"Oh, hi, Sweetie. What's up?" Angela came bustling into her office early the next morning and found an anxious Brennan waiting for her impatiently. "Hey...you look upset. Are you okay? What's wrong?" Angela's smile quickly turned into a frown of concern as she joined Brennan on the sofa. "Brennan, tell me...what's going on?"

Brennan had planned to remain calm, logical and rational as she explained the situation to her friend, but she couldn't stop a few tears from running down her cheek as she tried to smile. "Actually, Angela, I don't know for sure if anything is wrong. Things may be absolutely correct, but I need to do some research to find out…and I need your help, please." Brennan chewed on the inside of her lip for a second. "I want you to look at a picture for me. I need to know if it's an actual photograph, or if it was made with some sort of program on a computer." She handed Angela the picture she had borrowed from the housekeeper the day before. "Do you remember when we worked on the remains from that slave ship, the Amalia Rose, and we found the remains of a more recent decedent in the wreck? We took the picture of him as a grown man and changed the proportions to that of a child, using one of your computer programs, so we could more easily ascertain his identity."

"Yes, I remember. We used average proportions for male children of a certain age and changed the ratio of the skull to the face and the length of the jaw...things like that. Why?"

"I want you to do the same thing with another picture." Brennan closed her eyes and shuddered slightly. "I want to find out…if that picture was made by altering a picture of the adult Booth. Here's a picture of Booth I took a few weeks ago..."

Angela was shocked as she looked at the two people in the borrowed photograph more closely. "Wow...this looks just like...it can't be, can it?" Looking at Brennan in surprise, Angela continued softly. "This is Hannah, right? And the little boy in this picture looks just like...oh, Sweetie…"

"The child in that photograph looks very much like Parker, and therefore, very much like Booth. He would be approximately the right age to be one of Booth's progeny if he and Hannah had conceived a child together. The housekeeper told us that Hannah had never told the boy's father about giving birth to the child, so if the child is Booth's son she never told him of the child's existence."

"And now Hannah is dead, and the truth may have died with her…"

"Yes, and not only that, the child seems to be missing as well." Brennan sniffled a little bit and wiped away another tear. "There was some evidence of a child living in the house...clothes, books, toys...things like that, but something didn't seem right. There were no other pictures of him...no drawings by children, no clutter, no dirty hand prints on the walls…after having children of my own, I think the house felt too neat...too perfect."

"You're going on your gut, aren't you?" Angela smiled faintly as she watched Brennan run her fingers over the recent photograph of Booth. Studying her friend closely, Angela ventured to more tenuous topics. "Are you going to be upset if Booth had a child with Hannah, Sweetie?"

"Of course not, Angela. That wouldn't be rational. Booth was in a romantic relationship with Hannah for several months, and they were extremely active sexually. I wasn't privy to their birth control arrangements, although I'm sure they must have been using something to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. However, Booth's semen is exceptional...his sperm count is extremely high, and…" Brennan paused as she noticed Angela's raised eyebrow. "If Hannah did become pregnant with Booth's child, she kept it from him. It isn't as if he was hiding something from me all this time, or that he was unfaithful to me. This child's conception would have occurred before Booth and I began our monogamous relationship."

"Brennan, finding out that Booth had another child would be a shock no matter what the circumstances were, but with Hannah being murdered…"

"I know...you're right. I just want to make sure this is an actual photograph of a child that would belong to them, and not a simulated photograph. It looks so much like Booth...there is very little of Hannah's bone structure evident in the child's face." Brennan brushed another tear away and sighed. "Booth is frantic, thinking that he may have a child that he's never met, that he knew nothing about...a child that he can't find, who might be in danger...a child whose mother, someone that Booth once loved deeply, has been murdered in a gruesome manner. I'm upset because Booth is in so much pain as he tries to determine what has occurred. I'm hoping that we can determine somehow if this child actually exists. Maybe if we can find out if this picture was photoshopped, Booth could have some peace of mind..." She took another photograph out of her purse. "This is a picture of Booth as a child, and you can see they seem to share several similar facial characteristics. I really don't know what to think…"

Angela patted Brennan's knee. "I know, Sweetie. I tell you what...let's scan these pictures into my computer and see what we can find out, okay?" Angela quickly ran the pictures through her scanner and walked over to her computer screen to pull up the newly scanned images. "I'm just going to play with the images a bit…try to superimpose them on each other...maybe I'll try matching loci on the face...the cheekbones do seem very similar..."

"Is there a part of your program that would allow us to get an idea of what a child produced by Booth and Hannah would look like? Can you do some possible combinations based on genetic probability? Perhaps we could determine what the most probably phenotype of the child would be."

"Do you mean, can I make up some pictures of a child by combining pictures of Booth and Hannah? I think so, but we'll have to tweak some things." Angela glanced at Brennan as she came over to look at the screen. "One way or the other, we'll figure this out, Bren. We'll get an answer for Booth...you'll see." Reaching out, Angela gave Brennan a gentle hug. "I'm sorry you have to go through this…"

"Thanks for being such a good friend to Booth and me, Angela." Brennan finally was able to give Angela a real smile. "We appreciate you so much."

