Note: Sorry it took me a while to get this out. With school going and me taking 15 hours, my time is limited. As was my inspiration. But after Bones the night, I am back with a vengence.

Chapter 3

Several minutes after Booth had vanished into the alley, Brennan made her way into the foul smelling shadow. The air was stale and felt like breathing in jagged shards of glass to the lungs. This was the not so glamourous side of the seemingly perfect and quaint neighborhood. A black cat watched Brennan creep along, its eyes darting from her to the gray sunlight filtering in just ahead of her.

The cranny Brennan now stood in was around 500 yards from Rolph's home. Not much traffic seemed to flow in and out of the secluded alley, save for the mangy cats and people dumping their garbage. At the end of the small walkway, she found Booth with his gun pointed to the back of Rolph's balding head.

Running a hand along the faded red bricks for balence, Brennan dodged large piles of trash andn other scattered debris. She retracted her hand quickly when they grazed across a sticky wetness. A shower would definately be in order after this fiasco.

"Why did you run? Frightened we were here to snatch you for robbing Betty Page's gave?" Booth said gruffly, one hand digging into Rolph's back, the other gripping his gun tightly.

"I didn't do anything!" he screamed to Booth.

"Yeah, we'll see," Booth smiled sarcastically. He yanked on Rolph's arm, pullinh him along as he tripped and fell. Booth motioned out of the alley with his head. Brennan followed the pair back into the sunlight.

Jeffersonian Institute

4:49 pm

"How can someone compensate for this in their mind?" Booth asked in awe as he stared at the piece of bone under the microscope. Brennan ignored the comment, manurvering her way through the lab equipment and her co-workers standing around. Cases had been scarce lately at the Jeffersonian, so even a bone fragment in a guy's coat pocket made news quickly.

"Can everyone please find something to do? Put the citizens tax dollars to work. There isn't much to see here anyway," she complained.

"More than what we've been seeing," Zach sighed. "I never thought I would be wanting to see a decomposed corpse."

"For the time being, I don't have anything for Angela or you. Let's hope this leads to something though," Brennan said as she adjusted the dials on the scope.

"This sucks," Hodgins said as he snapped the rubber band on his wrist.

"Actually you many have a job. Come back in about 20 minutes. I need you to run a test for any chemicals, synthetic fibers, or pollen spores."

"There is a God," he smiled, hitting Zach on the shoulder and walking off.

Booth and Brennan were left alone, him sitting to the side of her workstation and her staring at the bone. "It's a metacarpal, definately human. Judging by size, it looks to belong to a full grown human. Other than that, I can't tell you much," she said with agitation in her voice. She hated only having bits and peices of information to look at. This just happened to be a very small piece.

"Why would he be carrying a bone fragment? That's bordering on some sort of psychosis," Booth said hopping up from his seat. "I can say one thing though, the bastard is smart. He left us with nothing."

"Well not entirely nothing. We do have the bone," Brennan objected.

"Yeah. A single, solitary bone. Only about 20 more and we will have enough to make a nice necklace."

"Well find something else Booth. Just be patient."

"I find I lose more patience each day I keep working. Stay on that bone, see if you can do some of that magic I know you can do," he ordered, pulling into his jacket pocket and putting his shades on.

"Sure thing boss," Brennan said with a wry smile.

He flashed her a small smile and then turned to leave. She watched as he disappeared through the sliding glass doors of the lab. Brennan switched lenses, magnifying the bone several times. She could see small cotton fibers sticking to the bone, along with something else. She sucked in her breath and squinted. Retrieving a pair of tweezers and was able to lift the speck off the bone. The substance was unmistakeable.

She carefully put the contents a small vile and then ran to the back of the lab, the place where Hodgins called his sanctuary. "I know you mostly deal with ooze and bugs, but I need you to run a DNA analysis on this if possible," she said midly out of breath.

"Blood? How did you manage this?" Hodgins

"I don't know. I need to get Booth back here to tell him what I have found."

"I'm on this," Hodgins stared at the contents.

Flying out of the lab, Brennan went back to her office. She grabbed her cell phone and punched numbers frantically. A voice on the other end answered quickly.

"You know that magic you told me to work? I think I've conjured something you might be interested in," Brennan smiled to herself.