A/N: I feel I should point out that there are some religious references in this chapter and that I have tried to use them as tastefully as possible within the context. I myself am a Catholic (admittedly a rather lapsed one but a Catholic nonetheless) and it is not my intent to offend anyone with what I've written. If you do have a problem with it (or if you think it works), please do let me know.
And on a far less serious note, bring out the cheerleaders, Ava. We got ourselves an update!
Temperance came to a sudden stop in the clearing, her eyes narrowing at what she saw.
In front of her loomed an enormous wooden wall, used by the recruits during their physical training. From the top of the wall hung several ropes to help the trainee agents to scramble over the obstacle. Except the ropes were performing a different purpose now.
Brennan edged forward slowly, careful not to disturb any potential evidence as she stared up at her gruesome discovery. She breathed through her mouth, her senses assaulted by the smell.
The ropes were tied around the victim's wrists, holding the body up against the wooden slats. The feet were tied with another rope, and the position immediately reminded Brennan of the crucifixion. Except no-one had ever set the son of God on fire.
The smell clung to her as she took another step forward, staring down at the ground beneath the body. There were numerous footprints and drag marks, accompanied by the potent smell of gasoline. Brennan followed the imprints across the clearing to an area betraying obvious signs of a struggle.
She turned back to face the victim, her eyes patrolling the full length of the corpse. Seeing something on the charred remains of the victim's chest, she quickly approached. An envelope had been pinned to what was left of a shirt. It was addressed to her.
Resisting the urge to read it, she dug her cell phone out of the pocket of her sweats and called her partner.
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Booth was sat on the edge of the bed, turning his religious medallion over and over in his hands. He wasn't praying, not exactly. He was just hoping that he would be able to keep resisting temptation, in every form he found it in.
The shrill ring of his cell phone dragged his focus back to the dorm room. He leaned over to the nightstand and glanced at the caller ID. It was Brennan.
He paused for a moment, not sure if he should answer. He was worried that he would say something he might regret, mainly about her and Nate. Shaking his head, he flicked open the phone, knowing he was just being an idiot.
"Good morning Bones. Wanting breakfast?"
There was a pause before she answered, her voice hard.
"He's done it again. I've just found the second victim."
Booth jumped to his feet, snatching his leather jacket off the back of the door as he jogged down the corridor.
"Where are you?"
"About half a mile from the main lobby. I'm in a clearing on the obstacle course. The body is strung up to a wooden wall, badly burnt."
He knew exactly where she meant. He always hated that wall. It gave him splinters every time.
"I'll be there in five minutes. Call Zach and Hodgins. I'll get Angela."
There was another pause. He could almost see her frowning down the phone.
"What about Agent Rouse?"
Booth stopped outside Angela's door, swallowing hard.
"I thought he might already be with you."
He heard her sigh quietly and knew she realised he had seen her with him.
"He's not here, Booth. I went for a run on my own."
He nodded to himself as he knocked on the door.
"So give him a call. I'll be there in five."
He hung up before they had to broach the subject of Nate properly. With another murder to investigate, he didn't want the distraction.
Angela yawned as she opened the door, her bleary eyes looking him up and down with mild surprise.
"What's up?"
"We've got another one."
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Temperance was crouched down examining the ground around the victim when Booth charged in to the clearing. He slowed down as he moved round to where she was waiting, his eyes never leaving the body, his brows knitted together in a severe frown.
Brennan straightened up as he reached her side, offering a grim smile as she gestured around her.
"From what I can tell, the victim was attacked over there before being dragged over to this wall. There are a lot of distinct footprints that Hodgins can take casts of. The victim was likely strung up before she was set fire to."
Booth's eyes locked on to hers.
"She?"
"Yes. The hips make it clear that the victim is a female. Judging by what's left of body mass and observable bone structure, she was likely Caucasian, athletic, and in her late twenties to early thirties. Obviously, I'll be able to narrow down age and other particulars once I can get a better look at the bones."
