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When they arrived back at the apartment, Booth found Brennan sitting on the couch talking to someone on the phone. After a few seconds, she responded, "No, they're alright. They just came back from the police station." After more conversation on the other end of the line, Brennan decided to end the call. "No, that's all right. I'll let Booth know. Thank you for calling." Ending the call, Brennan smiled at Booth. "How did your interview go?"

Sitting down next to Brennan, Booth kissed her. "They said they believed our story. They didn't have a choice. Who was on the phone?"

Pursing her lips, Brennan finally answered. "Max."

Booth's smile disappeared. "Max? What did he want?"

"He said he heard about the attack last night and he wanted to make sure that you and Sully were alright." Brennan placed her hand over Booth's knee. "He wanted me to tell you that he had nothing to do with the attack and he's sorry that it happened. He also wanted to know if he could be of any help with the police. He wants to come by the club and talk to you tomorrow afternoon."

That sounded good to Booth. He wanted to confront Max as soon as possible. "Good. I want to talk to him too."

Worried about the far away look in Booth's eyes, Brennan leaned closer to Booth. "When you say talk, do you mean talk . . . or something else?"

Booth smiled at Brennan. "I mean talk. I'm not going to attack a city councilman in our club. I'm not planning on giving Jared's partner an excuse to haul me in."

Concerned, Sully interrupted their conversation. "I want to be there when you have your meeting. If Max knows that more people know what's going on, it might calm the situation down some."

It sounded logical and Booth couldn't argue with it. "Alright . . . I guess it will be okay." Turning back to Brennan, Booth patted her knee. "Don't worry about this. We'll get this mess straightened out."

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That evening, Jared dropped by the club looking for Booth. After a quick search, he found him in Brennan's office. Knocking on the doorframe, Jared entered the office.

Booth and Brennan had been sitting at her desk looking at some spreadsheets. For once, Booth was actually glad to be interrupted by Jared. He felt that his eyes had started to cross from all of the data he had been looking at on Brennan's PC. "What can I do for you, Jared?"

Jared smiled and sat down on the couch. "It's what I can do for you. We found some bullet casings at the crime scene and the coroner was able to recover the bullet from the guy killed last night. It looks like the vic was killed by a gun that was used in a drug deal gone bad last month. It looks like a gang member may have killed the vic last night. Since everyone knows you don't associate with gangs, I guess that lets you off the hook."

Not surprised, Booth nodded his head. "Okay, that's good to know. Did you find out who the vic was?"

Eager to share his information, Jared leaned forward. "Of course. He was someone named Steve Perkins. He actually doesn't have a record for robbery or theft. He does have a record for assault and battery though. He got a dishonorable from the Army a few years ago, when he beat the hell out of a corporal in his platoon. Apparently Steve Perkins didn't like the fact that the corporal was selling drugs to some of his fellow soldiers. His temper wasn't much better out of the service and he had been arrested for beating up several drug dealers over the years. He apparently considered himself to be some kind of vigilante."

Confused, Booth shook his head. "I don't deal drugs. I also don't allow drugs in my club, not if I can help it."

Sighing, Jared shook his head. "I wonder why he would he try to rob you. That doesn't make sense either."

Booth shook his head. "Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me."

It was a mystery and Jared didn't like it. "Well, it doesn't make sense to anyone at the station house either. We're trying to figure out if he was working for someone. Maybe it will make sense if he's connected to someone else. We'll just have to see."

She had listened to the conversation and Brennan was willing to present a theory. "Maybe Steve Perkins was working for someone and that person has a grudge against the club or against us. He may have been using the robbery as a cover for whatever he was going to do. He may have planned to harm Booth and wanted to use the robbery as a guise."

Staring at Brennan, Booth hoped that Brennan didn't say anything else. His robbery scenario could go out of the window if Brennan put too much out there.

Jared nodded his head. "Maybe . . . We're still looking at his background and trying to see if he has any connection to Booth or Uncle."

"Sully?" Booth was surprised to hear that. "He just got into town a few days ago. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have anything to do with what happened. It has do with the club or me."

Staring at Booth, Jared didn't like the weirdess of the case. Something was wrong. "Are you sure you don't know who this Steve Perkins was? Maybe you've seen him with someone or you've seen him hanging around your apartment or this club."

Shaking his head, Booth was determined to keep to his story. He didn't know the guy, but he didn't want Jared mixed up in his mess with Max. "Sorry. I really don't remember ever seeing him. It's possible I knew him before I was operated on, but that memory is gone if I did."

"Well, I'd like you to think about it, anyways." Jared stood up. "Have you been having any trouble with anyone lately? I know Arastoo Vaziri was giving you some grief, but I know for a fact he doesn't want your club anymore. I can't imagine that he had anything to do with this."

Nodding his head, Booth knew that part was correct. "Yeah, I'm sure he didn't have anything to do with this either. It's someone else."

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