The Balcony Scene

Chapter 13 - Shawn, Gus, Juliet, and the Scrapbook of Dead People

Life After You - Daughtry
"You hungry?" she asked, passing him his cane back. "Did you take all of your pills this morning? You know you aren't allowed to take those on an empty stomach."
"Yes to hungry. No to pills. Yes, I know the rules." he answered, kissing her temple.
"I've been injured before and as you are so fond of reminding me, I can take care of myself."
Juliet stroked his jaw, admiring the line it cut on his silhouette.
"But now you don't have to take care of yourself." she told him.
"Right back at'cha." he responded, and Juliet realized then what Shawn had been trying to tell her. They were a team now. Kind of like how she and Carlton were partners and watched each others backs, she and Shawn took care of one another now. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Shawn automatically wrapped his arms around her waist, returning the kiss and pulling her closer.
"I love you." she whispered into his shoulder.
"I love you,too." he answered, taking in the smell of peaches, mint, and gunpowder that was her own unique perfume that followed her everywhere she went.
"Let's catch ourselves a murderer." Juliet told him as they broke apart.
"That's a normal day for us." said Shawn but, he high-fived her anyway.
"I'll make eggs if you make bacon." offered Juliet a bit more quietly upon realizing that Carlton and Gus were still asleep.
"Alrighty." answered Shawn, grabbing the eggs out of the fridge. He tossed them lazily to Juliet who frantically reached out to catch them.
"Nicely done, Jules." he told her with a sneaky grin.
"I know." she answered, tossing him the box of pancake batter.
"So...chocolate chips?" Shawn asked mixing eggs and batter.
"Of course!" she replied with a happy grin.
"You sure are smiley today, sweetheart." he told her.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked and Shawn shrugged. He didn't have the heart to remind her that someone out there wanted them both dead.
"I haven't the slightest." he answered and kissed her as he poured the batter in the skillet. As Shawn let the pancakes cook, he mixed together everything he was going to need for biscuits.
"So, how did you learn how to cook?" Juliet asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.
"It all started when I was younger." he began as he flipped the pancakes over.
"And I discovered this stuff called food. I really like food, so I decided that I would need more of this food stuff. So I learned how to make it. Also, chicks dig it." he chuckled and leaned against the fridge as Juliet began to fry some bacon.
"Well this chick definitely digs it." she told him with a light laugh putting eggs and bacon onto a plate and setting it to the side as she put on more bacon.
"Good." he answered and kissed her.
"Do I smell bacon?" Gus called from the living room and he trotted into the kitchen.
"Ugh!" said a frustrated Shawn, turning back to his pancakes.
"Pancakes. Yum." said a bleary eyed Lassiter who came in after Gus. Gus poured himself an orange juice and Shawn a pineapple juice before asking what the others wanted. Lassiter was eating bacon straight from the pan while Gus watched the biscuits bake.
"So what's the plan today?" Juliet asked Shawn.
"Well, we've been collectively banned from the police station so I thought that we should probably start there." he told them.
"Banned means we aren't allowed to be there, Spencer." Lasiter said impatiently.
"I'm aware. That's why Juliet is going to sneak in for me and grab what I want. I would but, I'm injured and they'll be watching for me."
"What about Guster and I?" asked Lassiter.
"You two will be checking over the theater for anything Juliet and I might have missed. Specifically in the basement and underneath the stage. See if you two can find anything suspicious. Any evidence of nefarious activity." said Shawn seriously as he pulled the biscuits from the oven. As he did that Juliet pulled butter and jelly out of the refrigerator.
"How are we going to break into the police station?" Juliet asked, despite being kind of afraid of the answer.
"That'll be the easy part." Shawn answered. "We're just going to walk straight in."
Once the team had finished eating, they split up, Shawn and Juliet going to the and parking out back.
"You good, Jules?" Shawn asked, looking worried that she might back out in the last minutes.
"I'm fine, Shawn but, this might be your most ridiculous plan yet." Juliet was sitting in the back of the car with Shawn, where he was doing her makeup for her. At the Psych office, Shawn had provided a hooker's outfit for her to wear. The plan entailed that she go in and claim to have been a prostitute abused by a local drug lord with inside information. She would then refuse to speak with an male, forcing them to call her to come in and giving her time to snoop.
Juliet doubted the credibility of the plan but decided that it was worth a shot. She piled in the pair of brown contact lenses and settled the brunette wig on her head, She didn't even want to know why Shawn would have these things hidden in the Psych office. Her outfit was completely comprised of black leather. The top only covered from her breasts down to the base of her ribs. Though the pants.covered everything they were supposed to, they were tight to the the point that they had no secrets. She had had to take off her panties. Shawn had made Gus and Lassiter leave before helping Juliet with her outfit.
"How does it look?" Shawn asked, holding out a hand mirror for her as he put the cap on the thing of liquid eyeliner.
"It certainly doesn't look like me." she admitted.
"Good, that's the plan." he told her with a nod, his eyes not leaving hers.
