Disclaimer: I dont own Bones

Chapter25

Hortus in urbe - A garden in the city

'Ok, come on Brennan think.'

She shook her head and stretched her legs out from beneath her. Talking to yourself is never a good sign. It was half ten on the following night and Temperance was currently stretched out on her living room floor. Her back ached from being leant against the couch and her legs were now tingling after being unfurled from beneath her. In front of her paper littered the floor amongst manila folders, their contents of photographs and lab reports spilling onto the carpet. She had been sat there for almost an hour now sifting through her copy of the case files and she was getting nowhere. She was beginning to doubt herself. Maybe the murders were random, maybe there really was no link. She wasn't convinced. Everything she had ever learnt told her that anthropologically speaking there had to be a link, a pattern, a precise method of thinking, of working.

'But what is the link?'

Her whispers flitted through the apartment and the looked up at the ceiling, stretching her neck and rubbing the tight knots from her shoulders. She groaned as a noise from the other room caught her attention.

'Not now Toby.'

The hour on her floor staring at the small print and illegible smudged writing of the case file had resulted in stiff joints and the tell-tale throbbing of a headache building behind her eyes. Toby's cries grew louder and the throbbing grew more persistent.

'Please Toby.'

She knew the baby in the other room couldn't hear her but it was worth a try. He had been asleep less than two hours and had taken an hour before that to actually settle down. The late nights and early mornings were beginning to take their toll on Temperance who finally sighed and gave in, standing up and ignoring the protests of her aching limbs as she headed to Toby's room.

'Ok, ok you win.'

She wished briefly that Booth was there with her. He always seemed to be better with the baby than she was but he had Parker and she knew that both father and son were probably already asleep after a Disney movie marathon. Toby's face was purpling in colour, his hair shiny with sweat, his eyes dark and teary. Temperance looked at him as she flicked the light on and the minute he saw her his crying stopped. If she hadn't known better she'd have said his crying had been just a ruse to get her attention or even worse simply to annoy her. She rolled her eyes as she lifted him up, his comfortable weight settling in her arms.

'Typical Saroyan.'

Toby murmured as though he was about to cry again, droplets of tears still clinging to his downy lashes.

'Come on then.'

She walked to the kitchen but he refused the bottle she offered him and wasn't soothed when she rubbed at his back. She stepped back into the living room and rocked him in front of the window but his murmuring became fully blown crying once more. She settled on the sofa and stared down at the confusing object that was the child in her arms.

'Come on Toby, help me out. What do you want?'

The infant gave her no hints as the volume of his cries increased. Temperance sighed and tried to hush him as she glanced around the room as though hoping it would offer up a solution to her current problems. The she saw it. Her solution.

'Ok Toby, come on. Me and you are going out.'

Half an hour later, with Toby bundled up in three layers of clothing and a heavy blanket snuggled in his pram and Temperance in her coat with the case files safely stowed away in the bottom of the pram the pair were heading down the street. Cars whizzed by every now and again, their headlights momentarily illuminating the woman and child on their midnight stroll. Temperance breathed in the night air, equally grateful for the lack of rain and coolness of the night. Unusually cool for July the night air bit at her fingers and cloaked her face in a soothing blanket that dissipated her headache and cleared her thoughts. Temperance stopped as she reached her destination, a small courtyard adjacent to the park not far from her apartment. She seated herself on a bench beneath the nearest street light and glanced into the pram. Toby was silent now but his bright eyes shone in the lamplight, his cheeks now pink from cold instead of tears. Temperance stroked his forehead then, once she was satisfied he was ok, she sat back and pulled the case files from the bottom of the pram and cleared her throat.

'Ok then Toby, you cant sleep, I cant sleep so you might as well help me with this.'

She glanced around but was relatively comfortable she wouldn't be overheard. Her next thought was that maybe she shouldn't be talking about this with a baby. Then she shook her head slightly, Toby wouldn't understand her anyway, it didn't really matter.

She pulled the file towards her and began to read from the notes she had made earlier that night.

'Ok, so first victim was Deborah Kern, 32 years old, a high court judge by profession. She has…or rather 'had' two daughters Abbie and Megan and an apparently doting husband. No known enemies, last seen three weeks ago, probably died the same night. C.O.D.: ligature strangling, no relevant particulates. Her body was found in an alley close to where she worked three weeks after her disappearance. Number 4514. Any thoughts?'

She looked to Toby but got nothing.

'No, I didn't think so.'

She resumed her reading.

'Right, Hannah Sinclair, 20 years old, found second but we know she actually died roughly a week before Deborah Kern. Lived in foster care for years, gave her son up for adoption, no other family and hasn't been seen or heard of for months. C.O.D. was ligature strangling, again nothing else was found from the body. Her remains were only discovered when they were sent in a box to the Hoover building, the sender couldn't be traced. Number is 12728.'

She paused for breath.

'Then we have Anna Swanstone. She was 52 years old and had lived in a nunnery since she was widowed at 35. By all accounts she was a saint and loved by everyone. Her remains were found in a local churchyard. Ligature strangling is the official C.O.D and she had no defensive wounds. Particulates were found but only those consistent with the area she was found. Only real family is a son but he lives away and hasn't seen his mother in months. Only other contact was with the caretaker who it was believed she was in love with and who everyone supposed she had run away with. He not only denies everything he has an alibi too. Her number is 23637'

Temperance looked down at Toby.

'Are you listening?'

The baby spluttered in response. Of course he wasn't listening.

'The last but not least we have Phoebe Conners, a 32 year old from Baltimore. Same cause of death. Hasn't been in contact with her family for months and appears to have no friends to speak of. Was found in a local park by a woman walking her dog. Although she was found last she was actually killed before Anna Swanstone. She's numbered as 1612.'

She took another breath and flicked over a page in the case file, rocking Toby's pram with her foot as she scanned the page.

'Its safe to assume the killer had at least some personal knowledge of the victims since the accuracy of the names matched with the numbers tell us that the killer was at least on first name terms with each victim. The victims also seem to have been carefully chosen so that, with the exception of Deborah Kern, no one would miss them.'

She tipped the page she was reading closer towards a nearby streetlight to get a better look at the images printed on it. She still couldn't ascertain what the murder weapon was and had never felt so useless on a case before. There was literally nothing more she could do. She glanced at her watch. Midnight. She sighed in frustration and slid the file back into the pram, standing up and looking down at Toby who stared back at her with drooping eyelids.

'So then, got any ideas?'

The infant stared up at her and opened his mouth in a wide yawn. Temperance rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, yeah, I get it. You have absolutely no clue whatsoever, join the club. Come on then, home time,'

She wheeled the pram round and headed off down the street in anticipation of what was sure to be yet another sleepless night.