A/N: even though Brennan and Booth don't appear in this chapter, it does set the scene for the rest of the story...
The man who muttered noisily to himself as he walked quickly toward the computer cubicles in the public library looked like a very ordinary man. No one noticed him because he was so easy to ignore. Nobody knew how volatile he could be, because it seemed that he was just like everybody else. There was nothing, really, to set him apart from anyone else. He was just...average. Average height...average weight...average build...average everything. No tattoos, birthmarks or distinguishing features...possibly a bit of bad posture, but nothing else to set him apart from the crowd. Nondescript clothing and shoes...just average and ordinary.
"EVERYTHING EXCEPT MY INTELLIGENCE...I'M DEFINITELY SUPERIOR INTELLECTUALLY." He was very proud of what he considered to be his defining characteristic….he was brilliant….a genius actually. He'd spent many years learning to hide that fact...not letting people realize the huge amount of intelligence hidden in the plain brown wrapper of his ordinary appearance. He smiled and nodded to himself, realizing that this time he might have an edge. This might be an occasion when appearing to be an average person would be an advantage. He was so average that most people wouldn't even notice him, but if they did and were asked about it, they'd describe someone average...a man just like a hundred other men. "IT'S LIKE CAMOUFLAGE! NO ONE WHO SEES ME WILL REMEMBER ME." He laughed to himself a little too loudly, causing people around him to pay attention to him for a few seconds before ignoring him again. Being unnoticeable fit into his plan quite nicely. He could be in the target location, initiate his plan, and leave easily, melting into the vast crowd of average humanity that surrounded the nation's capital.
The man stopped and shook his head to clear his mind and looked at his surroundings again, trying to remember where he was and what he should be doing. As things came into focus, he realized, to his surprise, that he wasn't at his house anymore. Instead, he was again at the branch of the public library closest to his house. He usually didn't remember how he actually got to the library. He knew he had to get on a public transit bus heading east and he had to ride for about twenty minutes, and that the bus driver was polite, announcing the stops, but most of the days when he was there it was like he just woke up from a long, refreshing nap and somehow he was in the library with all the books and magazines. It didn't bother him too much...he liked being at the library...being around all those books in the quiet coolness of the building. It was calm there, and normally he liked calm, but today someone had, unfortunately, made him VERY ANGRY!
Today he had a different reason to be at the library. He didn't have time to hunt for new books to read or to look at the new magazines. He found one of the library's patron computers, and accessed the internet. There was a vast amount of work to be done. He had to do some extremely important research on someone. He glanced around hoping no one would see what he was doing. He glared at the boy across from him. "MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS, YOU AWFUL, NOSY BOY! GET LOST!" He snarled at the child and went back to what he was doing.
The man pulled at his hair and his shirt distractedly as he muttered vile curses to himself, whispering random, disjointed sentences as he looked through all the search engines that were available. Ah, there it was on Wikipedia. He'd finally found the information he needed. Conrad Roberts...at one time sort of a movie star. He was well known for his starring roles in low budget, low brow movies...kitschy science fiction drivel, really….the kind of movies that were shown on cable television at 2 am on the weekends to break up the monotony of the infomercials. The article mentioned a lot of different old movies he had roles in, and that he presently was living out his retirement in Washington, DC. Then he noticed the entry on Google about the recent interview Roberts had given to a tabloid magazine. He had been talking to some fawning reporter about his past life as a movie star.
The man found the article on line and skimmed through it. It was just as he thought...CONRAD ROBERTS WAS AN UNGRATEFUL BASTARD! After all of the time and energy the man had given ...all he had given of himself, of his affection, of his very soul...there wasn't one word mentioning the man in the article! The man was burning with uncontrollable rage. NOT ONE DAMN WORD ABOUT ME IN THIS WHOLE ARTICLE. IT'S LIKE I DON'T EVEN EXIST! I HATE HIM! I CAN'T STAND TO SHARE THE EARTH WITH HIM! HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE!
Well, the man knew what to do. "WE'LL JUST SEE ABOUT THAT, MR. CULT MOVIE IDOL. WE'LL FIND OUT WHO THE REAL MATINEE MASTER IS!…." He'd just set Conrad Roberts straight on how things really were in the movie business. He'd let Conrad Roberts know who was really in charge. It was time to tell the world that Conrad Roberts was a NO TALENT FRAUD...a GODDAMN FAKE...A NO GOOD SLACKER WHO FED OFF THE GOODWILL OF OTHERS!…..
