Disclaimer: I do not own Bones, but I am obsessed!
Author's Note: Hello friends. I hope everyone had a good weekend. Not much to say today, except that the plant disease is real, although the experiment is not. Once again I thank you for your reviews and alerts. See you Wednesday, and enjoy.
Chapter 21: I Should Have Known Better
July 25, 2005 9:36 AM The Jeffersonian Institution
Booth walked into the lab with a smile on his face. It faded slightly when he saw the team, minus Hodgins, assembled on the platform. Booth worried over Brennan's behavior now that they were back to work, but she appeared relaxed and she personally left the group in order to allow him access to the platform. She didn't avoid meeting his eyes, but he could tell that Brennan was in work mode and that Saturday was a distant memory. Still he attempted to make polite conversation, trying to gauge where he stood after Friday's incident.
"So Bones, how was your weekend?" He wasn't expecting to hear about how wonderful Saturday had been, and she didn't mention Wong Foo's or the zoo. Still, he couldn't help being disappointed that she didn't bring the subject up. And then he focused on what she was actually saying.
"Very productive, actually. I was able to overcome my writer's block and was finish several chapters of my book."
"You writing a textbook? Something about bones?"
"No, I'm writing a novel."
Booth was glad that he had skipped the second cup of coffee this morning. He would have just taken a sip and choked on it if he had stopped at the nearby cafe on his way in. He couldn't picture her writing a novel, a work of fiction. She was brilliant and beautiful, but he didn't consider her to be the most creative or intuitive person, qualities essential for a decent writer. Still, he knew not to doubt her. She could do anything that she put her mind to, and he was certain that she could do it well.
Angela, who had been hovering, chimed in intent on bragging over her best friend. "She's let me read a few chapters. Believe me, it's going to make her rich and famous. Well, famous to everybody, not just the other, less brilliant anthropologists out there in the world."
Booth wiggled an eyebrow at Brennan, "So, when do I get to read a few chapters?"
Brennan turned her attention to an image on a nearby monitor, but answered Booth in her serious way, "after it's published, of course."
He frowned, of course she wouldn't let him read her book, but Booth was either persistent or a masochist and he pressed his luck. "So what's the novel about?" Booth was genuinely curious about her book. And pulling her attention away from the monitor and onto his face wasn't a bad side-effect of question asking either.
"Solving a crime using forensic anthropology. I started working on it after I worked a few cases with the government, but I was having problems writing a compelling male protagonist. However, after this week, I sat at my laptop and the words just flowed. I was surprised at how easy it was, actually."
Booth was now highly amused. His voice adopted a comical tone. "Am I rubbing off on you, Bones? I'm flattered." He nudged her shoulder playfully.
"Well, technically, anytime you touch anything, dead epidermal cells will rub off..."
Angela decided to step in again. She wasn't Brennan's wing-girl for nothing. "Not at all what he meant, Sweetie, and may I just say 'Eww.' Booth thinks that he is the inspiration behind your 'compelling male protagonist.'"
"That is just ridiculous, Angela. Of course Booth isn't influencing the character's persona. Booth is nothing like Andy Lister."
Booth jumped back into the conversation and attempted to keep his tone casual. "OK, point taken. So who is he, a nerdy squint with no social skills and inch-thick glasses?"
"Of course not, he is a charismatic FBI agent." Angela had to stifle a hearty laugh, but mostly failed as an amused squeak escaped her covered mouth. Even Zack, who had been silently observing the conversation all this time made an odd noise. In her typical manner, Brennan alone seemed to not be in on her own joke.
Booth winced and muttered under his breath, "Nope, nothing like me at all." But he was saved from further unintended insults on his character by the beeping of the security system and an overly excited Hodgins practically running towards them, with a folder in his hands.
He shouted and practically vibrated with excitement. "Ophiostoma ulmi!"
As if that explained everything. A frustrated Booth focused on the scientist. "Hodgins, English, please?"
"The fungus in the leg wound. It's the cause of Dutch Elm Disease. And the wood is significant too."
"Why?" Booth wondered how anyone could get excited over a fungus.
"Elm trees have been wiped out by this disease across America. The University of Virginia had a trial where they planted a hybrid that they hoped would be resistant to the disease along several streets in Albermarle County as a research experiment. The project was abandoned after two years, after the majority of the trees became infected anyway. Money got pulled from the project and the trees were pretty much left to rot. Someone must have cut a dead tree down recently and then used the same saw on the Congressman's leg."
"And, we care because?"
"Because, only one of the experiment locations was set near an auto body shop. I took the liberty of printing out directions to what could be the murder scene." He opened the folder and handed Booth a few printed pages.
"Well, why didn't you start with that. Nice work, Hodgins." Booth patted him on the back as he took the directions and rolled them up in his hand.
Brennan was also impressed with Hodgins' skills. "Very good, Dr. Hodgins. Booth, how long will it take you to get a warrant?"
"I'll call it in, should be an hour or so. You coming out with me, Bones?"
"Yes, I'd like to investigate the scene personally."
