S01E03 – A Boy in a Tree
Author Notes: I change the character highlighted on each scene. Words in italic are their thoughts. Words underlined are other character's thoughts.
The shades used in this chapter are:
Flame is a medium shade of scarlet.
Scarlet is a bright red color with a hue that is somewhat toward the orange and is redder than vermilion.
Fire brick is a medium dark shade of scarlet/red.
All three of them are found in the Wikipedia page for Scarlet.
I'd also like to welcome the newest addiction to the reader/reviewer club: grimmich.
P.S. I haven't read any stories with Zack and Seeley at Zack's school reunion. But it is a great idea; maybe later, after the ninth episode or so (The Man in the Fallout Shelter, the Christmas episode).
P.P.S. Yes, I am a guy.
Main characters in each scene are Seeley Booth (The Psychiatrist and The Embassy), Zack Addy (The Restaurant, The Ambassador's Visit, The Alternative Scenarios, The Intruder and The CD), and Temperance Brennan (The Roommate).
Chapter Three
In which the squint squad eat together and Zack is a BAMF.
Special Agent Seeley Booth's office
J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI)
Brennan and Booth were interviewing Hanover Prep's psychiatrist ('I don't think she will tell us anything, Booth.' 'They're not allowed to talk about specifics, Bones.' 'Don't call me Bones.'). The psychiatrist was being escorted by the headmaster and the head of security.
"I'm bound by patient confidentiality. Without a warrant or permission from his parents I can't divulge the specifics of my meetings with Nestor Olivos. I can tell you that he was at an extreme risk of suicide."
You looked at Mr. Ronson before saying anything about suicide.
"There were no traces of antidepressants in his system."
"I can only make recommendations."
Bitch.
"You think this boy was depressed enough to hang himself?"
"He was alienated by culture, language, his handicap by his own social awkwardness; yes."
The headmaster approached her:
"Thank you for coming, Dr. Petty. As we suspected, suicide. A depressed and lonely boy hangs himself over the holidays."
You're forgetting that he was supposed to go to Nova Scotia with a friend.
"So, how does an ambassador's son disappears for two weeks and no one notices?"
"As far as the school was concerned, Nestor was vacationing with a friend. The school requested and received a waiver from Ambassador Olivos."
"Why did you not tell us that earlier, Mr. Sanders?"
"We didn't think it would matter, Dr. Brennan."
"A boy is dead. Everything matters."
"Like the doctor said, it's a simple case of a depressed kid suicide, not a Tom Clancy novel."
He got up and was at the door when Booth spoke:
"We'll start with Nestor's roommate tomorrow morning."
The Cheshire Cat would be impressed by the FBI agent's smug smile.
"It's your investigation."
It's your cover-up.
Wong Fu's (The Chinese Restaurant)
Washington D.C.
"Hey, Sid."
"I was wondering when you'd get here. Your man is on booth 5." – Sid pointed to Zack. Booth waved at his lover.
"Dr. Temperance Brennan meet Sid Shapiro, the owner."
"Ah, the bone lady."
"The sign says Wong Fu's."
"Family name changed at Ellis Island. I'll get your meal."
"But we didn't order."
Zack finished his noodles:
"That's the way it works here, Dr. Brennan. Sid is a genius when it comes to food."
"Thanks, kid. You want a refill?"
The squint handed the man his bowl.
"Yes, please."
Booth sat beside his lover and Brennan opposite of both.
"Anything new on the western front?"
"Actually, yes. Nestor's bones were completely normal. Not brittle in any way."
The artist and the entomologist joined the field agents at the diner.
"You know this is kind of our little getaway? Our refuge?"
Angela started:
"The grooves the rope left on the branch are too deep for his weight."
He had help.
"The eggs and the-"
"Restaurant, Hodge." – Angela kindly reminded him of where they were.
"Oh. According to my sources, he died there 10 to 14 days ago."
"Your sources?"
"Yeah, my-"
"I know what you're talking about. I just found the way you presented it to be cute."
Sid brought the food to their table.
"Sesame chicken for the bone lady, crab Rangoon for the FBI agent and chow mein for Seeley's man."
Seeley's man. I actually don't mind being called that. In fact, I like it.
Zack blushed slightly.
"Thank you, Sid."
The entomologist spoke up:
"I want the seven organ soup."
"You don't order here, Hodgins."
There was silence at the table before Booth said to Sid:
"Just bring him the soup and let him deal with any side effects."
Sid acquiesced and left.
"What do you mean side effects?"
Booth smiled and started to read the file the squints had brought.
"Zack, what does this means? Suspicious lack of fluids at the scene."
