TITLE: Nothing Personal
CHAPTER NINE: Cold Trickle

"So this is where the bodies were found?" Tempe pulled on a pair of latex gloves, snapping them into place at her wrists, and began sifting through loose dirt in the alley behind the Horse's Hide, a popular D.C. bar. She threw a glance upward at Booth and found him smirking at her. She chuckled. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothin'... there's just," he crouched to her level and finished sotto voce, "something oddly erotic about watching you snap on the latex."

She ducked her head slightly as she exhaled her chuckle, a light pink staining her cheeks. "Booth... flirting."

"Sorry, sorry." He touched her back gently and rose to his feet. "It's hard."

Tempe looked at him over her shoulder, her gaze flitting briefly to the crotch of his trousers as she wondered just what exactly he was talking about, before she met his eyes. When he winked, she shook her head at him and turned back to the dirt. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"Yes, this is where all four bodies were found according to local PD."

"Kind of brazen to bury four bodies together behind a very busy bar, isn't it?" she queried, looking up to catch Booth's nod.

"Yeah. So this killer's either cocky as hell, or dumb as a rock."

"Well, if our killer is the same one who called you, I would have to go with the former option."

"You're right. And I got a call from the sheriff in upstate New York... he said nothing in particular came up on the shoe prints except for the fact that they're size elevens, and some sort of work boot. The trace on that number came back, too, and it was just like I thought -- pay phone. And they ran a DNA trace on those cigarette butts found out front. Some were older than the others, but the DNA came back as the same person -- an unidentified male donor."

"So the old ones could very easily be from Jamie's ex, since it was pointed out that he was a smoker. And since the new ones are a match... I guess we just have to figure out what he was doing there recently."

"Yeah. And maybe we should check for red lipstick on his hands?"

Tempe smiled. "So are you off to do your detective thing, and leaving me here to play in the dirt?"

"Well... do you wanna come with?" He waggled his eyebrows at her. "We could play 'good-cop-bad-cop.'"

She chuckled. "Yeah, I don't know what that means, but you definitely made it sound dirty."

Booth barked a laugh and helped her to her feet, directing her toward the car with his hand on her back. "Oh, sweetheart, trust me -- it's not dirty until I break out the cuffs."

"When was the last time you saw Miss Michaels?" Booth posed his question toward the man across the coffee table from himself and Bones -- Jamie's ex in the flesh, a Ted Vaughn.

"Several months ago, when she broke it off," Vaughn huffed, taking a drag off his cigarette before flicking the ashes into the tray on the coffee table. He set his cigarette in one of the ashtray's grooves and watched the smoke curl upward from the tip. "She got a job offer here in D.C., some sort of fashion... thing." He shook his head and held up his hands in an apology. "I'd be more specific, but I'm afraid I didn't pay much attention when it came to her job. All I know is that it was in fashion."

"So how did you end up in D.C., Mr. Vaughn? Did you follow her?" Tempe asked, her eyes firmly centered on Vaughn's cigarette.

He snorted a laugh. "You kiddin'? For her? Don't think so, honey. Jamie was nice, and... we had our fun, but... she's not the kinda girl you'd uproot yourself for, y'know?"

"How did you end up here?" Booth repeated his partner's first question.

"Got a job offer, myself. The bar I'd managed back home was shutting down -- small town, not enough business, that whole story -- and I was in need of someplace to work. I'd been looking all over, wantin' to get outa that damn small town. I searched in Manhattan, Boston, Jersey, D.C. Turns out this bar in D.C. was lookin' for me. They heard I'd done good things for my own bar, back in the day. See, I was more than just a bartender."

He took one more drag off his cigarette and blew it out forcefully before stamping it out in the ashtray. "I promoted that bar. I booked local bands to come play, made my own advertisements when we were runnin' specials or doin' karaoke nights or shit like that. This bar in D.C., they liked that. So they offered me a job, and I took it."

"And what bar would that be, Mr. Vaughn?" Booth asked, eyes flitting toward Bones as she leaned forward, toward the coffee table.

Vaughn's eyes followed her as he answered, a bit distractedly, "The, uh... the Horse's Hide, over on M street." He furrowed his brows and addressed Tempe, "Darlin' just what in the hell are you doing?"

She was reaching toward the ashtray with careful precision, grasping the cigarette butt between the filtered end and the tip, holding it between her thumb and forefinger. "Do you mind if I take this?"

Vaughn was eyeing her as if she was insane. "Why?"

Tempe shrugged. "I, uh, used to smoke. I kinda miss the smell."

Vaughn raised his eyebrows, but made a sweeping gesture with his hand, "Be my guest, honey. Do what you gotta do, I guess."

She plastered on a smile, "Thanks," and reached into her bag at her side, stealthily slipping the cigarette butt into a small plastic bag before stuffing it into one of the pockets.

Booth's eyebrows flicked upward and he fought the smile at her behavior, turning back to Vaughn. "So that's the only reason you came to D.C.? To take a job at a bar? Your decision wasn't at all affected by the fact that you'd be in the same town again as your ex?"

Vaughn shrugged. "No, not really. I mean, I thought it was kinda weird -- me gettin' a job offer in the same city as her job offer -- but it was a coincidence. That kinda shit happens all the time."

Booth nodded. "Sure it does."

"So you haven't been to her cabin recently, in upstate New York?" Tempe asked next.

He shook his head. "What reason would I have for goin' there? To raid her panty drawer?" He sneered.

Booth held his hand up. "Alright, I don't think that's any way to speak in front of a lady, Mr. Vaughn." He rose to his feet and gestured for Bones to follow suit. "If we have any more questions, can you be reached here?"

Vaughn rose to his feet as well. "Yeah, I guess, but... I'm not here all that much. My cell's probably the easiest way to reach me."

Booth nodded and held out a slip of blank paper. "If you'll jot that number down for us, Mr. Vaughn, we'll be on our way."

"Sure." He quickly scrawled the number and handed it back to Booth. "You'll let me know if you find out anything, Mr. Booth? About what happened to Jamie?"

"Agent Booth," he immediately corrected, "and yes. We'll be in touch."

"Good. Musta been some sick son of a bitch that would wanna murder someone like Jamie." Vaughn eyed Tempe for a moment, his eyes flicking over her form, before he gestured to the door. "Want me to show you out?"

Booth shook his head and placed a hand protectively on the small of his partner's back. "I think we can find the front door on our own. Thanks."

They stepped outside and began heading for the car, Booth's hand dropping from her back only at her request that he stop coddling her. He shot her a look briefly. "I didn't like the way he was looking at you."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Booth, if this new aspect of our relationship is going to cause you to get overprotective, then--" She stopped, both vocally and physically in her footsteps.

Booth, who'd still been walking, spun to face her when he noticed her absence at his side. "Then, what?" He furrowed his brow at the look on her face. "Bones?"

Tempe turned slowly over her shoulder, looking back toward the house of Ted Vaughn. She could have sworn she'd seen the flick of a curtain, but dismissed it, ignoring the cold trickle of fear that slid down her spine -- the same one she'd felt at the cabin upstate. She turned back to Booth.

"What's the matter, Bones?"

She shook her head, dismissing both his concern and any feelings of foreboding pricking at the back of her neck. If he was already this overprotective, there was no sense stirring him up further. "Nothing. Let's get the cigarette butt back to your lab guys at Quantico and have them analyze it."

Booth watched her a moment, gauging her expression and mannerisms before he nodded and they climbed into the SUV together. As he started the engine and pulled out of the driveway, Tempe kept her eyes on the curtains; watching... wondering.

TBC