Booth nodded, his eyes drawn to the envelope attached to the victim's chest. He moved closer, reading the one word scrawled in the now familiar handwriting. He turned back to face his partner.
"Temperance…"
She swallowed hard but held his gaze.
"I know... I don't have any gloves or forensic equipment so no, I haven't read it."
He moved back towards her, the concern obvious in his eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off as Nate led Hodgins, Zach and Angela through the trees.
Nate immediately rushed to Brennan's side while Angela hung back, looking slightly disturbed by the sight in front of her.
"Are you alright, Temperance?"
She nodded at him, slightly uncomfortable in his presence. She had felt fine the night before, walking and talking with him, despite their kiss. But now Booth had implied he knew…
"I'm fine, thank you."
She moved away from him, ignoring both his and Booth's eyes as she accepted a pair of latex gloves from Zach. Snapping them on to her hands, she crossed to Angela.
"We need a face. The victim's badly burnt."
Angela sighed heavily.
"It'll be easier in the lab. You know, when it's not swinging around up there and I can examine the skull better."
Brennan nodded.
"Do me a favour, Ange. Can you go back up to the autopsy suite and check the tox reports are back on the other victim? Also, alert the other doctors that we need to bring in a second body."
Angela nodded, knowing that her best friend was just giving her an excuse to leave. She offered up a thankful smile as she turned away. Brennan watched as Hodgins intercepted her, whispering something in her ear before she disappeared back through the trees with a slight smile.
She caught Hodgins' eye but he quickly turned away, scurrying after Zach who was photographing the body in situ.
Brennan moved to Booth's side as he snapped on his own pair of latex gloves. Giving her a sombre look, he reached out and removed the envelope. It was large but still relatively pristine, obviously having been placed there after the fire died down.
He paused, the weight of what he was holding lying heavy on his heart. His eyes locked with Brennan's.
"Do you want me to open it?"
She shook her head and he passed it to her. Aware that everyone was now watching her intently, she took a steadying breath and opened it up, sliding out the solitary piece of white card and reading the message aloud.
"This makes two for Joy
To play with on her table.
Next an answer, then a toy,
Are you sure you're really able?
Your biggest fan, always,
Peter Menac."
She stared at the message, a bitter taste in her mouth at the fact he had called her Joy. She turned the card over and frowned.
Written in bold letters were just two lines. She read them out loud.
"I Corinthians 3:13, Peter 5:8."
Her eyes locked with Booth's.
"Are they bible passages?"
Her partner nodded slowly, a glint of anger in his eyes as he recited the verses word for word.
" 'Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work for what sort it is.' That's Corinthians 3:13."
Brennan watched the muscles in his jaw clench tightly as he sighed.
"And Peter 5:8?"
He turned his eyes back to hers and she was scared to see the coldness there.
" 'Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.' "
Hodgins looked up from where he was carefully making casts of the footprints around the wall.
"How do you know this stuff?"
Booth folded his arms across his chest, his jaw set and his eyes narrow as he glared up at the corpse.
"I'm Catholic. And some sick and twisted bastard is using the bible as an excuse for what he's doing."
Brennan frowned as she stepped toward him.
"An excuse?"
He nodded slowly.
"The Corinthians quote. He's saying he used the fire as a tool for judgement against whoever this poor woman was and whatever she did to piss him off. The rest of it is just a warning, telling us that he's here amongst us. But then, we knew that already."
Brennan sighed as she watched Zach carefully retrieving evidence with tweezers as Booth looked on.
She had often marvelled at the incredible power and strength that faith seemed to give people. Science was her religion, it's structured equations her prayers. But to look at Booth now, to see the anguish this message had caused him personally, Brennan realised that the power of faith was not always a good thing. Sometimes it hurt.
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Angela wandered out of the autopsy suite after giving the doctor the heads up of the new arrival. Marching down the corridor, she paused at the window to the lab next door.
Katie Harwood was sat at a large table, crime scene photographs and evidence spread out in front of her. Her head in her hands, she looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Angela quietly pushed the door open, a sympathetic smile on her face as Katie looked up with blood-shot eyes.
