(After 'The Secret in the Siege')

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Cam had completed the autopsies of the three bodies that still contained flesh over bones and Brennan and Clark had completed the examination of the rest of the remains. It appeared that the killer had begun his killing spree seven years before he decided to sell his house and move. After examining the eleven sets of remains, both Cam and Brennan agreed that the killings weren't done steadily, but sporadically. It appeared the first victim had been killed then there was a year long wait before the next one was killed. The next three victims were done roughly six months apart, then the fifth victim wasn't killed until a year after that. The rest of the victims were killed during the last three years, the last one two months before Jared had discovered the secret room. There didn't seem to be a reason for the time gaps and Cam found that frustrating.

"He killed these kids randomly. There is no time frame involved, no schedule that I can determine, so I'd like to know what the trigger was." Sitting at the conference table in the break room, Cam had been joined by Brennan, Booth, Hodgins, Angela, Clark, Lester and Caroline. "All of the victims were tortured and eventually were killed. Though the wounds they suffered were horrific none of them caused their deaths. We did tests and found that every one of them died from an overdose of methamphetamine."

"Terrific." Disgusted, Booth made a few quick notes in his notebook. "Have we identified all of the victims yet?"

Brennan shook her head. "No, seven of the victims have been identified but we're having trouble identifying the rest. The seven were listed in a missing persons database and we were able to contact relatives of the missing and get samples of DNA. They've been confirmed. The four that haven't been identified aren't listed in any missing persons database that Angela has been able to find."

"No one cares that they're gone and no one bothered to report them missing to anyone." Angela found that sad. "I'm still working to find out who they are though. They deserve to be identified."

"Agreed." Lester wanted justice for all the victims, not the just for the ones who were missed by their families and friends. "If I can help, let me know."

Angela appreciated the offer, but she knew that she'd probably be the one to find out who they were using her computer skills. Somewhere, someone knew who these teenagers were. She'd just have to do searches in Facebook and other websites to see if she could find them. "Thank you. I'll let you know."

"We have enough evidence to go to trial I think, but I would like this to be an airtight case. We still don't know why Pat Ross did this. The jury will want to know why." Caroline studied her notes and decided that she'd file charges as soon as she could. "I think when we go to trial, we'll try Pat Ross for three of the deaths. That way, if his conviction is overturned for any reason in the future, we can try him for the others. I'm not letting him walk, not when we have eleven dead teenagers waiting for justice."

"I interviewed Ross yesterday again with Sweets observing." Booth flipped through his notebook. "The only thing he'll say is they weren't children. I have no idea why he keeps saying that since none of his victims are over the age of sixteen. Anyway, he's refused to talk and that's his right . . . I've interviewed his wife Karen several times and she says that Ross started acting weird after their son disappeared. Kyle Ross was a freshman in college and disappeared eight years ago. Karen says that Ross blamed some of the kids the boy was trying to help. Some of them were runaways and some of them had a very bad home life. Kyle helped them get part time jobs and places to stay. Karen said her son wanted to be a social worker someday . . . he wanted to help young people because he said no one seemed to care about them."

Booth flipped through his notebook. "According to his mother, before Kyle disappeared, he helped a young boy named Nathan Cross get away from a drug dealer. The drug dealer's name was Brendon Riley and he made threats against Kyle and his family. Pat Ross went ballistic and got the police involved. The police took Riley's threats seriously and tried to warn him off, but Kyle disappeared and so did the drug dealer shortly after the complaint was filed. Karen says Pat threw her and her daughter out of the house a month later and they haven't been back to the house. She filed for divorce and she's been in court fighting with Pat about their house ever since. The court finally sided with her and Pat is being forced to sell their house so Karen can get her half of the sale."

"I can see why Ross fought Karen in court." Lester leaned forward on the table. "He knew that selling the house would put him at risk. Sooner or later, someone was going to find that room. He was probably hoping to sell the house and get out of the country before the room was found."

Karen Ross' demand that the house be sold probably had saved lives for which Booth was grateful. "Pat and Karen don't talk except through lawyers and she didn't know what he was up to in the basement. She's tried to cooperate as much as possible, but she didn't know Pat had turned their house into a killing field."

