Chapter Text
This was the third case in a row where Gus had not objected to sneaking back onto the crime scene. Maybe Shawn should reward him with that smoothie maker for the office that Shawn had been wanting for the past month. He thought about it as they rode the elevator up and decided that yes, unlimited access to orange pineapple smoothies was just what Gus would like most.
“What are we doing here again, Shawn?” Gus demanded.
Then again, maybe not. “I told you Gus, I need another look at this crime scene. The neighbor didn’t do it, I know it.” The elevator doors binged open and he walked out, Gus following, less reluctantly than he wanted Shawn to believe.
“She’s their number one suspect! She was the only one around when the murder happened and she doesn’t have an alibi.” Gus looked mildly triumphant at that statement as they got to the apartment door and went in with a nod to McNab, who was on duty. Gus never would believe him that acting like you belonged somewhere would get you into almost anywhere. That and sneaking a peek at who would be on duty and then dropping donuts off at their desk earlier that morning.
“Unless you think that a woman showing signs of encroaching arthritis is capable of tightly gripping a knife while stabbing someone violently multiple times, she didn’t do it!” Shawn chided Gus. “And besides, they thought of her as a suspect before we did, so they’re obviously wrong.”
Gus snorted. “Right. And what do you expect to find here?”
“Well, I don’t know Gus, possibly a clue?” Shawn said before they both stopped short as they rounded the corner from the entry way into the living room. Two men in suits were standing there, one of them holding a strange looking electronic device. “Was not expecting to find this, though. Ah, who are you?” Shawn could have sworn he recognized everyone who worked at the station, and Juliet would have informed him if anyone else had been brought in on this case.
One of them – the taller one – stepped forward, reaching in his jacket pocket and holding out an ID. “Sam Masters, FBI, and this is my partner Dean Thompson. We’re here to look into this string of murders.”
“String of murders?” Shawn heard Gus say. “What string of murders?”
“There’s been a string of murders in this area,” Sam said, speaking more towards Gus, probably because Gus, as usual, was dressed up.
“But the police haven’t found any connections between them,” Gus protested.
“We have reason to suspect there might be a connection,” Sam said.
While this exchange had been going on, Shawn had taken in the obvious imperfections in the badge and ID, how uncomfortable the two men looked in their suits, the at least two concealed weapons besides the gun at his hip the shorter one had on him, and how rough their hands were and came to some conclusions that he didn’t like. Namely, that these two were not FBI agents. Secondly, that if they weren’t feds, chances were they were connected to this crime in some way. And thirdly, that Sam had to be at least part sasquatch, because Shawn was pretty sure that he could reach his absurdly long arms over and crush both him and Gus in one fell swoop.
And, oh look, Dean – Shawn was not going to refer to these two as agents - had obviously drawn some of his own conclusions of them, because now he stepped up in front of Sam. “Sam, shut your trap.” He crossed his arms and turned to face Shawn and Gus squarely. “Who the hell are you?” Shawn knew that look – it was the look of someone who could see through bullshit. Luckily, Shawn had been getting those looks since he’d turned five and had been tall enough to snitch cookies from the countertop and was an expert at getting around them.
“Shawn and Gus – we’re with the crime lab,” he lied smoothly, speaking fast before Gus had a chance to open his mouth. He could feel Gus giving him a sharp look, but Shawn kept his eyes on Dean. Dean who moved like he knew how to carry himself and who was glaring at them suspiciously, and Shawn willed him to believe Shawn because Lassie didn’t know where they were, and Officer McNab would not be much of a help against these two.
“Not really appropriate clothes for crime scene work, don’t you think?” Dean challenged.
Shawn looked down at his Mario tee shirt and shrugged. “We were just getting off and stopped by. Gus here thinks he left his hat here. Officer McNab at the door let us in. We golf with him on weekends.”
He elbowed Gus in the ribs, and Gus jumped and nodded in agreement. “Yeah – I lost my hat.”
At least Gus was playing along, although Shawn could see that he was confused. Thankfully, Dean was distracted by Sam tapping his shoulder and muttering “Dean, take a look at this, the EMF is going crazy.”
He kept EMF in mind to look up later and took advantage of their distraction to grab Gus’ arm and back towards the door. “Well, I guess your hat’s not here, Gus, so we’ll just leave you two to your investigation and be on our way. Come on Gus!”
He didn’t breathe a sigh of relief until they were back in the hallway, walking fast towards the elevators.
“What was that?” Gus demanded. “You didn’t have time to see anything, and you’ve never let feds keep you out before.”
“Yeah, except those weren’t feds,” Shawn retorted. “That badge was a fake.”
“What? Are you serious?”
Shawn shoved Gus into the elevator to get him moving again. “Yes I’m serious,” he hissed. “Don’t you think Dad taught me how to recognize a fake badge?”
Gus was frantically hitting the ground floor button. “Then why aren’t we calling the cops?”
Shawn had relaxed as soon as they’d gotten on the elevator - he hadn't wanted McNab to question why they were leaving so soon. He was fairly sure that whoever those two in the apartment were wouldn’t be waiting for them at the bottom, but it could have gone badly if McNab had gotten wind that something fishy was up. “Because they were both carrying more than just their side arms, and the shorter one moved like a flipping Marine, and I’d like to stay alive!”
“Then why aren’t we calling them now?” Gus demanded. “Those two will be gone before they get here now.”
“They’re already gone,” Shawn said flippantly, thinking hard as he led the way to Gus’ car. “Dean, or whatever his name really is, totally knows we made them.” He’d seen that in Dean’s face, just before they’d hit the door into the hallway, and he'd also seen Dean start to shove Sam towards the back window.
“WHAT?” Gus hit the side of his car and crouched down, looking wildly around. “Shawn, the murderers know we made them and you just let me walk out into the parking lot? Are you crazy? They’re gonna shoot us!”
“Relax.” Shawn slid into the car and leaned over to push open Gus’ door. “They’re not coming after us. And they’re not the murderers.”
“Then what were they doing there?” Gus huffed, still hunching his shoulders.
“They were investigating, like us,” Shawn said thoughtfully. “I don’t know who they are though, or what they were looking for, but they were clearly looking for clues. They hadn’t been to the scene before.” He thought for a second. “Go back to the Psych office, I need to check on something.”
“We need to call the police!”
“No, the office first.” Shawn was determined to find out what an EMF was, and why he didn’t have one. No fair that the other fake detectives had something that he didn’t!