Chapter 4
"The blood didn't belong to Betty Page after all, but it did belong to a Michelle Fields. Chances are if Rolph is carrying around a bone fragment that has her blood on it, he murdered her as well," Brennan said, handing Booth the results of the DNA analysis. He flipped through a few pages, eyes not really focusing on anything. It mad Brennan angry and she clenched her fist that she and Hodgins had busted their rears for the information. "By all means,don't let that information overwhelm you," she grumbled.
"No, I mean this is great and all. But it takes us in a whole new direction. We still don't know where Betty Page is, and now we have another victim on our hands so it seems. Sorry for not jumping for joy exactly," he explained. Brennan sighed and tapped her foot on the tile floor of the lab. She looked down to see her own reflection staring back at her. A sad feeling hit her and she felt insecure in her own body, but she moved it aside quickly and tried to bring her thoughts back to the case.
"It seems like a logical next step to go to the graveyard where Rolph works and see if any plots have been disturbed lately," she said, running over the steps of what they should do in her head. "Are they still holding Rolph?"
Booth bit his lower lip in agitation and looked up. "They had to release him. We had nothing other than a bone fragment to hold him on." Despite her liking of Booth, she still held little fondness for the legal system. They practiced the "catch and release" program a bit too much. And this time was even more worse. Brennan had no doubt in her mind Rolph was a psycho killer. But catching bad guys wasn't her end of the partnership.
"Let's go then and try to find something to get Rolph back into custody," Brennan sighed.
Saint Peter Memorial Grounds
Their flashlights cut through the dense fog surrounding the graveyard. Brennan looked up to see if the stars could guide them, but none show through the clouds.
"So why isn't this the exact place we looked first," she questioned.
"I don't think a lot og traffic through here. The caretakers said Rolph only comes by a few days a week. No one else comes in."
"Other than the dead."
"Yeah."
Brennan looked around, spotting a large shadow to the northeast. This had to be the shed on the printed layout of the graveyard she had viewed before they had arrived.
"Who ever goes to the most obvious place anyway," Booth burst out, nonchalant. "Or at least who ever chooses the most obvious place to committ a crime? They train us to think outside of the box, to think the way no one else does."
"Maybe, we just need to attempt to be...normal," she sighed. "Think like the common man."
"You wouldn't know the meaning of the word," he shot to her as they came to the door of the supply shed. Brennan ran her hands along the warped wood, splinters poking her fingers. A familiar scent wafted into her nose.
"I smell rotting flesh."
"We're in a graveyard Bones."
"Ass," she whispered harshly.
She jiggled the doorhandle and pushed with her shoulder. A no go. Turning around, she gave a look to Booth and stepped away. Testosterone never failed to grab a chance to overcome estrogen. Sure enough, he let his shoulder collide with the door, wood splintering and flying in all directions. He stumbled through the walkway, dust billowing out. "My hero," Brennan sighed, walking in after him.
She found him with a suit jacket covered arm across his nose. The stench was bad, but she had smelled worse. Maybe he was the normal one.Boxes, coffin size, were stacked to the ceiling, tarp crudely covering them. Brennan pointed to one on top and Booth groaned.
"Things are never easy with you are they?"
He stepped over and grabbed the edge of the box, muttering to himself as he went about his work. He stood on his tiptoes to grab the box, then strained to pull it down. Brennan grabbed the other end, helping him sit it on the dirt floor. She pulled the tarp away and slowly lifted the lid off of the box, her gut tightening at the sight. Rotting skeletons were never fun to deal with. She prefered the clean stuff.
She brought her flashlight to the corpse and squinted. "There are two ribs missing on the left hand side and the ulna on the right." Maybe they would find enough to pin this on Rolph after all. Finding him would be another story entirely though.
"There has to be thirty ir more bodies here," Booth calculated.
"Get a forensics team out here. I'll call Zach," Brennan said, standing and brushing dirt off of her knees. "I need all the help I can get."