"Of course you would. Just promise me that you will keep your legs to yourself." Angela had to stifle another laugh, as Brennan rolled her eyes and turned back to the monitor asking Angela about the visuals. Booth wandered over to the opposite edge of the platform, calling for his warrant. After a few minutes, he returned to the squints who were all now pouring over the monitor that had captured Brennan's attention. They had politely waited for him before going over several of Angela's simulations, but the following dialogue went over his head. As he watched, a bit in awe over Angela's recreations, he saw several animated figures being shot at at various angles and trajectories. And he caught words like: inconsistent, improbable, and unusual.
Brennan turned back to the now clean skeleton of Joseph Wells and examined it. Booth watched the care that she used as her fingers delicately probed bones. She called over Zack and they spent a lot of time on certain rib injuries and an undetectable to Booth indentation on the femur. However, the two forensic anthropologists grew silent and Zack stepped away from the skeleton, joining Hodgins, Angela, and Booth as they continued to watch Brennan work. Booth sidled over to Angela and asked what was going on. Angela whispered that "Brennan is waiting for the bones to speak to her." Booth whistled under his breath.
Several minutes passed, and just when Booth was about to yell "Fire" just to have a change of pace, Brennan's head snapped up from the skeleton and turned towards the squints.
"There is only one way to explain to inconsistency of data. There were two killers." She then snapped off her gloves and began to walk off the platform.
"Whoa, whoa. Hold on, Bones. You can't just tell me that there were two killers and walk off. Where are you going anyway?"
"To my office to get my kit ready in order to inspect the shop when we get the warrant. And we already explained everything to you on the monitor."
"Well, explain it again, and speak in English this time."
"I was speaking English, the entire time."
"Well then, slow it down. We aren't all geniuses here." The squints looked at him blankly. Angela could sympathize with his pain, but she was a brilliant programmer and had been pouring over Brennan's data for days. In this case, they were all geniuses and he was an idiot.
"I'm sorry, Booth. I forget that the FBI does not train their agents properly in forensic science vernacular. I will attempt to use more lay-person terminology."
"Good start with using plain English there, Bones." She didn't understand his sarcastic tone and just turned back to the images. She pointed to the monitor, missing his reaction to her dig at the FBI and explained the footage that Angela had created.
"The trajectory of the bullet matches a gun that was fired by a person who was a height between five-seven and five- eleven, but at some point, the victim was held down and the killer's knee made an impression here. There were so many other bone injuries, that it was difficult to separate the most recent injuries from previous ones." She pointed to a rib that was now glowing red on the monitor. "The killer must have been wearing a steel-toed boot and injured the victim's leg. But the measurements don't add up. Knowing the height of Wells, we can calculate the approximate length of the killer's fibula, and from that, estimate the height of the killer."
"And it doesn't match up?" Booth let out a heavy exhale.
"No, it doesn't. According to this data, the killer was over six feet tall."
"Is it possible that the calculations for the bullet are off?"
Zack stepped in, "Improbable. I have gone over all of the calculations, twice. Comparing my calculations to Angela's simulations, it is the only solution that takes all data into account." The rest of the team looked as if Zack's word was law. There was no way he could make any sort of miscalcuation, it was silly of Booth to doubt him.
Booth sighed again, "I can't even catch one killer, now I have to find two?" Angela looked at him with pity, but Brennan looked him directly in the eye.
"We will catch them, Booth. We are the best in the world." And impulsively, she reached out her hand and placed it on his shoulder. As she moved to pull it away, his own hand snaked out and grabbed hers, giving it a single squeeze before releasing it.
"Thanks, Bones." He said in a hoarse whisper. Angela did a silent victory dance that Booth and Brennan did not notice. Brennan only nodded once and turned her attention to Hodgins.
"Hodgins, you said earlier that you had some information on the evidence that was gathered by the FBI techs." Hodgins who been distracted by Angela's reaction to the brief interaction of agent and scientist now gathered himself in order to answer Brennan.
"Yeah, all three hairs were from males. A medium length grey hair and two short hairs, one brown and one blond. The FBI ran them through their data base, no hits. Whoever these guys are, they are clean."
"But any one of them, maybe more has a connection to this garage in Virginia?" Booth was still trying to process the data.
"Definitely, two of the hairs, the shorter ones, had prolonged exposure to chemicals found in most auto body shops. They'd been working there for months, maybe years." Hodgins continued to go over particulate evidence that pointed to the victim being held in the garage in Virginia. The squints and Booth continued to dissect data for the next half hour, Booth feeling hope for the first time now that they finally had a solid lead. Finally, a text came through Booth's phone.
"Bones, warrant's in. Let's go. Chop, chop." Booth practically jumped down the stairs of the platform, eager for action. Brennan made a quick stop in her office for her kit and met Booth at the lab entrance. Before she could stop him, Booth had grabbed the heavy kit out of her hand and placed his hand on the small of her back and led her out the door. Expecting a lecture on how women are just as capable as men and that there was no need for him to carry her things, both Angela and Booth were surprised when she just flashed him a sincere smile and said a quiet "thank you."
As soon as the doors had closed, Angela gave the duo an enthusiastic thumbs up while re-enacting her happy dance from earlier, a dance that this time, no one but Zack saw. Confused, he just walked away. He still had a lot of work to do before he could go home that night. Still, he made a mental note to have Hodgins explain Angela's actions later. He may be a genius, but if there was one thing he couldn't understand, it was women.