Oooooooooo

"Hey, Booth. What's going on?" Aubrey found Booth in his office, sitting at his desk, focused intently on his computer monitor. "Booth? Hello…"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry." Booth looked up from his monitor and rubbed his eyes. "I was just trying to look through the birth records for the state of New York from seven to eight years ago to see if I can find any record that may indicate that Hannah Burley gave birth to a son, but it's nearly impossible to find anything that would fit our exact parameters because I don't have enough information. It seems like there were millions of kids born in New York during that time period, and I don't even have a date of birth to go on. Even though the housekeeper told me the child's last name was Booth, it's possible Hannah used the name Burley on a birth certificate, and if she did, she may not have listed the father's name. The housekeeper said Hannah never actually gave anyone her real last name...I knew her as Hannah Burley because that was her news name, but it may not have been her legal name." Booth gave Aubrey a sheepish grin. "We didn't spend a lot of time talking, you know…"

"Yeah, okay." Aubrey tried to shake off his slight embarrassment at Booth's comment about Hannah by changing the subject. "Maybe we can find out if Hannah had some sort of safety deposit box where she kept important papers, like birth certificates and stuff like that. The techs didn't find personal papers or anything like that at the house. Lopez and I are gonna talk to Senator Camden today, so maybe we can get some more detailed information about that kind of thing." Aubrey sat down across from Booth and shook his head. "The whole thing about the house seemed strange to me. It didn't have a lived in feel. It was more like the way that realtors stage a house to sell it, you know? It was too clean...almost too precisely decorated." Aubrey shrugged as he saw Booth smirking at him. "I know. It doesn't make sense. Maybe I'm learning to go with my gut more. Anyway, I'm really more interested in finding out why the senator was letting her live there, apparently rent free. There may be more than meets the eye. From what I know of his reputation, he doesn't strike me as a sugar daddy kind of guy, but on the other hand..." Aubrey paused to answer his phone. "Aubrey...what?! Wow. Yeah, that's really terrible! Awful. Yeah, I'll check into it. Thanks, McAnally. Yeah. I'll get back to you soon. Okay."

"What's wrong, Aubrey?" Booth saw the horrified look on Aubrey's face as he put his phone back in his pocket.

"McAnally says that the body of Ms. Burley's housekeeper, Nataliya Jordan, was found by a jogger in Pembroke Park early this morning. She'd been shot to death...took two bullets in the back. Her purse was still with her, and it seems like nothing had been taken from it. It looks like all of her cash and credit cards were still there...even her car keys."

"Jesus…" Booth exhaled slowly. "Are the Metro guys working the scene?"

"I guess so." Aubrey jammed his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "How strange is that? These murders have to be connected, right? Mrs. Jordan wasn't mugged...she was gunned down in cold blood…It must've happened just a few hours after you talked to her yesterday afternoon..."

Booth nodded. "Yeah…God. I don't know what to think." He logged off from his computer and grabbed his phone, keys, and jacket. "Listen, I've gotta back off on Hannah's murder investigation a little bit since I knew her personally. I think you and Lopez should go ahead and talk to the senator and see what he says about her. McAnally and I are gonna go out to Pembroke Park and see what's going on with the locals...make sure they don't miss anything at the crime scene, you know? I'm gonna call the lab and try to get Cam to meet us out there. We can meet up later and compare notes."

"Right. Good luck, Booth…"

Oooooooooo

"Ready to go, McAnally?" Booth stood hovering over Agent McAnally's desk, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for her to collect her belongings. "I've already called the Jeffersonian, and Dr. Saroyan is going to bring a team and meet us at the crime scene."

Nodding, Agent McAnally quickly grabbed her badge, phone, and service revolver. "Yes, sir, I'm ready."

The petite blonde agent hurried to follow Booth as he briskly walked through the bullpen to take the elevator down to the parking level. Pushing the row of buttons by the door, he gestured for her to enter the elevator before he did. "Why did the locals call us in on this? It seems like maybe it was a mugging gone wrong from what Aubrey told me. I'm not sure why they called in the big guns." They walked through the parking garage to Booth's SUV.

"Actually, sir…" McAnally chewed her lip nervously as she avoided eye contact with the Deputy Director. "Metro didn't exactly call us about the murder. I called them…"

Booth gave her a sideways glance as he pulled the SUV out of the garage onto the busy street. "So how did that work? You happened to call the locals at just the right time to hear that Mrs. Jordan had been found murdered?" Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. "I think I'm missing part of the story here, aren't I…"

"No, sir. Well, maybe, sir." She gazed out the side window of the SUV and cleared her throat nervously before she continued. "You see, sir...um...my brother Charlie is a homicide detective with the Metro police department. I was calling him this morning to give him a hard time about the basketball game last night...he's a big Notre Dame fan, and they were trounced by Villanova…"

"I know...I'm a Nova fan myself. It was a great game. But what's the point of your story?" Booth was trying hard to be patient, without much success, gesturing for McAnally to continue. "How does this lead us back to the housekeeper?"

