AN: Sorry for the wait, guys! Chapter 4!

"What the heck is that?" Victoria exclaimed, clearly appalled.

Gus, of course, managed to catch her indignant remark as he stepped around the Echo, brow furrowed. "I hope you're not referring to my company car."

"Don't be hatin' on the Blueberry, Tori," Shawn called, stroking the top of the vehicle lovingly. Gus sent him a look and he lifted his hand immediately.

Victoria started spluttering half sentences.

"What did I tell you about trying to sing that Rusted Root song?" Shawn asked contritely, also moving around the cause of the mayhem to join her and an impatient Lassiter. He shrugged. "It's impossible."

Victoria gave Shawn a look that was almost exactly identical to the one Chief Vick had given Lassiter a mere twenty minutes ago. "Aren't you going to ask why we're here?"

Shawn grinned and nodded encouragingly. "Yes, please tell us why we didn't receive a text message? It's the twentieth century, you two. Get with it."

"It's the twenty-first century," Lassiter corrected with an eye roll.

"And says the guy who just referenced a song made in ninety-four," Gus added helpfully.

"Dude, how do you even know that?"

Victoria cleared her throat loudly to break up the discussion. She handed Shawn the bag containing the bullet. "This was found at the Manson's. Elizabeth wanted me to give it to you. Apparently she's—"

Her cousin interrupted her with a flick of his fingers to his forehead. "Harry Manson's mistress."

"Uh, no. Stepsister. Close, though," Victoria replied.

"That's not close at all," Lassiter hissed. Gus frowned, not amused.

Shawn's eyes were still tightly closed as he fumbled around in front of the head detective. "Lassie, the puzzle will not be fully complete until I see your piece of evidence."

Lassiter swatted him away like a bothersome gnat before reaching inside his jacket and handing him the bagged plastic scrap, looking almost embarrassed. "The Chief wanted me to give this to you. It was found at the store in the vic's hair."

Shawn had it in his hands for all of two seconds before he started spinning like a propeller, the bags fanning out and whacking Victoria, Lassiter and Gus twice each. "I am sensing that these crimes are connected." He stopped abruptly and stumbled, head lolling, hazel eyes unfocused. Gus steadied him grudgingly as the psychic began to explain. "Harry Manson was murdered by Henry Manson in disguise as—you know what, I'm not doing this until Chief Vick and Jules are in the vincity." He strolled back over the car, ignoring the blank stares of the other adults. "Let's go."

Gus mumbled something dark and threatening while Lassiter cursed. Victoria shrugged in an exasperated kind of way and grabbed the head detective's hand, dragging him back towards his car.

hotarukun

Holy crap, she was holding his hand.

He didn't remember the last time a woman had voluntarily grabbed his hand when they weren't in mortal peril.

Or sent warm little tingles up his spine…which probably wasn't a good thing now that he thought about it.

He tried not to be disappointed when she let go.

"I'm so fired," she mumbled, the curve of her lips forming an unmistakably amused smile anyways.

"I'll talk to Chief Vick," he promised before it was a complete thought in his head. It was kind of his fault, wasn't it? Actually it was Spencer's…

She turned to look at him as he pulled back into the station. He refused to make eye contact and instead focused on Spencer and Guster already hopping out of the heinously-colored Echo.

"Thanks," she said, tone surprised and light, but gratefully nonetheless.

Yup, he was definitely in trouble.

Again.

hotarukun

Victoria was depressed that she had to miss Shawn's theatrical psychic display, but it was only her second day of work and she really wasn't looking forward to being whacked in the head with another object Shawn deemed was necessary for his dramatic explanation.

Fortunately, the kind, middle-aged cop, Elizabeth, had received only two calls, one being a prank and the other a very cliché cat-stuck-in-a-tree deal. Apparently an Officer McNab had been sent out on that escapade.

After settling herself down behind the desk again, Victoria set her chin on top of her intertwined fingers and sighed. She wasn't sure how this situation she'd dug herself into was going to work out. After receiving one, possibly fake, threatening message in the mail, she'd freaked out and called Shawn. He was the only one she trusted with something so frightening. Remembering what she'd left back home in San Diego before she'd hightailed it, a wave of guilt washed over her.

Victoria looked down at the tattered paperback poking out of her bag by her feet. She stared at the image until it blurred, fresh tears forming.

"Nope," she murmured out loud, closing her eyes and shaking her head, curls bouncing as she willed her sadness away.

She and Shawn would figure things out. They always had before.

A few singles fluttered down from above her head and landed on the desk, startling her out of her reverie. Victoria looked up to see Carlton Lassiter scrutinizing her with his pale eyes. "For the yogurt you bought me," he explained, noticing her confused expression. She opened her mouth to protest but he interjected. "I'm not doing it to be a nice guy, I'm doing it so I don't owe you anything. So take it."

She bit her lip and shuffled the bills off the desk and into her bag without another word. "Thanks," she mumbled anyways. Good manners had been hammered into her since she was a kid. Shawn thought it was hilarious. Every time he and Gus had come to see her in one of her martial arts matches, he would comment on how polite she was to the other competitors when they didn't give a shit. Gus thought it was commendable, but that was just him.

Lassiter cleared his throat and Victoria blinked at him patiently. "Are you…getting along well?" He asked warily.

It took her a moment to realize he was really asking if she was alright. Damn it, he'd seen her crying.

She smiled as warmly as she could, touched in an odd sort of way. "Haven't had to face any disasters yet."

He nodded, eyes still narrowed. "I see. That's good." A built, distressed-looking officer entered and caught Lassiter's eye. "McNab, this is Spencer's cousin, Victoria Shansen. Elizabeth was filling in for her during her break. Shansen, this is Buzz McNab."

She stood up from her chair and shook the officer's hand. He had an easy, friendly smile. "You must be our new secretary. Elizabeth told me about you."

"That's me." Victoria noticed a scratch peeking out from his sleeve and remembered who she was talking to. "Oh. Thank you for saving that cat. I know you must've had better things to do."

McNab's eyes widened and he looked to Lassiter, shocked. "Is she a psychic, too?"

AN: Haha, oohhh Buzz. More about why Victoria's in Santa Barbara comes up later.