Psychic Paper

The Silver Men-Juliet

The file work lay scattered across my desk. My fingers slide across the cluttered surface searching for my stopwatch. The timer ticks away as I hastily disassemble and reassemble my sidearm. An old academy trick I tell myself, but recently it's been more a stress release. My fingers fumble over the parts as my mind wanders off. His words drift through my head, "I don't want to miss out on the prize" What was he trying to say? I bite my lip as I shove the thoughts to the back of my head. The distant ringing of phones echoes through my mind. I shake my head as I neatly organize my desk creating a wall of papers.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Carlton walking briskly towards me. He pauses only briefly beside my desk to inform me,
"Chief Vik wants to see us in her office." Without hesitation I rise and begin to follow him. We step through the open doors of her quiet office. Her chair creeks as she stands up to greet us.
"Lassiter, O'Hara, please come in, and close the door this is a rather low key matter..." She trails off as she circles the room drawing the shades closed.

She returns to her seat, and leans over the desk as she begins to prompt us,
"Recently there have been many missing persons cases reported all coming from a common group, homeless people. It appears that they are vanishing simply out of thin air. Coinciding with this, is a large number of commercial trucks have been reported to have been seen around the area. Each of these trucks represents a different company, none of which actually exist." She pauses and looks around, as if she expects someone to stop her.

"This morning we uncovered a body of one of the missing homeless men. It was discarded in a back alley with...Unusual signs of death." I look over at the Head Detective, Carlton Lassiter, and see him calculating the different situations and turning them over in his head. Finally, he decides to press forward,
"Okay, I'll bite, What exactly was the cause of death Chief?" He asks
"The victim was found with lacerations along the wrists, a deep skull fracture, and a metal covering fit around a majority of the victim's body." She finishes in a calm tone as if nothing is abnormal about this.
"I'm sorry Chief, but did you say a full metal covering, like a metal suit?" My words come out weak and in a questioning tone.

Her eyes fixate on the both of us as she continues "Yes, and that's what I wanted to talk to you about, I'm considering bring Psych in on this case because of the the well...strange circumstances, I was wondering what your opinion on it is." Carlton opens his mouth, about to object, when I blurt out, "That sounds like a great idea chief, we could really use the extra help on a case like this" I eagerly finish. Carlton glares at me with a frown on his face, but doesn't argue. "Okay then it's settled, O'Hara would call to inform Psych? We can meet back here once they arrive to discuss the details further." Chief instructs us.

I feel my face turning slightly red as I exit the office. Why was I so eager to have Shawn help with the case? He's just a good detective, that's why I stood up for him... I think.

I reach my desk and immediately pick up the phone. I, without hesitation, dial Shawn's cell. I pause before I enter the last digit, and take a deep breath to calm down. The steady ringing of the phone pulses in my ear. My free hand twirls around the phone cord as I wait. After several rings, I hear him breathlessly answer the phone. I inform him of the case, and he happily agrees to come down to the station.

As I hang up, I realize I'm smiling. My head feels careless and light. My heart pounds just the slightest bit faster. As soon as my brains registers what's happening, my mouth turns down into a small frown and my brow wrinkles in confusion. What was that! I'm Juliet O'Hara Junior Detective of the SBPD, I don't get flustered, and certainly not by Shawn Spencer.