Two weeks, six days, seven hours, thirty four minutes, and fifteen seconds ago she had left. Now she couldn't come back for another month because of the stupid storm. She was in Antarctica. No one ever thought she would go that far. To a place that's population was never above one hundred. There had been a storm though, that had wiped out one of the biggest bases, and so she had boarded that flight to go help identify the people there. Wouldn't they be frozen? But she had said that the storm had caused a machine to break, which caused an explosion, which is why she was going. Because they wouldn't be in whole, frozen parts. They would be scattered amongst Antarctica. She was on a team of twenty. She had socks that were an inch thick and she would wear about five pairs at a time. But he still worried. She was at a place were seventy degrees below freezing was a hot day. How could someone as rational as her go off like that to Antarctica?! It was crazy! But this was Bones, Dr. Temperance Brennan. She was quite good at rationalizing things. He missed her so much. He worried about her so much. He was so excited this morning. She was to be boarding a plane that afternoon and arriving in DC tomorrow! Now he had to wait another month! Six hours ago he had gone on video chat with her, super excited, and now he was completely broken up. She had tried to tell him she would be fine. That they had plenty of generators, socks, and provisions. So now I sat on my couch, my son, who was going to come pick Bones up from the airport with me tomorrow, was asleep in his room, and even though Parker usually made me happy, today, even with the comfort of my son, I felt… empty.
I waited for something to happen, anything that would take my mind off my partner's absence. I heard a ping from my computer. Maybe there was something. On the screen showed Bones' face. Her blue eyes, her wavy, silky, brown hair. I watched as a smile formed on her face and she said "Hi." We were on video chat. I studied her closer. The smile was fake. It was cover for something. Worry, fear, and anger. Something had happened.
"What happened, Bones'. Are you okay?" I watched as the total fakeness on her face was wiped away so I could see her true emotions.
"I'm fine, for now." She said. I noticed that she seemed to be looking around herself, as if watching her surroundings. She was being cautious in a way that made me feel as if she was worried Epps was coming to kill her.
"What do you mean 'for now!?" I said "What's going on!?"
"Dr. Moore was murdered." She said. Someone was murdered up there?! How could this happen!? "And I can't fly out for the next month, and we don't know who the murderer is."
"Bones!" I didn't know what to say. She was with eighteen others, one of which was a murderer, and all the others possible helpers. She couldn't leave, no one could come there, she had no great way to protect herself, and it was freezing out! I turned my attention back to Bones. There was a tear coming down her face. I wanted so badly to comfort her, to take her hand in his and hold her, tell her everything would be fine. But I couldn't, because she was thousands of miles away from me.
Three hours earlier: Antarctica
"Have you seen Dr. Moore?" I asked for third time. "I need his results." Again the answer was "No." Finally I trudged into his sleeping area, which he shared with three other men. I knocked on the door first, but there was no answer. People didn't like to spent time in there, so it made sense, but maybe he had left his reports in there, so I slowly opened the door. Then I smelt it, the smell that is all too familiar to me, the smell of death. Now, I little more frightened I opened the door. Now I smelt more. Smoke, ash. How something could be burnt anywhere near here I had no idea. Then I saw it. A body was on the bed. I did my evaluations that I do by every time I see human remains, without even meaning to. The person was male. He had been moved, that much was obvious, because there was nothing else burnt in the room, and he was in his late thirties or early forties. They later did a head count. Dr. Moore was the only one missing. It was him. I brought him in the autopsy room. I had told them it was murder, and though the murderer could have easily of been me, I was the only one there who had much experience with murders. After closer examination, I was proved to be right. He had defensive fractures on his hands and arms. His neck was broken, so he had probably been dead before he was burned. There was a killer here, and I had no idea who it was, no way to protect myself, and for all I knew, it could be someone who was sleeping next door to me. Oh, and I was trapped here for the next month. I was freaked out. It reminded me of being buried underground. No way out, not knowing what was going to happen. Limited supplies. At least then I could trust that the person I was trapped with was not going to kill me. I had to talk to Booth. The squints wouldn't be able to help me with this. Booth could. He could help read these people. We could have him interrogate them. Everyone was a suspect, maybe some of them had motive. If any did, Booth could, and would find out.