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Chapter 10
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In her office, Temperance sat in solitary quiescence. It seemed like the darkness of the world and the evil that abided within had fallen all around her. For the first time in over twenty hours, her thoughts were quieted by her weariness. She was exhausted, not just because she was running on just six hours of sleep in the past twenty four hours, but also by her overwrought emotions. The gloom of the evening slowly closed in on her until she felt that there could not possibly room for light in her thoughts. The day had unearthed very few new clues. Five bodies. One child missing. One buried. From her past experience, she knew that the answers were in the anomalies, but what were the anomalies? Every child was found wrapped in plastic. Not a single finger print on the plastic sheeting; not one on the duct tape, either. Death by suffocation. Clues in the blare of the freight train. A rural hovel. A wire cage that was rusting. Dog food.
Booth roused her from her thoughts. He stood by the door jamb quietly, his shoulder slumped and his face drawn in a serious frown.
"We didn't have seventy-two hours, Booth." She whispered.
"What?"
"We had forty-eight. Each of the children were killed shortly after the money was dropped. That only leaves us with twenty-six, now."
"And they want the money today...at six in the evening."
"If we don't find him by tomorrow at six AM, then he'll be gone." Booth walked over and sat beside her. He slid his arm around her shoulders and let her lay her head on his. He smoothed her golden brown hair between his fingers. "We have to exhume the first body, Booth." Faintly, hope swelled in the room. "There is the anomaly, Booth. They released his body when the assumed Derek Werner wasn't part of a larger crime. He may have evidence we didn't see before. They always make mistakes in the beginning, Booth." Her voice rose with excitement.
Seeley pulled his cell phone from his pocket and speed dialed Cullen's number. Cullen reached for the copper lamp cord in the darkness and tugged gently. The room flooded with a soft light. He blinked to adjust his eyes, then answered the phone with a brusque voice. "Yeah?"
"Sir, it's Special Agent Seeley Booth. The team and I need an exhumation order for Derek Werner."
On the other line, Cullen sat up in bed, wearing blue striped pajamas, and glanced with vexation at the clock which read 4:00 AM. "Agent Booth, do you really think that the Werners, grieving parents, would let you dig up the body of their only son?"
"Sir, we have reason to believe that valuable evidence may have been overlooked before his burial. Nobody knew that he was part of a serial crime when he was buried."
"What sort of evidence are you so sure you'll find on the Werner kid?"
Booth glanced over at Bones, she heard the entire thing and reached for the phone. "Sir? This is Dr. Brennan. I have reason to believe that the soil samples were not properly categorized from Derek Werner's remains. This could lead not only to the ascertainment of our son, but also the murderer of four other children. We can stop this crime in the making, sir. We just need your say-so."
Cullen slid to the edge of his bed and spoke quietly so as to not wake his wife who lay beside him. "You have my permission, Dr. Brennan. But don't screw this up, or I'll have both of your jobs."