Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, but I am obsessed!
Author's Note: Hello friends! Hope you all had a nice weekend. Not much to say about this chapter, just that its pretty case heavy. And Bones has a lot to learn about how to act in an interview.
Chapter 11: She Said She Said
July 20, 2005 11:33 AM Congressman Wells House
"Alright here we are, Bones." Booth parked his SUV in the driveway. He gave a low whistle. The house was fairly small but immaculate. There was a white picket fence framing a green lawn, flower boxes in the open windows, which winked at him as lacy curtains fluttered in the breeze. There was even a jaunty sculpture of a rooster mounted on the roof giving the direction of the wind. "Typical." Booth mused. Seriously what was with this guy? Even his house was perfect.
The two exited the car and made their way up the cobbled stone walkway. Booth sighed as he rang the doorbell, it was never easy to tell someone that a loved one was never coming home.
A petite woman with short blond hair answered the door. "Can I help you?"
"Mrs. Wells? I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institution. We have some news about your husband."
The woman nodded curtly, resigned to bad news. It was all she got these days. She led the group into a cozy living room that was decorated with pictures of the inhabitants of the house as well as many including a small red headed girl who must have been the niece. Booth surreptitiously glanced around for the ubiquitous photos of politicians shaking hands and grinning toothily or giving each other the thumbs up, but there were none. Just family and friends, and every image looked perfect. Booth was forced to suppress his socioeconomic rage and took his place next to Brennan on a love-seat across from Mrs. Wells.
Brennan spoke first, eager at being out in the field. "We have found your husband's body."
"Bones!"
"What?"
Booth looked at her, widening his eyes trying to signal her that she was being inappropriate. She just looked back at him with confusion on her face. She was clueless. He groaned at the imminent disaster.
"Bones, use a little more tact, please."
He went to address the widow, explaining away his partner's bluntness and offering words of comfort to the woman who was beginning to shed tears. Brennan had wanted to cut him off at his dismissal of her skills bit she was stopped by the look of grief on the blond woman's face. Booth continued to offer soothing and mostly meaningless words and Brennan was amazed that they had an effect on the widow as she wiped her eyes and met the gazes of the two investigators.
"I've told you people everything. The police, the FBI, people who wouldn't even tell me what agency they were from, just tell me that you know who did this."
Booth shook his head sadly. "We will find who did this to your husband. I promise you that. I'm sorry to ask you to go through this one more time, but you never know what new information might come out. And stacks of papers, to be honest they don't tell you as much as hearing it from the original source."
"What do you want to know?"
Brennan stepped in, and promptly put her foot in her mouth again. "Were you or your husband having an affair?"
Booth suddenly felt like he was sitting much too close to Brennan on the love-seat. In fact he felt like if he was instantly transported to Jupiter; he would still be too close to her. He was going to end up being tortured in Gitmo once someone in the government found out that he had vouched for her in the field.
He gave Mrs. Wells his Boothiest smile and apologized once more.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Wells. Bones, can I speak to you for a moment."
It wasn't a question, and Bones was not given time to respond because he had whisked her away before she could say anything else. He pulled her into the dining room, an open space that was mostly out of earshot of the victim's wife.
He briefly made eye contact with her and saw fire. He quickly looked away. She spoke in a hushed but harsh whisper, "Never touch me like that again."
"I'm sorry, but you can't just go asking a grieving widow if she was having an affair, you need to ease into these kinds of things."
"I was just asking questions that she's already been asked."
"But there is a proper way to go about it. We aren't going to get anything out of her if she just throws us out of her house. Look, we are on shaky ground with this case. There are a hundred agents out there who want to solve this case and receive accolades from the White House, and promotions, and book deals." Brennan stared at him in disbelief, she really didn't think that he was the type of person to care about book deals. Then again, she was a terrible judge of character.
"Is that what you want?"
"I just want to find justice for him and his family. There's nothing in it for me other than helping him and everything that he stood for." Booth sighed and scratched his head. Brennan looked doubtful.
Booth tried a different tactic.
"OK, you are really smart, right?"
"I am a genius." She said it without guile and he squinted at her before moving on.
"Anyway, I'm sure that at some point you had to study, you had to observe. You know before you could do it perfectly. So lets just go back in there and you can study me this time, and over time, once you have learned a little bit, you can ask some questions. Is that going to work?"
"I accept your logic that I am not trained in the skills of interrogation. I will defer to your expertise and acquiesce to your request."
"Did you just agree with me, or not? I can't really tell."
"As Lucy would say, you win. Is that more clear for you?"
"Crystal." Booth extended her arm inviting her back to the living room where Mrs. Wells sat, mildly interested in knowing what these two people were talking about. They certainly had energy, if nothing else.
Booth once again apologized and thanked Mrs. Wells for her continued cooperation as the questioning continued. Booth eased back into the interview by asking about her relationship with Joseph.
"Joe and I have been dating since I was fourteen years old. He was two years older, but even though we were both very young something just clicked, you know? I knew he was the one, and we have been together ever since." Brennan looked skeptical at the idea of someone having a "one."
Booth prodded Sharon, "And you were happy?"
"Yes, we were. I wasn't so happy when he went off to fight in that goddamn war, but I was so relieved to have him back, despite his injuries. We never took each other for granted. We always vowed to make each day count. I told the other agents this before, but I suppose, everything comes out eventually, might as well be open about it."
