Disclaimer:I don't own Twilight. This story is slightly based on the TV drama series "Bones". Unfortunately, I don't own that either.

CHAPTER 2

As I pulled out of the café driveway in my black SUV, I got a phone call from Dr. Camilla Saroyan, head of forensics at the Jeffersonian.

"Bella, Agent Black called from 24 Mulberry Drive, about a corpse that was uncovered in a backyard. You need to head over there straight away."

"Ok Cam, I'm on my way."

After 10 minutes of driving, I pulled into a fairly modern 3 bedroom house and saw the entire area covered with yellow "FBI – DO NOT CROSS" tapes. Out in the lawn with Jacob Black, was my assistant Seth Clearwater.

"Bones!" said Jacob, using that stupid nickname to address her.

"Dr. Swan" said Seth, giving a glaring glance to Jacob, obviously nonplussed at the way that he so easily greeted me.

"Seth, Jacob," I greeted them with a nod.

Seth handed me a pair of surgical gloves, forceps, a measuring tape and a few plastic evidence bags as Jacob led the way towards the body.

He started speaking. "Apparently the father, James Cutlass was digging up the back yard to install a skate board park for the kids. He went back into the house to get a drink while the kids continued to dig up the soil. The older boy, Will, age 15, found a bone and thought that he had stumbled upon a dinosaur skeleton. He continued digging until he found the skull and freaked out. His screaming brought the father running out and called the cops who then paged us."

"We've also taken the man into questioning. 13 years back, he was charged with the murder of his wife, Victoria Cutlass but let off because there was no incriminating evidence against him."

"You can't possibly think that the skeleton is the Victoria. If the Cutlass had buried the wife, then do you think that he would readily call the cops to his house?"

"He might've killed and buried her when he was drunk or something, so maybe he forgot the exact position of the body."

I gave him my best don't-shit-with-me look and he looked at me, raising his hands in the air defensively. "Look, Bones, I work for the FBI, I have to look at the case in all angles!"

I huffed at him and looked at Seth. "Have you done a preliminary examination on the skeleton?"

"No, not yet. Agent Black here wanted to wait until you arrived."

"Well, let's proceed gentlemen." Seth led us to through the house and into the backyard where the partially uncovered soil was visible in the soil.

I gave Seth the measuring tape and he started making approximate calculations on his clipboard.

"Female, approximately 157 cm, bulky frame but developed bones, probably a sports player, judging by the bone development, tennis, hockey or lacrosse."

I carefully dug out the skull and dusted off some of the dirt.

"Some sign of head trauma, fractures on the left occipital."

"Caused by like some sort of blunt instrument?" asked Jacob.

"Well, if the object was blunt then it would have required a considerable amount of force to cause such an injury."

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Nothing much, I'll need to properly examine the skeleton to get more information."

"Seth, dig up the skeleton and get some soil samples for Ben" I ordered.

"Right away, Dr. Swan."

Jacob was essentially my ex-boyfriend although we were completely past the awkward stage now. In fact, he had a beautiful that he was going to propose to. Our break up had been mutual and not at all messy. After going out for about two and a half months, we both realized that we were more like best friends than lovers.

Jacob was my confidante and the person I ran to when my life became all screwed up. Vanessa (Jacob's girlfriends) and I were practically sisters so I didn't have to worry about a jealous girlfriend when I met up with him for lunch. Privately I referred to him as my own personal sun.

"So, how's your manuscript coming along?" he asked, snapping me out of my reverie.

I glanced at him. "I'm almost finished with the primary draft, and then I'll show it to, incorporate your changes and then finally give to my editor."

He did a little happy jig, pleased with my answer. Funnily enough, Zack, who is the love interest of the main character, Clara (based on me) resembles Jacob. At the time of writing my first book, I had been going out with Jacob, so I modeled Zack on him. Jacob's ego had grown to the size of a planet after that revelation.

"Bella!" Ben exclaimed as I entered the lab. "Do you have anything for me?" he asked, scanning my torso for anything that he could examine and study.

