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Cold Case

Booth was busy reviewing another Agent's file, when his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. He looked up. It was Agent Carlson, one of the Agents in Booth's department.

"Carlson, come on in."

The Agent looked as if he was hesitant, then stepped into Booth's office.

"You have a case you need to run by me?" Booth asked, placing his pen on his desk.

"Yeah." Carlson held up the file in his hand. "I was investigating a cold case Sir."

"Right?"

"It was a robbery back in the late sixties."

"That far back huh?"

"Halfway through the investigation, a familiar name came up."

"You think it's a known felon?"

"It's your father-in-law Sir."

Booth frowned. Max had been dead for a couple of years now. He stretched out his hand for the file, annoyed. "Lemme see that."

Carlson handed Booth the file. "I'm sorry Sir."

Booth skimmed thought the contents of the file. "I'm really sorry…"

"I heard you the first time Carlson. It is what it is."

"My leads have all led to dead ends, and then I saw the name Max Keenan… I mean no disrespect Sir, I know he's dead. And I heard from the other Agents who were there at the safe house… he saved their lives, died a hero."

"I know." Booth sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache creeping up on him.

"I just thought, maybe you know something or maybe there's some connection you may have forgot?"

Booth looked up, staring at Agent Carlson incredulously. He thought he could see the younger Agent start to sweat.

"Are you implying that I'm withholding information on a federal investigation?!"

"No, No! Of course not Sir. I just thought, maybe he said something to you? May not have seemed much at the time but if you think back now?"

"Max never talked to me about what he did back in his bank robbing days okay?"

"What about… Dr Brennan?"

"If she knew something, I'm sure she'd tell me."

"Sir, I know you're mad but maybe if I could speak with her? Or maybe you have some of Max Keenan's things? I'd like to take a look. Maybe find some leads?"

Booth inhaled deeply. He knew Carlson was a good Agent, and he tried to put himself in the younger Agent's shoes. He would have done the same thing, even if it meant pissing off his boss.

"Look Carlson, first of all, you don't need my permission to talk to Dr Brennan. Second, after Max died, Dr Brennan and me went to his apartment, donated most of his stuff. I know she has a box of things she keeps, but I don't remember anything in there that might link Max to the case. But… doesn't hurt to look."

Carlson nodded. "So I can go talk to Dr Brennan?"

"Like I said, you don't need my permission to talk to my wife…" Booth held up his index finger. "…but she does miss her Dad so if you could just be more careful what you say to her…"

"I'll keep that in mind when I call her Sir."

"Great. And if you find anything, I'm the first to know okay?"

"Yes Sir."

"I'd like a copy of this file too."

"I'll get you one by the end of today." Carlson said as he turned to leave the room.

"Carlson." Boot barked.

The younger Agent turned.

"You've got some balls comin' in here, talkin' to me like that but… I like it."

Carlson offered Booth a slight grin. "Thank you Sir."

That night after the kids were asleep, Booth sat down with Brennan on the couch in the family room, her with a glass of wine and Booth with a beer in hand. He placed the copy of the file with the cold case on the coffee table.

"Agent Carlson called you?"

"Yes." Brennan replied.

"Look Bones I'm sorry."

"No need. Agent Carlson was extremely polite and apologetic. He told me you gave him permission to call me."

"You kiddin'? I told him he didn't need my permission."

"He said you were concerned I'd be upset."

"Well he got that part right." Booth placed his beer bottle on the coffee table, resting a hand on Brennan's knee. "You okay?"

"Being reminded of my parents' past was something I thought I would never have to experience again, especially since it has been three years since my Dad died."

"Yeah, I thought Max had no more secrets."

"The name of the main suspect in the file, it brings to mind a memory though."

"Yeah? He told you about it before?"

"In the later part of his life, when he returned and we shared our lives with him, Dad never discussed his past with me, not more than he had to. But I do recall that name when we were cleaning out his apartment after he died."

"I don't remember that."

"I remember seeing it on a scrap of paper. You could say that it is fortunate for Agent Carlson that I have an eidetic memory."

"So I guess calling you paid off."

"I doubt that. It was only a name on a piece of paper. As to why the name was there, or what their relationship was, I am unable to ascertain… although…" Brennan had that look on her face, akin to when she had figured out who the murderer was in any of the cases they worked on.

She got up from the couch, returning shortly with the box containing her father's belongings she wanted to keep. She thumbed through the note book in the box.

"There." Brennan pointed to something scribbled onto one of the pages. "As he got older, Dad sometimes had to pen things down so he didn't forget to do them."

"A to-do list."

"Yes. Look, there's an address and a name."

Booth's brain connected the dots. "The same last name as the suspect in Carlson's cold case."

"We should tell Agent Carlson."

"You know what Bones? I think we should check this out ourselves."

"Really? But it's not your case."

"Carlson reports to me, so technically it is my case. Look it's not like I wanna steal credit, I think we should check this out."

"Your gut?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Looks like a nice neighborhood Bones." Booth said as he pulled up to the address taken from Max's notebook the next morning.

He nodded to the house in front of them. "This is the place."

