AN: I am so sorry guys, I know this should have been up a while ago, and its short, only 781 words, but its been a brutal and expensive week and I've had very little time alone to write. I promise to get the rest written and posted over the next few days, tomorrow is friday, so I should have plenty of time over the weekend to get this done. Thanks for understanding. Read and review, I love feedback.
Memories in a Shallow Grave
Chapter one
Spring in DC brought with it a fresh round of corpses and murder to be solved. One such case came on a Saturday morning in May. The remains of a woman were found in a section of woods being used as a paintball course in Hamilton State Park. One poor paint-baller had the misfortune to not only be shot by multiple paint balls, but he also fell onto the remains. When he realized what it was he was laying on, he shouted for help and stood up only to be shot and fall down once again on top of the remains.
Once the remains made it back to the lab, Dr. Saroyan began an autopsy of the flesh left on the skeleton as well as remove the brain to better see the wound. Wendell and Hodgins assist Cam in her endeavor to begin with, though it's obvious that Wendell is there mostly because Dr. Brennan is being uncharacteristically melodramatic about the remains due to her pregnancy and he doesn't want to annoy her.
Willow arrives just in time to watch Cam set the brain in a metal bowl beside the autopsy table with the comment, "It's hard to believe that these three little pounds are the reason we are who we are."
Willow stood beside the bowl and watched with the others as beetles crawled out of the wound in the brain. "Oh, god!" Cam exclaimed.
Willow whimpered and took a step back. "That is so not supposed to happen."
Wendell took a step back and announced, "There's beetles in there!" at which point Dr. Hodgins turned from the residue on the victims clothing he was examining to watch as more beetles squirmed from the brain. He grabbed a container and began collecting them. "Come to papa my little friends! You see, they may have ingested some of the particulates that were on the weapon."
"Judging by the shape of the injury and the fact that some of the brain tissue seems to be torn, it looks like something metal," Cam said while examining the brain, "with a jagged edge."
And after some creepy comments from Jack, and a text from Dr. Brennan, Wendell and Willow began the process of debriding the remains.
As the squints worked many things were quickly discovered about the case. On top of being dead, the victim had multiple remodeled fractures on the left side, and she had been lying in linseed oil. And that the victim's name was Claire Soriano, and there was two missing person's reports filed on her in the last six months. After interviewing Claire's husband it came up that she was being treated by Dr. David Yarzick, a specialist in amnesia, PTSD and drug addiction.
It was soon decided between Agent Booth and Dr. Sweets, the young psychologist, that Willow would join them when they went to interrogate Dr. Yarzick at his facility to help her gain some expertise in psychology to help her with her research. Though, admittedly, Booth was surprised that Willow was working on a third PhD.
Willow found herself sitting the backseat of Booth's car behind the aforementioned man and Sweets. Both men were talking quietly about what seemed to be talking about Booth and Dr. Brennan's relationship. Clearing her throat Willow leaned forward in her seat. "As fascinating as this conversation is, could we perhaps talk about the case?"
The men glanced at each other and nodded. They then began to go over facts of the case between the three of them.
When the group arrived at the facility, they were greeted by what appears to be a very large house, not quite what one would expect for a facility of its type to look like. Rolling gardens surrounded the property and the driveway. A receptionist led the group to meet with the doctor.
After a few minutes of Sweets gushing and praising the man, Willow chimed in with a few comments that were slightly less enthusiastic. "Isn't the idea of replacing one addiction, a destructive one, with something else, a positive or less destructive habit fairly old? I don't think I read anything new in that paper," and, "chewing gum could end up being harmful as well, most gums have quite a bit of sugar in them, and could create cavities, in which bacterial diseases could take hold," were among the lowballed words.
After a sputtered and indignant response from the doctor, Booth began the questions. They were quickly pointed in the direction of a man who had been in a plane crash that killed his wife. He had transferred his feelings to Claire, to which Booth had responded, "Sounds like a stalker to me."