The Snow Drop - Chapter 1
Summary: Spoilers for The Future in the Past. How did Booth figure out that Brennan would meet him at the Snow Drop Motel?
AN: You will notice a combination of dialog from the show with some dialog from my crazy head sprinkled in. I hope it still keeps in line with the story they were telling. I am not trying to diverge from the story on the screen, just explain some of the missing pieces without being too repetitive with what you already saw on the show.
Pitt Meadows is actually a town in British Columbia, not Virginia. Sticking with that theme, the other "Virginia" towns I mention are also real places in B.C., located near Pitt Meadows.
CHAPTER 1
"Hey, Booth."
"Angela, what are you doing here?"
"Brennan left something at our latest crime scene - a message. She left it for me to find, but I'm pretty sure the message itself is for you." Angela took a breath as she saw the expression on Booth's face harden. "It's a bouquet of snowdrop flowers."
"Oh-kay. Why would you think Brennan left them for you? Or for me? And how are flowers a message?"
He was annoyed. These days, he was almost always annoyed. And while she had gotten used to it for the most part, it didn't make this conversation any more pleasant.
"There were indications that she was at our latest crime scene. Maybe Max was the man who called it in, I don't know. But I do know that all flowers have a meaning associated with them. Snowdrops symbolize new beginnings and hope because they typically bloom at the end of winter, announcing the approach of spring."
His phone beeped indicating a new email. It was from Clark. Remains matching Carol Morrissey, a high school guidance counselor who had been missing for 10 years, had been found in Pitt Meadows, Virginia. The squints had arrived at a site that had already been expertly excavated. Using techniques developed by Dr. Temperance Brennan. They had also discovered several snowdrop flowers placed at the base of a tree very close to the site.
Booth sat staring at the information on the phone in front of him. He took several deep breathes in an attempt to push down what Angela had just confirmed for him. Brennan had chosen to keep in contact with Angela instead of contacting him. He took another deep breath and shook it off. Who she had or had not been contacting these past three months wasn't important right now. It could all be dealt with later, when he had Christine and Brennan back home with him. Right now he had to focus on the clues in front of him, just like she would push him to do if she were here.
Perhaps snowdrop flowers can mean "have hope" to Angela but if this message really was from Bones he had to think more like her. Bones is literal, even hyper-literal at times. He needed to figure out the literal message she had sent to him. She was counting on him to be a cop. This time, he needed to ask himself those 1,000 questions 1,000 times.
He looked at his phone again and studied the words in front of him:
Snowdrop
Carol Morrissey
Missing 10 years
Pitt Meadows, **Pitt Meadows**
**Have hope, Booth. Hope for new beginnings.**
Pelant was from Pitt Meadows, Virginia. He had graduated from high school around 10 years ago. Booth had studied the file enough to know these details by heart. Booth's mantra from so many years ago drummed into his head, **there are no coincidences in a murder investigation**. Pelant knew Carol in high school. Carol was Pelant's victim. Maybe his first. And Brennan had managed to find her. They may not be able to clear Brennan just yet, but at least they could finally get Pelant. But what did that have to do with the snowdrop? That had to mean something. And if he followed the literal path, it could only mean one thing. He finally had a mission.
"Thanks, Ang. See ya later."
Not wanting to chance running into Flynn by heading back into the office or riding the elevator, Booth jumped down the stairs, three at a time, to his car in the garage. He sped out of the lot and headed for I-66. He drove about 10 miles, then pulled off at a busy gas station. Unnoticed by the other patrons, he grabbed the bag with his casual clothes (he'd kept them in the car since Brennan's disappearance, just in case) and hurried to the bathroom along the side of the building. His next stop was a library about a mile down the road. He walked in with a purpose and slyly slid in front of the computer furthest from the main desk. He was never that interested in computers, but since Brennan had left, he'd found himself spending much of his time doing things that had never interested him before, including using computers in libraries to do research. He'd even picked up some of Brennan's books from the shelf and started to read about the effects of human decomposition on surrounding plant life. Booth typed "Snowdrop" and "Pitt Meadows, Virginia" into the search engine. A few ads appeared at the top, and then the match he'd been hoping for. The Snow Drop Motel was located in Maple Ridge, Virginia, a rural town in the Shenandoah Mountains, just outside of Pitt Meadows. He cleared the browser history and checked his watch, it was just after 3. He could be there before dark driving the speed limit. He hadn't wanted to attract any unnecessary attention by speeding from any local cops who Flynn might have on his tail.
One hour into the drive, he convinced himself that it was a good idea to call Cam. Someone at the office was likely to have noticed his sudden disappearance by now and it would be better for Cam to know he was fine in an attempt to deflect any FBI energies being spent to locate him. It was also a good idea for someone other than Booth and Brennan to know that Pelant had gone to the high school where Carol Morrissey had last worked.
"You're on your way there, aren't you?"
"Nope."
"You're lying in case Flynn asks me any questions."
"You know, I don't think anything. I'm on my way to Atlantic City."
To be continued...