A/N: Another story as promised. ;) I hope you guys enjoyed the last one and I hope you enjoy this one. :)


The Man in the Chimney

By 18lzytwner

Chapter 1

67 Lee Street, Washington D.C. Monday at 10:00 am

Brennan and her team arrived on the scene to find the smell of burning flesh in the air. The forensic anthropologist was nervous because Cullen, instead of Booth, had called her. Although Lee Street wasn't near the FBI Agent's apartment, something about the situation made her uneasy.

"Why did we have to come back to this?" Angela Montenegro asked as she held her nose and grabbed a kit from the back of the van.

"I wasn't the one who took off for Fiji." Brennan's tone was a little harsh.

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry? Do you know how much I've been trying to apologize to Jack for this mess?" The forensic artist wasn't happy at all the sights and smells weren't helping. Hodgins and Dr. Addy arrived in another van and pulled their equipment out as well.

"Can we focus?" Her friend asked.

"Sorry." Angela apologized. The two walked over to the crime scene tape where Brennan's mood improved greatly upon seeing FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth standing there, wearing a small facemask over his nose and mouth.

"So what do we have?" She asked trying to keep her concern from showing.

"Morning to you too Bones." He smirked as he handed masks out to her and the rest of her crew. When he saw the forensic anthropologist give him a slight smile he continued.

"We have a body well… maybe you'd better see this for yourself. It's kind of hard to explain." Booth lifted the crime scene tape and the Squint Squad ducked underneath it. Then he headed for the door of a house that looked as though it had seen better days. It obviously needed a fresh coat of paint, the broken shutters and windows replaced, and a step was missing as they climbed onto the porch.

"Why is this house like this?" Brennan asked.

"It was due for demolition but when they crew got here and smelled that nasty flesh burning smell and they decided to call the cops, who in turn called us." Her partner explained.

"Why did they call you?" Angela asked as she carefully set the case she was carrying down on the floor.

"Why don't you take a look for yourself." The G-man said. Cautiously both Brennan and Angela neared the fireplace at the end of the room. The horrible smell of burning flesh increased as they moved closer, so much so that Angela was trying to hold it back as much as she could from throwing up but she could feel her breakfast rising in her throat and turned back. Brennan didn't seem that fazed by it and continued on toward the flue. There was a pile of something she thought looked like bone and muscle tissue. Then as she peered up into the stack she found the top part of a torso inside.

"He crupt to the chimney and stuffed the tree up." Brennan said in a small voice.

"What was that Bones?" Booth asked.

"Nothing. We need to get this out of here." The forensic anthropologist told him.

"What do you suggest?" Her partner wondered. To answer that, she turned to Hodgins and Zach.

"Did either one of you bring the Saws-all?"

The Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab, Monday at 12:00 pm

Brennan stood over the remains that had been removed from the fireplace. Hodgins and Zach were still trying to remove the torso from the chimney bricks, which was going to take a few more hours.

"So what do you think?" Booth asked as he scanned himself onto the platform.

"Judging by the parts I have to work with at the moment, I'd say it was a fully developed male in his late thirties early forties. Unfortunately I'm only working with part of a femur, this rest of it is still up in the chimney." She said.

"Ok that's disgusting. How is Angela holding up?" Her partner asked.

"Well she's staying in her office until we get a skull to work with. The smell is really getting to her." Brennan gave a shrug and continued to examine the bones and what was left of the muscle tissue.

"Aren't you going to clean them up?" Cam asked as she scanned into the platform.

"I will when I have enough of him assembled. Hodgins and Zach are trying to extract the rest of the victim." Brennan's tone was one of slight annoyance.

"Extract? Booth, where'd you find this guy?" The Head of Forensics asked.

"Inside a chimney, believe it or not and no one is quite sure how he got there." He replied.

"Angela is working on scenarios based off of my estimated height." Brennan told them.

"What height range are you thinking?" Cam wondered.

"Between five foot nine and six foot three. I'm hoping when we clean the bones, any breaks we find will help us narrow it down." The forensic anthropologist said.

"Keep up the good work." Dr. Saroyan turned and left.

"Can you leave the bones for a second?" Booth asked.

"I have to keep putting them together." Brennan objected.

"What I have to say deals with this case but I don't want everyone else to know." The FBI agent said. His partner gave him a look and then pulled her gloves off.

"Lets go to my office." She said. Quickly the two partners headed to the forensic anthropologist's office and shut the door.

"What is it?" Brennan wanted to know.

"In the past two weeks two FBI agents have died." Booth said.

"In the line of duty?" She wondered.

"No. Agent Forest in a car crash and Agent Leonard fell off a ladder and broke his neck." He told her.

"Both agents were killed in freak accidents so what?" Brennan asked, not seeing the connection.

"That's just it, I don't think they were accidents. Three weeks ago there was a big sting in involving the Mob. We shut down their money laundering operation and the restaurant they were laundering the money out of. Their trial starts next week and conveniently the agents involved are turning up dead." Booth explained.

"So you think that this man that was in the chimney could be another Agent." She said.

"Agent John Fitzpatrick to be specific. He never showed up for work today." He told her.

"Is that why Cullen called me this morning?" Brennan asked.

"Yes, he had me checking out Fitzpatrick's apartment this morning." The FBI Agent said.

"So what the next course of action?" She wondered.

"Hope that the man you have on your table isn't Fitzpatrick otherwise the case against the Mob will fall through." Booth shook his head.

To Be Continued…