A/N: Sorry this one's a little shorter than normal but hey, five chapters in less than 24 hours people! Ok, well, I'm proud of that...
Oh and to Andrew (my Quantico fact machine), thank you so much for all your help. He even drew me a little map of the place, bless. And as ever thank you to everyone who's reviewed, especially the lovely Ava. Please please please review, even if it's just to tell me I'm crap. I hit writer's block at about 100mph earlier and now have seriously painful whip-lash that can only be eased by the generous gifts of reviews...
Bring out the cheerleaders and let's get cracking!
The majority of people had been ushered out of the lecture hall by the instructors by the time Zach delivered Brennan her kit. For some reason though, she had been unable to shake the overly enthusiastic recruit called Reynolds. He was still clutching his book to his chest. She hadn't had the chance to sign it.
He followed her up the aisle to the back row, though he was stopped from getting any closer to Brennan and the body by Nate who shook his head gravely.
Glancing over at Booth who was busy talking to the young agent whose scream had alerted them all to the situation, Brennan snapped on the latex gloves as Doctor Harwood appeared by Agent Rouse's side. Her eyes wide, the blonde profiler turned to her fellow instructor.
"Everyone's been confined to their dorm rooms. How could this have happened here, Nate?"
He didn't answer, instead turning his intelligent eyes to Brennan who couldn't bring herself to break his gaze. She offered him a grim smile as she zipped up the boiler suit she had slipped on over her clothes.
"I'll find out."
Zach looked up from the other side of the body, addressing the two instructors.
"Doctor Brennan always catches the bad guys."
Nate grinned at him.
"It's good to see that you have such confidence in your mentor, Mr Addy. It's very encouraging."
Zack shrugged as he returned to retrieving evidence bags from the kit.
"I was simply stating a fact."
Booth returned to the group as Brennan made her way behind the row of seats, examining the back of the victim's neck. Glancing at his notes, he told her what he knew.
"The recruit's name is Michelle Webb. She says the man was already sitting there when she and her three friends found their seats. It was only when they were trying to leave and the crowd was blocking their path in the other direction that she tried to speak to the victim to ask if they could get past. When he didn't answer, she nudged him and his hand fell from his lap. That was when she saw the blood around his mouth and started screaming. What've you got, Bones?"
Nate arched an amused eyebrow.
"You call her Bones?"
Booth shrugged.
"Well, you know, she works with Bones…"
He tried to hide his embarrassment, hating the fact that his mentor could make him feel only an inch tall. Brennan raised her eyes from the corpse.
"He knows I don't like it but I've given up telling him."
"Oh dear, Seeley. That's not really the way to talk to a lady now is it?"
Booth purposefully stared at his notes, pretending to write something down as he felt the anger flaring within him.
First you hit on my partner and then you have the audacity to criticise how I talk to her. You son of a…
He swallowed hard, casting a sideways glance at his mentor and realising how childish he was being. Sighing, he listened as Brennan began her analysis in to the dictaphone.
"There's an obvious gunshot wound to the back of the neck. Booth, is there any evidence of an exit wound at the front?"
He crouched down, using his pen to open the shirt collar at the man's neck as he was yet to put on any gloves. He looked back up at Brennan.
"There's some pretty obvious bruising that I'd associate with strangulation but no exit wound."
She nodded slowly.
"I think the bullet may still be lodged in this man's spine. Zach, what do you see here?"
Her assistant moved round beside her as Nate cocked his head to one side.
"You're asking the opinion of your grad student, Doctor Brennan?"
She shrugged as her eyes locked with his.
"As you say, Agent Rouse, Zach is my grad student and unless I am mistaken, we are currently in a training facility, therefore it is my intent to educate."
There was no malice or bitterness in her voice but Nate still looked away, obviously a little embarrassed. Booth smirked, at least until he saw Katie watching him with a curious smile. He returned his attention to what Zach was saying.
"The abrasion ring surrounding the entrance wound suggests the muzzle of the gun was pressed reasonably hard against the base of the victim's neck."
Booth sighed heavily.
"So he was shot execution style?"
Brennan nodded.
"Yes, except that the powder tattooing across his skin is a greyish yellow, which shows that this man was already dead when he was shot."
Reynolds, the young recruit, pushed his glasses up his nose before stammering a question at his idol.
"H-h-h- how do you know that?"
Booth spun round, eyeing the young man warily as Brennan answered.
"If he had been alive, the hot gunpowder searing in to the skin would create a reddish-brown or almost orange colour as blood rushed to the area. The fact that the skin has a grey tint proves that this man's blood was not being pumped around his body when he was shot."
The recruit nodded eagerly, drinking in the details. Booth narrowed his eyes at him.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The boys pale skin flushed red as his eyes widened, obviously intimidated.
"I-I-I'm a recruit. I was hoping that D-D-Doctor Brennan would be able to sign my book."
He paused, frowning as he stared at the Agent.
