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Thursday the 14th: 1:35 pm; A Little Shop of Flowers
Within the hour, Angela was almost complete with the sketch of the man that gave the young clerk a hard time and had pinpoint which of the purchases on the records list was the one she had gotten in trouble for. It was the delivery that was sent to Booth's home.
As she had stated, he had paid in cash and had not given her any information for a confirmation of delivery, so they were left at a dead end on that account. As for Jennifer Morris' delivery, it was sent by a man named Charles Chester who ironically lived in the same building as her, two floors down.
Brennan was seated by the door of the flower shop, patiently looking through her newly acquired paranormal magazine while waiting for Booth to complete his questioning of the store manager and the clerk. When both he and Angela were done, she stood up and put the magazine away, "So the flowers were sent by two different people?" she asked.
Angela looked at Booth and then back at Brennan with a hopeless look on her face, "This is what the man looked like." She said, turning around her sketch pad to show Brennan.
"He looks familiar." Brennan said, gazing at the picture.
"Probably because he looks like the uni-bomber." Angela said, "The description she gave me was a little… lack luster. Caucasian male, late twenties to mid thirties, about five seven to five nine, wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and large, round sunglasses. There are thousands, if not millions of men… and some women who look like this in the city alone." She shrugged.
"We still need to check out this Chester character to see if he fits the description too, but otherwise, Bones, we've got nothing on that front." Booth said, tucking his note cards into his lapel pocket along with his pen. Angela laughed under her breath, but was caught by Booth, "What are you laughing at?" he asked.
Angela started to walk out the door of the flower shop as she answered, "Come on, Booth. Since when does a guy sending a bouquet of a dozen red roses equate to a serial killer?"
Brennan stopped outside of Booth's passenger door and turned to the both of them, "Many serial killers have a history of stalking their victims beforehand, Angela." She said.
Angela rolled her eyes and Booth stepped in to explain, "What Angela is trying to say is that it is never that easy. It's never the first guy you suspect, It's always the one that you don't suspect."
Brennan nodded her head, "I suppose you're correct." She said, patting her stomach, "I'm hungry." She said looking up at Booth.
Booth smiled and opened the passenger door for her and she glared at him, "I'm certainly capable of opening my own door, Booth." She said.
Angela sighed, attracting the attention of them both, "Accept it sweetie. Chivalry is an endangered species."
Brennan climbed into the vehicle, accepting the kindness but not happily and Booth closed the door for her. He turned back to Angela, who winked at him and then abruptly turned and walked to his side and got in.
Thursday the 14th: 3:32 pm; The Jeffersonian Institute Medico Legal Lab
When Booth and Brennan walked into the Jeffersonian, they came upon a site that was slightly unnerving. Hodgins was sitting on the platform with a disassembled computer surrounding him. Brennan immediately swiped her card and walked up the platform stairs followed by Booth, "What happened?" Brennan asked, gesturing to the parts and pieces strewn across the floor and some on the table where the computer once sat.
"Looks like you blew it up." Booth commented.
Hodgins sighed and put down the screw driver that he was holding, "I was loading the necessary documents from the pentagon system when the computer crashed. Turns out, the motherboard blew."
Brennan looked at Hodgins in disbelief, "How is that even possible?" she asked.
Hodgins shrugged, "I'm not the computer guy; that was always Zack's area of expertise. I'm thinking, however, that it has something to do with the files that I was downloading. I mean, a file can't fry a motherboard; that's not regulation hacker protocol when protecting information." He laughed, "This was obviously set up so that if someone from and outside source gained access to their system that it would send out an electrical impulse to that computer and fry it internally as to prevent any further invasion."
Booth shook his head, "Or, you just crashed the computer and want to blame it all on the government, as usual. Listen, Hodgins, I appreciate you trying to help me, but quit hacking or I will arrest you." He said.
Hodgins held his hands up in surrender. Brennan crossed her arms and looked at the computer pieces, "Where is Cam?" she asked pointedly to Hodgins.
"She had a doctor's appointment today and just stayed home." He explained.
Brennan nodded and shifted one of the pieces with the toe of her shoe, "Clean this up and just put in a request for a new computer. This is a waste of time and we have a body on the platform, so this really is… unacceptable."
Hodgins nodded and began scooping up parts as Brennan and Booth left the platform. Brennan and Booth began walking to her office when Booth stopped suddenly. Brennan turned for face him questioningly, "What's wrong?" she asked.
