"Bones, please try to get some sleep. Cam can take care of the preliminaries." The team stood on the platform, bleary-eyed as they worked late into the evening. Temperance was beginning to nod off as the pathologist did the autopsy on Beth's remains.
"I'll be fine Booth, relax."
"No. You've been here all day, and right now there's no need for either you or Angela to be here. Please baby, get some rest so you can be more alert in the morning."
"Those murderers killed Rebecca and they killed Beth. How many more are they going to get before we find them?"
"Hopefully none." Booth turned to Angela, who looked completely shaken up. She had her arms wrapped around her waist as she stared at the body on the table. Seeley turned back to Brennan and leaned in close to her. "Temperance please. Take Angela home and stay with her tonight. I'm sure she could use both the rest and the company. Please." Brennan looked at her best friend and nodded. The case was taking its toll on everyone, and it could only get worse at this point. They only just started on it, and it was proving to be one of the worst situations they'd dealt with. After a moment of consideration, Brennan nodded and took a deep breath.
"Angela, could you please drive me home? Booth needs to stay later and I don't have a car right now. Mine is still over at the Bureau." Angela looked up at Brennan, her eyes glazed for a second before she registered what her friend was saying to her.
"Oh, sure. Just let me get my purse." Angela walked off the platform as she glanced back once at the remains. She was rightfully subdued after watching the trash she'd been viewing all day. When she reached her office, Booth pulled Brennan into a quick hug and kiss.
"Now go home and please make sure that you both get some sleep."
"You too Booth." With that, she left him for her office and belongings. He watched her until she was out of the building. "Okay Cam, what have you got?"
"Not much yet. She was sexually assaulted, kind of ironic considering her line of work. There are multiple lacerations to her body, most notably a large gash on her abdomen. Whoever did this is seriously into the whole torture aspect of it all." She shook her head and returned her attention to the remains. Booth clenched and unclenched his fists. It wasn't fair. He'd had her in for questioning two days earlier, and now she was dead. There had to have been something he could do to protect her from being murdered.
"I pulled some particulates from her clothing, and it matches the samples we have from Rebecca's case. There's no doubt that the same person did this," Hodgins said as he looked up from his microscope. "The fibers are a match to carpet used by Ford. I'm running a search to see if they're related to a particular model vehicle."
"Great, thanks Hodgins." Booth watched them work for a few minutes as he mulled over the information given to him. Puzzled, he turned back to Cam.
"Hey, you said that she had several lacerations, including one on her stomach?"
"Yes," she answered and pointed to the various cuts. Booth took in the locations of the wounds and nodded.
"Those match some of the autopsy reports from a few other cases I pulled, but Rebecca Teasdale didn't have any wounds like that. Why spare her and not the others?"
"I don't know. From what Angela mentioned of that video, she fought off her attacker and got out of the car, although the sandstone cliffs she fell off of did a number on her before she died. Maybe to them it was the same thing." She shrugged.
"Huh. Well, I'm going back over to my office to look over those files. I put in a request for all physical evidence to be sent over here. You should have everything tomorrow. Hodgins, see if you can match any of the evidence to the two current cases. I want to make sure we get these bastards for everything."
XxXxX
"Bren, really I'm fine," Angela said as she took a sip of some tea. They sat in the family room, neither paying the television any attention though it was on. "I can get home okay, I promise you. It's not like I've been out drinking or anything."
"No, but it's well after midnight and you've been working on an intense case. I'm insisting you stay here tonight. Besides, I'm sure it will make Booth feel better knowing that I have company right now." She shifted in her seat to get more comfortable. Her back felt a little bit tight, which was understandable considering the late hours she worked.
"Fine, I'll do it if it'll make Booth feel better," Angela smirked and took another sip of the tea before grimacing. "One thing's for sure. I'll be happy if I never have to watch another porno for the rest of my life. I don't quite see what men see in those things. There's always some busty woman who's like, 'Oh oops, I seem to have dropped a doughnut down the front of my shirt and now there's glazed sugar all over me. I'd better take off my shirt'. And of course there's some not terribly attractive man there who just happens to be well equipped to take care of the sugar problem."
"Ange, I don't think that would quite qualify all of the pornography you can find out there."
"No, you're right about that, trust me. I'm fairly open-minded but some of the stuff I saw tonight…no thank you." She shuddered as she thought about the furries going at it. "And though I applaud those brave enough to tape their nookie sessions, those tapes aren't much better."