"You're Seeley Booth, aren't you? You were the one Doctor Brennan dedicated her book to, the one Agent Andy Lister is based on?"
Booth grinned as Brennan jerked upward, clambering over the seats to the recruit as she practically snatched the book out of his hands.
"That character is most definitely not based on Agent Booth."
Her partner grinned at the cadet as he slung a casual arm around her shoulders.
"She doesn't like to admit it but…"
The recruit's eyes widened to the size of saucers, his expression eager.
"So you and Doctor Brennan aren't involved then, romantically speaking?"
A cheeky grin spread across Booth's face as he looked down at his partner, opening his mouth to say something she knew would be highly inappropriate at a crime scene.
A swift elbow in his ribs caused Booth to double over, winded, before he could reply to the cadet.
Brennan handed the book back to Reynolds who quickly scuttled away. Turning back to face her partner, hands on hips, she rolled her eyes at the fact he was still bent over.
"For pity's sake, Booth, I didn't hit you that hard."
He was staring sideways at the victim. She took a step closer, confused when he eventually looked up at her. It wasn't pain in his eyes that she saw. It was rage. He pointed at the body.
"This man is Agent Howard McAvoy. He used to be a firearms instructor here. He was a damn teacher. How the hell did he end up like this?"
Tilting back the victim's head so they could see his face under the baseball cap, Booth revealed his former tutor. Behind her, Brennan heard Katie gasp. She turned to her as Nate wrapped a muscular arm around the profiler's shoulders, squeezing her reassuringly.
"I'm so sorry, Katie."
The blonde just nodded mutely, her eyes swimming with tears as Nate rocked her slightly. Catching his eye, Brennan offered him a grave smile which he returned, though his eyes seemed cold, sending a shiver down her back.
She turned back to the scene where Zack had ushered Booth away. He was now leaning his weight on the back of the chairs in front, staring at nothing as he attempted to regain his composure.
Brennan wanted to go to him, wanted to hold him to her and tell him that it would be ok, tell him that they'd find whoever did this. But then Booth turned back around, staring at the corpse, though Brennan noted that his gaze never reached Agent McAvoy's face.
Zach slipped the book on the victim's lap in to an evidence bag, making sure it stayed on the page it was open at, and passed it up to Booth before turning his gaze back to his mentor.
"He was reading your book, Doctor Brennan."
She watched as Booth blinked rapidly, turning the book over to examine the familiar cover. Brennan swallowed back the distasteful feeling that crept across her skin at the sight of her work in the hands of a dead man.
Crouching beside Zach, she pointed at the man's arm lying limp at his side.
"It looks like he suffered a fall shortly before he died."
Nate's voice sounded from behind her.
"How can you tell that?"
She carefully turned over the victim's hand to reveal his swollen wrist and the cuts on his palm.
"He appears to have suffered a displaced fracture to his distal radius."
She put her own arm out to demonstrate how it might have happened.
"This type of fracture usually occurs when someone falls. Instinctively, a person will put their hands out in front of them but when the outstretched hand connects with the surface, most likely the floor, it suddenly becomes rigid."
She slammed her hand in to the floor to show them what she meant.
"The momentum from the fall will cause both a twisting and compressing force on your forearm, occasionally causing it to break. In this case, the abrasions to the victim's palms and the trace evidence suggest he fell on to a gravel surface. When his hand hit the ground, his wrist broke into multiple pieces, causing it to bulge against his skin as the bone became displaced, creating the abnormal swelling you can see here. It would have been incredibly painful."
Katie began to sob in to Nate's shoulder and Brennan quickly stood, her face apologetic.
"Oh Katie, I'm sorry. I…"
Brennan trailed off, not sure what to say. She wasn't good with people, especially not in times of grief. Doctor Harwood just nodded against Nate's chest, indicating that she had heard the apology.
Booth's voice pulled Brennan's gaze back to her partner.
"That's not all."
She couldn't quite read his expression but she swore she could almost see a flicker of fear in his eyes.
"He left you a message, Temperance."
The fact that he had used her first name in circumstances like these immediately gave her cause for concern. Frowning, she moved in closer, looking down at the book inside the plastic baggie that Booth offered to her.
It was open to the title page, a message scrawled in thick marker pen over the inside of the cover.
She leaned in for a closer look, her mouth dry as she scanned the words.
One for sorrow, two for Joy, three for an answer, fourth is the toy.
Good luck catching the bad guy this time, Temperance. You must be Keen-an raring to go.
Always yours, Peter Menac
PS: Daddy sends his love.
Brennan felt her knees weaken as she clutched at the seats in front of her to steady herself, Booth instantly wrapping an arm around her waist for support. One word escaped her lips, a tiny whisper she knew only her partner had heard.
"Daddy…"
A/N: Puts on deep TV Announcer type voice That's it for tonight folks (well, depending on how bad both my insomnia and writer's block gets...). Check back asap for your next exciting installment and don't forget to review. You know you want to...