THE GHOST IN THE TREES.
Chapter 4. THE CARVER'S CURSE.
DISCLAIMER. NOT MINE. BONES BELONGS TO FOX.
Brennan wiped the tears out of her eyes as she thought about Grandma Day losing her best friend. Brennan herself had lost her mother but she didnt know what it would have been like to lose her best friend. She thought about maybe losing Angela one day, but shook herself out of those thoughts. She couldnt bear to think of ever losing Angela. She remembered how she had felt when she thought Booth was dead. She stared outside the window for a few minutes trying to get rid of those unwanted thoughts.
'Oh my dear. Are you okay?' Asked the young woman.
Booth looked at Bones and then put his arms around her comfortingly.
'She'll be fine.' Replied Booth.
'I'll give you a few minutes alone. We're making the kids some hot chocolate and popcorn. Its ghost story night. Its a tradition on stormy, windy nights like today. Join us please. You can even tell a story if you like, although we have to be pretty careful that they arent too scary...' The young woman said looking at the way Seeley Booth held Temperance Brennan. She sighed to herself and she felt like she was intruding on them. Her voice faded away as she walked towards the big kitchen and dining room after giving the couple an amused look.
Brennan breathed in and out slowly and then she realised that Booth had kept his arms around her. She smiled as she felt his warmth seeping through her body, comforting her. What it would be like to be so near him for longer than a few seconds she thought with a longing that surprised even herself. A year ago those longings would have scared her enough to want to make her run away from them. And then she had to shake herself from the thought as she felt herself grow hot. Booth had to smile as he saw Brennan's reflection through the glass window pane; he saw her face go hot and felt her body temperature rise. 'I'm here, Bones.' He whispered comfortingly. Brennan leaned against Booth a little longer, taking comfort in his nearness. She didn't believe in ghosts and yet. And yet, she said completing the sentence, this mansion really screws with your head.
Brennan looked at the files in frustration and realized that they were wasting their time reading about the murders when they had another option. Exhume the bodies. Booth looked at her and realised what she was thinking; but he also realized that they weren't getting anywhere here, so he got out his cell phone and made the call. 'The bodies will be delivered here in a few hours. He said. Meanwhile I'm going to be listening to the evidence tapes the local police sent us.'
'Hmm. Said Booth. This Calvin Willowsen sounds like a possible suspect,' Said Booth as he finished listening to the evidence tape. The police never looked at him as a suspect for very long; despite the fact that they had some sort of family grudge with each other. Brennan looked at him sharply as she heard the name Willowsen.
'Did you say, Willowsen?' asked Bones as she looked at the papers that had just been faxed to her.
'Yeah Bones. Why, what's wrong?' He asked as he watched her face.
He glanced at Bones as she went through the papers. He looked puzzled.
'Angela just faxed me these articles. The woman who told us about Loren Carver's murder told us that they didnt know anything about the Carver's that owned the house before Loren Carver's family did. So I had Angela look into it. Loren isnt the only Carver who died in this mansion.
Little Betty Anne put down her book with Braille writing on it when she felt a gust of wind. She shivered when she felt someone there, but then she calmed down and smiled at the person in front of her. She knew who it was. She grabbed a piece of blank drawing paper that her mother and father kept handy to the right of her bed, picked up the pencil and began to draw a little boy with short curly blonde hair with bright friendly eyes and a ready grin. The woman next to him looked sad and rigid. She had brown curly hair and she looked worried.
Jonathon Carver got into his car feeling angry and frustrated. He had begged his doctor Calvin Willowsen to help his wife. Jonathon had noticed that his wife Lillian Carver had spent the last few months in bed; she was constantly crying, so much that he had noticed that her mood was effecting his eight year old son, Ben. Jonathon noticed that Ben had started to tell joke after joke in the hope that he would get a smile out of his mother. Jonathon felt angry when he thought about his meeting with his doctor; his pleas to help his wife had fallen on deaf ears. Jonathon didn't want to go home; and he felt guilty about that. He knew that his wife and son needed him. He knew that leaving his son alone with his mother was a mistake; Ben was beginning to believe that he was the cause of his mother being sad all the time. But Jonathon just couldnt bring himself to go home. What kind of husband am I? What kind of father am I to let my son handle his mother alone, without me? He sighed as he remembered the day when he and Lillian had gotten married. He remembered the woman that his wife used to be, so happy and joyful, always ready to laugh about anything. This woman who was always in bed, who was always worried and constantly crying was not the woman he had married. She was a pale shadow of who his wife used to be and Jonathon felt cheated. So he drove around town trying to calm down. He knew that nobody was going to help him help his wife and son, so he would have to help his family by himself. As he drove around he drew more and more strength for the hard times ahead. He had no idea that he would need that strength in the upcoming months and years. Had Jonathon knew what was going to happen in the next half an hour while he was avoiding going home he would have immediately run home. But he didnt; and Jonathon would always regret the fact that he hadnt been a better man.
