The warrant hadn't taken very long to obtain considering they weren't in DC. Chief Williams had it in hand when she walked into the Donut House. Booth and Brennan were seated at one of the picnic tables scattered about outside the crowded establishment.
"If you need help executing that warrant, I'd be happy to help." The Chief looked all the part of someone's mom who would be happy baking cookies in her time off, but she also gave off an air of being a cop that you didn't want to mess with if you were breaking the law. She eased herself onto the bench next to Brennan and smiled warmly at the pair.
"I'd appreciate that." Booth looked over the warrant and noted that the scope was bigger than he'd asked. He knew when it was advantageous to use local law enforcement - they were often a better predictor of how a suspect was going to act when you confronted them, and right now, his gut was telling him that Josh Conner was suspect number one.
"Between us, I've had my suspicions about him, but nothing concrete to go on." She glanced over at Brennan. "No one in this area has your expertise or your resources so I'm really glad you're here."
"Thank you. I am the best and so is my team." It wasn't an arrogant statement, just a fact that Brennan was at the top of her field and that her team was the best in the country - the FBI contracted to use them after all. "I am anxious to test that spear gun we saw for evidence of blood."
The Chief nodded. "You understand that when we did our search before, it was strictly a missing persons case at that point, we didn't have reason to search for a potential murder weapon."
Booth nodded. "Well, if there's anything to find on that boat, Bones will find it."
The Chief smirked, the corners of her mouth fighting a twitch into a smile at the confidence that Agent Booth seemed to have in his partner. "I've taken the liberty to pull his financial and phone records - we should be able to get those to you in a few hours."
Booth definitely appreciated the thoroughness of this law enforcement professional. "Thanks." Clearly she shared his opinion that Josh Conner was hiding something pertinent to their investigation and it was well within their purview to expand the scope of the warrant if they had reasonable cause - and it didn't hurt if the judge agreed with them either.
"While these are exceptionally good donuts, I think we should examine the boat." Brennan wasn't naive to think that she and Booth were done talking about the new development between them before things went any further and the sooner they solved their case, the sooner they could focus a bit on what was happening between them.
The Chief smiled. "I'll get a few officers and meet you back out there." It was going to give her a great deal of pleasure to assist with this particular search.
"Great." Booth's smile was broad as the Chief got up and headed back to her squad car.
"She seemed very friendly." Brennan didn't think that the woman was actually hitting on Booth - she was clearly at least ten years older than him and the ring on her hand indicated that she was married, but that hadn't stopped other women from playing up to his alpha male attributes.
"I don't think she likes this Josh Conner very well." He wasn't even going to touch on the fact that Bones seemed a tiny bit jealous.
Josh Conner did not look at all thrilled to find that Special Agent Seeley Booth had in fact returned with a warrant, along with what seemed to be half of the Anacortes Police Department. And the fact that he had to stand out on the dock while they searched the boat, further irritated him.
"There's blood, Booth." The spear gun had in fact proven to have traces of blood. She placed it in an evidence bag and handed it to one of the officers who were standing by to help.
"The question is, is this the crime scene? She was wearing a wetsuit, so it's possible that she was shot in the water." Of course, it would have been very difficult to retrieve the spear from their victim in the water without quite a struggle, unless of course, Matt Conner was in on it somehow.
"If they were in the water, we probably wouldn't have found trace blood evidence on the spear. That's human blood. The question is, where on the boat was she shot." Of course they weren't sure that it was in fact Natalie Chilukuri's blood, but it was very likely her blood.
"Good point, Bones." He used his own investigative skills as he poked around the yacht looking for anything that might provide a clue that would help them solve the murder of the young woman. A simple turn of a cushion in the master stateroom opened up another whole Pandora's box.
A small crack in the platform of some built-in seating suggested that perhaps there were places to hide things that maybe you didn't want anyone to see. It didn't take much at all for Booth to jostle it loose, revealing more than enough motive for murder. "Whoa, this isn't just a little weekend of fun."
An officer who had been assisting with the search poked his head in to see what the agent had found. His eye widened and he let out a low whistle. "That is some load of BC bud."
Booth looked at him quizzically.
The young officer continued. "Local term for the pot that gets smuggled across the border. The growers have been looking for ways to get it through - building extra compartments in cars, stuff like that. For the most part, the drug dogs catch a lot, but clearly he's been meeting someone out in the San Juans."
From a quick glance, the street value of this stuff was worth well over a hundred thousand dollars - and on a vessel this size, there was always the possibility that there was more stashed in places they hadn't found yet. Booth's brow furrowed, they certainly had motive for murder if Natalie hadn't known about it, or if she'd known about it and wanted a bigger cut of the deal. Either way, his gut had been right on about Josh Conner. He only wished that they knew where Matt Conner was.
"Booth." There was a distinct tone in Brennan's voice that she only got when she found something big.
"Yeah, Bones." He moved towards her voice, noting the expression on her face as she gestured to the floor of a second stateroom where the carpet had been peeled up to reveal a very stained pad underneath.
"Blood. Lots of blood." She glanced up with a look that held both satisfaction and sadness. "I think this is where she was killed."
"Good work, Bones." He felt a flash of anger as she turned and purposefully headed out to where Josh Conner was standing. He narrowed his eyes at the young man as he gestured to the veteran cop who was standing next to him. "Josh Conner, you're under arrest for the Natalie Chilikuri. Officer, read him his rights."
The burly cop quickly cuffed the young man as he Mirandized him.
"It's not my fault. I didn't do anything wrong." Josh's protests fell on deaf ears as he was lead back up the dock to an awaiting police cruiser.
Brennan came to stand next to Booth, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched. "We still can't place him on the boat - it's Matt's boat."
"Yeah, but we can't find Matt, and if Josh had nothing to hide, we wouldn't have had to get a warrant - he knew something, even if it was just about the pot." Booth knew they weren't done, but they could get a little more help tearing that boat apart from top to bottom. The Homeland Security and D.E.A. guys would take a great deal of pleasure at being called in on something this big. He wasn't a narcotics investigator after all - he was investigating a murder.