2.
For a story about Sweets we haven't seen him yet huh? JMaybe he'll show up in this chapter. Maybe…
"This is so frustrating." Brennan said as she and Booth drove to the site of the next body that had been called in. Though it was reported to not be devoid of much skin it did however match the previous victims the Jeffersonian had been assigned to.
"Well Bones, I know it can be frustrating, but we just have to keep our heads." Booth told her though he was feeling the opposite.
"It's been a week since we picked up the previous remains and we are still no farther than we were before." Brennan said, her voice thick with frustration. They had no leads on these bodies, no leads on Yaz and the whole thing with Sweets just seemed weird.
"We'll get him Bones." Booth assured her.
"After how many more bodies?" Brennan wondered aloud.
"I have an ID." Angela announced. "Cindy Bender."
"I can confirm that as the rest she was restrained as her organs were removed. With more tissue to work with this time I can tell that this was done at a very slow pace. She would have been in great pain." Cam explained.
"If the victims are kidnapped and their bodies turn up a week later, what is going on in that time?" Booth asked though mostly as though he were thinking aloud.
"Well according to Sweets profile he proposed that he toys with them for the first few days. Then he kills them over another day, then their bodies deteriorate until they are found after another few days." Angela explained.
"Have you heard any more from Dr. Sweets?" Brennan asked.
"No, just that he was very busy working and didn't have time for small chat." Booth said. In the last week since he first questioned Sweets absence he hadn't been able to feel settled on the idea that Sweets was on special assignment. Not even when Caroline called back to confirm that he was.
"Well I'm sure we'll get another profile from him soon." Angela said, refreshing her inbox. She had a feeling that Sweets had written these profiles before the bodies even showed up but she knew that was irrational. They were just so thought out and specific. It was creepy to her.
"This is interesting." Cam said removing a small tooth.
"Where was that?" Arastoo asked.
"It in her mouth."
Brennan took the tooth and examined the girl's mouth.
"This tooth does not belong to this victim." She announced.
"I'll check the others." Arastoo explained.
Angela idly sat by, uninterested in the carnage and hit refresh on her laptop again.
"Oh! Here it is!" She said excitedly opening Sweets email.
"Already?" Brennan asked.
"He seems to be getting quicker with each one." Angela observed.
"Perhaps he is getting more familiar with the killer with each case." Arastoo suggested. "It's maybe not so new anymore."
Angela shrugged as she opened the file. "He put in the email that he's been busy at work and he hopes we are all well."
"What's in the profile?" Booth asked anxiously waiting for her to print off a copy.
"More of the same. The killer is psycho, won't stop. Blah blah." Angela said scanning, feeling like there was something more.
Booth was impatient to wait for the paper to print off and instead started to read while standing behind Angela.
"That's weird." Booth said causing Angela to stop scrolling while skim reading.
"What's that?" She asked looking to see what he did.
"A typo. Sweets doesn't have typo's. He misspelled the victim's name there, in the middle." Booth said pointing to one of the numerous paragraphs.
"What kind of typo?" Hodgins asked.
"He has the victim's name as Mindy Elder." Angela told him.
"That's a pretty weird typo." Hodgins suggested.
Booth stood up, his gut telling him this was something. "Yeah, how do you mess up on someone's name?"
"Perhaps if Dr. Sweets is busy he did it by accident." Brennan suggested while continuing her examination.
Arastoo returned to the platform.
"I've checked the other victims x-rays, none of them are missing a tooth." He reported.
"Angela," Booth began. "Check the other profiles, are any of the other names wrong?"
The group, except for Angela, largely ignored Booth and thought he was making a lot over a silly typo. They went back to their examination making remarks and jotting down data.
"Here, the first one, in the 23rd paragraph he refers to the victim as Hanna Elmer when her name was Anna Melmer." Angela said.
"Check the second profile." Booth said leaning in to skim with her. The rest of the group's interest had picked up as well and they advanced closer now.
"There!" Booth said pointing. "Jana Anderson was changed to Lana Penderson".
"Why though, those names are very similar." Brennan questioned. "We hadn't even noticed until now."
"So what were they again?" Hodgins asked turning to the white board nearby. Angela named them off again in order of the first victim to the last as Hodgins wrote them down. "And the last victim, Cindy Bender became Mindy Ender." He said finishing.
The group looked at the names and studied them.
"The first letter is the only thing that changes." Arastoo said pointing to the board.
Hodgins picked up the pen and wrote out the first letter of each name below them. Once he read it he dropped the dry erase marker.
"H-E-L-P-M-E."