Letting Go

Chapter 1: Gone

Lassiter heard the muffled screams coming from the other side of the door.  He took a brief glance back, only to remember that O’Hara wasn’t there with him.  He took a deep breath, readied his gun, and busted the door open with his foot. 

“S.B.P.D.”  Lassie yelled, only to hear a gun cock.

“You made the wrong choice coming in hear alone,” a raspy voice whispered in his ear.  “What, no backup?  With the status qua of the Santa Barbara Police Department, I thought you’d be a little more professional than this.”

"I sometimes like the do the dirty work alone."

Lassiter quickly surveyed the scene.  Behind him was the basement corridor.  To his right was another corridor, lined with storage cages.  To his left was the shadow of a person, approximately his height, holding a gun about a foot from Lassie’s head.  Directly in front of him was the source of the muffled screaming: a woman—no, a girl, probably no more than 16, dangling by her arms.  Her mouth was gagged, and she had been brutally beaten, her naked body a wreck with gauges and bruises.  Another girl was passed out on the floor below her, also gagged.  A second figure stood below the first girl, also pointing a gun at him.

“These are the two girls that went missing a month ago.”  Lassiter hissed.   “Wouldn’t it be a shame if a highly ranked head detective from the S.B.P.D. swooped in and ended this gruesome charade, hm?”  He turned to face the shadowy figure, aiming his gun at the perpetrator’s head.

“Wouldn’t it be a shame if the person who came in to stop this so-called ‘gruesome charade’ was killed, just like these two precious girls?”  His tongue lingered on those last few words.

Lassiter smirked.  “We all know that’s not going to happen now do we?”

“We?  Who’s we?  You and I, Detective, are the only people here, so if I do kill you, who’s to witness?”  Lassiter saw his focus briefly change to the two girls.  “Them?  They wouldn’t dare say a word, nor could they, because they’re still mine."  He gestures to his accomplice.  "Him?  He wouldn't dare open his stupid little mouth because he knows what would happen as a result."  The man paused.  "He's quite terrified of me, as most people are.  You should be too, detective, now drop the gun.” 

“I think you should take that advice for yourself, scumbag,” Lassiter said, voice steady.  He looked the man square in the face, his gun still trained, unmoving.

He heard a scoff.

"You know, detective, I've always wondered what it would be like to face-off one of Santa Barbara's finest.  I always wondered who would win."  Lassiter could tell the perp was smirking under his mask.  "I always knew whoever would eventually find us would be a little more threatening and quick to the cut.  I thought I would have some sort of competition; a little game, perhaps.  Because, I am also one of Santa Barbara's finest, just at the other end of the spectrum."  His tongue flowed so smoothly, it was sickening. 

Lassiter cocked his gun.  "Well, I am one of Santa Barbara's finest, not on your end, so I'd strongly suggest you drop your weapon before I have to use mine."

The figure laughed.  "That was your threat?  Oh I'm so scared," he said mockingly.  "Sometimes we don’t always get what we want, eh?” he said as he pulled the trigger.

--

“Baby,” Shawn smiled at her.

“Hm.”

“All your facial parts, are in the right spots.”

“Thank you, Shawn,” Juliet said, smiling at his romantic attempt.

Just as the waiter came with their food, Juliet’s phone buzzed.  It was the Chief.  Jules immediately picked it up.

“Chief… I’m at dinner… How urgent is it?…”  The Chief’s response to that question made Jules put a hand over her mouth.  “I’ll be right there.”  She hung up.

“Shawn, I am so sorry, but there seems to be a case… regarding Lassiter.”  She scrambled to get her coat and purse.  Shawn rushed to her side.

“Tell me where it is and I’ll take you right now,” He said, noting the urgency.

“Thanks Shawn, it might be useful to have a psychic there to help.”  She said as they rushed out of the restaurant.

--

They drove as fast as they possibly could to the warehouse.  Chief didn’t specify what happened, she only said that it was urgent and Lassiter was involved.  Juliet cared deeply about her partner.

Within minutes they arrived at the scene, where squad cars were already parked around the perimeter.  Jules marched up to the Chief.

“Where’s Lassiter?” She demanded.

“He got word of the rapist kidnapper being here and despite warning, went to investigate without backup.  We have been paging and calling trying to reach him and our concern is that something happened to him during his scout.”

Everybody could see the fear mixed in with Juliet’s determined look plastered across her face.  It was as if she didn’t want to know if anything bad happened, just if anything happened at all.

Chief was rounding up officers to enter with her and O’Hara.  They counted down, guns poised, then ran into the warehouse.  Shawn was directed to stay outside, but as usual, he was a footstep behind everyone else.

They cleared the first floor, then Chief sent half of the officers to the second floor with herself, and the other half to the basement with O'Hara.

--

With O'Hara in the lead, her and the officers silently made their way down the stairs and into the long corridor.

"McNab, you take two officers to scout out the left side, Drimmer, you take two others and scout out the right side.  I'm scouting out the room at the end of the corridor."

They quickly split apart, all determined to find Lassiter.

Jules carely made her way to the end of the corridor.  She lightly pushed the door to see if it was unlocked, which it was.  As she was about to go in, she felt something tug at her arm.

"Jules."

She spinned around only to see Shawn standing up against the wall with her.

"Shawn what are you doing here, we told you to wait outside."

"Oh come on Jules you should know this by now that I never follow those kind of orders.  Yes I'm a psychic, but observation is helpful too."  He paused.  "And, I just want to say, that I'm here for you, no matter what happens.  No matter what we find.  You'll always have me."

The corners of Juliet's mouth tugged into a smile.   "Thank you Shawn.  But I think it's best if you wait out here."

He took ahold of her hand that wasn't holding the gun and looked at her with eyes that said 'no way am I letting you fly solo.'

She sighed and shook his hand off.  Together, they silently opened the door and went inside, only to see Lassiter's body collapsed on the floor in a pool of blood.