Rocking back and forth, muttering and swearing to himself again, he accessed the word processing program on the computer. He'd send a letter...that's what he'd do. He'd make sure it got published in newspapers all over the world! "THEN THE WORLD WILL KNOW THE TRUTH!" The man became more and more upset and agitated, pounding violently on the keyboard as if possessed, raging about the injustices that had been heaped upon him, until the boy at the neighboring computer grew afraid of the man's behavior.
The boy ran to find a librarian and asked for assistance. He pointed to the man at the computer...the man who was rocking back and forth in the chair as he pounded the keyboard, muttering more profanities under his breath. His eyes were wild but focused at the task at hand as he shook his fist at the monitor.
The librarian smiled down at the frightened boy. "Oh, don't worry about him. He comes in all the time. He's just easily annoyed. I tell you what, come with me, and we'll find a different place for you to work, okay?"
The boy nodded, looking back at the man sitting by the computer. The boy wondered if the librarian would be so calm if he knew what the man was typing.
oooooooooo
TO: CONRAD ROBERTS:
RE: RECENT INTERVIEW
God damn it! Why can't you ever shut up, you pretentious old fool? No one cares about a washed up old actor or his "films" any more. No one cares who you are any more. The author must have been desperate if she interviewed someone like you. The magazine did the article to make you an object of derision! Your picture will be on racks by check out counters in stores all across the nation along with articles about aliens from outer space, Elvis sightings, and the latest fad diets used by anorexic movie stars! Don't you know people will point and laugh, trying to remember who you are? They'll think you used to be someone important, but they'll be WRONG! YOU ARE NOBODY ANYMORE….YOU NEVER REALLY WERE ANYBODY….ABSOLUTELY NOBODY!
If you were such a wonderful actor, why aren't we living in LA instead of DC? A nice house in Malibu? That might make my life with you a little more bearable. But, no….we have to live in this hot, dirty, miserable town with all the lying political types and put up with all the gawking tourists driving up and down our street every day. That's because no one in LA will even pretend to know you, isn't it? They're embarrassed to be seen with you...you'll ruin their reputations!
The only reason I'm still here working for you is the money, but I'm tired of waiting. I've waited fifteen years, listening, grinning like an idiot, and pretending to care about every word you say. I've been the lackey, the toady, feigning interest over your meager film triumphs and modest awards, falling over myself to fulfill your wishes and whims, but that's OVER. I'm in need of remuneration, and the plan is going to come into fruition. Today's the day that all my distasteful groveling will come to an end. NO MORE WAITING!
There's going to be a tragic accident...the mistake of an elderly man. The autopsy will prove it! When you take your tylenol this evening for all your imaginary aches and pains and you wash it down with your goddamn organic apple juice, you'll accidentally take aspirin instead, the mistake of aged eyes. OOPS, SORRY. I MEANT TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING ELSE. ARE YOU DYING YET?
You won't realize it was ASPIRIN, because you won't really have taken any pills, but the apple juice will be laced with the aspirin...two of them, finely ground to a powder and added to the glass...tasteless and odorless. No one will know that but me. It'll be our little secret, okay? IT'S FUNNY, ISN'T IT? YOU'LL DIE LAUGHING, WON'T YOU?
And very soon after you drink your juice, your heart will race, POUNDING UNCONTROLLABLY, your tongue will swell TO TWICE ITS NORMAL SIZE and you'll start to WHEEZE very badly until you can't breathe at all, PANTING, HYPERVENTILATING, AND SUFFOCATING! Your heart eventually will STOP and blood will pool in your veins. You'll struggle for a while, gasping for air as you're looking for your medicine, trying to stop what's happening... TOO BAD I HID YOUR EMERGENCY EPINEPHRINE PEN...YOU CAN'T STOP THE REACTION…..but it'll be over very quickly...too quickly for me to be satisfied, but that can't be helped, I suppose.
I'll pretend to be upset when I find you...a performance worthy of your films. I could win the Oscar you never deserved….when I act like I CARE. I'LL BE SO HAPPY THAT YOU'RE GONE! I'll finally get what's coming to me….I'll finally get paid…..
ENJOY YOUR DAY BECAUSE YOUR DAYS ARE RAPIDLY COMING TO A CLOSE! I HOPE YOU BURN IN HELL FOR ETERNITY….THAT'S WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR TREATING ME LIKE A PIECE OF GARBAGE! DIE, BASTARD, DIE!
Then the very ordinary man sent the letter to the library's printer, and he went to the help desk to collect it. The librarian pulled the paper off the printer without looking at it and handed the letter to the man without looking at him. The man gave the librarian a dime for the copy, thanked him politely, and walked out in the bright noonday sunshine, smiling broadly, having planned what he considered to be the perfect murder…..