"Sully what do you think?"

Sully leaned back and continued his scrutiny of Sally. "My gut is telling me it is Sanders."

"Me too. Okay lets get her, Mary Joe and John to the guest house. I will call Hodgins and let him know."

"Guest House?" Sally inquired.

"Dr. Hodgins has an estate and there is a guest house on it, very secure and no one would think to look there. I be right back going to call Hodgins and let him know. Sully we need to make sure no one sees us take them there outside of Perotta."

"You got it Booth."

"Wait, you are going to lock me up in a guest house?" Sally looked at them.

Booth leaned over the table, "Yes … we are. I need someone that can protect Mary Joe and John if something goes wrong, Sully and I can't be there all the time. They know you, they trust you, so YOU will protect them."

She nodded her head, "Okay."

30 minutes later they were walking through the doors of the guest house. Booth and Sully made sure everything was secure. They helped the new occupants get acquainted with their surroundings and showed them how to operate the TV's.

As they were getting ready to leave Sally stopped them. "If there is anything I can do let me know."

Sully looked at her, "Just keep them safe, I will be back tomorrow to talk with them and see if we can figure this out."

As Booth and Sully drove back to the Hoover they discussed what they knew about this case. "I feel like we are grasping at straws. I have had cases that are a can of worms, but this."

"Well, I need to work this and you need to just take care of Tempe. Not knowing if that department is involved or not you need to stay close to her. If they are involved and Hacker is still pulling strings, she could still be in danger."

"Sullivan" Sully answered his phone … "Sheriff, I am on my back there right now, should be there in 5 minutes … Yes, See you then … The Sheriff is at Hoover. You going back with me?"

"No, I need to get Bones and get her home. With these people here and like you said not knowing ... Every time we think it is about over, something else happens. I need to stay with her." He rubbed his hand over his forehead.

Booth took a deep breath before he walked into the Jeffersonian, "Hey Baby, You ready to go home?" She smiled as she got up from her desk and slipped off her lab coat.

As they left the Jeffersonian Brennan noticed Booth's behavior was different, not as relaxed as he normally was. "Booth, what's wrong?"

"Nothing …" She sighed and stopped turning to look at him. "Bones, what are you doing? Come on let's go, get to the car and let's get home." He hand rather than resting in the small of her back latched onto her arm near her elbow and pulled her along to the car rather unceremoniously.

"Booth" she pulled her arm away just as they got to the SUV.

"Bones, please, I will tell you when we get home, but right now I need you to get in the car." She stared at him while he opened the door and he was looking around, when she didn't move his eyes moved to her face. "Bones, please" she climbed into the SUV latched her seatbelt.

Once he was in the car and they were on the road home, she turned her head towards him and watched his profile. "What?"

"Really Booth, you are going to lie to me again?"

"Lying, who is lying?"

"You are. There is something on your mind and you are not telling me."

"Whoa, whoa there Bones, I am not lying, I am just not giving you all the information. That is not lying."

"So you admit you are not telling me something." Booth groaned when he realized she had just got him to admit there was something bothering him.

"Dammit Bones. I will tell you when we get back home; right now I just want to get there. Okay?" His eyes bore into her telling her the conversation was done for now.

"Okay"

Sheriff's interview didn't shed any light on anything. But it did allow Sully to spend time with the Sheriff and realized he had a genuine concern for Sally. Sully asked the sheriff to not let anyone know he had talked to him and definitely did not want Sanders to know that Sally was in DC. The Sheriff shocked Sully by informing him that he believed Sanders already knew where Sally was. He said he had been told that Sally left the area with Mary Joe and John heading towards DC.

"Sheriff, I understand that Sanders apparently has some relative in a high position that helped him keep his job?"

"Yeah"

"And who is this person?"

"That I can't tell you, I don't know. They only dealt with the commissioners and I don't have a name."

"Do you think you could talk to the commissioners and get a name? It might be important."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks for your help" Sully walked him to the door and before letting him leave he let the Sheriff know that Sally was okay and she had been in contact with him. He could see the Sheriff visibly relax when given that information.

Sully's interview with Mary Joe and John revealed some very twisted information. The original owners of the property were Mary Joe's aunt and uncle, Sarah and Patrick McNeal. As they had aged Mary Joe and John had moved into the smaller house on the property to look after them.

When they got more fragile with age they were moved to a retirement home where they could get the care they needed. The property was rented out to the couple that turned out to have worked in drug trafficking. After that they didn't rent the property out again.

Mary Joe and John got word that her aunt and uncle passed away and that the property had been left to a cousin they never heard of. Sarah and Patrick's only child had died at the age of 24 in a motorcycle accident. Sarah and Patrick cut ties with their family after their son died, all but Mary Joe, who was having a hard time just paying the bills. Sarah and Patrick were there when Mary Joe had her miscarriage and was told she could never have children again.

