure to clean his feet before leaving.”
Shawn clapped his hands in excitement. “Yes, good eye buddy! Now to the interesting part. I didn’t really pick up on anything in the kitchen, but thanks to my newfound abilities, I could tell the killer left some of his blood on one of the windows. But dude, there’s something weird about it. Normal blood smells sweet, but the killers smelt rotten.” Shawn turned to look at his friend and noticed his face was once again pulled into a grimace, but thankfully he ignored Shawn’s description of the blood.
When they got back to the station, Shawn walked past the Chief’s office and threw himself into Juliet’s office chair, leaning down to rest his head on her desk. “Dude, are you doing ok?” Gus asked as he sunk into the chair on the opposite end of the desk. Shawn kept his head down but moved his hand slightly to wave him off. “I'm fine Gus.” Gus wanted to say more but decided to keep his mouth shut on the subject for the time being. “So, what’s the plan now?” Gus asked quietly.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry that i haven't posted in awhile! Its been a long summer and i've been super busy but im hoping to be able to update more often now. I would love to hear any reviews you guys may have or any suggestions! Enjoy!
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