Booth was at the FBI. He was not bringing Sweets in on this interrogation. It would only make things a lot more complicated. He was even having a hard time trying to quell his inner anger. He stared through the one way glass at Laurence Shankle. He had a stack of files in his hands. One of them was filled with pictures from the times Alison Shankle had been in and out of the emergency room. Another was from when a Lance Shankle had been in and out of the ER. He hadn't looked at those photos. They would be his last resort. Then there was a folder for Julia Shankle's visits to the hospital. Booth figured that the Shankle family and the staff at the hospital were on a first name basis.
Booth's fists clenched in rage again. How could something like this happen without anyone noticing? Why didn't the neighbors report when they heard screaming and yelling coming from the home? It wasn't like the house was secluded. It sat on a corner. There was a house in every direction from it.
The rest of the folders in his stack were for Laurence himself. They listed his charges along with any material evidence, interviews, or photos that had been filed with it. Booth took a deep breath and picked up the massive pile. He then opened the door to the interrogation room. He had to resist the urge to crinkle his nose. He swore he was going to get drunk just off of the smell this man was emitting.
Laurence Shankle was clad in a black and red flannel shirt that was barely able to be buttoned. The shirt was so small on the mass of a man that the shirt gapped and you could see his chest and stomach in the places where the edges didn't meet. His pants were blue jeans that probably hadn't been washed in two weeks. His face though was what got Booth. Sweets was his father's child. Their jaw line was the same along with the eyes. Those chocolate orbs that usually carried warmth with Sweets were filled with hate and disgust with Shankle. He'd seen the same orbs on Alison Shankle. Booth didn't need a DNA test to see the similarities between the three. Laurence's hair though was a greasy dirty blond that was nearly gone, his nose resembled a hawk, and his eyebrows were very thick.
Booth entered the room and sat down across from him. He slapped the files down on the table.
"Where's my lawyer?" He asked gruffly. His voice was scratchy from years of smoking.
"He's on his way." Booth replied. "Before he gets here though, I thought I'd go over some things." He opened up the file on top and started pulling out pictures. The pictures were from the hospital Alison was currently at. They showed her wounds in clear detail. "We know you did this." He said blatantly.
"How?" Laurence asked and squinted at Booth.
"Come on, man." Booth said and leaned back in his chair. "The way you reacted at the crime scene? We could peg you for assaulting an officer. Add child abuse onto there and you'll probably be in for the rest of your life."
"I didn't assault an officer." Laurence replied.
"You scuffed my shoe. Someone's got to pay for it." Booth kept a lackadaisical tone.
"Scuffin' a shoe isn't assault." Laurence shot.
"Tell that to my prosecutor. I've got her in my back pocket. She could keep your lawyer away for days." He accented. Booth then pulled a list of past charges out and started reading through them. He would glance at Laurence occasionally to see his reaction. Once he was done reading the list of offenses dating back more than thirty years ago he said, "And now we're going to add a new one to the list! Homicide." He let the folders fall to the table.
"I didn't murder nobody." Laurence said as his eyebrows knitted together.
"Oh?" Booth slid the pictures of Julia Shankle's body onto the table. "Then how is it that your wife goes missing and no one reports her as such? Hm?" Booth leaned in close and could smell Laurence's maggoty breath. "You want to know what I think?" He growled threateningly.
"What do you think, Agent?" Laurence asked. He held Booth's gaze.
"I think she tried to leave you. I think after all these years she finally got the guts to tell you to back off or she was taking your kid and leaving."
Laurence's eyes flashed with rage. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"Actually, I do." Booth retorted. "I've had to work with scum bags like you for long enough to know how the organ on top works." They were still face to face keeping an intense glare. "You enjoy hurting kids. Your own kids. And you enjoy pushing women around. Does it make you feel like a man? When you see them crying and begging…" Booth saw something flash through Laurence's eyes. "Oh! I see how it is!" Booth stood up as the sudden revelation hit him. He looked inanely happy on the outside, but on the inside it made him feel like he was going to puke. He slapped his hands on the table and leaned forward. "You get off on it, don't you? Is that the only way you can get aroused anymore? Your wife doesn't do enough for ya?"
"SHUT UP!" Laurence yelled.
"Ooh. A little feisty?" Booth pulled out pictures of Julia Shankle with purple bruises on her face and arms and slapped them on the table. He lined them up with the pictures of Alison already on the table. He then opened the file with Sweets' photos in them. Booth slapped them on the table without looking at them. "Is this what you do when you get mad? Send someone to the hospital?"
Laurence clamped his jaw shut.
"Look at him, Laurence!" Booth demanded in a loud voice as he pushed a picture of toddler Lance forward. "He still has scars!"
As soon as Laurence sucked in air to bellow something at Booth the door to the interrogation room opened. A shrewd looking man stepped in. "Don't say another word, Mr. Shankle. And what do you think you're doing, Agent? You know that-" The man grabbed Booth's arm to spin him around. Booth's hand snapped out and caught a hold of the lawyer's wrist.
"Don't touch me. Ever. You understand?" Booth demanded.
The lawyer swallowed hard. "Understood."
"Good." Booth swept all of the pictures back up into their correct folders as he said, "I was making sure Mr. Shankle here knew what he was being charged with." Booth bumped past the lawyer and went out the door. His fists were clenched with anger. He pitied the soul that ticked him off today.
-break-
Cam had led Sweets to the lounge that overlooked the lab. She forced him to sit on one of the couches before she had started one of the coffee makers. It had been silent the whole time the coffee was brewing.
Sweets sighed and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "I would have been nine when she was born. I would have been living with mom and dad. I could've rescued her before it started."
Cam turned around from the table. "You can't honestly think that Laurence abusing Alison was your fault?"
"No, of course not!" Sweets replied hurriedly. "But if Child Services would have been monitoring Laurence they could have pulled her out of there."
Cam sighed. "You know the system doesn't work like that."
"But it should."
The coffee maker announced that the pot was done. Cam carefully pushed a mug under and watched the dark brown liquid. "How do you like your coffee, Doctor Sweets?"
"Black is fine." He mumbled.
Cam carefully handed the steaming mug to Sweets. He blew over the surface before taking a sip. Cam poured herself a mug before she sat beside Sweets. She placed a hand on Sweets' knee. "Whatever you decide, we'll be here to help. Alright?"
Sweets nodded and took a long swig of coffee. "Legally, since her… our mother is dead and biological father is in custody she goes to the next of kin."
"Which would be you." Cam confirmed.
Sweets rubbed his temple with his free hand. He could feel a headache brewing. Suddenly Sweets' phone rang. "Hello?" He answered.
"Sweets, it's Booth. Did you find out the results of the test yet?" Booth asked.
"Yeah, um we're definitely siblings." He replied.
"Alright." Booth replied. "I have to interview her next. I thought you'd might like to tag along?"
"Isn't she still in the hospital?"
"She's being held there until we pick her up. After the interview though, she'll be handed over to the foster system unless a family member intervenes."
Sweets got the message. "She is not going into the foster system."
A/N: I'm working on being more descriptive, if you haven't noticed by now. I tried to make Laurence sound as disgusting as I could possibly imagine, but I think the words don't do justice to what I have in my head. Anyways! Hope you enjoyed the chapter and, as always, thanks for all the reviews!