Mary Joe had told Sully that a lawyer had come by with the paper work and offered Mary Joe and John to stay on as caretakers of the property since the new owner would only visit periodically. She said after the renters, they never saw anyone until the day the attorney that visited them showed up with a woman. They never got a chance to talk to the lawyer and why he was there when Sally came and escorted them off the property.

Sully now knew how Hacker came to go to that property. He had the name of the original owners and that he apparently posed as an attorney. Now to find out if Sarah and Patrick were still alive and where they were and how Sanders fit into all this if the did.

"Sally, Booth has doubts about what happened out there. He is probably going to ask you."

"I can only tell him what I saw and that is exactly what I put in my report. I will not lie and I didn't. I listed only facts, so why don't you clue me in."

"He is a good man." Sally stared at him for a long time. "Dammit Sally, He didn't do anything wrong, Hacker had everything coming to him and I will not stand by and let that son of a bitch take anything from Booth." Sally still hadn't said a word she just watched Sully with an unreadable expression on her face. "Say something … anything."

"His father beat his mother didn't he?" Sully looked at her surprised, "He is afraid he is his father and he is afraid he will hurt her." Sully looked down at the ground and nodded slowly. "What do you think?"

"Not many people know about his past, how did you find out?"

"I see it in him."

"See what?"

"I see a cloud, a dark cloud and I saw the way he looked at her, that day. I saw the recognition come across his face as we watched her in that bathroom window. He had seen that before on someone close to him."

"Booth would never hurt Tempe, he is not his father, but he is scared that he is. If he finds out he will turn in his badge and gun and that would be a mistake."

"So what do you want from me?"

"I … I" he takes in a deep breath and releases is slowly, "I don't know."

"I won't lie Sully, but anything that happened before I came around the corner I can't comment on and I trust you, I trust what you said you saw." She smiled at him.

He looked at her and then looked down at the floor. "Thanks Sally."

As soon as Brennan crossed the threshold of her home she turned to face Booth barely giving him enough room to get through the door and close it.

"Explain" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Geez Bones, let's take our coats off and change out of our work cloths."

"Explain while we are doing all that."

He sighed heavily and began to fill her in on what he and Sully had found out and what new questions and concerns that brought up in the process. He watched her face change as he talked, changed to defeat and helplessness. This is one of those times he missed the other Bones, the Bones that this information would have the opposite affect on. Rather than defeat and helplessness the other Bones would become more determined to put the person responsible behind bars.

"Bones, you okay?"

She sat down on the couch, closed her eyes, and rubbed her hands over her face. "So what now, we go back to the guest house?"

"Well no, Sally is there with Mary Joe and John. But, …"

"But what?"

"We do have some options." She didn't ask, she just waited for him to tell her what they were. "We can stay here, we can go to a safe house, or we can go stay at Hodgins."

"If we stay here or go to a safe house, we will not be allowed to go outside right?"

"Right"

"But, if we go to Hodgins, we could go outside on the estate?"

"Most likely yes, that depends on if there are others involved that could put you in danger."

She turned her head down; she looked like she was staring at her hands resting in her lap. Booth watched her for a long time before he spoke, "Baby?" No answer, he scooted closer to her, "Bones?" Still she didn't move or respond to him. He scooted next to her and put his arms around her and she collapsed against him and softly sobbed. "Hey, hey, it's okay. I am here. Everything will be okay."

"You don't know that Booth. This needs to stop. I want to see Hacker."

"Bones … NO!"

"He is the only one that has the answers right now and I can't …"

"Stop" he grabbed her by her upper arms and forced her to look at him. "No, you will not let him win. You go there like this and he wins, you would not let him win."

"I don't care if he wins, I want a life back, preferably my life, but right now any life would suit me."

He leaned his forehead to hers, "Baby just give me and Sully a little more time, we will solve this. I just need you to believe in us and give us a little more time." She stared into his eyes and opened and closed her mouth to protest and couldn't. She needed to believe in him, have faith in him and know he would make this all right.

When Brennan went back to take a shower, Booth flipped out his cell and called Sully.

"We need to end this and soon, I don't know how much more she can take."

"You got any idea's how to figure this mess out, I am more than open to them."

"Tomorrow, get Perotta and meet me at the guest house. You, me, Perotta and Sally are sitting down going to try to connect the dots. I am sure Angela would be more than happy to entertain Mary Joe and John while we work."

"Okay Booth, see you there." Booth closed his phone and walked over to the window. His jaw set as he stared out over the city. "This had to end now."