Shawn was sprawled out on the grass beneath the tree next to the police station, happy to be out in the warm sunshine. He felt a shoe kick him in the side. "Ow! What was that for?" He opened one eye.
Lassiter towered over him. "Get up," he said. "We found it."
Shawn bolted and ran past Lassiter, racing him to the police station. Rolling his eyes, Lassiter jogged behind him, meeting him in the conference room, where Rebecca had spread out printed copies of everything they'd found.
"Pharmacies were robbed in cities exactly forty-seven miles away from the cities in which the Aurora Killer struck," Lassiter explained.
"And how does this help, Lassie?" Shawn asked.
"I don't know yet. But it has to mean something."
"Hmmm..." With a flourish of his hand, Shawn swept everything off the table, sending papers scattering and floating away.
Rebecca opened the conference room door, frowned, and walked off without a word.
"You messed up her work," Lassiter said. "She's probably going to ignore you for a good three days. She's been in a mood."
"Gee, I wonder why?" Shawn replied. "Anyways. I can't work without nachos."
Lassiter rolled his eyes and left the room.
"I hope you're going to get me some nachos! Extra cheese and jalapeņos, please!" Shawn called, knowing good and well that the tall detective was definitely not making a snack run. He snatched up the papers from the floor, but he'd already seen everything he'd needed to see. There were a million things that Aurora could have meant by the number seven, and even though there was a pattern to the pharmacy robberies, they still had no clue who the next victim would be or which city she'd choose next.
Shawn looked up, hearing the door opening, and saw Gus coming in with two pineapple slushies. "Gus! You've arrived! I thought you'd never come!" He snatched one slushie from Gus' hand and began to suck on the bright red straw, grinning to himself.
"Any luck?" Gus asked.
"Nah. Lassie found some stuff, but nothing useful. I feel so stuck, Gus! And I hate feeling stuck! I feel like I fell into a vat of Gorilla Glue and--- wait, is Gorilla Glue made out of real gorillas?"
"Of course not!"
"Just checking. And---what was I saying?"
"You feel stuck."
"Oh! Right! And I have no clue who she's stalking next! Nothing makes any sense! Serial killers are supposed to have patterns. Even Yin had a pattern. But Aurora is squeezing her pattern so tight that she's like a clam trying to hide her pearl! ...Gus, a you still allergic to shellfish?"
"No, Shawn. I grew out of that."
Shawn suddenly coughed into his slushie, spraying his friend with little drops of flavored ice water.
"Thank you, Shawn," Gus said. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate that."
"You're welcome, buddy," Shawn replied, ignoring the sarcasm. "And thank you, because I just had an epiphany!"
"Really? What was it?"
"Where are those crime scene photos?" Shawn dumped the case papers on the table, scrambling to sort through them. At last, he found the photos he was looking for. "Gus, look at this." He held up a picture that had been on the mantel of the family whose house was commandeered by the killer. "Look at this. The whole family is standing in front of the fireplace, right? It's their Christmas photo."
"Right," Gus said.
"Look at that clock in the background. The one on the mantel, right behind the daughter's head."
"What about it?"
"Gus, that is a Hello Kitty clock. Now look at this photo, one taken of the fireplace by the forensics guys. The victim's body was found right in front of it. What do you see?"
"The clock's gone."
"Exactly."
Gus stared at his partner for a moment. "Shawn. Why is that important?"
"If you look closely at the 'after' photo, you will notice a spot on the mantel where there is. No. Dust. That means that the family did not move that clock. It had to be Aurora." Shawn grinned.
"That doesn't make any sense. Why would Aurora take a Hello Kitty clock?"
"I don't know. But serial killers sometimes take trophies and stuff from their crimes, right? Maybe that's what this is!"
"But that didn't happen at any of the other crime scenes!"
"Maybe that's because none of the others featured Hello Kitty."
"Shawn, I really think this one is a coincidence."
Shawn frowned. "No, Gus. This can't be a coincidence. It has to be a clue. We've been searching for one so hard! This has to be it!"
"Shawn," Gus started. "Shawn. I know you want to find this clue. I know we need to find it. But don't you think that it's possible that you're looking too hard? Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see."
Shawn shook his head. "No. No, that's not it. I don't know what this means, but it means something. Somehow, this thing is important. And I'm going to figure out why."
That night, Shawn was at the Psych office, doing some real research. A few clicks, a few strokes with the keyboard, a tap to the 'Enter' key, and a bit of reading, and voila! He had a brand new hint. He rang up Gus to tell him the news. "Gus! Buddy!"
"Shawn, do you know what time it is?" Gus hissed.
"Yeah, it's time for me to get another Coke Zero and tell you what I just found out about Hello Kitty."
"It is three o'clock in the morning, Shawn, and I have work tomorrow! I'm not doing this!"
"But Gus, the clock that was stolen is actually pretty valuable. It's a limited edition, made in Toky---" Shawn froze as a loud banging noise echoed from outside. Shawn closed his eyes and focused on the sound, trying to pinpoint it. "Gus. I'm going to call you back. Something's going on in the next building."
"Wait! Shawn---" Gus began, but his best friend had already hung up.
Shawn grabbed a flashlight and a Snickers bar and walked outside to investigate.
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