Author's Note: Next chapter. I know that updates have been slow, and I apologize for that. I hope that I've been able to keep things interesting...I imagine that I might have lost some of my readers, but I hope that those of you who are still around will enjoy the rest of this fic...

I do not own Bones or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/reviewing this.

D: Yeah, I've heard about that kind of thing from many of my peers in college and from friends of mine who had been through graduate school. It's amazing how people can have no notion of when things are inappropriate even if we are talking about consenting adults. As you will see in future chapters, a certain kind of mentality often contributes to that...

Charlotte Thornton: Thank you. I will admit that it's still an adjustment for me to have the case featured so heavily in one of my fics, so I am glad that you are still enjoying it. Hopefully this update will keep things going at a good pace for you...

Lives in the now: Thank you for the review. The case will be taking some more turns as you will soon see, so I hope you enjoy this update as well.

The Incandescence in the Reflection—Chapter 10

The rest of the day had been a busy one for Booth.

After he and Sweets had finished talking to Kipfer, they tried once again to talk to more of the students in an attempt to gather more information about Whitmore and Lessinger with little success.

The only thing that Booth gained was the possibility that there was another victim involved.

Toward the end of rounds of questioning, one of Lessinger's friends had given a tearful account about another student who had been missing for over a year: Sara Perkins.

The student, one Sharon Birlew, had asked to speak to Booth and Sweets privately, and they ended up talking while sitting on a bench across from the football field.

"I know that she's not one of the people who has been…whose death you're investigating," Birlew told them. "But she's been gone for so long, and you have to understand that Sara was not the type of person who would just dump college and run off, you know? She wanted to be a teacher more than anything else in the world. It was her dream to be a professor at a place like this. And besides that…I know you're investigating the people mentioned in that article that Chip Olman wrote. You are, right?"

"Ms Birlew," Sweets said. "We can't…."

"Well Sara never came out and said it, but I'm pretty sure she had an affair with one of the professors here during her first semester," Birlew continued, ignoring Sweets. "I think…I think she really regretted it, and that's why she wouldn't talk about it."

Booth had been listening mainly as a way to indulge her, but as she continued, he found himself increasingly intrigued and wondered if perhaps this warranted looking into.

"I know that you are busy trying to find out about Carol, and that other girl, Whitmore," she added. "And I…I hate what happened to them, but I….Please. Could you please look into what happened to Sara? She…she's not the kind of person who should be just cast aside and forgotten about."

All during the ride back to DC, Birlew's pleas echoed in Booth's mind.

'Cast aside and forgotten about?' he mused. 'No…This Sara Perkins probably wasn't the type of person who this should happen to.'

'No one is, really.'

Once he got back to his office, Booth decided to do some quick checking on his computer into Perkins' case file. A missing person's report had been filed on her about a week after she was lasted reported seen. Local authorities had investigated, but nothing had been turned up. The parents had even offered a reward for any information that could turn up new leads, but the case still had gone cold.

Booth stared at the photo of Perkins that was displayed on his screen. She was smiling and that smile extended all the way up to her dark blue eyes and all the way over toward her waves of strawberry blond hair.

Acting on a hunch, Booth looked through his notes until he found a number that he was looking for: the one for Delaney's assistant, Terry Lipton.

"Sara Perkins? Off the top of my head, I'm not sure," Lipton said over the line once Booth had gotten a hold of him. "Let me check."

Booth could hear the rustling of papers and the tapping of keyboard keys in the background while he waited. He was prepared to wait patiently in silence until Lipton's voice came back on the line.

"Hey uh, are you guys making any progress on that whole murder thing?" he asked. "I heard that you're investigating Amy's and Carol's deaths together. Is that true? I mean, I remember Carol. She seemed nice enough. Did pretty well in Delaney's class too, if I'm remembering right. She was often hanging around his office and….hey, wait! This Sara Perkins you're checking on….wait, you don't think that she's been murdered too, do you?"

Booth deflected Lipton's questions as impersonally as he could while still remaining polite and soon the assistant relented.

"Ok, ok, sorry about all that," Lipton said sheepishly. "I should have known that you can't really talk about it. I guess I'm just a little edgy is all. I know it's not really your fault, but ever since you guys started poking around here…well let's just say that it's gotten more difficult to work with Doctor Delaney…for a variety of reasons."

"Like what?" the agent asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Well he's become even more short-tempered here recently," Lipton answered. "I know that you've met him and that that might not seem possible, but believe me, it is. I swear he's always been sort of wound tight but now…he's getting really secretive and paranoid too. Always asking me if anyone's talking about him and ordering me to not discuss anything we talk about with anyone else. I mean, he was anal about stuff like that before, but now it's increased ten-fold."

