a thousand mistakes // psych

Chapter 6

Shawn's POV

We raced through the parking lot, following the trail of sneaker scuff marks like Hansel and Gretel and their weird hunchback neighbor. Lassie led us through a wall of bushes that we probably could've gone around, but we kept running even as we plucked thorns out of every crevice imaginable. It was Gus who thought to whip his cell phone out of his pocket and call Chief Vick, which was a choice I was going to have to make fun of him for at a later, less stressful date. Lassiter drew his gun. I kept running.

The maze of huge tree roots and inconvenient branches slowed us down, but the red streaks continued across stumps and roots and rocks. Suddenly, the trail went cold.

Lassiter cursed colorfully as we stopped in our tracks. I pressed my fingers to my temple almost instinctively, but pretending to be a psychic didn't solve anything.

"Yeah, we won't do anything stupid," Gus panted into the phone before hanging up. "Backup is on its way."

"Did the Chief say anything about me?" I asked, mostly joking.

"She said the word 'stupid' a couple of times," he said pointedly.

"Ha ha ha. Let's hurry," I suggested, scanning the ground for a sign of the perp. "Chief Lassie? When do you start pitching in?"

"Maybe if you stopped galavanting through the forest," Lassie grumbled.

"Whoa, I don't galavant."

Gus raised his eyebrows. "C'mon son."

"Don't you 'Ed Lover' me," I argued, glaring at him. "If anyone is galavanting, it's you."

"Can you pretend to be an adult so we can solve this case, Nancy Drew?" Lassiter snapped, digging his heel into the moist ground.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Lassieface. Do you know how many murders Nancy Drew has solved?" I asked.

"None?" he guessed.

"That shows how little you know. Murder on Ice? Recipe for Murder? Nancy Drew was an icon," Gus ranted. I held my hand out calmingly.

"It's okay, buddy. Let's just try to figure out where this guy went," I said, trying to return to the topic at hand. Gus nodded sheepishly.

"Okay, so wherever Sander Tilit went, there are probably clues to O'Hara's location," Lassie said.

Gus shrugged. "Maybe she's with him."

"Gus, don't be the guy on the ten dollar bill. That's way too optimistic. Let's just focus on finding Tilit." I sighed heavily. "Our only lead is the red scuff marks. Keep looking for more, hope the trail doesn't leave off here."

We split up, our eyes locked on the ground, frantically searching for a sign that Tilit had run through the woods. The wind howled in the trees, and the sky had erupted into a bloody red sunset. Night was approaching fast.

"I've got something!" Lassiter called, kneeling in the dirt a few feet away. I hurried over, dropping to the ground next to him.

Gus was close behind me. "Is it the trail?"

"Yeah," I said, running my fingers across the mark. "Looks like we found Tilit."

"Let's keep going," Lassie advised, eyeing the darkening sky. "We have very little daylight left. Hopefully backup will show up soon."

Nodding, Gus and I set off behind him, following the scuff marks deeper and deeper into the woods.

< a/n: pc to @/woah.psych on instagram. agh, sorry this chapter is so short. I think this story is coming to a close pretty soon. I have a few ideas in the works: another psych fanfic, an original story, maybe a brooklyn nine-nine or hamilton fanfic. which one would you guys most want me to get started on after this? anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! thanks so much for reading >