"Black or bright red?" he asked holding up two tubes of lipstick that he pulled from his jeans pocket. Juliet took the black from him and smeared it on.
"I did costuming and makeup for a production of Rocky Horror while I was in Chicago." he explained. "So it was this or a maid's uniform."
Knowing this, Juliet let out a sigh of relief and kissed him, giggling at the grey sheen it left on his lips.
"This is starting to disturb me. Get a move on, sweetheart." he told her, patting her bare shoulder and sending her in.
Nervously, Juliet made her way into the station, suddenly extremely self-conscious. She turned to the man at the front desk.
"Hi, my name is Sam...Samantha Raines. I was...an entertainment specialist for B.J. King. I would like to report...employee abuse." she brushed back the hair of her wig and showed him the green and purple splotch that hsanw had painted on for her on her cheekbone.
"Wait one minute ma'am." Officer MacFarlane told her, finally tearing his eyes from her and to her face where he saw what appeared to be a horrendous bruise.
The Chief was suspicious of nearly everyone who came into the station as being Shawn Spencer or one of his accomplices in disguise. Everyone except the scantily clad crying woman in black. Despite her initial resemblance to O'Hara, the two women spoke, walked, and even smelled differently. Plus, O'Hara always met people's eyes when they spoke to her, this hooker constantly stared at her feet.
"Detective Lassiter is going to want this one." said MacFarlane.
"Lassiter isn't here. Put McNabb or someone on it." she ordered, trying to appear as frustrated as she felt. Leads on B.J. King came in rarely and her department was getting restless. She wished she could put O'Hara, Shawn, and Lassiter on the case but, with them in danger it just wasn't worth the risk.
Maybe fifteen minutes later MacFarlane came back to her office and told her that the girl was refusing to speak to any male cop.
"Well,damn. I'm the only woman in the building today and I've swamped. Call O'Hara in and then send her straight back. Don't leave her alone for more than 10 minutes do you understand?" asked the Chief.
"Yes, ma'am." MacFarlane answered. JUliet was in the file room snapping pictures with her cell phone of all of the files they had on Blakeley. Oce she had a photo of everything in the file she took one of the whiteboard showing the most recent developments.
"What are you doing?" asked a deep male voice behind her, Juliet squeaked and jumped around to see who was speaking and saw Buzz.
"I was...I was just..." she stuttered, afraid that she had been caught.
"Come back to the waiting room and I'll get you some ice for that." he told her kindly.
"Thank you, sir." she made herself say to her subordinate, doing her best to seem meek and timid.
"You're very welcome. We've called our best female detective to come and talk to you, we don't want you to feel uncomfortable. She should be here soon. If I were you, she would be the one I would want to work my case." Juliet nodded, trying not to blush as Buzz walked away, his own cheeks pink. A message from Shawn came in telling her he had gotten all of the picture messages she had sent him and calling back.
The moment she was alone Juliet walked hastily out of the station and back to Shawn. She hugged him hard and pulled on his jacket so that she could go next door and change into her own clothing. Feeling much more comfortable she sat and chatted with Shawn for a while before going back to the station.
"See you in a minute, sweetheart." he told her with a long kiss.
"See ya." she answered and took her time crossing the street to the department, checking her reflection in her cellphone to make sure that she had gotten the last of the makeup off of her face. Something seemed off but she couldn't quite tell what. Hesitantly she went into the station before shaking off the nerves and striding confidently up to Buzz.
"Hey, McNabb. I heard you have someone you want me to talk to?"
"Yeah... or at least we did. She seems to have disappeared." he answered scratching the back of his head.
"How do you lose a person?!" she asked, feigning exasperation.
"I don't know, ma'am. I'm sorry. May I ask, though...are you wearing contacts?" Buzz asked, noticing that her normally bright blue eyes were now a chocolate brown.
"Yes, actually. It's just something new that I'm trying, now that I've got all this extra time on my hands." she lied smoothly. Now she knew what must have been bothering her.
"Are you telling me that I drove myself down here and put myself in danger with a RAPIST after me, for nothing?!" Juliet asked, loudly and angrily to take his mind off of her brown eyes.
"I guess so, ma'am. I'm so very sorry." he responded sadly and Juliet felt a twinge of guilt.
"It's not me you need to be worried about, McNabb, think about how angry Shawn would be if something had happened to me." she said, effectively putting all of the blame onto her boyfriend.
"I'd better go, Buzz. I've been banned from the station and the others will worry."
"Okay, stay safe, Detective O'Hara." he told her, the concern obvious in his face.
"I will. Don't worry." she told him. She was absolutely confident that with the information that they had just gathered, she would be able to get with Shawn to make a plan. Hopefully everything would be over soon and she and her new boyfriend would be able to go to the fair in peace.
"Oh, and Detective O'Hara, the next time you want information on a case, all you need to do is ask." Buzz added with a reassuring smile.
Juliet felt her face go red as she thanked him and left to go back to Shawn.