Booth listened with interest to the things that Lipton was telling him. He figured that Delaney's behavior could partially be chalked up to the natural response some people had to being investigated. But he also suspected that it could be more than just nerves from being part of a criminal investigation.

"Ah here we go," Lipton said. "Sara Perkins was in Doctor Delaney's intro philosophy class and in his ethics class about a year ago. Looks like she had a rough start in the intro class, but she still managed to pull of some pretty good final grades."

"Thank you for your time," Booth replied.

"No problem," the assistant said. "And hey, sorry to dump all that other stuff on you about Doctor Delaney. I know you've got important stuff to do and all…Anyway, just let me know if you need anything else."

"I'll do that," Booth said before hanging up. As he glanced over again at his computer screen, his expression became grim.

'In fact, I might be doing that sooner rather than later.'

After a quick lunch with Brennan, Booth went back to his office and started to go over the files he had been sent about the professors that had been named in Olman's article, along with Sara Perkins' case file. The agent didn't find much in the professors' files other than the garden variety traffic violations, with Delaney's being the cleanest file of all of them.

'Still, both victims were in his class, and both of them were known to have a relationship with him,' Booth pondered. 'And now there's this other missing student who was also in his class. That's just too much of a coincidence.'

Booth glanced over at the clock on his computer and stood up to put his suit jacket back on. He thought about looking over the files with Sweets to see if the psychologist could find anything that he couldn't, but he knew that Sweets was seeing patients right now. He made a mental note to stop by the therapist's office later and then left his office to walk down the hall.

For the moment, the agent decided to put the case aside. He had set up a meeting for today with Hacker and he had no intention of being distracted during it.

"Agent Booth," the deputy director grinned as Booth walked into his office. "Go ahead and sit down."

Booth sat down onto one the chairs across from Hacker's desk silently. Hacker had a way of seeming casual and carefree on the surface, even though Booth knew that that was usually far from how he actually was. Still, Booth found that he was in no mood for an elaborate dance around the issues today.

"This isn't meant to be an official meeting, is it?" Hacker said, noting the expression on the agent's face. Booth shook his head.

"All right then," he continued, a smile still on his face. "I think we can dispense with the whole "boss/subordinate" thing for a few minutes. So tell me, what's this about?"

"The Darren Algente case," Booth replied. Hacker nodded.

"I should have known this would be about that," he said. "Especially given what happened to Doctor Sweets. I know that you consider him one of your people. By the way, how is he doing?"

"He's fine," Booth answered curtly. "Why are you looking into this?"

"It was a high profile case," Hacker answered smoothly. "You know how the press eats up this kind of thing. It would be bad for the Bureau if no one made sure that everything was completely in order and that all protocols were followed."

"Come on," Booth said, grimacing. "I thought that we were dropping the boss/subordinate thing for this conversation." Hacker started to chuckle, his mouth still frozen in a smile.

"You're right. We were," he replied. "Sorry, force of habit."

The deputy director then leaned toward Booth, much of the mirth leaving his face.

"I've actually had an eye on Larson for a while now," Hacker continued. "When he was transferred here, he had gotten glowing recommendations from his former superiors. Perhaps a little too glowing given his solid, but thoroughly average record."

"Almost as if they were trying to get them out of their hair by deflecting him our way," Booth said. "And in a manner that made it look like they weren't sending a potential problem into our turf."

"You know me so well," Hacker grinned. "Fortunately, I know my counterparts in LA equally well. I know a warning sign when I see one, even if they are trying to hide it."

"So why give him this case?" Booth asked.

"Larson requested it," Hacker said. "I figure that he felt that he had something to prove, being the new transfer and all and given the reputation he was starting to get around this office. Besides, you were on vacation and all the other homicide agents were tied up in major cases of their own. I decided that this would be a good "make or break" case for him."

Booth nodded in response. He was certain that what Hacker actually meant was that either Larson had to make a compelling case against one of the suspects or the deputy director would break him. But the agent figured that there was no need to say that aloud.

"How did Doctor Sweets become involved?" he asked instead. "Was that your suggestion?"

"Actually that had more to do with you than anything else," Hacker said, pointing a finger at him. "Apparently Larson was running into a bit of a wall in his investigation, and he heard around the office about all the leads that Doctor Sweets had been able to help you dig up in the past. So soon, Larson formally asked him to help out with this case to help him cut down the suspect pool."

"Is that why there are so many reports in this file from Doctor Sweets?" Booth asked with more than a little sarcasm. "Because he was just helping him get a couple leads?"

"Yes, I thought that was odd too at first," Hacker said thoughtfully. "But Larson did seem to be getting results, and he needed them. After all, two more bodies surfaced during his investigation."

