AN: Okay so two things here. If there's anyone that lives in So Cal that desperately wanted to go to Comic-con on Friday to attend the Bones question and answer session but wasn't able to get tickets, let me know because I have two extra tickets. Far be it from me to not share the BB wealth. Second, Ali, I don't know if you're reading this story or not…I don't remember seeing reviews from you for it… but I just wanted you to know that the storyline that I'm building up to I've had in mind since before we had dinner, so I'm not trying to steal anything, promise.
With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this. Yes there are still questions to be answered and people to meet, but all in due time. Please let me know what you think, and as always, I appreciate your feedback.
"Agent Booth, we went to Ruth Troyer's residence but it was a no go. She was renting an apartment, and the land lord told us she hasn't been seen there for a week. We searched the entire building, but there was no sign of either her or your son."
"I wasn't expecting it to be that easy." Booth ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He glanced over at the couch in his hotel room where Brennan sat with Rebecca as she sobbed. "I appreciate the help with the investigation, but I want to follow my own leads on this. I think I can make some headway."
"Understandable. Please let us know if we can be of assistance in any way."
"I will Detective, thank you." Booth flipped his phone shut and made his way to the couch. He put a hand on Rebecca's shoulder and pulled her into his side as he made eye contact with Temperance.
"So the police found nothing at her residence?"
"Not a thing that could be helpful. If you can boot up your computer I can look over the list that Charlie sent me. There has to be a record of another residence somewhere. We will find him Becca."
"You don't know that Seeley! That woman could have already hurt him. She's not at her home. How the hell do you think you'll find her?"
"This is what Bones and I do, okay? We've found murderers with less to go on." There was a knock at the hotel room door. Booth frowned and stood up to answer the door. There was no one they were expecting until Zack arrived, and he would be going straight over to the house to look at the second set of remains. When he opened up the door, he took a step back in surprise. "Jared? What the hell are you doing here?"
"Nice way to greet your older brother, bro." Jared Booth pushed his way into the hotel room past Booth. "I came because I figured you'd need some help. No one takes my nephew and gets away with it."
"Thank you Jared, it means a lot." Booth clapped his brother on the shoulder. The elder brother looked around Booth and glanced at Temperance before returning his gaze to Booth.
"That the little woman?" Without even looking at Temperance, Booth knew that she wore an irritated expression.
"Jared, meet Temperance Brennan, my wife. Bones, this is my brother." Brennan looked at him as though he was a specimen under a microscope, making Jared squirm. She rose from the couch and approached the Booth brothers, one eyebrow raised as she looked over Jared.
"I certainly hope any investigative skills that you have are better than your obviously sexist viewpoints." Jared looked at Brennan, opening and closing his mouth for a moment before shaking his head.
"Well, Seel certainly knows how to pick them." Brennan crossed her arms and was about to speak up again when Rebecca got up off of the couch and came over as well.
"Just what is that supposed to mean Jared?"
"Oh, hey there Rebecca, I um didn't see you there. How are you holding up?"
"How well am I holding up? My son has been abducted by a crazy woman and you want to know how I'm holding up? How do you think I'm doing right now?"
"Okay, stupid question." He turned from Rebecca and back to Seeley. It was much better to deal with his brother than two angry women. "Any leads so far on where they might be?"
"No, but I need to head back into Pennsylvania to speak with the first victim's mother again. She'll hopefully have some information that will be helpful."
"I'll go with you, after all, two Booths are better than one."
"Oh no you don't," Brennan said as she moved in next to Booth. "If anyone is going with him, I am."
"Bones, you are not going anywhere right now. I need you to stay here with Rebecca and get some rest. You don't need anymore stress than you've had lately."
"I'm fine."
"Temperance, please." The two looked at each other for a long moment before Brennan nodded in defeat. Booth leaned over and kissed her before moving away and reaching for his keys. "Okay, let's go. If we hurry, we can be there in about an hour."
"I'll let mom and dad know what room you're in and they can keep Rebecca and Temperance company."
"Your parents are here," Rebecca asked with a groan. Jared nodded, taking in the tight expressions on both his brother and Rebecca's faces.
"Oh, they aren't that bad. Besides, I don't think they'll say anything about your past. They're too worried about Parker." Temperance looked at everyone, having no idea what was going on between the other three. She'd never felt more out of place in a group than at that moment. Booth caught her chin with his hand and guided her face until she was looking at him.
"Please try and rest baby. I don't need anything else to happen to you. I'll call after we speak with Mrs. Keller and let you know if we find anything out." Temperance gave a small nod before Booth kissed her once more and left with his brother. As the door to the hotel room closed, Rebecca placed a hand on Temperance's shoulder and gave a light squeeze.
"Come on Temperance. I'll explain about Seeley's parents so you know what you're in for."
XxXxX
"Dad, I really don't think we should be doing this," Russ said as they approached the run down apartment complex. He looked around just knowing that somehow the police were going to find out what they were up to. "Having a police scanner is bad enough, but did we really have to try and track down the woman ourselves?"