"I guess it was dumb luck, sir, because Charlie was the guy who took the call to investigate Mrs. Jordan's murder. It's not like we discuss our cases with each other, sir, because that I know that would be highly unethical, but it just came up when he called me back because he heard about the Burley case on the news last night. He asked me if I thought there was a link between the cases since the park where Mrs. Jordan's body was found is so close to where Ms. Burley was killed, and when I told him that Mrs. Jordan was Ms. Burley's housekeeper, Charlie got really interested in what was going on with our case." McAnally's explanation tumbled out quickly. "I wasn't sure the two cases were connected, but I called Agent Aubrey as soon as I could to let him know what was going on."

"I see." Booth grimaced slightly as he thought about the coincidences linking the cases. "Okay, well, if anyone asks us, we'll just say it was just dumb luck. It'll be easier that way. Your brother was pretty smart to make the connection between the two murders, though. Do you think he's FBI material?"

"My brother? He is pretty smart, sir, but it took him a long time to make detective, and I think he wants to enjoy his accomplishment for a while." McAnally wrinkled her nose a bit. "I can't suggest it to him, sir, because he'd get a bigger head than he already has, but he might listen to you. Of course, he might be resistant to the idea of joining the Bureau because I'd be his superior. He might not like his little sister ordering him around…"

Booth nodded in understanding as he grinned at his passenger. "True. Okay, here we are…" He drove the SUV down a winding trail toward the spot where the Jeffersonian van was parked. They made their way through the small groups of people that were milling around the crime scene, trying to find someone who could fill them in on what had happened. "I'm gonna go talk to Dr. Saroyan. You go find your brother, the detective, and see what his take on the scene is." McAnally nodded her agreement and walked in the direction of the Metro squad cars.

Booth walked over to where Cam were squatting next to the body, pulling his note cards and pen from his jacket pocket. "What've we got here?" He used his pen to gesture toward the body. "Looks like two gunshot wounds to the back." He bent down to look at the victim. "Man, those look like big wounds. Are the bullets still in the body?"

Cam looked up at Booth, squinting against the harsh morning sun. "I think so, but we'll know more once we get the body back to the lab. I think the body must've been moved because we don't seem to have enough blood here, given the size of these wounds. Metro officers have been searching around the park for the likely area of the park where she was shot."

"So what...someone staged the crime scene here? They moved not only the housekeeper's body, but her keys and purse? What kind of sicko would do that...leave her body out like this? You'd think the killer would want to hide her body...it just doesn't make sense." Booth scratched the back of his neck as he looked around the scene. "There definitely isn't enough blood…"

"I don't know, Booth. You're right...it's strange. Hodgins can look at the particulates we recover, too, to see if we can get something relating this murder to Ms. Burley's, but based on what I'm seeing here, the gun used on this woman is different than the one used on Hannah. There wasn't as much damage to this woman's body." Cam grimaced as she saw Booth shudder slightly. "I'm sorry, Booth. I shouldn't have been so graphic."

"It's okay, Cam...I'm okay, really." Booth glanced quickly around the park. "My other question is how did someone get off two shots around here without being heard? This park always has a lot of people using it, even in the evening." After a few seconds, he nodded resolutely. "I think whoever did this had to have a silencer on their gun. That's the only thing that makes any sense."

"So this wasn't a crime of passion…" Cam looked back at the housekeeper's body. "Someone came prepared for this…to murder this woman. They knew they wanted to keep the housekeeper quiet permanently."

"It sure looks that way to me." Booth tapped his note cards with his pen. "Mrs. Jordan may have known who shot Hannah and why, and our killer was afraid she'd talk. There's no way this is a coincidence." He reached into his pocket to find his ringing telephone. "Just a minute…Booth." He listened to the call for a few seconds, nodding as he looked around the park for McAnally, who was talking to a uniformed officer, waving at her to join him. "Okay, I'll see you there. Yeah. Okay, ten minutes." So much for backing out of the investigation into Hannah's death. He hung up and waved to a group of people. "Hey, McAnally...over here, please." He smiled at the agent as she quickly came over to join Booth and Cam. "Listen, I need to go by the Jeffersonian for a few minutes to check on some information Dr. Brennan has discovered on the skeletal remains of Ms. Burley. Can you stay here and work with the locals on this crime scene? Maybe your brother can give you a ride back to the Hoover?"

"Sure thing, sir. I'll fill you in on what we find when you get back to your office."

"Great, thanks." Putting his cards in his jacket pocket, Booth quickly explained things to Cam. "Bones found something on Hannah's skeleton she wants me to see. Can you handle getting this body transported to the Jeffersonian? I'll clear it with the Metro detective and ask them to keep looking for the scene of the murder..."

"Yes, I'll take care of transport." Cam stood up and stretched. "It's been a crazy 24 hours, hasn't it?"

"Yeah…" Booth sighed softly. "...and I'm not sure we're done with it yet…"

oooooooooo

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