Chapter 38: Holding Patterns
The mutual teasing of Sweets coupled with her subsequent successful joke had dissipated the tension enough that she could adequately compartmentalize her feelings once more. Upon her return to the Jeffersonian earlier in the afternoon, she had attempted to do just that but was not as successful as she would have hoped. As a result, Angela was quickly able to ferret out what had happened and by the time Brennan had results for Cam she was far too emotional to convey them to Seeley herself. Perotta and Sweets had been the two people she had been able to conceal her emotions from; though that front was destroyed as soon as Seeley barged into her office apologizing, then complaining about the psychologist's presence. At least Perotta had not been in the room at the time.
While she was grateful that Seeley had come to the lab in person to apologize, his earlier actions were harder to dismiss and more than anything she was curious to know what had provoked such strong emotions in him in the first place. Though he teased her about compartmentalizing her emotions, she had learned throughout the years that he was equally adroit at keeping a handle on his own. Certain topics, however, almost always caused that control to slip, provoking his rage, and she wondered what had been the trigger this time. There was, however, a case to solve, so she set her personal queries aside for the time being and focused on the task at hand.
"I believe these marks," she pointed out the location on the enlarged photographs of Lily Hairston's skull on the monitor, "were made by a gun."
"Even I know that's no bullet hole," Seeley looked bewildered.
"Correct," she grinned, enjoying the moment of superiority, "but I said nothing about a bullet."
"What are you saying?" Perotta wanted to know.
"That each of the victims that Benjamin Hairston mailed to us was struck by the barrel of a gun in such a way as to be fatal," she again pointed to the photograph for emphasis. "As Drs. Bray and Edison concluded previously, the blow originated near the lambdoidal suture, leaving behind this mark. The resultant fractures can be seen radiating out toward the occipital lobe."
"Were there cracks on the other side of the skull too like with Candie's?" Seeley asked, referencing the case involving Maddie, Joey, and Sadie's birth mother.
She nodded, impressed that he remembered.
"Constant surprise, remember?" he smirked, then asked, "So, you're saying these girls were pistol-whipped?"
"In the vernacular, yes, it would appear that way," she nodded.
"Can you figure out the type?" was his next question.
"The mark seems to be quite distinctive," she nodded again, "so we should be able to identify the exact make and model of the gun used. Angela is working on possible scenarios as to what position the killer and victims were in at the time of the attacks."
"Yeah, that could take a little bit," Angela put in, frowning, "So far I'm having trouble coming up with a scenario given the parameters, but I'll keep at it."
"It's a dead end on the coffin angle too," Hodgins said, as if he'd been waiting to try that particular pun for some time. "It was a long shot. The plaid shirt fragment, though, is a better possibility in terms of getting a lead. I'm just waiting on some of the results to come back. Same story on the gravel I found in her shoes; it's enough to lead us somewhere, just not sure where that is right now."
"You're not the only one," Cam shook her head. "Tox results should start coming in tomorrow; DNA not 'til later in the week. Lots of anti-mortem bruising, though; not to mention I found seminal fluid in more than one place."
"You mean-" Brennan started.
"We all know what she means, Bones," Seeley's face was pained. "Guy was a double perv. Matches up with what the earlier victims' files had to say."
"Did the MEs then get DNA?" Hodgins asked.
"Only minute traces on the first seven and not always in both cavities," Cam answered. "The rest, including Joelle, had enough to test. Problem was, there was no match in the system, so while this will most likely prove another link between Joelle Wynn and our earlier victims, it might not go much farther than that until we start getting suspects."
"What's the significance of the increase in seminal fluid?" Brennan wondered aloud.
"He either added the sexual assault to his torture regimen," Sweets provided the answer, "or else he was wearing protection at first and stopped. The second scenario is most likely the better fit for where this guy is right now. He's been doing this for over a decade and hasn't been caught yet. His confidence is most likely at an all-time high, so his routines are evolving."
"SOB thinks he's gotten away with it," Seeley's face grew increasingly grimmer as he spoke. "We're going to make sure that comes to an end real soon. If he's getting more lax, that could mean he's messed up this last time and if he did, we'll get him."
"Does the FBI have any leads at this point?" Cam looked between the two agents expectantly.
Perotta shook her head, "There's a reason these were declared cold cases. Any leads from the older ones dried up years ago, and the newer ones are getting us anywhere either. I asked Dr. Sweets to work up a profile based on what we've gotten on this guy so far to see if we can at least narrow our suspect pool that way."
Six sets of eyes turned to Sweets, who reminded Brennan of a deer that had jumped out in front of the SUV once.
"I'm still in the data retrieval phase," he told them, "this case spans over a decade of activity and the victims' socio-economic settings, ethnicities, and geographic locations differ greatly. Finding points of commonality in terms of motive will be extremely challenging."
"I've got my guys sifting through old case files for anything that happened in DC on February twenty-third," Booth added, "see if we can find out what triggered the obsession with that date. Meanwhile," he pulled out a manila folder and opened it, "they did chart out exactly where each victim lived, where they were found, and how long after their disappearance their remains were recovered. No surprise that Joelle's was the shortest time frame between abduction and recovery since Cam's put TOD to within twenty-four hours of when we found her."
"Bug and insect activity says she was in that alley no less than four hours," Hodgins informed them.
"Okay," Cam nodded at him, "you stay on the trace results and let me know as they come in. Angela, see if the Angelator can help give us a clearer murder scenario and let me know once you've determined whether Joelle's bruise patterns match any of the older ones. Dr. Brennan," she paused for the slightest of seconds, "if Agent Perotta doesn't need you, I'd like you to work with Booth plotting out all of the points the FBI gave him while Wendell and Clark hunt down the weapon."
"I don't see how that falls under my area of expertise," Brennan protested.
"Your job is to view the data from an anthropologist's standpoint," Cam said, her tone authoritarian. "Something tells me there are answers to be had in that data and I want two sets of eyes on it that won't look at things the same way. We're looking for patterns of any size, shape, and color, that can help us figure this guy out, people, and I expect full collaboration and no complaints."
Cam waited until acknowledgements were given around the oblong table before giving a curt nod of her own in dismissal.
"What's your paperwork load look like?" Seeley asked as they made their way back to her office.
"Moderate," she replied. "Why?"
He consulted his watch before answering, "Max should've picked up Sadie by now and the two of them were going to work with Parker on his wind tunnel. Parker rode the bus here, but I have to have him back at Rebecca's by five thirty for some dinner with her in-laws. If you can finish your paperwork, we can leave here at five for the night and work on Cam's assignment at home."
"I drove myself," she reminded him, "so I could work an extra half hour while you drop Parker off. "
"Sure," he shrugged.
"And don't think that this means that you do not still need to explain yourself for you actions earlier this afternoon because you do," she warned.
"I know," he said sincerely, "and I will."
She shot him a look that said she expected nothing less of him.
"You want me to grab some food on my way home?" he offered. "I've got coupons for ThaiLand and China Moon."
"While there is no monetary reason for you to need to utilize coupons," she rolled her eyes, sitting down at her desk to begin her paperwork, "you may allow Sadie to select her preference in restaurants."
He nodded with a smile and then proceeded to recline on the couch and study his file. Sometime later, she felt his lips brush the top of her head as he announced it was time for him to leave. After bidding him goodbye and promising to drive safely, she set the timer on her desk for thirty minutes before turning back to her work.