"Parker is in trouble, and he's family. I protect my family."
"Yeah, and it landed you in jail for murder. Dad, can we please let Booth take care of this?"
"If Hayley or Emma were taken, would you leave things up to the authorities? I know you Russ. You'd try and get them back."
"I'm not like you dad. I don't want to get in trouble for this."
"We aren't going to get caught. Now come on, we've got to search that apartment." Russ looked at his father and knew it was a lost cause. He trudged into the building after Max, the thought that they were going to get caught circling his mind. He rubbed his arms to get rid of the goose bumps. Something was going to happen, he just knew it.
Max made his way into the building, his casual attitude belying his alert senses. There was no room for error here, he couldn't make a mistake and make things tougher on either Booth or his daughter.
"This is the apartment," Max said as he slipped on a pair of gloves. Russ jammed his own hands deeper into his pockets as his father pulled out a small pick. "The police would have just looked for evidence of Parker in the apartment, but I'm sure they've overlooked a lot of things. Look for anything that could show a possible property elsewhere, okay?"
"Dad, please, I really have a bad feeling about this whole situation."
"We'll be fine Russ, now come on." Max put his hand on the doorknob and before he could even fiddle with the lock, the door swung open and they came face to face with a tall man carrying a gun. The gun was cocked and pointed directly at Max's head.
XxXxX
"Mrs. Keller, thank you so much for seeing me again. I just had a few more questions for you." Mrs. Keller looked from Booth to Jared and nodded as she led the two men inside. She motioned for them to sit on her couch as she sat in an easy chair across from them. While Booth sat down, Jared wandered around the room looking at pictures and other knick knacks in the room.
"I saw the news story about your little boy. He looks like my Dougie," Mrs. Keller said as she wrung her hands in front of her.
"Yes, and that's why I'm back. I think your sister Ruth has him."
"Well, I suppose I should be surprised, but seeing what happened with my own little boy, it's not much of a shock. What did you want to know?"
"First of all, does the name Mordecai have any meaning for you?"
"Yes, that was Dougie's baptismal name. My husband and I are Lutheran, and when we had Dougie baptized, Jeb wanted our son to be named after his own grandfather. Why do you ask?"
"I've just come across the name during my investigation."
"Right toward the end, you know, before my son went missing, he began to act oddly. He kept up like Mordecai was a separate person from him. It was like he had an invisible friend or something, but in a really morbid way."
"How so?"
"Well, he kept saying that Mordecai saw something bad and was scared that Auntie Ruth would hurt him."
"And you didn't think that maybe Ruth had hurt him in some way?"
"No, but I wish now that I had listened to Dougie." Jared picked up a dusty picture off of a curio shelf and looked at it. He walked back to where his brother and Mrs. Keller were sitting to show her the picture.
"Mrs. Keller, who are these people in the photograph?" She took the picture from him and looked at it.
"I didn't know this was still out. That's me and my sister with our husbands. The taller one is Jeb, and the stockier one was Ruth's first husband Mitch."
"She was married before," Booth asked as he looked at the picture. Mrs. Keller nodded and looked out a window and onto her front yard, not really seeing it.
"Mitch Sutter owned that house in New Jersey, and he was a good man. I've never met a more dedicated husband or father. He was in the army during Vietnam, and died in combat there."
"Was this before or after you and Jeb married?"
"Oh, he died round about the time that my Dougie disappeared. Mitch didn't deserve my sister. They got married about a year or so before I met Jeb. He was actually a friend of Mitch's from the army. She'd flirt with Jeb a lot, and as I said was upset when he and I got pregnant. She felt he was too good for me, wanted him herself."
"So what, Mitch Sutter left to go back to Vietnam, your son went to spend the summer with your sister and her kids and that's when he disappeared?"
"Yeah, that's right. It was shortly after that Jeb told me he wanted a divorce." Jared looked at his brother with a quirked eyebrow. Booth nodded before he reached over and placed his hand on top of Mrs. Keller's hand.
"Do you know if your sister ever married again? She's using the last name Troyer currently."
"That's our maiden name. Agent Booth, I told you before that it's been close to thirty years since I last saw my sister and my ex-husband. If they got a divorce and she married again, I wouldn't know."
"Did either your husband or Mitch have any other properties that you're aware of? Any cabins or lake houses?"
"Not that I'm aware of. I'm sorry I can't be of more help Agent Booth."
"It's fine. You've actually helped me out quite a bit. Thank you for seeing me again, and thank you for your concern about my son." Booth stood and headed for the door along with his brother. As the pair of them left the house and headed for the car, Jared turned to his brother.
"Are you thinking what I am bro?"
"If you're thinking that I'm going to look up Mitch Sutter's military record and see if he ever made it back to Vietnam, then you'd be right."
AN: Yes, we'll find out what's happening with Parker and meet Booth's parents next time, I swear. I'll try to get an update soon, and I'm trying to get together my chapters for 'Alphabet soup' but since I'm doing two separate chapters for it, that might take a while longer. Until then, I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter.
