As soon as she saw the remains that had been delivered to them anonymously her whole demeanor changed. She knew this man. Even though the remains were entirely bone that had been crudely striped of its flesh, she knew him. She knew she did, but her heart and her mind refused to accept it. There had to be another explanation. It couldn't be him. He hadn't been gone for very long. It had only been two weeks and she had received word from him just two days ago. Cullen had promised her he would personally come and tell her if something had gone wrong. She immediately demanded that everyone leave the platform. No one was to go anywhere near these bones. With that she ran from the platform to the restroom by her office and began to retch.
When she came back to the remains she was calm again, but she still wouldn't let anyone else on the platform as she studied the bones. After a short while, as she stood there staring at the bones, she began repeating, over and over, "No…no…..no." For a while it was just very softly, but as the hour drew on her cry became more pitiful. More anguished. "NO…NO…NO" until finally she stood cradling the skull in her arms and screaming "NO NO NO" over and over, as tears poured down her face.
No one could understand what had gotten into her. Why she was reacting this way to these remains? When it became apparent to everyone in the lab that she was having some sort of emotional and mental breakdown, Cam took pity on her. She filled a syringe with a strong sedative and, after gaining access to the platform, snuck up behind the distraught anthropologist and injected her. Brennan turned on her immediately, becoming like a feral cat that had been cornered, refusing to give up the precious skull as she held on to it as if her very life depended on it. Angela had to pry the skull from her best friends grip as the sedative began to take effect and she finally calmed enough for her friends to come near her again.
Jack carried Brennan to her office and laid her on her couch to sleep until the sedative wore off. Hopefully they could get some answers while she was out. Jack watched her as she slept and his heart broke as he saw that, even in a sedated sleep, her tears had not slowed.
Cam directed Vincent to take the victim's skull and apply the tissue markers so that Angela could give him a face. As soon as he was handed the skull, he noticed that there was a neat hole in the rear of the skull. Pointing it out to Cam, he confirmed to her that while it could have been cause of death, it was not made by a bullet, but possible a large drill of some kind. After studying it for a short while longer, he told Cam that it was not, in fact, the cause of death as he could see signs of healing to the bone and that it was most likely done as a medical procedure.
While Vincent worked with the skull, Wendell studied the rest of the remains. He noted that the victim had been inflicted with many injuries over the course of his lifetime, beginning in early childhood. It seemed that there were very few bones that hadn't seen some form of trauma at one point or another, the feet seeming to have born the worst of the injuries. There were only three injuries that were sustained at the time of death. All three were bullet holes to the torso, one having gone straight through the victims heart, and would have killed him instantly. When he pointed these injuries out to Cam, she went pale. The positioning of the bullet wounds shouted to her that this was done by someone in law enforcement with the intent to kill. There were other marks, too. Ones made post-mortem. Whatever the killer had used to strip the bones had left tiny scratches and indentations in the bones.
Knowing they had to get a face for this man as quickly as possible, she turned to Vincent to see if he had finished placing the tissue markers, but he was already in Angela's office turning over the skull to her. Cam decided to check on Brennan, making sure she was still out from the sedative. After assuring herself that Brennan wouldn't wake for some time yet, she headed over to the artist's office to ask her to please work as swiftly as possible, without diminishing the accuracy of her results. Angela seemed to understand the nature of the request and agreed that it was best to have an identity before her friend woke from her drug induced sleep.
The lab had been quiet for over an hour when there was a loud cry and a crash that came from the artist's office. As the others hurried to find out the cause, no one noticed that Brennan had woken from her sleep and was slowly bringing her mind out of the fog that was a result of the drugs Cam had given her.
As Jack, Cam, Vincent and Wendell reached Angela's office, they found her huddled on the floor with her hands over her mouth. Tears were pouring down her cheeks and she was staring at the large computer monitor that was used when she was working on establishing a victim's identity. As one they all turned to view the results, curious to find out what it was about this victim that had completely devastated not only Brennan, but now Angela as well. And as one they emitted a large gasp as they all recognized the face of the man on her screen. One by one they each began to break down, each of them affected in a different way by the revelation Angela's work had brought about. Suddenly there was a heart-wrenching sob from the artist's doorway as Temperance Brennan caught sight of the face that had so shocked the others. She immediately crumpled to the floor in a faint.
It was the face of her partner, her best friend and, as of the day before he left on an undercover assignment, her lover. It was the face of Special Agent Seeley Joseph Booth.