A dark-haired woman opened the front door. She looked as if she was headed for the car parked out front.

"We should speak with her before she leaves." Brennan said as she opened the passenger side door.

"Whoa, Bones," Booth took her hand, stopping her, "never hurts to be careful. Let me talk to her first. You give it a couple of minutes before comin' out okay?"

He got out of the car, flashing his badge. "Excuse me Ma'am. FBI." Behind him he heard Brennan slam the car door shut. He wished she would listen to him for once. His senses on alert for trouble, he mentally prepared himself to reach for his gun.

"FBI?" The woman looked surprised. "Are my kids okay?"

"We're not here about your children Ma'am." Booth replied. Still wary, Booth asked, "Do you know a Bruce Harrington?"

The look on the woman's face told Booth she knew that name.

"Bruce Harrington was my father. Why?"

"We're investigating a cold case. His name came up."

The woman paused. "I haven't see my father in more than thirty years. I was thirteen when he disappeared."

"I'm sorry about that Ma'am."

"Sarah. My name's Sarah Harrington."

"Do you know my father?" Brennan, now standing next to Booth, spoke. "Max Keenan. He had your name and this address in his notebook."

"This is Dr Brennan from the Jeffersonian. She's my partner." Booth quickly added.

"I don't know him personally, but when I was younger, before Dad disappeared, I remember him talking to someone named Max frequently on the phone."

"Do you happen to know what your Dad did for a living?" Booth asked.

Instead of answering Booth, Sarah addressed Brennan. "Did you know what your father did for a living?"

"I know now."

Sarah nodded, smiling wryly. "They robbed banks."

"After he disappeared, the police came by. Mom and I found out."

"But regardless of what they did, they were our fathers. And we loved them."

Booth couldn't help but smile to himself as he listened to the conversation between both women. Brennan had come a long way since the Gemma Arrington case so many years ago.

Sarah nodded. "Perhaps you and I are the rare few to truly understand the concept. You said your Dad had my address?"

"I can only surmise that he had intended to come by to visit. As to the purpose, I'm sorry I'm not able to tell you. My Dad died three years ago."

Sarah nodded. "I see."

"Is there anything else you can tell us about your Dad?" Booth asked gently.

Sarah shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

"Thank you for talking to us. I'm sorry if our visit gave you more questions than answers." Brennan said.

"We'll call you, if we find out more about the case." Booth handed Sarah his card. "If you remember anything, please call me."

"I will."

A month after their meeting with Sarah Harrington, Booth was called to the lab.

"Whatcha got Bones?" Booth asked as he walked into the bone room.

Brennan looked up from the set of remain she had spread out on the light table. "I've positively identified this set of remains as Bruce Harrington."

"So it was him buried in that shallow grave."

"Yes along with the bullet that Hodgins found."

"Standard police issue back in the sixties." A theory popped up in Booth's head, it was something his gut had been telling him since they started on the cold case. "So Max and Harrington worked together. Harrington got shot during one of their robberies, dies from his injuries…"

"Dad buried him."

"Yeah and he intended to go look up Sarah Harrington, give her some closure."

"We can't prove that for sure."

"I'm pretty sure that's how it went down."

"Your gut?"

"And your evidence." Booth flashed her his charm smile.

"So what happens now?" Brennan asked.

"Now? I tell Carlson we've helped close a cold case. I mean all parties involved are dead. I doubt we'd ever recover the money."

"Don't forget to call Sarah Harrington. She deserves to know what happened."

"I think you should do that Bones. Not because both your fathers were accomplices but because that's what your Dad wanted to do. Give Sarah some closure. Do it for Max."

"This is more of your thing."

"I'll let you have this one Bones."

Brennan hesitated, unsure.

"It'll be okay. You'll do great, just like in everything you do." Booth offered an encouraging smile.

"You're the one who says I suck at human interactions."

"You know what Bones? You've changed. You got better at it. You can do this." Booth offered her an encouraging smile and discreetly squeezed her hand, before leaving the lab.

Left alone, Brennan knew Booth was right. She would do it for her father. She missed him and she was sure Sarah missed hers too. She made her way back to the office and made the call. As she explained what happened and her findings to Sarah, she heard the other woman sob. She waited patiently, remembering what she had learnt from her countless observations of her husband doing the same thing. When Sarah composed herself, Brennan gave her information on how she could arrange to have her father's remains returned to her. As the call ended Brennan smiled as she glanced over to the photograph of her Dad she kept on her desk that was alongside pictures of her three children and Booth.

That night as Booth slid into bed next to Brennan, she looked over at him and smiled. "I called Sarah."

"It went well?"

"Yes. She cried over the phone, then thanked me for calling. I told her she could come by tomorrow and we would release the remains to her."

"And you're happy about that. Giving her closure."

"I am. I helped Max do something he wanted to do but never got to."

"Gave you some closure too."

Brennan paused. She smiled back at him. "I had been missing Max a lot lately. Doing this felt good."

"I know." Booth leaned over, planting a kiss to her lips. "I'm proud of you Bones."

It was meant to be a short chapter but it took on a life of its own and went on for abit. Hope you all liked it.