Chapter 37

Day in, Day out

Interrogation room 3, The Hoover Building, Washington D.C, Tuesday, 8th July 2008, 02:51 pm

Eighteen year old Thomas Brown looked just as imposing in real life as he had in the Brown's family portrait. When Brennan had first seen the photograph even she had been unable to miss the arrogance in his eyes, the way you could tell he knew he was the apple of his fathers' eyes. It was obvious that Thomas had grown up adored and spoiled by his father and the various staff that had attended him and now expected the same treatment from the rest of society. He, unlike his three sisters, had received the finest of educations, first home-schooled then sent away to a privileged private school. Now he was on the up with a stake in his fathers company.

There was no doubt that men twice his age would take in his clean cut appearance and breathe in his supreme air of confidence and give him the respect he apparently commanded. Brennan suspected he was also a hit with the female of the species. His dark hair and eyes, taller than average stature, good dress sense and apparent wealth was sure to be an appeal to young impressionable girls and there was little doubt in Brennan's mind that he was most likely never short of young girls willing to warm a spot in his bed.

Yes, Thomas Brown seemed to have it all. Unfortunately for him that didn't change the fact that he was being questioned over his sister's murder and thus, would be treated just like anyone else. Temperance watched him through the two-way mirror and observed as he glanced nervously around the room before he collected himself and the façade was back. Yes, she mused, it was true that death was the great leveller, and in more ways than one.

Booth was taking the lead this time and it was he that settle himself in front of Thomas with a faint smile.

'Well, well, aren't you a difficult man to get hold of.'

Thomas didn't speak.

'Your little sister was found dead over three weeks ago and you've only just made yourself available for questioning?'

'I was busy.'

Booth just smiled in mock politeness.

'I'm sure you were.'

'Look, can you just tell me what you want and let me go because I have places to be.'

'Now now Mr. Brown, calm down. I just want a friendly little chat, that's all.'

Thomas quirked an eyebrow but once more remained silent. Brennan couldn't help but think, as she stared at him through the glass, how different he was from Alex Simmons. Both were on the verge of their nineteenth birthday, both had a strong connection to Abigail Brown and yet they couldn't be further apart. Alex had given off the impression of being a child struggling to fill a man's shoes, worrying over his responsibilities towards Abigail whilst barely making ends meat in a dead end job and wanting to believe that his love for Abigail would make everything alright. Thomas on the other hand was old before his time, rushing to leave the shackles of childhood behind, desperate to prove himself. He had almost certainly never had financial worries and probably never would and true love didn't seem like the kind of thing he was prone to fantasising in.

'Thomas I want to ask you about your sister.'

He smirked.

'Which one?'

'Ha a, very funny. Abigail, I want to talk about Abigail.'

'What about her?'

'When was the last time you saw her?'

'I don't know. Abi stopped living with us over a year ago.'

'Yes but you saw her after that didn't you, Miss Harris, your step-mothers' sisters, said you dropped by once or twice.'

'Only when I had to. Every couple of months dad sent some money but he was always too busy to take it himself so he sent me instead. I never stayed long.'

'Why not?'

'Look, Abi was difficult ok. She wasn't like other girls her age.'

There it was again, the allusion that something wasn't quite right with Abigail Brown, that she was different, troublesome.

'But she was your sister, didn't that mean something.'

'Sure it did but in-case you didn't notice I'm one of five so siblings aren't exactly in short supply.'

'But she was your full sister, you had the same mother.'

A cloud passed briefly over Thomas' face.

'I don't remember my mother. Dana is my mother, she was Abi's too in truth but Abi would never accept that. She was ungrateful.'

'She's also dead.'

'Yeah…well…its sad, of course it is but…'

'But what?'

'Look, all Abi cared about was her dancing, when she lost that she had nothing.'

'Wait a minute, what do you mean she lost it?'

'She quit, right before her final exams.'

'When was this?'

'After Christmas, maybe the middle of January.'

That was just weeks before she died.

'What happened, why did she stop?'

'She just quit, how should I know why.'

'What about her teacher?'

