By: Iron Anne Flint

Disclaimer: Don’t own any of it! Unfortunately . . . If I did, I would be filthy stinkin’ rich right now! But nope! Just an average person . . . sad sigh

Shawn hopped out of the car and began walking toward the murder victim’s house. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but he had a feeling that he should do a quick check-over . . . just in case. He casually looked around at the other houses to make sure no one was looking, then quickly opened the latch to the fence and quietly slipped into the backyard.

Shawn was finding it weird and quite lonely to do all this without Gus being right there by his side. He figured he could’ve waited for Gus until after he slept, but then again, he didn’t want Gus to have to worry about him. The guy was going through enough. Besides, by then it probably would’ve been too late to do anything that would help, so he would just have to do this by himself.

By now, he had reached the back windows by the kitchen. He peered over and took a look at them, and he saw one that would be able to lift open, "Bingo! No latch!" he whispered to himself. As he started looking around to find something to pry open the window with. He remembered the small pocketknife on Gus’ key-chain. "Ha! This’ll work." he said, pulling the keys out of his pocket. After a few minutes of struggling and grunting, he managed to slip the blade under the window. Once he did so, he began turning the blade sharply from side to side and the window slowly began to pry open. As soon as it was wide enough, he put the keys back in his pocket, slipped his fingers between the sill and the window, and slowly lifted the window upwards.

Once it was open, he poked his head thru, and took a quick glance around, then stood back pushed himself up into a sitting position on the window sill. He put his legs into the house and hopped down on the kitchen floor.

"Well, that went a little easier than I thought." he said to himself as he walked around the kitchen table. "Ok, let’s see what we can find in here." he said, his eyes scanning around the kitchen area, when he caught sight of some pictures on the fridge. "Yesssss!! Pictures!" he exclaimed, "Always a bonus." he walked over and studied the three photos on the fridge carefully and commented on each of them. There was one of Natalie and Amber together, "That Natalie is so hot!"

The second, was of Gus, Shawn, and Amber together, Shawn chuckled to himself, he remembered that night. They all had to cram in this tiny little photo booth with Gus sitting very squashed and uncomfortable in the middle.

The last picture on the fridge was one of just Gus and Amber together, with Gus kissing Amber on the cheek.."Poor Gus," Shawn thought as he gazed at the picture, "He really did have somethin’ good with that girl." he shook his head sadly as he walked around the rest of the house to see what he could find. He decided it would be best to start with the back of the house and work his way forward, so he made his way to the bedroom that was down the hall.

As he stepped into the room the first thing that greeted his eyes was . . . Shawn then heard the click of a key turning in the lock. He knew someone was coming in the house, "Oh crap." he thought as he quickly crouched down and began walking stealthi-stealthal-st-stealthly-stealthil-y . . . I give up, very quietly on the balls of his feet, down the hall.

Meanwhile, Monk was sitting at home,(and fully clothed), shining a couple pairs of his shoes that were sitting on a plastic sheet in a neat row by his feet, and thinking about that so-called "psychic" Shawn Spencer.

"He can’t be a real Psychic." he said to himself, "It’s just not possible. He must have observational skills, that’s the only explanation." He shook his head and began rubbing at his shoes with the rag a little more roughly. "I can’t think about that anymore . . . I gotta focus on the case. No, I gotta get back to that house . . . uh, after I’m done with this shoe."

So, three shoes later, when Monk was finished, he called up Natalie, who was back home from the hospital, and asked her if she could drive him to Amber Chapman’s home.

"No, he knows I need to observe if he wants the case solved."

"Alright, let me drop Julie off at a friends house and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Ok. Bye."

He hung up the phone and waited for Natalie to arrive.

Shawn was just coming up on the end of the hall, when there was another sound being heard, it was a voice, "Shawn? Shawn, it’s just me. Shawn! Come out here, I know your there!"

Shawn breathed a sigh of relief. He straightened up and walked over to where the front door was, "Gus, it’s just you. Two things, first; what are you doing here? I thought you were sleeping?"

"Well, I was, but then I found out I couldn’t sleep until I get to the bottom of who murdered Amber. I remembered that you were here, so I just took the bus."

"Ok, and second; how did you get in here? Did . . . Ah! Gus, did you break in?"