"The reports said that Doctor Sweets was present at Darren Algente's residence when the SWAT team showed up to apprehend him," Booth added. "Do you know what he was doing there? Was Larson taking him out into the field?"

"From what I understand, yes," Hacker answered. "Not unlike what you have been doing here of late."

Those words felt like a blow to the gut to Booth. He knew that it was true that he had been taking Sweets out into the field more and more here recently. It had seemed like a natural extension of the fact that Booth had involved him in more aspects of his cases and was also due to his desire to keep Brennan in the lab more now that she was pregnant. He had learned to deal with the concern that taking Sweets into the field more could lead to increased risks for the psychologist by telling himself that Sweets wouldn't really be in too much peril since he was accompanying him at all times.

He hadn't considered the possibility, however, that other agents might start to get the same idea.

"I don't bring consultants into a situation where SWAT is required," Booth said, bristling at Hacker's words. Hacker could sense Booth's unspoken questions, and he leaned back in his chair.

"SWAT was called in because of a turn of events at the scene," Hacker said. "Larson had been shot and Doctor Sweets had been taken hostage by Algente."

"He what?" Booth growled. The agent gripped the armrests on his chair until his knuckles turned white.

"Larson's injury was very minor," Hacker continued, ignoring Booth's agitation. "But by that point, things had gotten out of control, and Doctor Sweets was in the hands of an armed and dangerous suspect. Fortunately, SWAT was able to get a handle on the situation swiftly before any of our men had any serious injuries."

"So it was Algente who hurt Sweets," Booth muttered to himself. He then gave Hacker a hard stare.

"Why exactly was Doctor Sweets going to confront an armed suspect in the first place?" the agent nearly spat.

"Larson indicated in his reports that he wasn't sure if Algente was really dangerous or even the murderer," Hacker said. "But truthfully, his earlier reports along with Doctor Sweets' assessments do seem to contradict that assertion."

"Is that why you are looking into this?" Booth asked. "Because of inconsistent reports?" Hacker sat upright in his chair, his eyes becoming stony despite his overall relaxed demeanor.

"That's one reason," he replied. "But mostly because I do not plan to make some of the same mistakes my predecessors did. I have no intention of letting things descend into chaos and into a public scandal. Not while I'm in charge. And I'm not entirely sure if you are aware of this Agent Booth, but Doctor Sweets is considered to be an extremely asset to the Bureau. Quantico has been salivating at the chance to snatch him up for some time now, and it has taken some doing to keep him here in this office."

Although he had managed to keep his expression neutral, Booth could not help but feel another twist of regret. Despite his occasional grumbling about the "squintiness" of the members of his team, Booth could not help but be consistently impressed with the intelligence and gifts that they demonstrated…and that included Sweets. Still, he had to admit that it had been easy to simply regard Sweets as a young kid, who while still an asset to his team, was still just a kid. It had been easy to forget that he was also a gifted professional who the FBI had actually started to scout for themselves while he was still in his late teens.

"So rest assured, when one of my agents almost botches a major case and almost gets one of the Bureau's prized consultants killed, I take notice," Hacker added.

"And Larson?" Booth said.

"Larson's future has yet to be determined," Hacker responded. "After a long discussion about the situation with him, we both agreed that it would be best if he took a leave of absence while this was sorted out."

Booth nodded again. He imagined that it had been a mostly one-sided conversation, but found it difficult to muster up any sympathy for Larson. He was about to draw this meeting to a close when one last question occurred to him.

"How did Larson access Doctor Sweets' personnel file at the Bureau?" he asked. Hacker narrowed his eyes.

"A misguided favor that Larson was able to utilize from someone in the HR department," he said. "I've already dealt with them."

"And Doctor Sweets' file…."

"Is not relevant to my investigation," Hacker finished for him. "It will not be examined further. Now, was there anything else, Agent Booth?"

"No sir," Booth said as he stood up and moved toward the door.

"Oh Booth, give my regards to Temperance," Hacker said, smiling again. "I'm sure that she's going to be a wonderful mother." Booth continued to slowly back toward the door, unable to keep the surprise at those words off his face. Hacker chuckled again.

"It's fine," he said. "I always had a feeling in the back of my mind that this was how it was going to eventually turn out, despite what the two of you insisted. But then again, I can't say that I didn't enjoy myself while it lasted. Oh and by the way, Katherine…I mean, Doctor Bryar sends you her regards as well."

Booth shook his head and exited the office without another word. For a moment he contemplated the interesting ways that life turned out at times, but as he walked down the halls, his mood took a much darker turn and he began to feel angry. Angry that Algente had been able to get his hands on Sweets. Angry that Larson had so carelessly put him in that situation.

Angry at himself for possibly setting all of it in motion in the first place.