Chapter 2

"I'm expecting a fax from the Jeffersonian, Commissioner," Brennan said, striding into his office. "It will be from the temporary forensic artist with a rendering."

He looked up from the mass of paperwork on his desk and smiled humorlessly at the woman.

"Good morning Doctor Brennan, how are you?"

"I'm fine Mister Scorpio," she said, shortly.

"And Special Agent Booth?" he said, after the man walked in behind the doctor.

"Fine, sir, I'm good," he said, "And we were also wondering if you would assign us one of your detectives to assist with some of the footwork?"

No one noticed Detective Spencer outside the office, eavesdropping.

"It shouldn't be a problem as our only other case is a rash of bicycle thefts," he said.

Booth said, "I don't know, might be connected," and smiled at Brennan, who just looked disgusted.

"I have a question, Commissioner," she said.

"Yes, Doctor Brennan?"

"Are all your staff detectives? Because I only see one man in uniform."

Mac looked at the woman sourly and said sarcastically, "We can only afford the one uniform and it's Pete's turn this week to wear it."

Bones just looked at the other man in confusion until Lucky poked his head in.

"Fax came in for Doctor Brennan." "Thanks, and since you're here, you can also assist Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan."

"Great," he says, "It gets me off the high profile bike theft case."

"Yeah, kick it over to Rodriguez and Harper."

Pete the uniformed cop, brought in the faxes and handed them to Brennan.

"We'll need to go through your mug shots and missing persons file-"

Lucky cuts her off.

"I don't think you need to do that. Take a look, Mac."

Brennan handed over the papers and said, "Why do you say that, Detective?"

"Call me Lucky."

"No, I don't think so."

Booth whispered, "I think that's his name."

Brennan looked incredulous, "Seriously? Did your parents not like you?"

Mac breaks it up before Lucky can answer.

"We can discuss names later. Detective Spencer is right, we know who they are."

"And?" Booth says impatiently.

"Claudia Zacchara and Sonny Corinthos."

"Are you sure? Positively, with out a doubt?"

"Yes, I'd stake my life and my career. It's them."

Booth claps his hands together and announces, "Time to call in the Mob Squad, get out of this one horse town!"

Brennan looks at him incredulously and said, "Where have you seen horses?"

"It's an expression, Bones."

"I think it's premature to call in the- What did you call them?"

"Why? They were involved in organized crime and that's not our specialty. We can leave."

Brennan looked at Booth as if he were a simple child.

"The severity of the wounds to the fe- Miss Zacchara indicate a personal vendetta, not a impersonal dispatching of a business rival. I believe there is more to it."

Booth sighed heavily.

"Fine," he said and looked to Lucky and Mac, "Who do you have in the way of persons of interest?"

Lucky leaned against Mac's desk and blew out his breath, "Well, Mrs. Corinthos, Carly, would be on the short list. She even threatened Zacchara while she was in the hospital in front of several witnesses."

Mac looked at Lucky and then at the other two, "I'd probably add Jason Morgan. There was supposed to be in house trouble, and that's who I'd suspect."

"Anyone else?" Booth asked.

Mac leveled a gaze at the other man.

"No, I think you're going to have to do some detective work now, Agent Booth."

Booth and Brennan looked at each other and then turned to Spencer, and Seeley said, "Do you know where we can find Mrs. Corinthos?"

It was quiet at the safe house. Jason and Liz lay in each others arms, sated and drowsing.

Jason suddenly spoke.

"You don't have to stay with him."

Liz tensed.

"We've had this conversation before. You're life is so dangerous, I'm already nervous that someone's been following me."

"No one in the business knows about us," he stated adamantly.

She moved closer to Jason.

"Then… I think it might be Lucky."

"Say the word, Elizabeth and he won't-"

"No!" she shouted, "You are not going to prison for Lucky Spencer!"

"Who said anything about prison? We'd be gone… We could be in Sao Paolo tomorrow."

She looked at him.

"Really?" she asked, sitting up, "Not in the killing Lucky way, but in the disappearing. We could just go."

