"Good morning, Dr. Brennan." Cam stood in the door of Brennan's office, holding a file folder. "Do you have a minute?"

Brennan looked up from her computer. "Yes. I was going over some of Conrad Roberts' x-rays again to make sure I didn't miss some details. There appear to be no significant injuries to his skeletal structure, which is unusual given the amount of ecchymosis and edema present. I need to examine the bones again, but because of the lack of other injuries, I feel confident he died from ingesting aspirin."

"Well, actually, that's what I wanted to discuss with you." Cam came into the office and sat down. "Mr. Roberts' lawyer is in my office, demanding that we release the remains to him immediately. He says we have no reason to keep the body any longer, and if we don't release them, he'll get a court order to make us do so. I'd like you to sign off on the release, please, so we can turn the body over to the gentleman and send him on his way."

"That's ridiculous, Cam! The man's death was deemed to be suspicious by the DC Metro police department. We've had only a few actual hours to examine the body since we didn't work yesterday and it's still early on Monday morning. We can't release the body while we're still investigating the man's death…"

"I understand your reasoning, Dr. Brennan, but we really don't have anything that tells us that this is anything that needs to be investigated. Based on the evidence we have it appears to be a tragic accident, not a murder. In looking over the police report this morning, there was no sign of forced entry, and no sign of a struggle. We really have no legal grounds to hold the remains."

"I disagree." Brennan set her jaw as she rearranged the papers on her desk. "I find it highly unlikely and extremely illogical that a person with a severe allergy like the one Mr. Roberts had would allow the allergen in his home where it could be ingested accidentally. I might believe it was an accident if he was away from home when he died, but since he was in his own home…and the fact that there was no forced entry or struggle may mean he was given the aspirin by someone he knew."

"Dr. Brennan, I've been a coroner for many years. I know accidental deaths from allergies when I see them. This is no different than someone who is allergic to peanuts accidentally eating something containing enough peanut protein to trigger a reaction. It's practically impossible to prevent coming in contact with an allergen as common as aspirin, since it's so many different products." Cam's jaw tightened as she became annoyed with Brennan's stubbornness. "I don't understand why it's so difficult for you to accept that this wasn't a murder."

"Dr. Saroyan, normally I would agree with you that the simplest explanation is usually the best, and in this case an accident would be the simplest explanation. However, I just can't accept that this man who almost died when he was exposed to acetylsalicylic acid in a skin cleanser would be so careless as to have that same substance in his home. Taken in combination with the absence of his epipens in the house, and it appears to me that the exposure was deliberately initiated." Brennan crossed her arms over her chest and stuck out her chin. "It was not an accident. Maybe suicide, probably murder, but not an accident."

"Dr. Brennan, I'm in charge here, and I'm afraid I must insist that you sign to release the body." Cam rose from her chair and firmly placed the folder on the middle of Brennan's desk.

Brennan, scowling defiantly, shook her head as she stood up and pushed the folder back toward Cam. "I'm not going to sign this form to release these remains."

"Ready for lunch, Bones? Hey, what's going on?" Booth poked his head into Brennan's office. "Is everything okay?" Cam and Brennan were glaring at each other across Brennan's desk in some sort of stand off, obviously disagreeing vehemently with each other. Booth immediately wished he could just turn around and walk away quietly so these two strong willed women could come to mutual terms of their own accord, but it was too late...they'd already seen him.

"Booth...Dr. Saroyan says that Conrad Roberts' lawyer wants us to release his remains. She thinks we should release the body to him, but I disagree with her, because I think he was murdered. If we let the lawyer take his body, we'll never know for sure whether or not it was murder, and a killer may escape justice." Brennan stood with her hands on her hips as she turned to look at her husband. "You need to prevent that from occurring, Booth."

Wonderful, Booth thought sarcastically. A real no win situation… "Cam…", he began, trying to smooth things over with her. "It's only Monday. The FBI still needs to do some more investigating into the situation before we know for sure what happened. We need more time. Let's wait a few more days….maybe until the end of the week. If we can't find any evidence that points to foul play, then you can go ahead and release the remains. Why is the lawyer in such a hurry, anyway? Are there religious considerations?"

Cam rolled her eyes and shrugged. "No religious reasons that I know of. The lawyer said something about wanting to take Mr. Roberts' remains and having them interred in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in California….you know, where a lot of old time actors are buried. I guess they've already made arrangements for some sort of memorial service."

"Well, I think he's gonna have to change those plans. Mr. Roberts' body stays here until the FBI is satisfied that we know for sure what really happened." Booth's body language made it clear to Cam that it was useless to argue the point.

"Fine." Cam pursed her lips as she turned to leave. "Don't let this drag out too long, Seeley. I don't want the media on my back about why Mr. Roberts' remains can't be interred yet."

"You do your job, Camille, and I'll do mine." Booth gave her a little smile. "We'll be in touch."

Booth turned to his wife after Cam left. "Alright...you've got about a week to figure out what happened, Bones. After that, if you can't find any proof of murder, we'll have to release the remains to the lawyer."

"Science can't be rushed, Booth…" Brennan picked up her purse and jacket. "However, I should be able to have something more definitive when I look through the victim's medical records." She reached out to take his hand. "Thanks for taking my side…."

