Chapter Two – The Man In The Bow Tie
The cot idea had been a bad one. Booth had regretted his choice from the moment that he had woken up. He decided, as he tried to rid his neck of the deep chink, that he would rather sleep on the sofa. He knew that Bones was sleeping soundly; he could hear her very faint snores. That and the alarm would not be anywhere near going off, it was still pitch black outside. Despite having only gotten a few hours sleep, Booth felt more then ready to face the day. He was as quiet as possible as he approached the door to the room where Bones was sleeping, closing it silently before heading back to his place on the sofa. He flicked on the TV and tried to find something good to watch. He found an old funny movie and settled down to watch it. He had a few more hours before Bones would join him in the world of the conscious.
By the time Bones did wake up, he had already ordered breakfast for her and the first thing he did was hand her a hot, strong cup of coffee.
"Here we go Sunshine. I also ordered pancakes, toast and fruit."
"Thank you Booth. It's nice to wake up to this considering the day ahead."
"Eat up. We'll need our energy"
An hour later, Booth was trying to decide what to wear. He wasn't officially there as FBI but then again he was there on business. So what should he wear? His time honored suit or a simple pair of jeans and a shirt? All things considered, he had better stick with the suit. He wanted to make an impression that he wasn't going to stand for any shit. At ten minutes pat nine, they were waiting outside for their ride. At precisely five to, Maggie arrived in the car.
"Ready?"
"Ready"
It was a short ride to the university and Booth was fairly certain that they could have walked it but according to Maggie, it was far to easy to get lost. The arrived at the campus and the first thing that Booth noticed was just how quiet it was. An older man, in his late fifties at least, stood at the main entrance, a tray of coffees in his hand. Bones looked happy to see him and Booth put two and two together. This must be the legendary Asquith.
"Temperance, you look wonderful"
He pulled her into a quick hug before offering her one of the coffees. He handed one to Maggie before finally paying attention to Booth, who was more then happy to remain on the sidelines. Sean Asquith didn't look like any kind of professor, truth be told he looked like an older version of Peewee Herman dressed in that ridiculous bow tie. He was wearing a pair of pants that were too short and his shirt was only half buttoned. His hair was all over the show. He didn't look anything like Booth had pictured him too.
"Special Agent Seeley Booth, I presume?"
"You presume right. Nice to meet you Dr. Asquith"
"Call me Sean. Right, shall we get started?"
Booth took the coffee that was offered to him, trying to look happy even though he was sipping on the sweetest caffeinated drink on earth. He kept to the back of the small group, his eyes on Bones and Asquith. They were friends; he could that much by the relaxed body language. Bones was getting more and more excited, her steps becoming longer in her eagerness to see the bones and Booth had to keep at a half trot just to keep up with the striding trio. They went past several tall, old looking buildings, Sean giving a brief run down of each stature but Booth wasn't really listening. He wanted to get to work. They entered a cool building and Booth followed them down twisting hallways before Sean suddenly come to a stop.
"And here we are"
The bones were laid out in a table, much like the ones that were housed in the Jeffersonian, a large plastic cover keeping them away from curious hands.
"Do you know anything?"
"You're the pro here Temperance."
Bones leaned over the body, her eyes scanning quickly.
"Female, between 19-25 years old."
Bones leaned over and searched in her bag, pulling out a camera and throwing it to Booth. He caught it neatly, frowning at her.
"Do you want me to take pictures Bones?"
"Yes"
"Glad you asked so politely."
"From every angle."
Sean stepped forward, frowning as Booth took the required pictures.
"Temperance, I can provide you with a student who is more then adequate at taking the pictures that you require."
Bones didn't even look up from her position over the skeleton.
"Booth knows what he's doing."
With that small boost of confidence, he resumed taking his pictures, handing back the camera after ten minutes knowing that he had captured every angle possible.
"Sean, have you got some scrubs that we can put on?"
"Of course."
He looked at Maggie and she went flying out the door, arriving back moments later with three sets of scrubs. Booth pulled his on, unsure of what his job would entail. It could be anything. He watched as she carefully lifted the lid off the body and gently began to touch the remains.
