EPISODE ARCHIVE

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EARTH, WIND AND... WAIT FOR IT (#3_3012)
EPISODE PREMIERE: January 23, 2009
LOGLINE:
Shawn and Gus join up with a local firehouse to prove a series of arsons are more than they seem.

SYNOPSIS:
Arson Inspector Morgan Conrad has come to the police for help.  A building burned down under what she believes is suspicious circumstances but, since the fire superficially appears to be accidental, she is getting no support from her department.  Shawn and Gus, who used to want to be firemen when they grew up, volunteer their assistance.  Shawn, Gus, Lassiter and Juliet go with Morgan to the scene where they run into her boss, Army Johnson, who tells them that the building had no fire insurance, so there is no motive for arson.  Plus, arson is so rare, he hasn't seen a case since way back to his firefighting days.  But Morgan counters that one of the fireman on the scene reported smelling something sweet, a sign of an accelerant.  As Shawn looks around the scene, he notices that one of the walls lacks insulation.  He grabs a pipe and smashes it into the wall, revealing a blackened skeleton hidden inside.  Now it's not just arson, it's murder.

At the coroner's office, they find out the victim was shot in the back execution style before he was burned.  According to the report, Morgan says, trace amounts of the accelerant were found on the body.  It is common and can be found in any hardware store in the city.  While Morgan tracks the arson angle, the cops focus on trying to identify the victim.  Shawn and Gus follow Morgan, but she refuses their assistance.  Not to be deterred, they go to the fire station to investigate on their own, where they meet Fire Chief Dan, who tells them that their childhood hero, Fire Chief Paul and another firefighter, died in the Renkel fires of '98.  While sad to hear that, the guys are there for a reason and tell Dan, who is wary of letting his men be questioned by a psychic, about the accelerant found at the scene.  Dan is surprised to hear about that, but he is going off shift and gets his number two, Manetti, to assist them.  As the guys gleefully participate in training drills with the firefighters, they hear that the fire was exceptionally easy to put out and that the building was completely empty of both people and furniture.  Finally, as Gus is standing in for a CPR dummy, they learn that no firefighters missed their shift that night.  Before they can follow up on that, the alarm sounds and the firehouse clears out.  Shawn and Gus follow the crew to the fire in the hopes that the arsonist is still there.  They are surprised to find Chief Dan there, as his shift was supposedly over.  As he tells them he heard about the call over the scanner, Shawn sees flecks of pink paint on his shoulder.  Shawn then drags Gus into the building where Gus smells the accelerant in the air and Shawn sees the ceiling is painted pink.  Dan was in the building before the fire started, which now makes him their primary suspect.

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