Aria (a psych fanfiction)

Chapter 20

"Name?"

"Frederick, James. I'm twenty nine years, eight months, one week, one day, and, uh," the man paused to check his watch, the smirk never leaving his mouth, "three hours, thirteen seconds old. Wait - fourteen, fifteen, sixteen...sixteen's a lovely number, isn't it? Right in the middle of ten and twenty, but even, unlike fifteen - that's not to say fifteen isn't a nice number, as well. I mean, little bird is fifteen herself, if I'm not mistaken." He looked up, his eyes fixed on his reflection in the glass behind Lassiter's head. Shawn stared back from the other side. Frederick chuckled. "Was fifteen, I should say."

Lassiter slammed the table. "Cut the crap, Frederick." The man turned to look at him, and Lassie found himself bearing the uncomfortable weight of his beady black stare. "Unless you want to leave this room in a body bag, I suggest you shut up and stick to the facts."

Frederick cocked his head, amused. "Shut up and stick to the facts? How can I tell you the facts if my mouth is shut? I'm not a magician, Officer Lassiter, just an ordinary man, with ordinary dreams - "

"Detective Lassiter, and I will not give you another warning. Shut. Up."

"Jules, I have to go in there."

"Shawn…" She sighed, looking from Shawn to Gus to the monster on the other side of the window - still wearing that smug little half-smile - and back again. "Fine." She knocked on the door, and the three of them watched as Lassie glanced back, got up, and walked over. They conversed quietly for a moment before he nodded, motioning for Shawn to take his place. As he shut the door behind him, Shawn caught a glimpse of Lassie ushering the others out of the observance room.

He was alone. No one to monitor him, no one to restrain him.

Take a deep breath.

"Hello."

Frederick eyed him as he crossed to the table, the ghost of a smile flickering across his otherwise dead eyes. "Shawn." He seemed to caress the name, almost, as though greeting an old friend, and Shawn shuddered, feeling a certain sense of...uncleanliness pass over him.

"Why?"

After what felt like an eternity of silence, Frederick shrugged and leaned back, making himself comfortable in the chair. "I had to finish what I'd started."

"Then why stay in Santa Barbara? The riddles? The red herrings? It's almost like you wanted to get caught."

"Maybe I did."

"Then why kill her?"

For a long, long moment, Frederick said nothing, his eyes boring into Shawn's. Finally, he spoke. "Bored. Besides, what would be the fun of letting her live?"

"You're so predictable." Shawn didn't back down. "So by-the-book. You had the chance to change the ending, throw in a plot twist, and what did you do? You wasted it." Tears stung the corners of his eyes. "Wasted her. A human being. A person. Her life was not yours to ruin."

"But I didn't ruin it. I simply extinguished it." Frederick giggled. "Nice video she sent, right? Nothing compared to the real thing, though. You should have seen her in person. Her skin was beginning to turn a light indigo, like the sky at dusk, and she was shaking and crying as the tears lit up her face. Beautiful, really."

Shawn didn't pause to think before lunging across the table to attack.

TWO DAYS LATER

"What?"

Juliet shrunk back a bit. "I'm sorry, Shawn, he's gone. He - he escaped."

"How? Karen, how the hell could you let this happen?" Henry said, taking a step towards the chief. She shook her head in response.

"I wish I had a better explanation, Henry, but I don't. James Frederick is gone. Now, I've set up a search for him, but without any idea of how he escaped or where he went, tracking him down is going to be difficult."

Shawn bit his lip as he looked away. "We had one shot to save her, and we blew it. Now you're telling me that this sick bastard is going to walk? That we're going to let him go?"

"Wwe will do everything we can to catch him, but there are no guarantees. Believe me when I say that this is as hard for us as it is for you." Without warning, Shawn stormed out of the office. "Mr. Spencer!"

"Shawn! Wait up!" Gus caught up to him as he crossed the parking lot. "Look - "

"It's my fault, Gus. He wouldn't have been in the hospital if I hadn't jumped him at the station - "

"Why? Because he provoked you? You did what you needed to do - "

"It's over, man," Shawn interrupted. "He won, we lost. It's over."

To be continued...

Love you all! Don't forget to review ;)