Two is Better than One

Chapter 4

TW: this chapter will discuss suicide

1989
The Spencer twins were sitting outside with their dad eating cereal. Sam was almost done with her bowl when Shawn cried out.
"This isn't happening!"

Somewhat amused, Henry asked, "What's happening Shawn?"
"Only the worst thing ever! A missing Captain Delicious magic mood ring! Dad, this is a crime. Can you have them arrested?"
"First of all, Shawn, no, this is not a crime."
"Can't you just haul them in for questioning? Lay into them a little?"

The young girl rolled her eyes, "No Shawn, there hasn't been a crime committed."
"But now only one of us is gonna get a ring!"
At that her eyes widened. "Actually, yeah dad, couldn't you question them just a bit?"

"And who is 'them'?" Their dad inquired.
"You know, the cereal people?"
"Yeah, the people in charge of the cereal."
"Oh, the cereal people, huh? Well, I'll tell you what, you two, you can spend a lot of time calling 411 to get the number for your cereal people, they're gonna stick you on hold forever, listening to bad music. Finally, you're gonna get some dimwitted secretary, who's gonna take your message, and then she's gonna throw it in a waste bucket. Or you can use the skills I taught you, and you can outsmart them."

Henry grabbed the now empty cereal box from his son.
"What am I missing?" the boy whined.
"Where's the ring?

"Well, usually it's at the bottom."
"But not in this box, you're right. The big old cereal company messed up. So, you grab another box, tough luck," he grabbed another box. "Where's the ring now?"

"At the bottom. Now, we gotta eat the whole box." the boy groaned.

Their dad then turned the box over.

The girl poked her brother, "Or we could use our brains and do that. It's at the top now."
His eyes lit up, "Oh yeah!"
Henry smiled. "That's right. You see, sometimes you don't have to dig so deep. All you gotta do is turn something upside down to make it right side up," he opened up the cereal and pulled out the mood ring. "And then you get your prize."

Shawn grabbed it, "Thanks Dad!"
Sam quickly snatched it from him and darted off, "It's mine!"
"Hey!"

Present Day
The brunette viewed the crime scene as Lassiter. The evidence pointed to suicide, despite a couple small things that said otherwise. But they were small enough that they were dismissible.

She looked up to see her brother and best friend sneak into the kitchen. Even though she was getting used to her brother joining almost all of the investigations she worked on, she still wasn't sure she liked it. Rolling her eyes, she followed them. Leaning against the door frame of the room she greeted the two.

"Hey, guys. What a nice surprise visit from my two favorite people."

They jumped and turned around. As they turned, Samantha noticed what was in Shawn's hand as well as on the floor. A look of annoyance and disappointment washed over her face as she grabbed the red pepper flakes from his hand and she quickly put them away.
"Shawn, seriously? This is a crime scene, not a restaurant."

He lifted the Chinese food in his other hand, "But this needed them."
The detective sighed, "Whatever, no more touching. And if you're going to look around here, I'm laying down some ground rules."

The 'psychic' nodded, "Yeah, okay. Name 'em."

"First, don't let Lassiter see you. Second, if he does see you, this conversation never happened. Third, and last, you tell me everything you find. And I mean everything, not whatever psychic crap you'll have for the rest of the department."