Just for you all, here's another part! I'm working slowly on the one after this, but I'm on an azerty keyboard here in France, so I type very slowly. But I'm doing plenty of research for the next story.

I still don't own them and I'm still making no money.

Brennan stared at the phone in disbelief. "Still engaged," she muttered. Beside her Chymes resumed his pacing.

"There must be something to do," he said, stopping and glaring at her for a moment before picking up the pile of clothes on the chair and absentmindedly folding them up and packing them back in the suitcase that lay on the bed.

Brennan double checked the number she was dialing. Right number. Still no reply. She briefly considered dialing 911, but the thought of what Charlie might do to the boy if he heard sirens in the area of the motel didn't bear thinking about. Even the noise of cars turning up could draw attention they could not afford. And if he wasn't anywhere near the motel then bringing police cars would achieve nothing anyway. She needed the assistance of the local police to trace Charlie's car and find where he had taken the boy.

She walked to the door and peered out into the dark, trying to see if there was any sign of Booth, but she could see nothing. She tried the number once more, and talked to Chymes while she listened to the ringing on the other end. "So are you divorced then?"

He nodded. "When Sharon got drunk - and she was usually drunk - she would get violent as well. I said I couldn't take any more."

"But you left Mikey with her." It was a statement, not a question.

"The courts always give the child to the mother," he said bitterly. "She made herself out so good, she said I hurt her. I didn't, she banged her head as she fell down drunk, but she wouldn't tell the truth, and it hurt Mikey so much, to have us fight over him." Chymes ran his hands through his hair, leaving it stuck up on end. It momentarily reminded Brennan of Booth, and she longed for the case to be over, so they could relax together. And yet she could not bear the idea of it ending badly. They had to get Mikey back successfully.

"And then I went to get him today for a visit and she could hardly stand to open the door to me. Mikey - he has these bruises on his arms. I couldn't bear the thought of taking him back to that, so instead of taking him to my place for the night I put a bag in the car as well and we just set off driving. In the end we were so hungry, and we needed somewhere to stay the night, so we pulled in here. The rest you know. When your boyfriend said he was FBI, I just panicked. I was convinced he would see my guilt, would arrest me on the spot, in front of Mikey. I couldn't bear that."

"Did Mikey know you weren't intending to take him back?" Brennan asked curiously.

Chymes shook his head. "I don't know. I don't think so. I was just treating it like a big adventure, like let's see where we end up."

"Where were you heading to? What were you going to do when you got there?"

Chymes sank down on the bed and rubbed his face with his hands. "I don't know," he admitted, burying his face in his arms. "I just don't know."

Brennan turned her attention back to the phone, which had finally been picked up. "Hello? I need to speak to Robert Ford, please. It's Dr. Brennan. Dr. Temperance Brennan. No, I'm with the Jeffersonian Institute. No, I need to speak to Ford. It's regarding the case he's working on." She looked at Chymes, hesitated, then turned her back slightly, but kept talking, aware that Chymes was listening but not having time to worry about alarming him. "It's about the bodies at the building site. Yes. I have some important news. No, I won't tell it to you. Put Ford on, please."

She eventually managed to ascertain that Ford had slipped out for some food, and left her number requesting an urgent call back. She sighed and hung up, looking over at Chymes to see whether he had registered the significance of her words.

"Where's your boyfriend?" Chymes asked.

"He's checking out the buildings behind us. He won't be long," she assured him.

"Isn't that dangerous? I mean, what's this guy like? What does he want with my son?"

She shook her head. "I'm really not sure, Mr Chymes, but we'll do everything we can to find him." She looked impatiently at her phone, willing it to ring so that she could tell Ford what was going on and get some support. Despite her words, she was starting to feel concerned about Booth, who was taking rather a long time to check out a couple of sheds. She told herself that Booth was fine, that maybe he'd found some clue as to where Charlie and the boy were, but all the same she decided that as soon as she had spoken to Ford she would go check the sheds herself.

Although Booth would be back before then, of course. He would stroll back in any minute, maybe with an idea of where to look for the boy.

Damn Ford. Why didn't he call? She stared at the phone, sending out mental messages for the phone to ring.

We return to Booth in the next chapter, I promise! Please let me know what you think.