Thank you all for reviewing! It inspired me to write more and now you have a pretty long chapter! Oh, and I think a lot of you know what's coming up...

Booth spent the next several hours looking through Kirra Jordan's documents. He still had a feeling that her ex-husband was responsible, but without having to give an explanation as to why, he had to treat this like any other case. Who am I kidding? This is not a normal case. Mattie's involved and I'm worried about her. Snap out of it! She's not a seventeen year old, abuse victim any more. She probably is doing just fine. She's probably a lawyer or a doctor or a professor or something with a family who cares and protects her and would do anything for her. Booth shook his head. If this was a normal case, then Bones would be telling me what I did to piss her off or better yet, she wouldn't be keeping something from me at all. I would be able to tell her everything that's been on my mind for the past two days, including the fact that Hannah and I broke up and that I know the woman we're looking for and I don't want to believe that she is capable of murdering. At least with this case, Bones wants to charge Larry as badly as I do. The agent let out another deep sigh. This was going to be a long case.

He continued to research, only to find that Kirra had kept her nose relatively clean since she regained her freedom a few years earlier. There had been a couple drunken misconducts and driving tickets, but she hadn't harmed anyone since Mattie.

Booth looked down at the time, eight- fifteen. Well, that explains why it's getting so dark outside. He wanted to do more to find and clear Mattie, but there wasn't anything else he could think of to do until he got a lead. Booth was just packing up his things to head home, when his cell phone rang.

"Booth."

"Hey, Booth, your parolee just got to town. I thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah, thanks Charlie… You think you could get them to bring him by the Hoover building? I want to talk to him before I head home."

"Sure. He'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Thanks." With that the two agents hung up. Booth called Bones, but she didn't answer any of her phones. He figured that, even if she would be even angrier at him tomorrow, since she wasn't planning on helping him interview Larry, he would go ahead and interrogate him.

Sure enough, fifteen minutes later Booth received a call that the man he considered scum of the earth was in interrogation room number one. He was about half way to said room, when he ran into his favorite baby duck.

"Agent Booth, you're here late."

"Yeah, I was looking into the Jordan case. In fact, I've got the prime suspect waiting for me right now."

"You've already got her ex-husband here?" He clearly wasn't expecting that.

"Parolee, Sweets. They usually come when they're called."

"Do you mind if I watch?"

"As long as you don't make me wear an ear piece." Booth started to walk towards the door, but Sweets stopped.

"You aren't waiting for Dr. Brennan?"

"She told me she didn't want to talk to him tomorrow, and she's not answering her phone. What's the difference between me doing the interview alone tonight or tomorrow?"

"You and Dr. Brennan are fighting." It was more of a statement than a question or guess.

"What? No! How the hell did you get that from what I just said?"

"You're body language indicates-"

"You know what; I don't really want to know." Booth didn't care if Sweets watched his interview, but really didn't want to listen to the psychobabble that was sure to come from a conversation with the psychologist about his and Bones' relationship.

Booth stood outside the door for a second; trying to collect himself so he wouldn't punch the man like he had in the past. One deep breath and he opened the door. Sitting at the table was a balding, slightly wider, more wrinkly version of Larry. Booth was happy that time had been unkind to him, but didn't let it show to the suspect or anyone watching the room.

"Hi, I'm Special Agent Booth. Thanks for coming to see us."

"You didn't leave me much of choice." Larry's face scrunched together as if deep in thought. "Have we met before?"

"No, I don't think so," Booth lied perfectly. He doubted even Sweets picked up on it. "Do you know why you're here, Mr. Jordan?"

"No. I was just told to get my ass here or I'd go back to that hellhole I was wrongfully sent to." Booth had an urge to beat the guy to a pulp for a second time. He had seen Mattie's bruises with his own eyes, and this guy had the nerve to say the teenager had been lying? And the fact at their first encounter, Larry had practically admitted that he abused the girl made the agent furious. But because of the agent recording the interview and the annoying psychologist on the other side of the window, he ignored the impulse.

"Your ex-wife, Kirra Jordan, was found murdered. So, I want to know where you were approximately six months ago when she died."

"About time she croaked," he answered disdainfully. "That lying bitch told the prosecutor that I was beating Mattie or whatever her real name was. I didn't know that Kirra was hurting her! But they conspired against me, and those two bitches lied through their teeth to convict me. Kirra made a deal so she'd get less time than me. So, sorry I'm not sad because she finally kicked the bucket."

"So, you're saying Kirra and Mattie lied in court to get you arrested. Why?"

"Hell if I know. You think I like this? Who ran into that girl's room when she was callin' out a names in the middle of the night to come save her? Me. Sure, might not have been my name, but better than leavin' her there wigging out." Booth decided to ignore the 90's lingo, and continue questioning the man.

"What was the name?" Booth hoped this person could tell him where she was.

"Ricky, Ross, Rusty, something like that. It was a long time ago. Why?"

"Maybe she told him the truth and he went after Kirra. Remember the last name?"

"Nope. Not sure if she ever told me one. But you know what; I was good to that girl. I let her get by with doing whatever it was she did to her hair and wear those contacts so her old family wouldn't ever recognize her."

"What do you mean?"

"The girl bleached her hair and wore those contacts that changed her eye color."