'How the hell should I know? One day she was all gung ho about dancing the next minute she wasn't, that's all I know. She was a teenage girl, isn't that what they do, like one thing then change their minds?'

'Did your sister like you?'

'Yeah I suppose, Abi was one of those people that liked everyone but she didn't agree with me and she didn't listen to me.'

'What do you mean?'

'I told her to stop being such a brat and be nicer to Dana, she ignored me, acted out and ended up going to live with Dana's sister.'

'So you were angry? That she didn't listen to you?'

'Yeah I suppose, after that we didn't get on that well.'

Booth shuffled what appeared to be important papers, although Brennan knew they were mostly blank. It was a favourite trick of Booth's and, if used effectively, could easily unsettle even the most unflappable of suspects. Brennan wondered when it was she had learnt that, when she had started to pick up on his little tricks and nuances.

Her mind drifted again to her impending nuptials and planned move. She wondered how different her life would be in Montreal. Would she miss this? Would she long for the rush of chasing criminals? Would she yearn for the satisfaction of truly making a difference? Would she miss this partnership, miss Booth?

It was true that she had been deprived of this work before. During the year Booth was gone she did very little case work and next to no field work and she hadn't missed it…or at least she had thought she hadn't. Now however, now that she back in the fray with Booth, doing what they did best, it was hard to deny that this would be hard to leave behind, hard to convince herself that teaching would fill the gap the loss of her FBI work would create, and she was beginning to wonder if maybe Montreal wasn't what she wanted after all.

Before Booth came back all she could focus on was getting out, getting away. She was fuelled by anger and disappointment, mainly disappointment at herself for not being able to cope with her problems. All she wanted was to leave, to go and get away from everything that reminded her of the good working relationships she had once had, that reminded her of Davison, of the shooting, of her mistakes and of Booth. She had wanted a fresh start and at the time she had wanted that fresh start to be in Montreal in a teaching position with James at her side. Now however things were different.

Booth's return and their subsequent messy relationship, which was the best thing she could call it, had thrown her into turmoil. Maybe she should just marry James and stay in D.C, or maybe she should marry him and leave. Maybe she shouldn't marry him and still go to Montreal, or perhaps she should avoid marriage and stay right where she was. Maybe she should leave James for Booth or maybe it would be better to end her fling with Booth and commit fully to James. Maybe Montreal wasn't right for her, but maybe D.C wasn't either. Maybe neither Booth nor James were who she should be with. She couldn't decide, there were too many confounding variables and 'what ifs' for her scientific mind to make sense of. Every fibre of her being, every shred of life experience she had told her to just wait it out. Science taught her to just let the 'experiment' run its course and then analyse the results thoroughly before making and decisions. The problem was that in three weeks she'd be married…and right now three weeks wasn't enough.

She tried to clear her head and focus back on the interview being conducted behind the glass. Booth was leaning forward, his frame over-shadowing that of the young Thomas Brown.

'You still haven't answered my original question. When was the last time you saw your sister?'

Thomas sighed.

'Just after Christmas, when she told me about her dancing. I hadn't actually gone to see her, I was out shopping for a birthday present for Tallulah, it was only a week later and you know how little girls are, presents are important. Anyway, I ran into them while I was out.'

'Them?'

'She was out with Alex, they were always together.'

'Did you like Alex?'

'He was ok as a person I suppose but I didn't like him being with Abi and that's what you're really asking isn't it?'

'Why didn't you like him being with her?'

'He was too old, he was taking advantage.'

'What do you mean 'taking advantage'?'

'Well…you know…'

Brennan swore she saw him blush even through the glass.

'Were him and Abi sleeping together?'

'I don't want to…'

'Come on Thomas, were they?'

'I don't know, maybe.'

'Maybe huh?

'I think there was a time when she was going to sleep with him. I confronted her about it before Christmas.'

Booth raised a sceptical eyebrow.

'You talked about sex with your baby sister?'

'I wanted to look out for her. She was still all messed up after moving out and…and…Abi had a tendency to do things just to punish other people. When we fell out over Dana she knew that sleeping with Alex would annoy me.'

'Why?'

