A/N: Due to the lack of response for this story, I'm seriously thinking of scrapping it. I'm not sure if it's boring, lacking something, or what but I would appreciate your input, so I know where to go from here. Thanks.


Chapter 7

Alex Ruber's Living room, Wednesday at 1:00 pm

"This is amazing. Why'd you come all the way out to Newport News? Just to see me?" Alex was all excited. Brennan was about to speak up but Booth jumped in first.

"We did actually. We have some questions for you," the agent smiled.

"Cool. What kind of questions?" The fifteen year old wanted to know.

"About your friend, Anna," Booth took his time with the question gauging the reaction. Immediately, the boy's exciting mood turned sour.

"She's missing. I already talked with the police," he said.

"She's isn't missing anymore, we found her." Booth told him. A smile crossed the boy's face until Brennan spoke up.

"She's back at the Jeffersonian. We're…" she didn't get to finish as Alex shook his head and said,

"No. If she's there… No."

"I'm sorry Alex." The forensic anthropologist apologized.

"What happened?" He asked, obviously barely able to hold his emotions in check.

"We don't know and that's where we need your help," Booth told him.

"My help? I wasn't with her when she disappeared. She'd offered to hang out that day but I couldn't because I had a science fair project to finish," Alex explained.

"You walked with Anna when she took Dusty?" Booth wondered.

"Yeah, some times. We'd just get to talk and I loved being able to pet Dusty. My dad is allergic and we can get a dog," the boy said.

"Did you ever notice someone following you or maybe one of the neighbors taking a little too much interest?" Booth asked.

"No. But there was this one time…" he trailed off as if he was trying to remember something.

"What?" Brennan tried to keep him focused.

"Well one day when we were walking to my house after school, Anna said something about a car following us. I looked around but the only thing I noticed was the school buses. That was until later when we rounded the corner onto my street. There was a tan car with a man and a woman in the front seat. I didn't recognize them from the neighborhood but I didn't say anything to Anna because I didn't want to freak her out. Once we got to my house and went inside the car continued on so I didn't think anything about it," Alex told them.

"You wouldn't have happened to look at the license plate would you?" Booth hoped they were about to get lucky.

"No, sorry," the fifteen year old said.

"How about anything else about the car? A broken head light or some sort of racing stripe? Maybe what type of car?" The G-man pressed him.

"There was a crack in the windshield and I thought to myself that they had better get that fixed because it looked like it almost went all the way across the windshield. There was a lot of rust too on the side of it," Alex said.

"Ok good. Do you think if we showed you a picture you'd be able to pick out the right car?" Booth wanted to know.

"I could try, if it would help Anna," he said.

"Then I want you to hang onto my card and give me a call if you think of anything else. Tell your folks we came by because I'm going to call and set it up so you can come to the Hoover Building," the FBI agent told him.

"I'll tell them. I just hope I can help," Alex sighed.

"You already have, thank you," Booth stuck out his hand and the kid shook it.

"Can I come and see Anna?" He asked Brennan. She looked to Booth who gave her the 'I don't think that's such a good idea' look.

"You know what, after we catch who did this, I'll give you a tour of the Jeffersonian, ok?" She tried to make nice. Alex looked disappointed but seemed to understand.

"That would be great," he gave a slight smile. Brennan nodded and the two partners rose from their seats.

"We'll be in touch ok?" Booth smiled.

"Ok," Alex said as he escorted them to the front door. The two left the house and headed for the SUV when Booth noticed a tan car driving by. It made note of the license plate, what the car looked like, and how many people were inside. There wasn't a crack in the windshield but it certainly was rusty.

"You coming?" Brennan asked from inside the SUV.

"Yeah, come on. I think we just may have another lead," he said as he hopped into the car and fired up the engine. Instead of leaving the block however he circled it.

"What are you doing? I thought we were heading back to the Jeffersonian," Brennan looked at him confused.

"I think that tan car Alex was talking about went past the house as we were leaving. I want to see if it circled the block too," he told her.

"And if they did?" She asked.

"Well I can't pull them over and tell them their car looks like the one a kid told us about except it doesn't have a crack in the windshield. Besides there isn't enough evidence to hold them on suspicion of murder. We don't even know how Anna died. But what we can do is call for a protective detail on Alex. If someone thinks he knows more than what he told us then he and his family could be in trouble," her partner explained.

"I see, well they obviously didn't circle the block," Brennan said as they came around the corner again.

"No, they didn't. Still it's too much of a coincidence. I'm calling for a protective detail and I'll have Charlie run the plates," Booth picked up his cell phone and made the call as he steered the SUV back toward the highway. Brennan listened to him and was surprised when he suddenly went quiet. She turned to him and gave him a concerned look.

"Any idea why he's angry?" Booth asked Charlie. Brennan couldn't hear the answer but she knew that he had to be talking about Cullen.

"Uh huh. Well I'll drop Bones off at the Jeffersonian and then head back to the office but still do those things I asked you for. We need to protect our witness," her partner said before hanging up.

"What's going on?" Brennan asked.

"Charlie says Cullen got a phone call after I left the office and he wasn't too happy about it," he explained.

"Well what could it be about?" his partner wondered.

"Something to do with me apparently because Charlie thinks I need to get back as soon as possible," Booth's mood was starting to sour.

"So why didn't Cullen just call you?" Brennan was trying to make sense of the situation.

"I have no idea. Maybe he didn't want to discuss it over the phone. Or if he's mad enough he maybe didn't want to get my voicemail. He knows we're out investigating," the G-man shrugged his shoulders.

"Well Cam wants to get a press release ready and I have to be there so she makes sure she has everything she needs for it," Brennan sighed.

"I'll have you back to the lab in a jiff, Bones. I just hope whatever is going on at the office isn't going to get me fired," he shook his head. That thought made both of them go quiet as neither one wanted that to happen.

To Be Continued…