Brigitte applied iodine to the many wounds Shawn had on his body. Once again, he refused to see a doctor, and above all, he refused to go to the police, considering that Clint would not be of any help. He knew that the guy from the animal shelter had something to do with Rodney's disappearance, and without knowing it, he had given him clues of who could be behind the disappearance.

Laying facedown shirtless on the bed, he was already considering what was going to be his next move.

“I’m afraid Rodney was poking his nose into some very shady business. Reading his article about exotic animal trafficking, if you read between the lines, you can see that he was directly accusing someone, a certain pet store located in Brooklyn. It's possible that he had evidence that incriminated them and that's what they were looking for when they searched his house and your room.”

“So, what´s the next move?”

After being rudimentarily healed by the girl, Shawn stood up and put on his clothes, ready to get this matter over with.

“I´m going to that shop.”

“Now?!”

“Yes.”

“We need to inform the police.”

“The police? You saw how Clinton is treating me. I have no business with him, I´ll solve this matter by myself and prove him that I´m capable to serve the law.”

“You need to leave your ego behind! This could be dangerous! Look what they did to you!”

“Don´t worry, I know how to take care of myself.”

“I´m going with you.”

“No, you stay here.”

“I´m not going to stay behind! I feel useless always staying behind! This is my case, and I´m going to help you!”

“Is my duty to protect you!” -Shawn claimed, trying to convince her.

“Look at you! You can´t even take care of yourself!”

Shawn realized that he would not be able to fight the young woman's stubbornness. He had no choice but to accept her as his sidekick, although not before giving her instructions so that she would stay safe.

"Okay, but I want you to stay with me. We will enter the store as if we were a couple looking for toys for Kobe. If something happens, you must run away and call the police, understood?"

“Will you find Rodney?”

“I can´t promise anything.”

 

 

Together they headed to the pet store that Rodney had mentioned in his articles as the epicenter of exotic animal trafficking in the city. Once at the door, Brigitte asked Shawn to wait outside and allow her to enter alone with Kobe.

“What are you saying? It can be dangerous.”

“Look at your face, you´re all bruised, and they probably know who you are.”

“I´m afraid that if they´ve been watching Rodney, they probably also know who you are.”

“Let´s find out, let´s take the risk.”

Not very happy with the situation, Shawn agreed to his client's request. After all, he recognized that his idea was better than what he had considered doing, entering the store asking questions with what that could entail, a new brawl, and he hated brawls.

The store was quite busy, at that Christmas time the shops were overflowing looking for the perfect gift to buy, and the pet stores were no exception. At that moment two guys covered in tattoos that seemed to be taken from a prison drama, looked at each other when they saw the young woman enter. Brigitte made sure of it but ignored that fact pretending to be another customer, however, Kobe was nervous, he did not stop sniffing as if some smell had awakened some memory in him. Kobe began to bark like crazy, and one of the thugs approached them with the intention of calming the canine, however, the dog, despite Brigitte keeping him at her side with the leash, Kobe attacked the man with fury and anger as if for some reason he considered him his enemy. Brigitte thought that Rodney's smell must be impregnated in him, and in that place.

“Please, Miss, I´m going to have to ask you to leave until the dog calms down.” -The guy politely asked her.

However, the dog, exerting a force that seemed supernatural, managed to get away from the girl, sneaking into the back room of the store. Brigitte tried to follow the animal, but the clerk grabbed her, stopping her, while ordering his companion to go look for the dog. However, Shawn's irruption into the store prevented the man from obeying his companion. Neither did they hide their recognition of the detective, and without hiding their hostility, they focused their attention on him.

“Shawn! Rodney must be here; Kobe has snuck into the back room looking for him.”

“Shut up, bitch!” -The thug shouted as he pushed her against one of the shelves in the store, which alerted the customers who began to leave, afraid of getting hurt in the brawl that was coming.

“You shouldn’t have done that.” -Shawn warned, sensing that an inevitable fight was coming, and he hated fighting.

The thugs banded together, determined to silence the detective once and for all.

"You´ve been a real pain in the ass."

“Where´s Rodney?”

“You´ll never know.” -One of the shop assistants shouted at him before throwing a brutal right hook that exhausted him for a few seconds. His defense was terrible, but his survival instinct always kicked in instinctively when he found himself involved in any kind of brawl of that kind. Shawn returned the punch instinctively, throwing it without any technique, a right cross that hit his attacker squarely, bursting his nose, breaking his knuckles in the process.