"No obvious scarring to the bone. No visible head injury."
She traveled down more and paused at the hands.
"The distal and intermediate phalanges are broken. There is also slight damage to the proximal phalanges."
Booth smiled widely at Sean.
"See, this I know. She has injured her fingers at all joints"
Bones flashed him a smile.
"Well done"
"I learn from the best."
She continued her way down the rest of the skeleton, returning to the top with a small frown on her face.
"There are no other injuries. Just her hands."
"Bones, I think this girl was killed by someone she trusted."
Sean shook his head, his hands flying to the bow tie that sat at his throat.
"Not possible"
Booth stood in front of the short scientist.
"If she had been killed by a stranger, she never would have gone so willingly. She fought hard"
Bones stepped between them and gave Sean a small smile.
"I'll send some of the remains back to my lab and see what they can find. Do you think that I could have moment alone with Agent Booth?"
Sean bowed slightly and walked out, Maggie close at his heels. Booth turned and followed Bones back to the body.
"I'm right. She was fighting something"
"Do you smell that Booth?"
"Smell what?"
"Lean close and smell her"
Booth frowned but did as he was told. A strong smell, something that he could not put his finger on, burnt his nostrils.
"What is that?"
"Formaldehyde. Mostly used to embalm bodies but I think it had a huge part in her death."
"I thought you hated theories?"
She flashed him another smile.
"I learn from the best."
It had been a long day. Despite all of Sean's effort's to get Bones to tell him what was going on in the case, she kept quiet. Something that Booth liked to think was because of everything that he had taught her. They ordered in Chinese and with the lap-top propped open between them, talked to Angela as they ate.
"So when is the skull due in?"
Bones waited to finish her mouthful of food before speaking.
"Tonight hopefully. Do you think you could do me a sketch by morning?"
"Yes. You owe me dinner when you get back though. Hey Booth, how are all those intellectuals treating you?"
"Like I'm stupid. Except I think that I absorbed something in the last year, I actually understood what Bones was saying"
"Well that's progress. Do we have a theory yet?"
Booth exchanged a quick look with Bones before answering.
"A tentative one. She was taken by someone she trusted. There was no damage to the skull. Also, formaldehyde played some sort of part."
"Huh?"
"She reeked of it. We have no idea why though"
"Ok, well I'll get Jack to run some tests on the skull, see what secrets that holds. Anything else?"
Bones shook her head.
"That's it."
"You guys had better bring some killer souvenirs home."
"We will. By Ange"
"Bye guys."
Bones clicked her lap-top closed and focused on her food.
"So tell me, why didn't you tell all this to Sean? I thought you trusted him?"
"I do. It's a murder investigation and I would rather not say anything until we have all the details. We don't even know when she died. If formaldehyde was involved, it's nothing more then a guessing game."
"Why?"
"Have you ever heard of Lye?"
"Of course."
"Formaldehyde is far more corrosive then that. It can cause dizziness, asthma, depression, nausea and fatigue just to name a few. In large doses, it would eat through any soft tissue."
"Which makes the body look old."
"Exactly. I do know one thing for certain"
"What?"
"She was put into the formaldehyde while she was alive."
"How long would she have lasted?"
"Ten minutes at most. The fumes would have killed her. But the pain would have been incredible."
"So how would the killer have gotten hold of such large amounts?"
"Anyone considered a trusting student could have. All they would need to say was that they were conducting an experiment. I don't think you would need that much to begin with, 3-4 liters at the most would have been more then sufficient."
"So the killer tells her that he needs her help and then goes with him."
"Trusting that everything would be ok."
"But its not. She gets killed and the murderer thinks he gotten off Scott free"
"The question is was this he first kill?"
"It seems far too neat to be his first. First kills are messy and experimental. This was precise."
"So why dump the body in a tennis court?"
Booth poured her another glass of wine.
"Because he's cocky. We need to go to the police and back track, try to find a connection between other murders."
"So another early morning then?"
"Afraid so. But I'll have breakfast ready for you when you wake up"
Bones smiled widely and pushed away her empty plate.
"Sounds like a plan.