"What are the original colors? We're having trouble finding Mattie to question her." Not a lie, but not the real reason for Booth wanting to know. "More information could help us find her."

"Never saw her real hair, but her eyes weren't brown. They were that light blue color, you know what I mean?" Booth cursed himself when he immediately thought of Brennan's eyes. It wasn't the time for that, especially with Sweets in the other room.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Well, she had those. But she was really quiet most of the time; except to her boyfriend apparently."

"Let's get back to your ex-wife," the investigator said. Booth had a gut feeling that he was the boyfriend. "You never told me where you were."

"I was visiting a friend."

"Mind giving me the friend's name?"

"Yeah, I do. Hey, don't you have to warrant or something to ask about that?"

"We're only having a friendly chat. You aren't under arrest or anything. So where were you exactly?"

"Well, here's the thing: me and this friend had a bit of a disagreement… And she might be willing to say anything to send me back to the big house."

"So, your friend is an ex- girlfriend." Larry nodded his head. Booth sighed. He didn't buy any of Larry's load of crap. The only helpful thing was that the only two of three traits of Mattie he could clearly remember (besides the bruises) weren't real and that she had a connection to guy whose name probably started with an R.

Booth stood up and headed towards the door. But before he walked out he turned back to Larry. "Hopefully, Mr. Jordan, you won't leave the area. If you do then we'll have a problem. It was a friendly chat this time, next time you might not be so lucky."

Larry's eyes went big, before shouting, "You sonavabitch! You're the kid who came into my home and hurt my wife and me!"

Booth turned around and came back into the room. "Mr. Jordan, I don't have any idea what you're talking about."

"You're that brat's boyfriend!" Larry screamed. By this point he was standing up, and moving towards Booth.

"Sir, you aren't making much sense."

"Go to Hell! I'm not talking to you anymore!" Larry's fist suddenly connected with Booth's nose. Booth quickly recovered and pulled out his cuffs.

"You just assaulted a federal agent. Do you realize how much trouble you just put yourself in?"

"You sonavabitch. You and Terri must have been a great couple."

"Terri your ex-girlfriend or something?" Booth asked. Maybe the guy's alibi would check out. Booth hoped it wouldn't, but it was possible.

"No, Terri ain't the right name. You probably know Mattie's real name anyway, though."

"Never been great with names, have you, Larry?" Booth muttered in his ear so only the suspect would hear him.

"Sonavabitch."

"You like that word." Booth continued by reading him his rights, before leading him out of the room. As they left room, Sweets stepped outside of the observation room.

"Agent Booth, I have a couple of questions for Mr. Jordan." Booth sighed. Of course, he did.

"Fine, Sweets ask away."

"Mr. Jordan, you said that your foster daughter screamed out a name in her sleep. Do you remember how he was related?"

"She was always callin' out to her brother most of the time. Occasionally her parents."

"And his name started with an R, right?"

"Yeah."

"Was his name Russ?"

"That's what it was!" Booth looked between the baby duck and the scum of the earth. He knew what Sweets was thinking but knew the kid was wrong.

"And do you know about anything that happened to Mattie after your incarceration?"

"I saw that she wrote few books. My cellmate was a fan of hers." Booth sighed. Larry was only fueling Sweets suspicions, and probably didn't even know it.

"What were the books about?"

"Hell if I know."

"Would you recognize a picture of her?"

"Why are y'all asking about the foster girl? I thought I was here about Kirra."

"You are, but anything that could help us find Mattie would be helpful."

"You think she did it? She couldn't even defend herself from me… Shit." Booth and Sweets exchanged similar looks at the man's accidental admission.

"Sweets, did he just admit to abusing his foster daughter?"

"I believe he did… But we already knew that."

"Yeah, but it's a lot different of tune than what he was saying in the interview. Anything else you want to change?"

"I wanna lawyer."

"Let's go, then, Larry." Booth was about to drag him away when Sweets stopped him again.

"I want to show him a picture of her, Booth."

"It's not her. She would have told me."

"There are similarities between the two cases-"

"She would have told me." He couldn't believe the psychologist was pushing this so much. The chance of it happening anyway was like a billion to one. The fact Booth knew Mattie made it even slimmer.

"Who the hell are we talking about?" Larry cut into the FBI employees' conversation.

"Mr. Jordan, did you ever lock Mattie in a car trunk for a couple of days?" Booth rolled his eyes. Mattie never mentioned-

"Once. A couple of days before he-" he nodded towards Booth "- beat the living daylight out of me and Kirra."

"I didn't do that!" It wasn't a lie. He didn't hurt the woman, nullifying the entire statement. But then the information sunk in. Bones had been locked in a trunk for two days for breaking a dish. Mattie had been unable to leave somewhere for two days for making more of a mess in the kitchen. They had both been warned that they would be punished. They both had blue eyes. Possibly brothers named Russ who protected them at one point. Parents who left them to the foster system. They both went to Northwestern and would have been set to graduate around the same time. Both incredibly bright. Bones had been acting strange since they got the case, too. But she would have told him… Wouldn't she?

"Agent Booth?" Sweets' voice cut through Booth's thoughts.

"What, Sweets?"

"When you're done taking him in, will you come see me in my office?"

"No." Booth shoved Larry forward, leaving Sweets to stand there, starring at him wide- eyed and gaping.