The other bully came to his friend's defense, grabbing Shawn by the collar of his jacket and pushing him against the wall where he began to hit him indiscriminately on the body. Brigitte watched the scene terrified from the ground, still trying to recover from the push she had received, but she took advantage of the chaos to go into the back room of the store in search of Kobe. For his part, Shawn tried unsuccessfully to escape the punishment that the bully was inflicting on him.

The other bully, who was still on his knees trying to fix his broken nose, chased after Brigitte.

Shawn, unable to escape the punishment he was receiving, chose to end the fight in the most dishonorable way possible, biting his rival's ear. The man began to scream in pain, trying to get away from Shawn, as if he were a wild dog, Shawn did not release his prey until the man collapsed on the floor in pain. Meanwhile, Kobe barked at a locked door, Brigitte walked down a hallway full of caged exotic animals until she reached the place where Kobe, completely out of his mind, barked at the door. Brigitte approached her trying to open it without success. She began to hit it, with tears in her eyes, wishing that Rodney was on the other side.

"Rodney, are you there?" Soon, a familiar voice came from behind the door:

"Brigitte, is that you?!" -It was Rodney´s!

“Rodney, Rodney! I can´t open the door!” -She yelled, hitting the door.

 “What are you doing here, Brigitte?”

“I knew something happened to you and I wasn´t going to stop until I find you!”

“Move away from the door, lady!” -The thug ordered her at gunpoint, while her nose continued to bleed incessantly.

He began to growl at him threateningly, ready to attack him. The man, feeling threatened, turned his aim towards the canine with the intention of pulling the trigger, but Kobe, with a devilish speed innate to him, managed to disarm the thug before he shot, sinking his teeth into his wrist mercilessly. A blow from behind to the back of the neck by Shawn finished the job.

“Are you two okay?” -He asked them.

“We need to open the door, Rodney is inside.”

Shawn searched the unconscious body of the thug for keys that would open the door. He found a set of keys and tried them until he found the right one. Rodney found himself inside a locked room with only a gnawing mattress on the floor. Rodney was in bad shape, having been beaten and held against his will.

Brigitte and the dog ran to hug him. The couple burst into tears emotionally, melting into a warm kiss from which Shawn had to look away. The adventure was over for Shawn, and he knew he would never hear that soothing French accent again, nor get drunk on the smell of that perfume.

 

It was then that Clinton showed up at the scene with his men, taking credit for having found him.

"Mr. Rodney, Clinton Bronson, inspector of the New York Police Force. I'm glad to find you safe. We've been on your trail for some time, and I assure you that these people will spend time in the shadows for animal trafficking and holding you against your will. Just with the seized animals they hide in this store they will get a good sentence."

“Thank you, Sr.” -Rodney told him, while Brigitte, crouched on his lap with no intention of ever letting him go, looked at the police with a disapproving look, waiting for Shawn to reproach the police for his nerve. However, Shawn chose to decipher the last pieces of that puzzle.

"Rodney, these people broke into your apartment looking for something, what was it about?"

Rodney smiled, and gently leaving the girl's embrace, he approached his dog, removing the collar from his neck, opening it and taking out a small USB from inside which he showed the police and Shawn.

"They were looking for this. I had all the evidences to incriminate them and I was going to share it with the police and publish it on my blog."

Shawn and Clinton looked at each other in surprise, they really did not expect the answer to have always been so close to them.

 

"A guy who worked at the animal shelter tipped them off, and after giving me false information about the arrival of an illegal shipment from Thailand, they kidnapped me and brought me here demanding me to give them my evidences."

"That's why you left the dog with Brigitte," -Shawn added.

"Yes, but I tried to keep her out of the way so as not to put her in danger."

"You're an idiot." She hit him gently, reproaching him for not having informed her of where he was hiding. "Don't ever hide anything from me again."

The paramedics arrived at the scene, tending to the injured thugs and Rodney, who had no choice but to separate from Brigitte. Clinton looked at Shawn and shook his hand and simply wished him a Merry Christmas.

"Merry Christmas, Shawn."

"Merry Christmas."

After the policeman left, Brigitte approached Shawn, annoyed by his passive attitude towards Clinton.

"Why didn't you contradict him? He took all the credit for your work."

"What does that matter? The important thing is that we found Rodney."

"I'll never be grateful enough."

"It was nice to meet you."

 

 Brigitte hugged him as a last gesture of gratitude. Shawn felt it as a farewell, he put his arms around her caressing her soft blonde hair while the smell of her perfume settled in his memory for the rest of his days.