"Pack some mementos and we're gone."

Liz thought, and then said, "Give me a week. I have a OB appointment and I want to talk to my Grams. But next week, let's get the hell out of Port Charles."

Jason's smile lit the room.

"Anything you want, you know I'll do it. Next week, Elizabeth, a whole new life."

Booth and Bones entered the Metro Court Hotel with Lucky. After a stop at the desk, they were pointed in the direction of Carly Corinthos' office.

"Mrs. Corinthos," Booth said, knocking on the open door and peering inside.

"What? I'm busy." She looked up from her computer. "Lucky, hey cousin, what's up?"

Booth and Brennan give each other significant glances.

"Carly, this is Special Agent Seeley Booth, FBI and Doctor Temperance Brennan. They're here to talk to you about Sonny."

"What about him? Egotistical piece of shit disappeared six months ago, haven't seen him since."

Booth cleared his throat, "There were remains found in the woods. One of the bodies is Mr. Corinthos."

Carly looked doubtful. "For sure, he's dead? Because he's faked his death before."

"No, we're sure it's him," Brennan said.

"So… the bastard is dead. Oh well, now I have to find a way to tell Morgan his dad is dead. Not like it wasn't hard enough explaining that he was missing. Selfish bastard."

Bones spoke up, "I don't understand, Mrs. Corinthos. It was selfish of him to be murdered?"

"You don't know Sonny like I did. He used to run off all the time, go to his little island with a mistress."

"It seems like you had a contentious relationship," Booth said, looking her in the eye.

"Yeah, you could call it that. Or you could call it love. We did, for a while."

Bones was stymied by the woman. "You're very confusing Mrs. Corinthos. On the one hand you curse your dead husband and then say you loved him."

Carly looked at her and said, "What's not to get? I married him four times, of course I loved him."

Booth just shook his head and continued. "We do believe your husband was murdered. We also know there is a list of people who could be considered persons of interest, including you," Booth said. "Could you tell us the last time you spoke to or saw your husband?"

Carly snorted.

"Okay, my husband was a whoring, lying piece of shit. The last time I saw him, we were fighting about him and Claudia Zacchara. That tramp had been sleeping with him for I don't know how long, and I was sick of it. When he blew me off I trashed the house and called a friend, Jerry Jax. We made plans to get rid of him-"

Booth cut her off.

"Um, you're incriminating yourself, by the way." She blew out her breath, exasperated

"I don't really care. "You're the one who came in here telling me my shit head husband is dead and then accusing me of doing it. Well, we didn't. Jerry disappeared before Sonny did. Haven't spoken to him since."

"Conspiracy is still a crime," Brennan said, eyeing her.

"But we didn't do anything, we just talked. Then, Jerry was gone, I couldn't get a hold of him. And about a week later Sonny was gone. I assumed with Claudia, because she was gone, too."

"But you did talk with this Jax about killing your husband?" the woman continued.

"Are you going to go on about that? It was 'Oh I hate him, I wish he was dead, I wish he would stop cheating on me.' That kind of stuff. It's not like anyone named a monetary figure. Well, I didn't."

"You also had words with Claudia Zacchara before her disappearance." Carly's eyes went deadly. "I told that whore if she didn't stay away from my husband I'd make her life a living hell. And if it was true that she had anything to do with my son being hurt I would fucking kill her. So yes, you could say we had words." "Okay, Mrs. Corinthos, I think we have what we need," Booth said, "But don't leave town."

Which garnered another snort from Carly.

"I have two kids and a hotel, I'm staying. And now that I'm officially a widow, I can get remarried."

Brennan looked aghast and Booth just pushed her out of the room.

Lucky turned to his cousin.

"Um, see ya later, Cous."

The three were walking out of the Metro Court when Brennan said, "You and the deceased have something in common, Booth. What with the recent faking of your death."

"Yeah, yeah," he said and strode ahead of her out the door.

"We need to speak to Miss Zacchara's family, as well," Brennan said, sliding into the passenger seat.