"Wow, what a mess." Clark shook his head. "So, Brendon Riley and Kyle Ross disappeared and no one has seen them since?"

"No and if they're dead their bodies haven't shown up in the last eight years either." Booth closed his notebook. "Kyle's sister says she got a mysterious phone call a couple of months after Kyle disappeared. Someone called her, told her to not worry about Kyle and hung up. She called her father and told him, but she said he hung up on her. Pat Ross didn't care about the phone call. I asked and she hasn't gotten another call like it since. Karen Ross thinks it was a prank call. She thinks it was someone being cruel. I think she's probably right."

Cam sipped some of her coffee and placed the now empty cup on the table. "We don't really need Pat Ross to confess to anything. We have eleven bodies, we found DNA from all the victims in the basement, their blood and body fluids on the walls and on the table, all linked to the house Pat Ross lived in and owned. His DNA has been found in the basement room, so that should be enough. He can't claim he didn't know about the room if he's actually been in the room. It's enough to convict him of murder."

"Yes, it is." Brennan stared at the tabletop for a moment. "Booth, do you think that phone call means Kyle Ross is still alive?" She found the phone call odd.

"I doubt it." Staring at his partner, he knew she would probably want him to make an effort to verify that. "If Kyle was the person his mother and sister seemed to think he was, he wouldn't have left them and not made contact over the years. He seemed like a caring young man. I think Kyle is dead and that pushed Pat Ross over the edge. It's motive. We can play that up in court, but I will have Lester look into it, just in case."

His notebook open, Lester made a few quick notes and flipped it close. "If he is alive, I'll figure it out, but I think Booth is right. Kyle is probably dead."

Glancing at her watch, Caroline knew it was time to leave. "I'll let you know when the court sets a date for Pat Ross' trial. Keep me informed if anything new comes up that can affect the trial. Pat Ross is responsible for the deaths of eleven young people and I'm going for the death penalty."

"Elven that we know of." Brennan felt that Pat Ross may have done more damage to more people than they knew of at the moment.

Curious, Booth knew he'd have to ask her what she meant when the meeting was over.

"Yes, that we know of." Caroline was a realist. If Pat Ross was capable of killing eleven children then he was capable of killing more. "Like I said, if you find out anything else that can help me convict this couyon then let me know." Standing, Caroline glanced at her watch once more. "I have a meeting that I need to get to."

Once the meeting was adjourned, Booth remained seated and placed his hand over Brennan's hand to get her attention before she stood up. "Do you think there are other bodies that we haven't found yet? Cam says that you guys have accounted for all the blood stains in the basement. They match up with the bodies we found. She doesn't think there are other victims."

"We don't know where Kyle Ross and Brendon Riley are buried, if they're dead." Brennan felt that if those two were dead, they needed to find those bodies too. "Kyle and Brendon were the trigger that started Pat Ross' killing spree. What happened to them? Are they dead? If so, where are their bodies? I think we need to answer those questions before the trial. Did Brendon kill Kyle and Pat kill Brendon? It seems to me that if we had the answer to those questions that would make Caroline's case airtight."

Slowly nodding his head, Booth could see Brennan's point. "I'll get Lester to start working on that. It's been eight years, so that might be a dead end, but we can give it a try anyway. Too bad Harris is in Indianapolis now. He's pretty good at tracking down things like this."

"Give Lester a chance, Booth." Brennan liked the younger agent and knew he was a good investigator. "It will be months before we get to the trial, so there is time."

"True." Booth glanced at his watch and stood up. "I have to go. I have an interview to do with a suspect in the June Maynard case. I'll let you know how that turns out."

Once she was alone, Brennan finished drinking her coffee, placed the now empty mug in the sink and washed it. Once it was dried, she placed it in the cabinet and returned to her office. She needed to go over the copy of the autopsy the police provided for Robert Hann. Everyone had been busy with the Pat Ross case and now that she had some time, she needed to work on the Robert Hann case. It was an old case and wasn't time critical, but she wanted to close that case as soon as she could. Christopher Pelant had featured in her life for too long. It was time to close his case and place him in the past where he belonged.

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