"No, I used the key she gave me."

"She gave you a key? What for?" Shawn asked raising his eyebrows

"Just in case I was ever in the area she said I could drop by and visit." Gus replied

"Oooooo . . . Guuuus . . ." Shawn’s sly voice replied back, a small smile playing on his lips

"It’s not like that Shawn," Gus said giving Shawn a look that basically told him to shut up.

"Suuuure." Shawn replied sarcastically before continuing, "Anyway, I was starting with the bedroom, lets go." He said as he walked down the hall with Gus close behind.

Unbeknownst to Shawn, Gus was feeling a tremendous agony in his heart, and being in Amber’s house wasn’t helping.

This is the place where Gus and Amber would watch part of a movie, then fall asleep snuggling on the couch; or having dinner and visiting with her family . . . although it pained him, he constantly told himself he needed to find her killer, and maybe . . . just maybe, he would feel some peace over this sadness.

"Alrighty, let’s take a look-sy." Shawn said, as he gazed around the room.

On the left side of the room, was her bed, night-stand, dresser, and closet. On the right side, were two sinks, and a door leading to the toilet and shower.

And directly in front of him was a copy of a painting that he had noticed when he first walked in, "This painting is, ‘Woman with Parasol’, by Mon-et . . . Mo-net . . . Mo-neet . . . Mo-"

"It’s Monet, Shawn" Gus said, rolling his eyes, "The ‘T’ is silent."

"Oh, right. I knew that." he replied, separating from Gus to look around the rest of the room, "Alright, you look in the closet, and I’ll look in the night-stand."

"What it is that we are lookin’ for, exactly?" Gus asked, making his way toward the closet.

"Anything that might give us a lead as to who would’ve done this." Shawn replied, opening the drawer.

"What about that blond who was there this mornin’? Ya know the one who got in a car accident?"

Shawn began looking through the night-stand, "Natalie? No way! Did you even see her this morning? She was crying her eyes out! NOT the attitude of someone who just committed a murder. Oh!"

"What, you find somethin’?" Gus asked, turning from the closet and looking at Shawn.

"She has an autographed Tears for Fears ‘Songs From the Big Chair; Deluxe Edition’, CD! And she keeps it in a drawer?! Dude, who would keep this in a drawer?!"

"Shawn, we’re lookin’ for somethin’ related to the murder. Not autographed CD’s . . ." his sentence was stopped when there was the rattling of a door handle.

"Oh no. Someone’s in the house!" Shawn whispered

"And you had to start with the back of the house where there isn’t a place to get out!!" Gus angrily whispered back

"Well, I didn’t know anyone would be here! I thought the cops were done!" he replied

Gus shushed him, "Shhh-shhh, I think I hear ‘em talkin’."

"Why was this door open? The cops always makes sure that the door is locked when they leave." the male voice said, "Wair, look. the kitchen window is open."

"Someone broke in" the female voice whispered

the male voice sounded grave whne it replied, "Yea, and they're still here."

"I'm calling the Captain." the female voise said pulling out her cell-phone as her and the male walked inot the front-room away from the hall.

"Dude! It’s Natalie and that Monk guy!" Shawn said looking at Gus

"Are you sure?" Gus asked

Shawn nodded, "I know her voice anywhere. And she is Monks assistant so she would have to go with him anywhere. Come on, let’s say hello." he said, getting up and heading towards the door, when Gus reached out and stopped him, "No way, Shawn. I don’t feel like being thrown in prison for breaking and entering on a crime scene, just because you thought you would make our presence known to people who work for the cops!"

Shawn gave Gus a ‘Come on, you should know me better by now’ look and replied "Gus, you’ve known me for years, and you should well know that I have a plan. Now, just follow my lead." he patted Gus on the arm, and walked out of the bedroom and down the hall.

Shawn carefully tiptoed behind Monk and Natalie, then beckoned Gus (who was hiding in the hall), to his side. He put his hands to his head and began shouting, "Oh Gus!! It’s here!! It’s here! I know it is!!!!!"

Shawn doubled over and continued shouting and grunting as if all this pained him.

Natalie dropped her cell phone and gave a gasp of shock as her and Monk whirled around to see Shawn.

