"Grandpa, you have company," A clean-cut looking young man who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties had answered the door at the address Booth and Brennan had for Walter Fitzpatrick. If either one of them had any doubts about having ruled out the former FBI agent as a sniper suspect they quickly evaporated when they saw that his Parkinson's had progressed to the point that he had to use a walker just to stand up as they entered the living room. There was no way this man was responsible for shooting at them.
Even as he extended his hand in greeting, the tremors of his disease caused them to shake tremendously, "Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, please come in and make yourself comfortable." The older gentleman's hair was more salt than pepper these days and it was evident if it hadn't been for his condition he might very well still be working as an agent.
"We don't want to take up too much of your time, sir, but we do have some questions about what you might remember about Elizabeth Thompson," Booth got to the point, he knew that Fitzpatrick as a former agent would probably appreciate not being schmoozed to get information out of him.
"Ah, yes, Elizabeth," There was an almost wistful tone in his voice as if he was remembering someone fondly. Fitzpatrick settled himself in a comfortable chair in his living room and gestured for Booth and Brennan to do the same.
Brennan seemed almost entranced at the movement of the older man's body as if her mind was calculating the effect that his compromised nervous system would have upon his bones over the course of his disease as he had to modify his movement to compensate for his condition. She glanced over at Booth and realized that he had a look that she associated with him honing in on a suspect and so she tried to turn her attention back to what Walter Fitzpatrick was saying.
"We carpooled, but of course you know that or you wouldn't be here," Fitzpatrick still had a mind as sharp as a tack and he was already thinking several steps ahead of Booth and wondering what the infamous Dr. Brennan would add to all of this. Clearly since she was a well known forensic anthropologist they'd either found Elizabeth or they were here about something else entirely.
Brennan's brow furrowed and she spoke before she even considered that maybe Booth had a line of questioning in mind already, "How close were you and Ms Thompson?" There was no way that the pair hadn't gotten to know each other if they'd carpooled from the same neighborhood for several years.
"We were coworkers; friends," Fitzpatrick had a rather weary expression on his face as if just thinking about Elizabeth was causing him pain.
"Do you know if she was seeing anyone when she disappeared?" Booth could tell that the man wasn't telling them everything and right now in the interest of finding out who the hell was shooting at them and who was responsible for the murder of those four boys he was going to push him.
Fitzpatrick glanced into the other room where his grandson was sitting at a computer, "Colin, would you mind going down to the pharmacy to pick up that prescription refill? I'd like to take it with dinner." There was a slightly stern tone in his voice, but his grandson didn't seem to notice.
"Sure, Grandpa, I need to pick up a few things for Uncle Mike anyway," Colin smiled and moved towards what was presumably the back door based on the sound of a door closing followed by a car engine starting up and fading off into the distance.
Booth and Brennan remained silent other than a glance passing between them as they realized that there was obviously something the former FBI agent wanted to say that he didn't want his grandson to hear.
Fitzpatrick seemed to relax a little as his grandson was out of earshot and he gave both Booth and Brennan a look that made it evident that he was cutting through the shit and getting to the point, "Elizabeth and I were close; too close really," His brow furrowed deeply, "If my wife had ever found out about it, I would have lost my family."
Brennan looked a little confused, "How close?"
The older man let out a weary sigh, "She and I were having an affair. I'm not proud of that fact now. My wife didn't deserve to be cheated on; she was a good woman...we were married for thirty-seven years before she passed away from cancer two years ago."
"Did anyone else know about your affair?" Booth made a mental note to kiss Bones senseless later for suggesting that a romantic relationship between Elizabeth Thompson and an agent might be at the center of her disappearance.
"As far as I know, the only person that knew about it was her best friend Lila." He looked pointedly at Booth and Brennan, "Did you find Elizabeth?" The man looked like he'd been waiting to hear something about her fate since she'd disappeared all those years before.
"No, sir, we haven't," Booth was wondering just how much he should share with the man and how much he might have already picked up from watching the news. He surmised that the man had to be hiding under a rock if he didn't know that four sets of remains had been found underneath a house in his own neighborhood.
"We believe that her disappearance may have something to do with a case we're currently working on," Brennan didn't want to reveal too much; that was Booth's department. She glanced in his direction and she saw the edges of his mouth twitch momentarily into the slightest of smiles directed at her.
"The boys from the news?" Fitzpatrick had been a good FBI agent and it didn't take much for him to connect the dots, especially to a crime scene that was in his neighborhood.
"Yes, sir," Booth continued, "We think that whoever was responsible for Elizabeth's disappearance may be responsible for the murders of those four boys." As much as the man sitting before him might have motive, he just didn't fit the profile of who they were looking for.
The color drained out of Walter Fitzpatrick's face and it took him a moment to compose himself, "I remembered when those boys went missing...but I was so focused on trying to figure out what had happened to Elizabeth that I hadn't ever considered that there was any connection." He suddenly looked even older than his years.
"Did you know anyone who might want to harm Elizabeth?" Brennan's voice was soft but insistent. She reasoned that while the man might not seem responsible for the murder, that he might know more than he really thought he did.
"No, I don't think so; she was well liked," Fitzpatrick was thinking like the agent he used to be, "Everyone who had any connection to her was questioned, but she didn't even ride home with me the day she disappeared; she had a meeting that she had to attend that night and she was going to be working late. And when she didn't answer the door the next morning, I just assumed that she had just worked all night."
"But your affair didn't come out in that investigation," Booth seemed to be stating the obvious because if it had come out, it would have been in the file in the first place and Walter Fitzpatrick would have been the prime suspect in her disappearance.
"No, it didn't...things like that are career killers, not to mention marriage killers." Fitzpatrick pursed his lips slightly, "I knew that I wasn't responsible so I wasn't about to unnecessarily throw the spotlight on myself."
"So are you saying that you withheld evidence?" Brennan didn't look too pleased with the man now; it was one thing to have poor judgment and cheat on your spouse, but to cover up what could have been key evidence in a possible murder investigation seemed to her to be inexcusable.
"I didn't withhold evidence, I just didn't give them more information than they asked for," Fitzpatrick wasn't looking for an easy out, he wanted to find out who was responsible for his former lover's probable murder and more than that he wanted this weight that he'd been carrying around with him to finally be pulled off of his shoulders.
"Isn't that the same thing?" Brennan considered that if he had something potentially relevant on a case that involved a woman who he obviously cared about enough to sleep with her then perhaps he should have volunteered it.
Booth interjected to steer the conversation away from the rabbit trail he was sure it was heading down and tried to focus back on the facts he needed to pursue the investigation a little further, "You said that the only person you were aware of that knew about the affair was a woman named Lila?" he wanted to make sure that he had his facts straight.
Fitzpatrick had that slightly wistful look again as if he wasn't quite telling them everything, "Yes, Lila Montgomery, she worked at the Bureau too, but she left about a year after Elizabeth disappeared. The last I'd heard she was living up near Baltimore."
To Be Continued...
Author's Note: I hope you're enjoying the ride; I finally came up for air after watching all of Season 2 on DVD (you've got to love the gag reel...and the kiss). Rest assured, I have the entire mystery plot planned out and I'm sure that you'll be happy to know that there will undoubtedly be more fluffy Booth and Brennan moments to come. But don't get too comfortable because you just don't know what's coming next.