Sharon sighed, "The only problems that we ever had was with my infertility. We both wanted children badly, but it never happened for us. We went to counseling for awhile and it helped. We were still looking into surrogacy and adoption, when Joe disappeared. Joe was worried that if we chose surrogacy that his constituency would be outraged that we didn't take in a child that already needed a home, not go against nature to have one of our own. And then he worried that adoption would make him look like he was pandering. That he would pick out a child to help his career, not just to share his home and his life. I was so proud of Joe for going into politics and doing so well, but it was hard that every decision was made between the three of us. Me, Joe, and his career."
Booth interjected, "Yes, it must have been difficult for both of you. I think we all know what it is like to be married to a job.
Brennan would have countered, but Booth sent her a warning glance. And then she realized that it was the truth. She didn't believe in marriage, but she was deeply committed to her job. She sank back a little more into the couch. Booth was right, again. She realized that for a brief moment she had drifted away from the interview and had to struggle to catch up. Sharon's eyes had turned red again, and Brennan reached for a nearby tissue and handed it with a soft smile to Sharon. Booth couldn't help feeling proud. Maybe there was hope for Bones yet.
Sharon's eyes continued to mist, "I just can't believe that he is really gone."
A small voice interrupted the interview. "Uncle Joe is dead?" All heads snapped around to the hallway.
"Skylar, what are you doing here?" She reached out a hand to the girl who ran to the older woman and climbed into her lap.
"Saul dropped me off. Daddy was stuck in meetings and Mom went to the spa yesterday."
Brennan couldn't keep silent any longer.
"She still isn't back?"
Sharon was the one who responded, "Linda's spa is in Palm Springs. She goes there when she needs to de-stress. She's been there four times since Joe disappeared, it's been a pretty awful time. Skylar, sweetie, I need to finish talking to these nice people. Why don't you go up to your room and play. Later today we'll go to the park and if you want you can spend the night." Skylar nodded her approval of the plan, said a polite goodbye to the two strangers and went up the stairs. Booth waited until he heard the click of a door and moved on.
"Mrs. Wells, could you tell me if your husband has any enemies, anyone who might have had a motive to hurt him?"
"He was a politician, Agent Booth, but he always tried to get along with people from the other side of the table. His most controversial bill got defeated a few weeks before he disappeared. He was disappointed, it was good legislature, it would have helped a lot of people, but that's the way it goes sometimes. But even locally, he didn't really have enemies. In 2002, Joe defeated Samuel Waterson, and Joe ended up endorsing him later, and he was appointed a state judge. He and his wife have actually become very good friends, they may be from opposite parties, but they had the same ethical code. Joe appreciated that. Sam and Evie, they bring me a casserole every week. And I don't think Dominic is really a threat."
"Why is that?"
"He's in hospice. Pancreatic cancer, diagnosed just after he lost in '04. He and Joe never got along, personally or professionally, but Joe was making an effort to let bygones be bygones. The only other person who was ever really a political rival was Hanson Miller. He lost in a primary to Joe and then ran independently and lost again, two years later. Took it hard from what I gather, but he seems to have given up on the political scene. Focusing on his business endeavors. Joe liked him, but I didn't really trust him. He was always so smarmy, Joe just said it was ambition. Joe was... Joe was..." she was unable to finish the sentence, she choked into her sleeve. Booth soothed her once again.
"I just have a few more questions, and we'll get out of your hair. What can you tell me about your brother-in-law?"
"Steve and Joe were twins. They both ended up in law school and then politics, but they were so different. Joe was the golden boy, and Steve was always in his shadow. Joe would end up as MVP and Steve would end up in detention. Steve screwed up a little bit in high school, he and Saul got into some trouble, and it was Joe that always bailed them out..."
"Saul, the same Saul that dropped off Skylar?"
"Yes, the three of them went way back. Saul and Steve did stupid teen things, nothing dangerous really, just class clowns, mostly. Until their senior year. That's when Saul got Rachel Finnegan pregnant, it was a huge scandal. He and Steve got arrested for trespassing when Saul tried to see her after her parents forbid him from coming over. Somehow, it was Joe that calmed them down and got them to drop the charges, still not sure how he did that. He was a teenage boy, and he got them to listen to him. Diplomacy was his specialty. Maybe that's why we never fought, he was always too good at calming me down. I couldn't stay mad at him." She gave a watery smile.
Booth exchanged a glance with Brennan, this information was new. She acknowledged the data, but had no idea what its implications could be. Booth asked a few more questions and expressed his sympathy one final time, giving Sharon his information and promising to keep her updated. He then excused the two investigators and led Brennan out to the car.
They were in the SUV on their way to talk to Steven Wells in order to convey their bad news and to question him. They used the drive to go over the previous interview.
"Do you think she could have done it, Booth? She seemed sincere in her grief."
"Nah, she's five foot nothing and she used to be an elementary school teacher. Doesn't seem the type to saw off legs and burn hands."
"I concur. I noticed that you were very interested in the driver, Saul. Why is that?"
"He obviously owes the Wells family a lot. And now they are rich and powerful and he's their chauffeur. Might build some resentment, don't you think?"
"I'm not sure that I accept your logic, but I am interested to see what other information that you can discern from coming interviews." She was glancing at files, but he noticed a little sparkle in her eye. Despite their earlier feud, things were going well.
"If I didn't know better, I'd think that you were having fun."
"This is fun."
He gaped at her.
"Booth, watch the road, your drifting into the other lane."
He closed his mouth, corrected the car and drove towards Steven Wells.