"You know, Michael and I taped ourselves a couple of times. I didn't quite understand why that would be appealing, to watch yourself having sex." Angela started laughing and set her cup down.
"Hodgins and I got caught on tape a few times at work. I still have the DVD at home that Cam gave me as a warning to be more discreet."
"I don't think Booth would be interested in filming sex. He says that people only engage in alternative practices because they're trying to make a connection, and I have to say that I agree with him."
"God, I'd pay to see the two of you at it. That would be hot as hell."
"Ange!"
"What sweetie, it's true. Two hotties like you would be way better than a lot of the crap available online." Brennan smiled and shook her head. Leave it to Angela to make an observation like that.
"Thank you I think." Brennan glanced at the clock as she shifted in her seat again. If she didn't get sleep soon, she'd definitely regret it in the morning. She got off of the couch and stretched before grabbing the mugs to take to the kitchen. "I have the guest room ready. You know where to find everything, right?"
"Yes, and thanks Bren for helping out tonight." Angela gave Temperance a hug and headed down to the guest bedroom. Brennan watched her until she shut the door to the room and headed to her own room. She needed to get some sleep, and as she glanced once again at the clock, hoping that Booth would be okay and not try to drive home if he was too tired. They didn't need any other surprises in their life.
XxXxX
Booth pored over the files he'd requested, reading over the autopsy reports and looking through the photographs from the crime scenes. He'd managed to sort the files into two stacks, those that were likely matches and those that weren't. Of the likely matches, a pattern was emerging. All of the victims were young women in their early twenties, had blonde hair and blue eyes, were either in college or had graduated, and all were found dead in bodies of water.
He rubbed his eyes and yawned, glancing at the clock on his desk as he did so. Christ, it was almost three in the morning. There was no way he was going to try and drive home as tired as he was. His mind made up, he grabbed the files on the likely victims and headed out to his SUV. Bones had a perfectly good couch in her office, and he knew she'd want him to make the safe choice. Besides, he mused, he'd be able to get the files to Cam and Hodgins immediately and the case could get on its feet much faster that way.
XxXxX
Morning came much too early Brennan decided when her alarm clock sounded at seven. Her body was achy, a dull throbbing emanating from her lower back. It's only because I worked for so long yesterday, she thought as she shut off the alarm. Temperance shifted and winced at the pulling in her muscles as if everything was tense. With a sigh, she dropped her arms down over her eyes. Dr. Tarlow had insisted that if she experienced any type of back pain she needed to call in. She glanced once more at the clock. The office wouldn't be open for another two hours, so she'd just have to call from work.
With that thought, she heaved herself out of bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She was ready in short order and out the door with Angela by seven thirty. The artist glanced occasionally over at Temperance, but said nothing as she shifted in her seat.
"You think they found out anything last night?" Brennan looked over at Angela before turning back to stare out the window.
"I think something had to have been discovered if Booth didn't make it home last night. Maybe there's evidence connecting the murders, or he's found other cases that are similar, but then again, no one called with news." Temperance shifted in her seat again.
"Bren, are you okay? You look really uncomfortable."
"I'm fine, don't worry. I just shouldn't have been working as long as I did yesterday."
"If you say so sweetie." With one final look at Temperance, Angela turned her attention back to the road.
They arrived at the Jeffersonian shortly afterwards, the rest of the team already there and working. Brennan made a detour to her office to drop off her belongings and grab her lab coat. She walked in to find Booth sound asleep on her couch. Smiling, she made her way over and sat on the edge of the cushion before bending down and kissing him on the lips. He blinked open his eyes before sitting up and rubbing a hand over his face.
"What time is it?"
"It's just a little after eight. Were you able to find anything out last night?"
"Yes and no. Hodgins found proof that whoever killed Rebecca in La Jolla also murdered Beth. I'm going to call the head of 'Sex, Lies and Internet' today and find out who was in that video with Rebecca."
"Okay. Once the remains are cleaned, I'll see if there's anything I can tell about the attacks." Brennan and Booth looked up as a light knock sounded on the door to the office.
"I'm sorry to disturb you Dr. Brennan, but a package just arrived for you." Brennan stood and took the package from the security guard. "We already checked the contents since it came with no return address, and everything is clear."
"Thank you," Brennan responded and opened the box. Both she and Booth frowned as they looked at the contents of the box. Inside was a single DVD in a clear cover. Temperance moved around to her desk and popped it into the computer once it was booted up. As the disk began to play, the words, 'Let the storm hit' flashed across the screen before everything went to static.
