As it turned out, Booth and Brennan's breakthrough with Lisa's fellow dancer was the only lead that came from the leg work done. Catherine's trip to the victim's hotel room didn't turn up anything new, the room had been cleaned to many times since the girl had gone missing.
Back at headquarters, Booth went in search of Archie, who would review the security footage, while Brennan sought out Grissom to see if her dentals from the skeletons had turned up any names. She was part of the way to his office when a familiar voice called out to her.
"Hey, Dr. Brennan, wait up," the Texas accent rang through the hall.
She turned around to see Nick Stokes beaming at her, and she noted that his grin was very similar to Booth's charm smile.
"Nick, right?" she asked him and he nodded, "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk longer before, I was on my way to see your coroner," she apologized.
"Ah, no problem. What are you working on now?"
"Trying to find Dr. Grissom actually."
He laughed, "Sometimes that man is like mist, there one minute, gone the next."
"Well actually mist burns off when the sun comes out, but your analogy is accurate."
Nick laughed, "Sounds like something Grissom would say. Hey, have you ever been to Vegas before?"
She nodded, "Not to long ago actually. Booth and I were working a case here. We un-covered an underground fighting circuit."
"Yeah, I heard about that one. Good job by the way. We didn't catch that case cause that skeleton was found during the day shift, though I wish we had."
"It was really interesting, Booth and I even went undercover, he got to fight."
"Really? Had he ever fought before?"
"In the army."
"He looks like an army guy. See, I never got into the fighting stuff, I played ball in college though."
She raised an eyebrow in question, "Ball?"
"Baseball, and I played football in high school."
"In Texas?"
"Is it that obvious," he chuckled.
"Well you do have the physique of a baseball player, what with the broad shoulders and well defined arms," her eyes ran over his body.
It was Nick's turn to raise an eyebrow at her, "Now don't go giving me a big ego there Dr. Brennan," he blushed a little.
"I just tend to notice those things about people, being a forensic anthropologist."
"I guess you would. So did you get to do anything fun while you were in Vegas last time?"
"I went to the casino a few times, played some craps. A lot of the games are just based on math, but it was rather interesting to observe how people played."
"We have some real characters at those casinos. Did you get to go to any good restaurants?"
She shook her head, "We were really to busy to go somewhere nice to eat."
"Oh there are so many places in Vegas that have excellent food. What do you like?"
"I eat anything, but I do love Eastern food, especially Thai."
The charm smile covered his face again, "You'd love this little place near where I live. They have the greatest food. We could go if you want, you know, talk cases, compare whose had crazier ones."
Before she had a chance to answer Nick, Booth's voice boomed from behind her.
"Bones! There you are! You've got to come see this security footage," he approached her and glanced up at Nick.
"Oh, hi Rick," Booth nodded in his direction, placing an arm around Brennan's shoulders.
"It's Nick," answered the CSI, shooting an annoyed look at the FBI agent.
Brennan was also giving Booth a look, more of the 'what are you doing' kind though, and she side stepped out of his grasp.
"I'll be there in a second Booth, I was just having a conversation with Nick."
"Did you find something new about the case?" Booth asked him.
"No, we were talking about Vegas, and I was telling Dr. Brennan about this place that has amazing Eastern food," Nick replied, his tone indicating that the other man had interrupted something.
Booth raised an eyebrow at him, "Really? You know, that's a funny coincidence, 'cause Bones and I were talking about finding a good place to eat here earlier, right Bones?"
"No we weren't."
"Aw, come on, sure we were. Remember, on the way here we passed that place and I said how we should try it?"
"No."
"Whatever, I remember. We should try that place though. Or, maybe Nick can show us that place he was talking about. I'd love to go," Booth starred down the CSI as if silently challenging him.
Nick narrowed his eyes at Booth and then turned his attention to Brennan, "Listen, I'll go find Grissom for you, and you can get back to me later about our conversation, okay?"
He looked into her eyes, smiled, and then looked back up at Booth, who was giving Nick the look that he reserved for criminals and murderers.
"Sure, thank you Nick," Brennan answered, as Booth placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on Bones, I'll show you the footage," he told her, moving his hand from her shoulder to her lower back as they walked away.
When the Texan was out of earshot, Brennan turned on Booth.
"What was that?" she demanded.
"What was what?"
"That blatant display of alpha male dominance, the verbal sparing, the display of possession."
"I don't know what you witnessed Bones, but Nick and I were just talking, I was being friendly."
"No you weren't! You didn't like the fact that he was flirting with me, admit it! You made him back down by challenging him, and then touching me as if you owned me."
A guilty look flashed across Booth's face and he looked really uncomfortable.
"I put my arm around you because we're partners, you know, friends. That's what friends do Bones."
"You're avoiding what I said about him flirting with me and you not liking it."
Booth rolled his eyes, "I am not uncomfortable with that."
It was her turn to roll her eyes, "Yes you are Booth."
"You know what Bones, lets just go watch the security footage, okay? Drop this whole thing."
"Avoidance is denial which means you're guilty."
"Why do you always have to have the last word?"
"And you say I'm stubborn," she sighed, walking ahead of him into the audio/visual lab.
Archie was waiting for the duo, the tape cued up. They both took seats on either side of the lab tech as he began to walk them through the tape.
"So I watched Lisa's audition tape, and there wasn't anything useful on it, so I moved onto the security footage from the Tangiers. I've got Lisa checking in, going in and out of the theatre, and then this," he hit play.
The screen showed the victim entering the hotel bar with her friends and then Archie switched to the bar's camera.
"Here she is with the other dancers, probably celebrating the call back. I'll fast forward to the good part. Okay, here she's flirting with this guy, now get a good look at him," he stopped the footage so Brennan and Booth could look at his face, then fast forwarded again, "Here's Lisa and her friends leaving the bar, and here is where it gets really interesting. Watch as Lisa comes back to the bar, and back to this guy."
The man was no older than twenty six, tall, with dark hair and muscular, just like LeAnn had described.
Archie continued, "She flirts with him and then they leave together," he switched cameras again, "They take the elevator up together, then go to her room. Notice that LeAnn is getting ice and sees them, and Lisa talks to her."
"Therefore giving credit to LeAnn's story," Booth added.
"Yep. Our guy leaves our vic's room about two hours later, and then leaves the hotel."
"Excellent. Told you this was good Bones," Booth said.
"So now all we have to do is find the guy," she replied.
"Shouldn't be to hard. Archie's already printed me a good picture of him. We'll flash it around the hotel, I'm sure someone will know him."
"I know him."
The three turned at the sound of Grissom's voice in the doorway, "That would be the man our witness, LeAnn, described to the police sketch artist," he held up the sketch of the same man.
"And we have our suspect," Booth smiled.
"And two more ID's," the supervisor added, holding up the folders, "Your dental records came through Dr. Brennan."
She went over and took the files from his hands, "Victim two is Amy Winters, age twenty two, from Montana. She was here with friends on a graduation trip. Victim one is Nicole Thomas, age twenty three from New Jersey, who had just moved here and was working as a waitress."
"All three girls were new to the city, their first times here," Booth read the file over Brennan's shoulder.
"The killer has an MO," said Grissom.
To be continued…
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