"It looks like we're going to Crimson Point," Lucky said, starting the car.

"How quaint," Booth said, nudging Bones, "They have a Crimson Point."

"Stop poking me and buckle your seat belt."

Soon they were in the Zacchara home, sitting in the living room. They'd been introduced to Anthony and Johnny Zacchara, father and brother to the deceased, respectively.

"I'm sorry to tell you that remains have been identified as Claudia Zacchara," Booth said, watching the two men closely. He witnessed their pointed glance at each other.

"I'm not saying anything with out my lawyer," Anthony said, "And neither is he," pointing at his son.

"We don't need to get lawyers involved, Mister Zacchara. We're trying to find out how Claudia died. We're not accusing anyone of anything," Brennan said, "We're trying to establish a timeline so we can narrow down the time of death."

Booth nudged her, "Bedside manner sucking, Bones." Booth turned to the younger Zacchara, "When was the last time you saw your sister?"

Anthony piped up, "Don't answer that!" Johnny just gave him a disgusted look and then turned back to Booth. "Right before this crazy fucker threw her out," he said, motioning to his father.

"Johnny! Shut up!"

"Why did you throw her out of the house, Mister Zacchara?" Brennan asked, watching the man go red with anger.

"Because she's a lying whore like all women!" he shouted.

"Pay no attention to him, he's certifiable. I'll answer your questions if I can," Johnny said, shaking his head.

"The hell you will!" Anthony shouted again.

"Dad, you want to go back to the hospital? Because you're acting unstable. You might need an-"

"Bastard," Anthony whispered and then fell silent.

"We're you aware of the rumor that your sister was having an affair with Sonny Corinthos?" Booth asked.

Anthony put in, "Like I said, lying whore!"

"Dad, seriously, be quiet. And yes, I'd heard that. But my sister was… How should I say this? Promiscuous? You could throw a rock in Port Charles and hit ten people she'd slept with."

"Were you also aware of the talk that Claudia was responsible for the shooting that left Mister Corinthos' son in a coma?" Brennan asked.

"I don't know anything about a shooting."

"But did you hear the rumor?" Booth reiterated.

"Yes, I've heard that particular tale."

"You don't believe it?" Brennan queried.

"I'm saying, there were quite a few people who wanted Sonny Corinthos dead."

"Such as?" Booth asked.

"Well, a gentleman with an accent came to house one night, with a business proposal. This accented fellow stated in the business deal that he could get us access to Corinthos' water front property. When I asked him how, he stated Sonny would not be around."

"Are you going to tell us who this 'accented fellow' is or are you just going to lead us around in a circle?" Booth asked sarcastically.

"A gentlemen by the name of Jerry Jax. Now, keep in mind that we never accepted this proposal, and I never heard from him again until about a month ago. He asked after Claudia, I told him she was still missing."

"Thank you, Mister Zacchara, we'll be in touch," Booth said, standing.

Once out the door and in the car, Brennan said, "What is it with this town? Are they all crazy? What's wrong with them? Is it in the water?"

Lucky shook his head, "I don't know, but that kind of craziness is common, you get used to it."

Booth ended his day by putting out an alert for Jerry Jax as a person of interest in the Zacchara/Corinthos murders. Between the Feds and the local cops, he figured they'd have him pretty soon. He made some notes and then decided to call it a day.

Back at the hotel with Brennan, there was conversation.

"I don't know why you refuse to eat your dripping, messy pie in your room," Bones said, eyeing the dessert, clearly appalled.

Booth looked at her, savoring the moment.

"It's not as much fun by myself. Plus, I thought we could go over the case while I ate my messy, disgusting- You sure you don't want some?"

She sighed and took a seat opposite him.

"I'll stay and discuss the case, if you stop waving your pie at me."

"Waving my pie, that's funny, Bones," he said, laughing and taking another bite.

"Why is that funny?" she said, perplexed.

"If I've got to tell you, you won't understand."

"Evidently," she said and pulled out a notebook. "Let's get this over with, so you can go eat your pie. In your room."