Author: Milady Dragon
Disclaimer: I just want to play for a while, I promise to put my toys away!
Author's note: Well, another chapter up at warp speed. Just don't get used to it, okay? I think you guys know me well enough by now to realize I go crazy at first, then life gets in the way…!
Chapter Four
"Damnit, Bones, I'm telling you what I saw!" Booth snapped as he and his partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan, walked down the hospital corridor.
Brennan looked completely unimpressed. "I believe that's what you think you saw, but you know it's impossible for someone to disappear into thin air."
Booth ground his teeth in frustration. If she didn't believe him, then who would? "Look, I know that, but there was no way in hell that woman could've gotten out of that bedroom without me seeing her. The window was locked, so she couldn't have climbed out that, and after Jeremy just "reappeared" there wasn't a time when someone wasn't in there. We even looked in the closet and under the bed!"
"Then there has to be another explanation."
"Okay." He stopped her, looking her dead in the eye. "Explain it to me."
His partner sighed. "I can't. I don't have all the facts."
He wagged a finger at her, feeling like he'd just scored a point. "Ha! See?" He started walking.
Brennan caught up with him again. "What I see, is you jumping to unwarranted conclusions based on incomplete data!"
"What conclusions would those be? That a woman disappeared from a room with no visible way out?" She was starting to get on his nerves.
"There's another mystery you seem to have forgotten."
"What would that be?"
"Just how Jeremy Sanders got back to his home in the first place."
Booth didn't point out that, no, he hadn't forgotten. He just knew the kid's reappearance was connected, and solving one meant the second would soon follow. But, he had to admit to himself, it was the woman who bothered him the most. Was she somehow involved with Jeremy's kidnapping? The agent wasn't sure one way or the other. All he knew was that he had to find her.
The problem being, of course, was the fact that even his partner wasn't accepting what he'd seen. And, if Bones didn't, then how could he get anyone else to?
He smirked as they approached Jeremy Sanders' room. Maybe he'd have to find this woman first…
The agent on duty outside the door nodded as Booth and Brennan got close. Booth began to smile. Talking to Jeremy was bound to get some questions answered.
He held the door open for Brennan, then entered the room behind her. Mrs. Sanders was sitting beside her son's bed, and she smiled tiredly when she saw them. "Agent Booth," she greeted, standing.
"Mrs. Sanders," Booth greeted in return, "This is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan." The women nodded at each other. "We've come to see how Jeremy is doing, and to ask him some questions."
"Certainly." She sat back down.
The kid didn't look half bad, for having been kidnapped by a maniac and then miraculously escaping. The skin around his eyes and mouth was reddened from where the duct tape had been removed, and there was a bandage just along his hairline. His wrists were also bandaged, from where the rope had cut. Booth knew, though, that under the hospital gown Jeremy wore were the worst of his injuries.
"Hey, Jeremy," Booth said, standing beside the bed. "I don't know if you remember me – "
"Sure I do," the kid answered. "You're the FBI agent who was at my house. I recognize your voice."
"That's right. I'm Special Agent Booth, and this is my partner." He jerked his head toward Brennan. "I know you've been through a lot, but we need to ask you about what happened."
"That's okay." Jeremy wriggled a bit, as if he were trying to get into a more comfortable position. "I suppose you want to know about the guy and everything."
"Exactly." Booth smiled encouragingly. "Just take your time."
"Well, I was walking home from school. I don't usually, I take the bus, but I had a really bad headache and decided I couldn't stand all that noise."
Mrs. Sanders looked particularly upset at her son's words. Booth remembered her saying she'd sent Jeremy to school even though he hadn't felt good.
"I got about four blocks away, when I see this guy walking toward me. I didn't think anything about it, really."
"Do you think you can describe him?" Booth asked.
Jeremy chewed his lip. "Well, kinda. He was about your height, but he was a lot skinnier. He had black hair, and was wearing this really fancy coat. It was kinda like the one Gambit wears, only black. You know what I mean?"
"Sure do." Parker liked the "X-Men" comics, too. "Go on."
Apparently Booth's knowing his superheroes put the boy to ease, because he suddenly looked a lot more comfortable. "Anyway, this guy came toward me. He made me a little nervous, but I didn't know why. He passed me, and I thought I was just being a sissy, but then I felt this sting in my back, and there was this pain and I couldn't move."
Booth knew about the taser marks on Jeremy's back.
"When I woke up, I couldn't see. But I could hear, and this guy is talking to me." Jeremy went pale as he thought back. "He kept saying he was gonna kill me, that it was for the best. It was so weird, because some of the stuff he said didn't make sense to me, but it did to him because he'd start sounding all happy about it."