"When someone hangs himself, there usually are bodily fluids all around."
"There wasn't any at the scene. Amen for small graces." – Angela whispered to Zack. He nodded. - "Poor kid. Those birds-"
"Could their pecking have broken the hyoid?"
"No, it was a stress fracture caused by the rope against his throat. Post-mortem."
"You put a sensitive boy in a high pressure environment like that prep school, add social alienation, cultural differences, pressure from high achieving parents… It could be suicide."
"It's not a suicide." – Zack's voice was as cold and sharp as a dagger. He continued to eat his food, and moaned at the taste. – "Oh my God, this is heavenly."
"Do you moan like that during sex with Booth?"
The assistant's face went from flame to scarlet to fire brick in a matter of seconds.
"Back off, Angela."
"Fine. But I'm still waiting for my song and dance."
"When this case is over."
"I'll hold you two to that."
"Can we go back to the case?"
"Oh, wait a second." – Booth got a folded paper from his pocket. – "You said he died 10 to 14 days ago?"
"My bugs may buzz, but they don't lie."
"Then how do you explain an e-mail sent to his parents seven days ago, from Nova Scotia?"
"Let me see that." – Zack read the letter. – "Huh. I know what you're going to do in the morning."
"Morning sex?"
"Angela!" – The lovers said loudly at the same time.
Interrogation Room
J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI)
Booth and Brennan were interviewing ('Booth, he's a suspect! He should be interrogated!' 'When the suspect is influential, he's called a person of interest. And we don't interrogate persons of interest, we interview them.' 'I hate politics.' 'I'm not very fond of them either.') a blond-haired kid with his mother and his lawyer in the room.
The kid was a text-book prep school jerk. The one who appeared nice but would stab you in the back first chance he'd get.
"You and Nestor were roommates for three months, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you invited him to spend vacation with you?"
"Oh, we got a summer home in cape Breton, plenty of room." – His mother offered.
"But Nestor decided to go back to Venezuela at the last minute."
That's highly unlikely. Venezuela is in a political turmoil.
"What do the other boys think of Nestor?"
"Nestor was different. He was deaf so he kind of talked like… Some kids called him retard."
"Tucker, please don't say retard."
"I never called him that, mom! He went to church every Sunday even though nobody made him go. People thought that was weird."
"Did he have a girlfriend?"
"He liked someone but he never told me who."
"You know Tucker; you're lying to a federal agent…"
"Careful, agent Booth."
He glared a little at the lawyer.
"An e-mail was sent to Nestor's parents from Nova Scotia, saying what a good time he was having. The only thing is Nestor was already dead."
"For at least a week; maybe more."
"Was it you, Tucker?"
"I'd prefer if he didn't answer that, Mrs. Pattison"
"No. If it was Tucker, he has to admit it."
The person in question finally looked at the FBI agent:
"You know how it is…"
"You helped him out, because he was with a girl."
"Tucker!"
"I'm sorry mom, but he begged me."
"Who's the girl Nestor was having sexual intercourse with?"
Everyone in the room looked at the anthropologist.
"Where did you find her?"
"Museum. Answer the question."
"I told you I don't know! I thought he made her up. I sent the e-mail but that's it!"
Lie.
Forensic Platform
Medical-Legal Lab
Zack and Bones were reading the lab reports on Nestor Olivos when Dr. Goodman and Ambassador Olivos walked up to them.
Thank God we moved him to the skeleton room. She doesn't need to see her son like that.
"Dr. Brennan, could you spare a moment for the Ambassador?"
"Yes, of course. Let's go into my office."
They got off the platform and the Venezuelan Ambassador turned to the squint still reading the files:
"You too, Doctor Addy."
Zack nodded and followed the two women.
"Is there something we can do for you?"
"I understand you are very good at your job. But I think that neither of you are parents, correct?"
They nodded as the Ambassador handed them a portrait. It was Nestor Olivos dressed as an altar boy.
"Please watch this." – She gave a DVD to Zack. He went and inserted it in Brennan's DVD player. – "All a mother wants to know is that she has raised her child well. That he'll grow up to be a good man. I'll never see this. I'll never know."
While his boss was setting up the video Zack approached the victim's mother:
"You won't see it, but you know he was a great man. Doesn't matter what his age was."
"Thank you."
The anthropologist pressed play.
"It was the day Nestor received his implant."
In the video Nestor and his mother were sitting in a hospital bed. She hugged him and said 'Nestor te amo'.
His mother saying 'Nestor I love you'. That was the first thing he heard.
"The first day that he could hear."
"And the first thing he heard was my voice."
"Telling him that you loved him."
