Title:
The Woman in the Chair
Author:
Shannon - shannyfish
Disclaimer:
I do not own "Bones" or its characters, Fox does. This is merely
for entertainment purposes only.
Rating:
PG-13
Summary:
With a serial killer who is taking three days to kill women on the
loose, Brennan and Booth race to try to catch him before he goes
after another victim.
Warning:
Spoilers up through the end of season three, since I'm not really
sure if I'll be using anything at the moment. Would take place
during season four.
Chapter 1 – "Three Days"
Author's Note: This is my first "Bones" fanfic, I always appreciate constructive criticism.
………………….
Monday
Booth rushed into the warehouse building with his gun drawn. He'd received a tip while he was on his way back to the Jeffersonian and he'd immediately changed his route. Back up had been called, but he couldn't wait. There wasn't time. This was day two and thoughts of what he'd find haunted his mind as he hurried inside the dark warehouse. The main area was empty, just a few wooden boxes scattered and among them some squatters. He didn't pay any attention to them as he slowly edged through the empty space towards where a lone door waited at the other end, it was much darker…like a deep charcoal, and Booth wondered if it foretold the true agony that awaited him behind it.
Two days.
He knew all too well what could happen in those two days alone. Their killer didn't need a whole additional twenty-four hours; he didn't want to think of the damage that he could do in that small amount of time.
A sudden scream that continued to fill the empty space and surround him caught him off guard. Booth forgot to breathe for a moment, but his heart raced at an unimagined pace. The scream was that much of a woman, he was sure of that. His heart was panicking, but he was forcing his mind to stay as clear as possible. He forced himself to start walking with his weapon up and headed in the direction the scream had emanated from. The silence lasted only mere seconds before more screams joined in to create a soundtrack of agony. Booth quickened his pace and tried to keep his focus. It was hard. One thought repeated over in his head.
Please God, not her…
It became a mantra…a prayer…a plea…
…………………..
Friday
72 hours earlier…
Booth had picked up Brennan from the Jeffersonian after getting a call about a skeleton found when firefighters had swept a building after extinguishing a fire in it. He looked over at his partner as he drove, she looked…off. He studied her off and on for about five minutes before she apparently picked up on his spying.
"What?" she asked with irritation lining her voice.
"Nothing," Booth said quickly and turned his eyes solely to the road.
"No, why were you looking at me like that?" Brennan asked curiously.
Booth shrugged, "You just look…different for some reason."
"I'm fine," she said non-convincingly and turned to stare out of her passenger side window.
"Alright," he said a bit quietly and dropped the subject. He wasn't going to push things. If she wanted to tell him, then she would…or he'd try to get it out of Angela later.
It didn't take them long before they pulled up in front of the warehouse that had been set on fire, but it looked like the fire department had responded quite quickly. Only part of the building had been burned, all the rest looked just fine. "This should be fun," Booth mumbled as he parked the company vehicle with the rest of the law enforcement vehicles that were lined up out of the way of the massive crimson fire trucks.
"Do we know if the skeletal remains were found in the burn area?" Brennan questioned as she reached for the door handle.
"No idea," Booth said as he opened his own door and got out. He waited until she was out on the other side before adding, "But we'll find out soon enough."
They made their way through the crime scene tape and up to the firefighters and the police officers who were conversing about their current location. "You the F.B.I.?" one of the firefighters questioned and the others quieted down and all eyes went to Booth and Brennan as they waited for a response.
Booth had his ID and badge out and ready, "I'm Agent Seeley Booth and this is Doctor Temperance Brennan with the Jeffersonian."
"I'll show you where the skeleton is," one of the cops spoke up. "It's pretty bad, though…there's still some…uh tissue left…"
"Doesn't it need to be cleared first?" Brennan questioned.
One of the firefighters spoke up to respond to her query, "No, Ma'am, it wasn't in the burn area. It was on the other end of the warehouse."
The officer led them to the safe non-burned area of the warehouse. As they entered, he started to inform them of how they found things. "It was an anonymous call that called it about the fire. As far as we know, no one else was here. The fire didn't touch the body, so as far as we can tell…this body was burned before the fire started. It's in a completely different area."
Brennan let out a long yawn and covered her mouth trying to hide it.
"You need something more interesting, Bones?" he asked.
"What?" she asked slightly confused.
"You're yawning," he pointed out. "Are we boring you?"
"Oh," Brennan said realizing what he'd meant. "No, I just couldn't sleep…"
He waited until they were shown the remains and the officer left until continuing the conversation. He watched as she started to examine the skeleton in the chair. The cop was right; there was still muscles and bits of flesh attached in various area. "You know what Sweets would say about you not being able to sleep, right?"
"I don't like psychology," she simply stated.
Booth went on just the same, "He'd say you had something on your mind…"
"Like what?"
"I don't know… Your dad? Russ? Your next book?" he prompted.
"No to all of thee above," Brennan said as she continued to move about examining. "I haven't decided if I'll write another one yet."
He stopped and stared at her, he'd had a thought of what else could be on her mind. "Zack?" Booth asked quietly.
"What about Zack?" Brennan asked flatly and without emotion. She didn't look over to Booth; she just kept her concentration on her work. It wouldn't work, though, she knew this. He would see through her façade. They'd worked together long enough that they both knew each other. She just didn't want to discuss it at the moment.
Booth frowned concerned and knew that he could easily bring it up again later. He'd make sure that she was alright once they had time in between bone results later back at the Jeffersonian. "What do you think? Was it burned?" he asked changing the subject for her sake.
"Burned by acid…like the others…" she said and looked up at her partner.
"This is the fifth," Booth said staring at the body. The F.B.I. had recently declared the killer, who had been killing single women over the last three weeks as the Three Day Killer. The F.B.I. wasn't too big on creative names, but the designation that they gave him said it all. It took him exactly three days to torture and then murder each of his victims, and then he took twenty-four hours off in between victims. They weren't sure if it was like vacation time for him or if it was merely his way of stalking his next victim. Either way, the killer had an exact routine with how the three days he spent with his victims went.
Day One: The victim is kidnapped and strapped to a chair. They are then tortured by use of electricity. They are not injured severely, mainly just to jar them, though it leaves behind marks.
Day Two: The victim, still in the chair, is cut in various locations, none of them are deadly in any way.
Day Three: The victim has acid poured over their body. The acid is made from acids and cleaners that can be picked up anywhere. When the body is found, it still contains some tissue, but is mainly skeletal remains.
"We have to find him, Booth," Brennan said firmly as she stared at him from where she was crouching near the body.
"We will…" Booth promised.
She turned her gaze back to their victim. Her name was Delaney Griffith. It wasn't often that she took any sort of leap, but that was the one woman that they put as most likely the Three Day Killer's latest victim. The skeletal remains matched up roughly with what she knew of the woman. They would, of course, match the DNA and dental records to make sure. "It's her…"
"I know."
…………………..
TBC…