"Can you tell me what he said?" The agent didn't want to push too hard, but he knew he had to get the details while they were fresh in the kid's mind.
"Um…stuff like, I had to die, it was for the fate of the human race. Just like that. I mean, the guy was nuts, right?"
"Did he say anything else?" Booth prompted.
"Not really." Jeremy looked pensive. "It was all about saving the human race. I don't know what was up with that."
Neither did Booth. Too freaky…but then, it wasn't the only freaky thing about this case. "It's okay now, kiddo. We're going to make sure you're safe."
Mrs. Sanders had started crying again during Jeremy's recital. She must be hell on tissues; she was busily shredding yet another one. "Thanks, Agent Booth. You don't know how much that means to us."
"It's all part of the job, ma'am." He turned back to Jeremy, finally asking the question he most wanted to know the answer to. "I have to ask you, Jeremy…who's the woman that was in your room?"
Jeremy's head cocked to one side. "What woman?" he asked.
Booth wasn't buying it. The kid knew something; it was obvious in the way Jeremy's eyes wouldn't meet his, and in the way his body suddenly stiffened. "It's okay, we only want to talk to her."
Jeremy shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know any woman."
"Then how did you get back to your house?" Booth pressed.
The boy did look up at him then. "No clue. One minute, I was lying somewhere all tied up; the next, you were telling me that I was safe."
"And why did you believe me?"
"I…I don't know," Jeremy stammered. "I…just did. Your voice was…different, I guess."
Oh yeah, the kid was definitely hiding something. "And how did you get to be untied?"
"Um…didn't you do it?"
"Agent Booth," Mrs. Sanders broke in, "what's this all about? You're acting like Jeremy's some sort of suspect!"
"I can assure you, that's not my intention. There are just a few thing we need to get straightened out." Booth was becoming more and more frustrated. He'd come into the room, hoping to have his questions about that woman answered. But Jeremy Sanders was blatantly lying to his face about it.
He was covering for this mysterious woman.
Which made Booth all the more determined to find out who she was.
"Look, my son's been through a lot, and I don't appreciate your questions. Maybe you should leave for now." The woman stood up.
Booth didn't want to go. He needed to get to the bottom of this, and Jeremy wasn't helping. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Sanders. I do understand that, and I'm only asking these questions because I want to catch the man who did this to Jeremy. And we need to know if this woman was involved – "
"She didn't do anything to hurt me!" Jeremy shouted hotly. Then he went red with embarrassment, clamping his mouth shut.
Booth turned back to the boy. "Who is she, Jeremy? We need to talk to her, she could be a potential witness to what happened to you." One of the agent's questions had been answered; the woman had existed. Looked like no visits back to the shrink for him…at least not at that particular moment…
Jeremy didn't say anything; just kept his mouth closed and stubbornly turned his head toward the window.
"I think that's all for right now," Mrs. Sanders put her foot down. "Jeremy's tired. He needs to rest."
"Come on, Booth." He felt Brennan's hand on his arm. He'd almost forgotten she was there. "We can come back later."
"Maybe you're right." Booth knew when to retreat, and this was one of those times. As much as he wanted to get all the answers he needed, he could also see that Jeremy wasn't about to cooperate any longer. "Mrs. Sanders, if you and Jeremy need anything, just ask the guard outside. He can contact me." With that, he turned and left, knowing that Brennan was behind him.
Once outside, though, Booth couldn't help but crow a little. "See? There was a woman in that room."
"I never said there wasn't," Brennan answered. "I just said there was a logical explanation of how she could have vanished."
Okay, she was right, but Booth was just stubborn enough not to admit it. "I need to find her, Bones. She could be a major piece of the puzzle here."
"I understand. Just don't let yourself become obsessed with her, and let anything we might discover about this serial killer fall by the wayside."
"I won't," Booth swore as they headed toward the elevator. "But she's somehow involved, and I think it's important that we locate her."
"Do you think you got a good enough look to describe her to Angela?"
Booth cursed silently. Of course, he'd forgotten about Angela. "I'm willing to bet I can."
"Then let's get back to the Jeffersonian. While you're working with her, the rest of us can get to started on the new evidence."
"Sounds like a plan. Then maybe Angela can work her magic with Jeremy, too." He pushed the elevator call button with a little more force than was absolutely required. Booth was going to find this mystery woman, and find out exactly how she was involved.
And began to think, if she wasn't an accomplice, maybe she'd be a witness.