"The child that has lived through this miracle would never take his own life. You are scientists. You need more than a mother's reassurance, fine. My husband and I have many enemies. That is why I sent Nestor to Hanover. They promised us that he'd be safe. What if they failed? They wouldn't want to admit it."
"They would do everything in their power to influence us towards suicide." – Zack finished the grieving mother's thoughts.
"I promise you I'll find the truth." – Whether Temperance Brennan was talking to her assistant or to the Venezuelan Ambassador it's unknown.
Imaging Unit
Medical-Legal Lab
Zack, Tempe, Seeley and Angela were presenting theories as to how the boy died.
"Swan dive, cannonball, cherry bomb; no matter how he jumps, his hyoid does not break."
"Could you stop the hologram from doing that?"
I don't need to see him jump.
Angela nodded and turned off her invention for the moment.
"What about added weight?"
"We figure an added strain of 90 kilos would be necessary to snap the hyoid."
"And there is still the question as to what happened to the added weight. It's just under 200 pounds, the wind couldn't have blown it away."
"We're out of alternative scenarios to explain the break. Sorry."
"Thank you for trying. Bones, can I borrow Zack for a couple hours? I just want to bounce some ideas back and forth with him."
"Bounce ideas or bounce in bed?"
"Angela Pearly Gates Montenegro, you will stop that or I'll tell someone how you feel about him."
"You're no fun."
Booth wrapped his arm around Zack:
"Oh yes, he is."
Zack winked at the artist and mouthed the words 'Tell you later'. Angela let out a little squeal and the men were on their way.
"Where are we going, Booth?"
"Hanover."
Hanover Preparatory Academy
Prince George's County, Maryland
"Why are we here?"
"I want to take another look at Nestor's room."
"Why didn't you bring Dr. Brennan instead of me?"
"Because I want you to do the forbidden thing."
"You want me to psychologically analyze Nestor based on the things he had, don't you?"
"Would you?"
Apparently Parker's puppy dog eyes are genetic.
"If Dr. Brennan finds out, I'm blaming you."
They reached the bottom of the stairs leading to Nestor's room. A man was walking down; when he looked at them he turned and started to run.
"Stay here."
"As if."
"I don't remember you being so action-oriented."
"A great man once told me I should show more of myself." – Zack smiled and kept walking up the stairs.
When the squint entered Nestor's room the man they've been chasing slammed the door and went for Zack.
I am so grateful that I got my gun back.
Zack drew his Desert Eagle:
"FBI! Stop or I'll shoot!"
That made the man falter for enough time for Booth to startle the man. Zack kicked the intruder between his legs and knocked him out with the back of his gun. Booth then rummaged through the guy's pocket; finding a wallet, he threw it to Zack.
"That was so hot."
"Later, Seeley. His ID says Tovar Comara. He's a security at the Venezuelan Embassy."
"If he's security, why did he run?"
Venezuelan embassy
Maryland
"What we would like to know is what Mr. Comara was doing in Nestor's room."
"I asked him to go to Nestor's room to prove a point. That suicide was not the only possibility."
Booth approached the ambassador's desk.
"Prove that an outsider could get to your son."
But an outsider wouldn't be the only possibility. Maybe someone at the school did it.
"The school informed me that Nestor's death was certainly a suicide. That anything else was impossible."
"We proved them correct. I failed to escape without being detected."
"The school lied to you, Ambassador."
"Dr. Brennan already declared your son's death a homicide."
"I apologize. I was misinformed."
"Well, we won't be pressing any charges."
"Thank you for explaining, Ambassador. We should be getting back to Hanover." – Zack looked at Booth, who nodded.
They left the embassy and got back to the prep school.
Nestor Olivos' room
Hanover Preparatory Academy
"He was a loner. But that didn't make him sad." – In fact, he welcomed it. - "He spent most of his time here. Listening to music. Heavy percussion, low frequencies for the most part. It's the stuff he liked before the implant; he could feel the vibrations on his chest."
Booth kept looking at his lover. Zack seemed more at ease now that he was analyzing the victim psychologically instead of literally.
"After the implant, he started to enjoy stuff with more melody. He was growing."
Zack stopped walking around the room and picked up something from the trash.
"What did you find?"
"A broken CD. Mozart's flute music."
"Why is that important?"
"This isn't. But the CD case is still on the shelf."
Booth got the case:
"If he hated it so much, why did he reburn it?"
"Seeley, this isn't a CD. This is a DVD."
"Let's get back that to Angela. But first a quick stop at the supply closet."
"You got a gun kink, Seeley?"
Booth kissed Zack:
"I got a you-kicking-ass kink."