Lillian felt overwhelmed as she lay in bed. She was sad and she didnt know why or for what reason. She found herself feeling angry and resentful that while her husband was out she had to take care of Ben. If she had known how hard it was to be a mother she would never have had him. And then she began to feel guilty about not being a better mother. She sighed as the tears fell. The feeling of guilt was a conundrum that she could never escape. She opened her eyes to see her son Ben had made her breakfast in a tray. A glass of juice and a piece of toast. She tried to smile as he set the tray on the dressing table; Ben had a hopeful expression on his face. He began to tell her a joke in the hopes of making her smile; but Lillian was in no mood to smile at all. She knew that her son wouldn't leave her alone until she at least put on the appearance of being happy, so she smiled and laughed at his joke but inside she was screaming for her son to leave her alone. She wanted this all to end. She wanted everything to stop. She wished it could all be over. Ben smiled happily when he heard his mother laughing. He turned to get dressed for school, Lillian let him go. She was watching him put his boots on and then she walked over towards him as if she was in a dream and then...She opened her eyes and she screamed when she saw what she'd done; her son's body was hanging by the tall tree on the front porch. She cried and cried, letting the tears fall down her face. How could I do this? And then just as suddenly her tears stopped. She wiped them away and then she grabbed the shot gun that her husband used for hunting and shot herself, the gun falling out of her hands as she fell to the ground; her blood seeping onto her white nightgown. Jonathon screamed in absolute anger and grief when he saw the people he loved the most in the world dead on his front porch. He fell down to the ground at his wife's feet as the strength left him. The anger he felt at Dr. Willowsen for refusing to believe that there was a problem...Jonathon vowed that he would get revenge for the death of his wife and son.
'The coroner said that Lillian Carver had strangled Ben and then shot herself after she had realized what she had done to her son. Said Brennan. There's another article here. Jonathon Carver sued Calvin Willowsen for not taking him seriously; for refusing to help his wife and son before this tragedy occurred. He succeeded Calvin Willowsen was fired from the board of Doctors a few weeks after the court case. He then became a cleaner.'
'Bones. Oh my god. He became a cleaner.' Said Booth looking at her meaningfully.
'So he became a cleaner. I dont get the significance...and then Bone's face lit up as she realized what Booth was getting at. 'Oh. Of course. We've been thinking that the killer didnt leave behind evidence because he was smart but what if he didnt leave behind evidence because he cleaned up after himself? We need to look for evidence of the killer cleaning up after himself.'
'Calvin Willowsen is at the top of the suspect list.' Said Booth.
'But there's something I dont understand Booth. Motive. Calvin Willowsen has a motive to kill Jonathon Carver for getting him fired from his job but what does he have against Loren Carver? It doesnt make sense.' Asked Bones puzzled.
Booth smiled at her. 'You're trying to use logic Bones. This is murder we're talking about. When it comes to anger sometimes there is no logic. Jonathon Carver gave this house to his younger brother. Perhaps Calvin went after Loren simply because she was a Carver.'
'Maybe.' Said Bones.
'Maybe? You say that but you dont agree with me, do you?' Asked Booth.
Brennan smiled at him but ignored the question. 'Grandma Day's insisted on giving me a sewing lesson, while you find and question Calvin Willowsen about the murder of Loren Carver I'll see what I can find out about the connection between Loren Carver and the Willowsen's. I'm not completely sold on the idea that Calvin Willowsen's the killer. For one thing he has no motive to kill Loren Carver...