'Cos' like I said, he was taking advantage. She was sixteen for crying out loud, still a kid. Look do we have to talk about this because like I said, I don't know if she slept with him or not, knowing Abi she probably just said it to annoy me.'

'Ok, ok. So when you bumped into them what did you talk about?'

'She told me about the dancing, Alex seemed as annoyed as I was over it to be honest. Abi was talented, there's no denying that, and the was up for a scholarship too, for the School of American Ballet with a promised spot in the New York City Ballet Company if she got in, and she would have got in. Abi had trained her whole life for that scholarship, it was all she wanted, so for her to just throw it away…it just seemed like such a waste.'

'Alex agreed?'

'Yeah, he said as much while we were talking. He'd always kind of had dodgy jobs, he wanted better for Abi, that's something I suppose.'

'What do you mean 'dodgy'?'

'Well, you know, he had that crappy little job fixing up the dance school and he did like deliveries and stuff, then there was the odd jobs he did for Mr Roddick.'

Brennan, who had been reading the case file whilst listening to the pair, almost dropped the folder in her hands as her head snapped back up and her ears strained to gather in this piece of information. Booth too seemed to be taken aback.

'Mr Marcus Roddick?'

'Yeah why?'

Booth ignored the question.

'What exactly did Alex do for Mr Roddick?

'A bit of everything as far as I know. It always seemed a bit suspicious to me, all Alex really did was set up a couple of meeting and deliver the odd package for the guy but any job he did for Roddick always seemed to pay pretty well.'

Brennan had to admit that sweet little Alex Simmons was looking more and more guilty by the second, just as Booth had thought all along.

'Thomas what would you say if I told you that your sisters remains were found on a piece of land owned by Mr Roddick?'

The information seemed to settle slowly and unsettle the young Mr Brown.

'You mean…Alex…Roddick…they…did they…is what happened to Abigail their fault…did they…?'

'At the minute its an on-going investigation but trust me, when we hear something you'll be one of the first to know.'

'I…they…'

'That's all I think, you're free to go now Thomas.'

A bewildered Thomas left the interview room a very different man to the one that had turned up earlier that afternoon and when he was gone Brennan slipped in just as Booth was getting up to leave.

'I told you it was the boyfriend.'

'Come on Booth, we don't know that, we don't have all the facts.'

'We don't need the 'facts' Bones, he's starting to sound a bit controlling, getting angry about her dancing, wanting her to sleep with him.'

She placed her copy of the case file on the table.

'Come on, what has them sleeping together got to do with anything.'

He released a quirky smile onto his face.

'I think you'll find sex motivates people to do some very odd things.'

She noticed the tone of his voice and grinned despite herself, stepping closer to him.

'Things like kill their sixteen year old girlfriend'

He took the final step, looping his arms around her waist and edging her back towards the mirror.

'I was actually thinking of far nicer things.'

She smiled coyly as her back hit the mirror.

'Oh really. Like what?'

'Well this for starters.'

His lips descended softly upon hers and they kissed in a leisurely manor before his hand trailing up her skirt and his voice low and husky in her ear brought her to her senses.

'I've always wanted you here.'

Her eyes went wide and she jumped away.

'Booth! Anyone could come in!'

He grinned.

'Yeah your probably right. Come on, we should eat.'

He offered his hand and watched her hesitate.

'Come on Bones, if your lucky I might even buy lunch.'

She hesitated a fraction longer before pushing away from the wall she had been leaning on and sauntered past him towards the door, stopping just as she reached for the handle.

'Keep up Booth. If you're lucky, I might just buy dessert.'

He laughed, marvelling at the way she kept him on his toes, wondering if it would ever get old, and followed her out of the door and down the hall.

Next-door however in the adjoining room old eyes turned away from the two way mirror as the agent and the anthropologist left. The man occupying the room sighed, running a hand across his tired face as he worried about how he was going to deal with this mess. His phone buzzed and he reached for it without second thought.

'Cullen…yeah…ok…fine…ok, and Annie…push my three 'o' clock back to tomorrow, I have a feeling it my be a long afternoon.'