Our Mind Palace // Sherlock BBC|Psych USA

1 | How Murder Kept Me Skinny

Present Day...

Shaina Spencer was over the Yang Case that took place a year ago. It was in the past now. She was able to move on. She's solved many more cases with her partner Briana Guster. She's been back in the habit of teasing Head Detective, Carlton Lassiter, and his partner, Detective Juliet O'Hara. Shaina's been annoying Chief Vick, Head of the Santa Barbara Police Department, as always. Her dad, Henry Spencer, was always there to help. Things were normal again. The past was behind them.

Until the past caught up. Yang wasn't lying when she said she'll write a book about the events that took place that summer. From Serial Dater to Serial Killer: How Murder Kept Me Skinny by Yang. It was a mystery, thriller, and biography all wrapped into a best-seller. The foreword ended up not being written by Shaina, although her role in the book was clearly the main character.

Knowing the most notorious serial killer Santa Barbara has ever seen wrote a book about the biggest bust in SBPD history, people were bound to rush to the bookstore for a copy. The book was blowing up sales. A true best-seller. The story about Shaina Spencer playing a game of cat and mouse with Yang, and how it all went down. It was a book that Shaina refused to pick up.

~~~~~

A large envelope was delivered to the Psych Office earlier today.
(Psych was Shaina and Bri's private detective agency. There wasn't really any meaning behind the name; Shaina just thought it sounded cool. Some people thought it was short for 'Psychotic' because Shaina does seem a bit mental at first.)
Of course, Shaina being Shaina, she didn't notice the large, yellow envelope sitting in front of the entrance door until late at night.
She sat down at her desk and started to examine the package carefully.

Addressed to the Psych Office.
No return adress.
Two stamps in the upper right corner.
Indicates that the contents are heavy.
7 inches in length. 6 inches in width.
2 inches thick.
Conveniently the right size for a novel or book.

Shaina flipped the envelope over to see that a YinYang symbol sticker was what was keeping the folder closed.
A YinYang symbol.
A clear indication of who the sender is.

After finishing her Deduction, Shaina evaluated that the envelope was safe to open. Without any hesitation, she ripped the envelope open and pulled out it's contents.
The dreadful book that she has been avoiding stared her in the face.
How wonderful. Yang decided to send a copy of her own book to Shaina herself.
From Serial Dater to Serial Killer: How Murder Kept Me Skinny by Yang.
Shaina ignored the creepy ass cover that had a picture of Yang on it and flipped open the book. A note was written neatly in pen on the first page.

For Shaina,
Couldn't have done it without you.
xoxo
Love, Yang.

Shaina scoffed before pushing the book to the corner of her desk, where she hopes it starts to decay away and never be seen again. But Shaina knew she couldn't ignore it for long.

~~~~~

An urgent call from Chief Vick was what Shaina received the next day. She was hoping it was exactly what she needed; a case to take her mind off of Yang.

With Shaina in the passenger seat of Bri's company car, a blue Toyota Echo which they nicknamed 'The Blueberry', Shaina and Bri pulled up front of the Santa Barbara Police Department.
The duo were immediately stopped by Lassiter, or 'Lassie' as Shaina likes to call him, as they rushed through the police station.
"What are you two dimwits doing here?" Lassie asked through his teeth. He never was particularly ecstatic to see Shaina and Bri, but I guess they could classify under frenemies.