Part XXIV

Booth whistled as he looked through a tan-colored file. He and Brennan were walking through the Hoover Building. "This guy's got a record longer than... I don't know, longer than what, Bones?" He turned and pushed the door open with his back.

"The Bang Na Expressway." She walked through the open door.

Booth gave her a questioning look.

"It's the longest bridge in the world. Over 54,000 meters."

Booth's brows shot up and he grinned, "Nice one, Bones."

"What does the rip sheet say?" Brennan peeked over his shoulder.

"Rap sheet, Bones. Petty theft, grand larceny, grand theft auto--" Booth paused to grin. Brennan gave him a curious look. Why had he found that amusing? "Attempted kidnapping, felony assault. This guy's one bad mo."

She ignored that. "What are you thinking happened?"

They paused in front of the interrogation room. Booth pulled out a picture from the file that he had tucked in there. A photograph of Rhonda and Lane looking a little too cozy for step-mother and step-son.

"Where'd you get that?" Brennan took the picture from his hand.

"Angela found it in the photo album. I'm thinking that Herman came home a little wasted, hit the wife. She tells him to leave. He leaves. Lane goes after him."

"He wanted to protect Rhonda."

"They throw a few punches--"

"Graham Herman goes down easily because he's so intoxicated."

"He may have passed out cold, Lane thought he'd killed the guy, so he removes the sewer grate and pushes the body in."

"But it's not a smoking gun, Booth."

"True, but I've got my ways. Legal ways, Bones."

"I didn't say I thought otherwise."

They entered the interrogation room.

Lane Herman sat behind the desk. He wore blue jeans and a polo tee shirt. He was well manicured and quite handsome for being a young bachelor in his twenties.

Brennan and Booths took their seats.

"We know you did it, Lane." Booth said.

The man looked up. "What?"

"Let's talk about July 2nd," Booth said.

"I--I didn't kill my dad. I swear."

"You sure did get to that fast."

"Look, I'm not stupid. I'm a computer software engineer. I'm twenty-two. I'm not a moron."

"You don't have to be a moron to kill somebody, Mr. Herman."

"Don't call me that. I'm Lane. Herman was my father. I don't associate myself with that name."

"We have forensic evidence linking you to the scene of the crime," Brennan said.

"What evidence?"

"Hair, fibers--"

"I lived with the man of course my hair's gonna be on him."

"Neighbors who put you with your father that night throwing punches," Booth said.

Brennan took her cue, "He was intoxicated. He came in, hit Rhonda a few times. She throws him out. You follow him--"

"The rest is history, Lane. You try to stop him, make him pay for what he did to your--whatever you call her--"

"Lover," Brennan supplied.

Lane made a coughing sound, "What? You think Rhonda is my lover? That's--That's sick."

"Is it?" Brennan asked.

Booth slid the letters across the table. "Is it, Schmoopsy-Poo?"

"One of our experts found the same letters sent from your email to Rhonda's email," Brennan said.

Lane began to breathe heavily. "You're wrong!"

"You hit him, he fell." Brennan.

"Then you kicked his body into a storm drain." Booth.

Lane stood up, "You're wrong!"

"Then you should clarify things for us, Lane, because we're quite curious," Brennan said.

Lane paced for several seconds. "I love Rhonda. She was never a mother to me. She was always... a woman. A beautiful woman. My dad married her when I was eighteen. I was a man then. I'm a man now. I wanted to marry Rhonda, but she felt guilty about divorce. Or maybe she just felt weird about divorcing dad and marrying me. I don't know."

"What happened on July 2nd, Lane?" Booth pressed.

Lane paused and looked between the two investigators. Realizing that there was no way out, he finally said, "He hit Rhonda. I lost it and... I chased him out of the house. I hit him a couple of times and he just went down. I don't know what happened. I--I panicked. I thought I killed him."

"He was most likely still alive, Lane," Brennan said.

"What?" Lane searched their faces for truth. It hit him that the truth was being told. "Oh, G-d! No!"

"Then what?" Booth said.

"I... I did like you said. I pulled the cover off the storm drain and pushed him in. I swear I didn't mean it, though! I swear! I just... I just wanted to be with Rhonda. I just wanted him to stop hitting her. I didn't mean it..."

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Tomorrow is "Valentine's Day"... I'll posting the last juicy chapters. Stay tuned!