Booth sighed, "I should probably go back to my office. I've barely spent any time there and the paperwork is probably starting to pile up." He explained.
Brennan stared at him for a moment before giving a short nod, "Okay."
Booth exacted her nod and swallowed, "Okay."
They stared at one another for a moment before Brennan awkwardly turned and walked into her office. Booth watched her go and then turned and left the Jeffersonian.
Fifteen minutes later, Angela walked into Brennan's office and found her sitting in her desk chair, chewing on the cap of her pen and staring into space, "If you're hungry, I'm sure you could find a better tasting alternative." She said, lazily making her way to the chair in front of Brennan's desk and taking a seat.
Brennan snapped out of her haze and sat up straighter in her chair, tossing the pen down onto an open case file, "What did you say?" she asked.
Angela laughed, "What is going on with you?" she asked, with a hint of humor in her tone.
"I'm sorry." She said, closing the case file and resting her head in her hands, "I've never felt like this before, Ange."
Angela tilted her head to the side, in concern for her best friend, "What are you feeling?"
Brennan sighed, "I feel… morose. It's irrational, but it's almost as though… I feel like… impending doom." She said, shaking her head at her own words.
Angela half smiled, "You feel like it's the calm before the storm?" she asked.
"Metaphorically speaking, yes." Brennan replied.
Angela shifted in her seat and leaned on the front of Brennan's desk, "What specifically is bothering you?" she asked, "Is this about Booth?"
Brennan pursed her lips and then dropped her head. This whole experience was wearing her down. She was worried about Booth all of the time and it felt these past four days had taken a year to transpire and she knew that her concentration was split, "I'm worried." She said simply, "I know that it is useless to ruminate on one potential outcome when it's has yet to happen, but what are we going to do if this man who is contacting Booth genuinely has information. How is it going to affect him? What if this information is indeed life altering? What are we going to do? What is he going to do?"
"Sweetie." Angela said, placing her hand on top of one of Brennan's, "You're right. It is a little too soon to be focusing on the outcome when you don't even know what this guy has to say or even if he has something to say at all. Remember, we're still under the impression that this may just be the serial killer's way of distracting the both of you from the case. But to ease your mind a bit, I want to tell you that if this guy has this 'life altering information' concerning Booth's past, then you will be there for him and he will get through it. All he needs are the people that he loves to be there for him. You, Parker and well, he'll get me Hodgins and Cam whether he likes it or not." She smiled, "We're all in this together. One person's loss is all of our loss. That's something that we've all come to realize over the course of your partnership with Booth. He's the one who brought us all together and we're staying together come hell or high water. We all will help each other through it. But I don't think we need to worry about that yet, Bren." Angela smiled, "Feel better?" she asked.
Brennan took a deep breath and nodded, "Not completely, but yes."
Angela smiled and patted her hand, "Good." She said standing up.
"Wait Angela." Brennan said, "I was wondering, do you know anything about the occult?" she asked.
Angela looked at her in curiosity and sat back down, "Umm… why?" she asked, astonished.
Brennan got a sly smile on her face and leaned forward, "I was reading this magazine," she said, handing Angela the magazine across the desk, "that I acquired from Jennifer Morris' apartment. There is a whole article on the history of séances. The people who publish this magazine disregard it and highly disapprove of the use of both a séance and the spirit board. After reading the article I looked up both games online and have since become intrigued by the spirit board and would like to try it." She said.
"But you don't believe in the afterlife." Angela replied, flipping through the magazine.
Brennan nodded, "Exactly." She said, "But it's a part of American preadolescent and teenage culture and I thought that I should perhaps attempt to find the draw by using one myself."
Angela shrugged, "I've done it a few times." She said, "Utterly creepy experiences." She smiled.
Brennan raised an eyebrow at her, "It's nothing more than either one of the players moving the planchette or small spasms in each of the players hands that cause the planchette to move." She explained.
Angela shrugged, "Alright, fine. If you want to do it, than I will. At least you'll be able to explain away all of my irrational fears." She said, semi-sarcastically, but Brennan didn't pick up on it. Angela stood and tossed the magazine back on Brennan's desk and began walking out of the office.
"Great. I'll buy a board tonight before I go home. Meet me at my apartment at seven?" she asked.
Angela turned back to Brennan and nodded, "Sure sweetie."
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