I am so sorry everyone! I am a terrible horrible person for making you wait so long between chapters. But blame it on my other plot bunnies, one of which turned into Not His Time, my newest, one shot, angst ridden Bones story, and another is developing into my first ever Sex and the City story. But I digress, I will return to this story and do my best to stay focused and finish.
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Detective Jim Brass went back to the hotel bar and flashed around the photo from the security footage, and in no time Harry "the Hawk" Byron landed in the interrogation room. The bartender at the Tangiers had identified him as a semi-regular, a construction worker who tipped well and was a regular player. Brass thought they may have hit pay dirt with the suspect.
Booth paced the small room, while Grissom sat across from the suspect as they began to question the man.
"So Harry, you like to go to the bar at the Tangiers a lot?" Booth began casually.
"Yeah, it's a nice place, lots of good looking girls."
"Do you remember this one?" Grissom slid the stills from the security footage across the table.
Harry studied them for a minute, "Um, I think her name was Leslie or something, she was cute, from out of town, a dancer."
"It's Lisa, and she's dead," Booth retorted.
The suspect looked shocked, "Really? Aw man, I'm sorry, but I don't know nothing about her turning up dead."
"Really? Because you were possibly the last person to see her alive," Grissom replied.
"And, you know what else? She turned up at a construction site, along with two other sets of human remains, which were also female. The coincidence is, you are a construction worker. Now do you get it?" Booth said.
Harry threw up his hands in defence, "Dude! I didn't kill her! And I don't even work at the site where you found Lisa, I heard about it, but I'm not on that crew."
Booth dropped pictures of Amy Winters and Nicole Thomas in front of Harry, "What about these girls? You know them?"
He shook his head, "Never seen them before."
Booth scoffed.
"What happened that night?" Grissom tried.
"We met at the bar, she was cute. We flirted, she took me to her room. We, you know, then I left. That's it."
"Where did you go afterwards?"
"Home to sleep."
"Is there anyone who can confirm your whereabouts?"
"Um, my roommate could."
"And how do we know you didn't kill Lisa first, drop her off somewhere then go home?" Booth accused Harry.
"I didn't kill her, and I won't be saying anything more. I want my lawyer."
Booth swore under his breath and headed out of the room.
In the hall he met Brennan, who came out of the room behind the one way mirror.
"Do you think he did it Booth?"
"I don't know. Some evidence points to him, but if he has an alibi then we need to find another suspect."
"Can we get a search warrant for his tools? See if he has any chains that fit our pattern of strangulation?"
"That's Detective Brass and Dr. Grissom's jurisdiction on this one, I'll ask them."
"Say he didn't kill her Booth, who are we looking for now? What other evidence do we have?" she tried to rationalize.
"Well, you have the bones, I'll get Archie to review security footage, and we'll just have to retrace Lisa's last moves."
"Hey Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan!" Sara said, joining them, they nodded in response, "I just finished running previous cases and I turned up two more that fit our profile. Both women were strangled with the same pattern as our chain and both were new to the city."
"Serial killer," Booth muttered, his expression hardening in disgust.
"How long ago were these case?" Brennan asked.
"One was two years ago, the other about a year and a half ago."
"Is there anyway you can go through the missing persons database, see if there are any other missing women out there that fit our profile?" Booth tried.
"I sure can. Have you guys seen Grissom?"
"He was at the interrogation with me last time I saw him."
"How did that go?"
"Our suspect wants a lawyer."
"Sounds guilty to me. Can we nail the guy?"
"Um, nail the guy? That sounds violent, and I don't think we should jump to conclusions just because someone sounds guilty," Brennan cut in.
"Expression Bones," Booth turned to her, "And I don't think we can right now, he might have an alibi."
"Damn," Sara said, "Well I'm going to go find Grissom-"
"Me?"
A startled Sara turned to find her supervisor behind her, "Yeah, you," she smiled.
He was holding a folder which he opened, "I have some interesting information on our victims," he said to the trio.
Booth raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Ms. Thomas worked as a waitress, as you know, but you'll never guess where."
"Close to the Tangiers?" Sara answered.
"Very close indeed. She worked at the Starlight Diner just around the corner."
"And what about Amy Winters?" Brennan questioned.
"It only gets better. Miss Winters stayed at the Tangiers as well."
Booth smiled, "So we have a local boy then. Sara, do we have locations on the two new victims?"
"Two new victims?" the male CSI exclaimed.
"Yes, they fit our profile, and…" she checked the files, "Oh, they were very local as well!"
"I can do everyone one better," everyone turned at the sound of Detective Jim Brass' voice, "A construction crew just dug up a new body, and the site is about ten minutes from our current favourite hotel."
"Let me guess. Female, white, in her twenties," Booth told Brass.
"Bingo. You and your partner win a ride with me to the site."
"Great. I'll send Nick with them," Grissom finished.
Booth rolled his eyes.
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Brass, Booth, Brennan and Nick arrived at the construction site not half an hour later. The normally busy area was at a standstill with most of the crew gathered around a hole in the ground, looking down into it.
The four investigators got out of the car, and shielded their eyes from the sun.
"Wow, it's hot out," Booth said, wiping his brow and removing his jacket.
Brennan followed suit, revealing a red tank top from under her blue fitted coat. Booth saw Nick take a peek and quickly stepped in front of his partner, giving the CSI a warning glare.
Brass, who had walked ahead to talk to the local cops came back and addressed the group,
"White female in her twenties was found dumped here," he indicated the hole which would serve as a basement, "Super Dave is on his way. Looks like she was dumped at some point last night."
"Super Dave?" Brennan gave him a quizzical glance.
"The assistant coroner," Nick provided.
"Alright Bones, time to go do your thing," Booth said, placing his hand on the small of her back.
She didn't move, "Booth, my thing, is bones. I don't do flesh. Why am I here?"
"To help out with the investigation, plus they didn't say what state the victim was in."
"Come on Dr. Brennan, you can help me," Nick replied.
Booth glared at him, "Yeah Bones, you can help us," he stressed.
The group made their way past the crime scene tape to the unfinished basement hole. A ladder had been placed at the side of it, and looking down it was a significant drop. At the bottom the dirt was held at bay by planks and on the other side, a cement truck was parked at the top, obviously halted in its quest to finish the foundation today.
Jim Brass continued towards the hole, and Booth followed him, but Bones and Nick stopped at the edge.
Brennan simply looked down, her forehead tense in concentration, as if willing herself to climb down the ladder. Whereas sweat had begun to form on Nick's brow and he looked very uncomfortable.
"Are you going down?" she asked the CSI.
"I think I'll need a minute. You?"
"Are you alright?"
He nodded slightly, "I'll be fine. It's just that I don't have the greatest track record with dirt holes."
"Track record? I don't know what that means."
He took a deep breath and still starring at the hole he answered, "I was buried alive once…it's just, this brings back unpleasant memories. But you go ahead, I'll be alright."
"I know exactly what your feeling," she replied to a surprised Nick.
"If you go down there, you're afraid the dirt walls will close in on you, that darkness will take over, that you'll be trapped…" she trailed off.
"You've been buried too?" he whispered.
"In my car, by someone called The Gravedigger. I was lucky to survive."
He gently took her hand and she looked into his eyes, "Well then we can face our fears together. We're not alone."
A small smile broke out on his face, "Then lets go."
"Hey Bones!" Booth stuck his head out of the hole at that moment, "Are you and Nick coming or what?" he extended his arm towards her.
"I was never alone," Brennan said to Nick, walking towards the hole.
To Be Continued… (and much sooner this time, I promise).
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