"Well, I think you're right about this…" Booth gave Brennan a kiss on the cheek. "But, you know, you really shouldn't take advantage of being married to an FBI Special Agent to get what you want around here. I also know how miserable you'd make my life if I chose to agree with Cam instead of you…" He laughed as he tried to dodge her playful slap on his arm. "Okay, okay...let's go to lunch."

oooooooooo

Booth studied Brennan closely as they walked to the diner. Something was keeping her preoccupied...she'd hardly spoken a word to him as they strode along. They entered the restaurant and saw Aubrey waving at them, wanting them to join him. "When I talked to Aubrey this morning he said he had some new information that he'd tell us at lunch." Booth guided her to their favorite table by the window.

Booth and Aubrey dove into their hamburgers while Brennan picked at her salad, seemingly distracted. "You okay there, Bones? You keep moving that piece of lettuce around on your plate, and you haven't stolen any of my fries."

"Oh...I'm sorry. I guess my mind was busy with other things. I just was thinking about how Conrad Roberts died. This case is quite challenging. It's going to be hard to prove that his death was murder instead of an accident, but I know it was...I just need to find some empirical evidence to prove what I think happened."

Booth was incredulous. "Are you going with your gut, Bones?" He and Aubrey both laughed at that absurd thought…..Dr. Temperance Brennan relying on instinct instead of facts.

"Of course not! If this is a murder I feel sure we'll be able to find some solid evidence to prove that. But on a personal level, I think someone with severe allergies similar to what the victim had would be extremely cautious to limit their exposure to a deadly allergen, unless it was a suicide. To me that makes the whole 'accident' scenario implausible."

Aubrey shook his head as he gulped down his pie. "There's almost nothing pointing to murder in the evidence I've seen. The valet's fingerprints were on the glass on the coffee table because he got a glass of apple juice for the decedent every night before bed….you know, to help him swallow all of his pills. The decedent's prints were on the glass because he drank from it. We figure the aspirin was brought into the house from outside but we don't know where it came from."

"All of the men who worked for Roberts have strong alibis and no motives.", Booth sighed. "Nothing much to go on there. The personal assistant spent the night with his fiancee at her parents' house and he was with her from 8 pm Friday night until 3 pm Saturday afternoon. The fiancee's parents corroborated the story. The actor's agent was at a meeting all weekend in Philly. He's got several people who can verify his participation in a meeting at that location. The agent has nothing to gain anyway, because since Roberts is dead he has no more income from him. The valet left to stay with his mother at her house after he finished his duties for Mr. Roberts because she was ill."

"Who inherits the victim's estate?" Brennan asked. "You said you thought there was probably a financial motive, Booth. Did one of these three men have money troubles?"

Aubrey began eating his second piece of pie. "It appears that the estate is split equally between the three guys who worked for Roberts. We're still trying to figure out exactly how much money that is….the bank isn't being very cooperative even with the warrant." Aubrey pulled out his notes. "Here's what I found out in the last couple of days. Mr. Roberts didn't leave any survivors who were immediate family, as far as I can tell, but I'm still checking into it. However, Mr. Roberts had been married when he was a young man. They divorced because he had an affair with an actress that he worked with often...here's her photo...Diana Deeds. She played the main Space Babe in most of those films."

Booth glanced at a picture of an attractive dark haired woman. "Did he ever marry her?"

"No...the affair lasted a little over a year, and then she left Roberts for some guy who did Westerns. But from what I read on the Space Babes fan website, there was rumored to be a child born from the affair…a boy named Harold Roberts. If that was true, Harold would be in his forties, and maybe he decided to look up his old man to check on the status of his inheritance, thinking that the elder Roberts may have had some money stashed away. We're trying to find Harold Roberts, but he could be anywhere, so it's gonna take a while." Aubrey thumbed through the file. "Diana Deeds has a hot temper...she's had several arrests for disturbing the peace, drunk and disorderly….stuff like that out in Los Angeles. She's in her seventies. But this is the interesting part...you know that convention that was in town for the sci fi crowd this past weekend? Imagicon? She was one of the guests of honor, so I went to talk to her yesterday."

"So she was in town when Conrad Roberts died." Booth couldn't resist teasing Aubrey. "When you interviewed her in your official capacity at the convention yesterday, did you manage to get her autograph as well? You know, because we might need to compare handwriting, right?"

"As a matter of fact...yes I did. Flashing an FBI badge helps quite a bit in those cases." Aubrey chuckled a bit. "Not that I would ever misuse my authority, you understand. I talked to Ms. Deeds for quite a while, actually. She thought Conrad Roberts was in fairly good health for a man his age. She was shocked when I told her he had died. I guess he had all the aches and pains that come with advanced age, and he was diabetic…the weird thing was that she was really chatty until I asked her about Harold Roberts. She clammed up in a hurry...refused to discuss him."

Suddenly Brennan interrupted. "You know, the killer didn't actually have to be in the house when the death actually occurred. The apple juice could have been tampered with earlier in the day when the victim was napping or out of the house for some reason. Did the residence where Mr. Roberts lived have any security cameras? We need to find out who was in and out of the house on the day he died."

"I honestly don't know, Bones. I guess we can find out easy enough. Aubrey, do you know when Diana Deeds is leaving town? I'd like to talk to her myself."

"As a matter of fact, I've already made the arrangements. She'll be at Hoover around two."

Brennan finished her salad. "I'm going back to the lab. I'll ask Hodgins to go through the evidence from the house once more to see if there's anything we missed. There weren't many insects but there may be some additional particulate evidence that might give us some information."

Booth rose to leave. "I'll ask the techs to look for the aspirin bottle again. Maybe we'll get lucky this time. We need some luck, especially if we want to prove this is a murder."