"Mr. Spencer, what are you doing here?" Monk asked agitated-ly

Gus knew exactly what to say, "He’s being controlled by a spirit. I couldn’t stop him from comin’ here."

Monk wasn’t convinced, "Listen, he’s not supposed to be here, it-it’s breaking and entering."

"But we didn’t break in, I had a key." Gus said

"Then why is the window open?" Natalie asked

"Uhhh . . ." At this point, Gus didn’t know what to say. He gave a worried glance over at his friend who was still doing his ‘psychic’ thing.

"Uh, the spirit told me it was getting stuffy, and it wanted me to open a window." he lied

Monk and Natalie cast unsure glances at each other. "It wanted you to open a . . . window?" Natalie asked in a wary tone.

"Yes . . . yes and it’s guiding me . . . it’s guiding me to the . . . the bedroom." he said, brushing past Gus, and stumbling and lurching down the hall to the bedroom, one hand on the side of his head, and one hand outstretched in front of him.

Gus beckoned Monk and Natalie to go with him, and they reluctantly followed.

When they reached the bedroom, Shawn began speaking again, "Something is here . . . in this room. Please, please help me look for it. He said, as Monk and he both (unintentionally) walked over to the night-stand. They both looked at each other and Shawn gave Monk a small smile. Monk just groaned slightly and they both began looking through the drawer.

They pulled out a few CD’s, a pen and pencil, some receipts, a daily planner . . .a daily planner!

"Ah ha!" they both exclaimed as Shawn reached out and snatched the planner out of the drawer, "This is it! This is what the spirit wanted me to find!" Shawn cried out, waving the planner above his head.

"Did it tell you what to find in it?" Gus asked

Shawn shook his head, "No. Let’s see what’s in here." he said as he sat down on the edge of the bed and began to flip through the pages of the book. Monk sat next to him and peered into the book, "Do you think you could slow down just a little?" he asked

Shawn ignored the request and continued to turn the pages rapidly. "Ah! Here!" he cried stopping at day of April 5th.

"What does it say?" Natalie asked

"It says, ‘Confront B.J. about conversation.’" Monk replied, "I wonder who ‘B.J.’ is."

"I bet it would be in the address book part of this planner." Shawn said, giving them all his ‘serious’ face. He turned to the back of the planner, closed his eyes and placed a hand over a page with names and numbers "Wait, I’m sensing that all these digits are for her work. This planner, was for her work."

"So, do you think she heard a co-worker talkin’ about somethin’ that she shouldna heard?" Gus asked

Shawn sighed, "That’s what it seems like . . . but what did she hear?"

Monk stood up and rolled his eyes, "If we knew, we wouldn’t be here, would we?" he said sarcastically

Shawn scowled slightly behind Monks back. "Does anyone know where she worked?"

"Why do you need to know?" Monk asked sharply, "Your Psychic, shouldn’t you know already?" Monk said with a smirk crossing his features

Shawn placed his fingers on either side of his head, "Your negative aura is beginning to block my receptors, I can’t pick up anything."

"She worked as an editor for the San Fransisco Herald." Gus said

"Hmmm . . . Gus, I think we should drop by her work so I can read her co-workers to see if I can pick up anything . . . you know, psychically."

Soon after this, they all departed from the house.

"He has observational skills, maybe a photographic memory...but that’s all there is to it. He’s not really a psychic." Monk said to Natalie.

"What don’t you like about him Mr. Monk? I think he’s alright." Natalie replied

"Don’t you see it, Natalie? He is pretending to be a psychic so he can solve cases and get money." Monk said back

"You don’t know, he might just have real abilities of a psychic."

Monk shook his head and chuckled slightly, "No, no, no. There is no such thing as a real psychic."

"Dude, did you see how entranced Natalie was at my performance?" Shawn asked excitedly

"Are you sure ‘entranced’ is the right word? She might of been thinking, ‘Oh, that guy looks totally ridiculous runnin’ around the house shoutin’ like a banshee.’ You never know Shawn." Gus said

Shawn smiled, "No, no, she liked it, I can tell. Now, here is what I think, we go and find a place that sells Pineapple smoothies, and then we go back to hotel and get some rest, what do you think?"

"Sounds good to me!" Gus agreed

Shawn clapped his hands together, "Awesome! Lets go find those smoothies!"

TBC . . .