I held up a small evidence bag which he snatched eagerly. "Knock yourself out." I grumbled towards his retreating figure.

"Ang!" I called in no particular direction. Angela emerged out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

"As soon as I finish examining the skull, you can work on the face reconstruction." She nodded in affirmation.

As soon as she left, Seth came in with a load of FBI officers holding numerous bags, some filled with bone fragments and pieces, and the others with dirt and various other objects found near the body.

The dirt was sent to Ben and the skeleton pieces were placed upon the table for examination.

As soon as Seth and I started identifying the bone pieces and placing them in proper places with respect to the human body, Jacob and Jasper, left the premises, no doubt to interrogate Cutlass.

Cam swiped her card and entered the forensic platform.

"So what do we know?" she asked me while putting on a pair of surgical gloves.

Seth rattled off the information while I took a closer look at the skull.

"What's wrong?" asked Cam when she took in my expression.

"Look at bullet hole. There's no sign of an exit wound so the bullet must have been lodged in the brain, Seth, go ask Ben if he found a bullet in all the soil."

She fingered the hole. "No cracks, this a close range wound, but then, the bullet should have exited the skull."

I took a closer look at the wound. "Don't you think that the wound is too big for a shot from close range? This size of wound generally comes when the bullet is shot far away from the victim."

We both looked at each other. "This makes absolutely no sense" she breathed. "It contradicts everything."

"Not quite so" said Ben, holding up what seemed to be a large metal ball.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing at the thing in his hand.

"It's a bullet." He fit it in the wound. "See, a perfect fit."

"I found this bullet in the soil found in the skull."

Cam took the bullet in her hand while I examined the skeleton again.

"Whoa, this is pretty heavy! Aren't bullets mad today lighter?" she asked.

"Yes, but the bullet wasn't manufactured in the past couple of years was it, Ben?" I asked.

"No it wasn't. How did you know" he asked.

"Bone decomposition shows that that skeleton has been in the mud for at least 200 years."

"Correct." He held up the bullet again. "This is a 24.4 mm caliber bullet. It was manufactured from the 1700s to the mid 1800s. They're not manufactured anymore. This is the bullet that probably the girl."

*Three Hours Later*

I had finished reconstructing the damaged skull and had given it to Angela for face reconstruction and she had celled all of us to her room.

"So, combining the skull and the muscle markers, this is a possible face for our skeleton." And she showed us a hologram of a Native American girl."

"It fits all of Bella's descriptions-female, 157 cm, 25-30 years and-" the slide shifted to show the girl playing lacrosse "- lacrosse player."

"I thought that she said tennis or lacrosse" said Ben.

Angela shrugged. "Well, lacrosse seemed like a more likely option that tennis, lacrosse was invented by the Red Americans. It's the most American sport, even more than baseball." Everyone chuckled.

"Good job Angela" said Cam. "Bella and I are gonna send the skeleton to bone storage, there's no use continuing the investigation, this woman has been dead for almost 200 years."

While packing up the bones with Angela, Cam rushed up to me. "Ben just found these." She held up three very small bones.

"What do you think they are? Ear bones?"

I put them under the microscope and examined them further.

"They're fetal bones. She was pregnant when she was murdered."

Just then, Jacob and Jasper entered the lab. We all looked up from the bones.

"Finished the interrogation?" asked Angela.

"Yup. What did you squints find out from the skeleton?" asked Jacob.

I looked at Angela who repeated all the information form before.

"Yeah, for the interrogation, we kinda understood that Cutlass had nothing to do with this skeleton but-"Jacob looked triumphant and punched Jazz in the shoulder "-look at what this guy managed to squeeze out of him."

I looked at Jazz expectantly. He spoke up. "Cutlass confessed to the murder of his wife 13 years ago."

I almost dropped the bones I was holding. "You're kidding!" I exclaimed.

"I'm not darlin'" he drawled, "but the Seattle police is going to take over the case since he already confessed to the murder."

I snorted, it was amazing how good Jasper was at his work. I had to marvel at his brilliance. But all in all, we all did good work today.