"Hey. You alright?"
The profiler sighed heavily, leaning back in the chair as she ran a tired hand across her face.
"I think I'm just in need of a good cup of coffee."
"There's a vending machine down the hall. Do you want me to get you some?"
Katie smiled as she shook her head.
"Thanks for the offer, Miss Montenegro, but federal coffee is more like toxic waste than anything else."
"I know what you mean. And please, call me Angela."
Grinning, Angela slid on to the stool on the other side of the table, delicately moving a large microscope out of her way. She frowned over the pile of photographs, looking at the stream of notes Katie had written.
"Have you been here all night?"
Katie glanced up at the clock on the wall to her right, looking slightly surprised.
"Wow, I guess I have. But I think I've made some progress on the profile."
She rearranged the evidence, laying it out in front of Angela in a hasty presentation. Yawning, she proceeded to explain.
"The killer's focus is obviously on Doctor Brennan. All the intentional clues he left behind are directed at her. There is anger in his motives, making me think there might some kind of personal connection, hence the use of her family. The photographs and the wedding ring together with the use of her real name suggest that he is trying to exert emotional control over her."
"So basically, he's just like every jealous guy I've ever dated."
Katie smiled and nodded slowly.
"I know exactly what you mean… The first victim he likely chose due to his connection to Quantico, showing that this was all planned to be part of her visit. Of course, that was pretty obvious from the beginning."
Katie paused, staring down at the photograph of Agent McAvoy's body slumped over in the lecture hall. Seeing the pain building in the psychologist's eyes, Angela leaned over, laying a reassuring hand on her forearm.
"I'm so very sorry for your loss."
Doctor Harwood blinked rapidly, fighting back the tears as she continued.
"The use of the rhyme obviously suggests that he is planning further victims, extending the game. He wants Doctor Brennan to challenge him, to prove that despite her reputation, he can beat her. The use of 'One for Sorrow' predicts her emotional reaction to the clues he has left for her, manipulating her feelings about her past. The fact that he left some of these clues in Howard's…. in the victim's throat would partially imply his need for the dramatic and a suggestion that the truth has been silenced by blocking the means to talk. This could mean that any intent to finish the game before he is ready would also be silenced."
Angela nodded slowly as she listened to what Katie was saying, absolutely fascinated. The psychologist pointed at the next phrase scrawled across the cover of McAvoy's book.
"The use of the phrase 'Two for Joy' serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it obviously implies a second victim, meaning that Doctor Brennan will have two bodies to deal with. Secondly, it is drawing attention to Temperance's background by using her original name. Thirdly, it is implying the excitement that he is feeling with his actions, his joy at being able to control the game and lead the investigation any way he wishes."
Angela swallowed hard, remembering the scene on the obstacle course.
"Doctor Brennan's already found the second victim. The crispy critter was tied up to a wooden wall out in the woods. They're bringing it in now."
Katie's eyes widened, her focus elsewhere, her voice distant in reply.
"Am I right in thinking that Doctor Brennan has taken to early morning runs before breakfast?"
"Yes, she says it clears her head."
"Then the killer obviously knew this, placing the second victim somewhere he knew she would find it… Just like he knew of her past from the FBI file, where he got the photo… But then the ring must be… The body was burnt?"
Angela nodded, watching the profiler's thought process as she jotted down incoherent notes.
"Fire of judgement… Cleansing… The body was tied to the wall? How?"
The artist blinked rapidly. As much as she would have rather not have revisited that image in her mind, she had barely been able to escape it anyway.
"With the arms spread and feet tied together, like the victim had been crucified."
Katie gave a satisfied nod.
"Of course!"
Angela watched her with confusion.
"Of course, what? What does all this tell you? What kind of man could do all this?"
Katie blinked rapidly, her focus dragged back at the conversation at hand.
"Well, this man is probably in his mid to late thirties, Caucasian, athletic, likely having grown cynical about his position in both his job and the world at large over the years. He is fastidious in nature, analytical, educated and charming. I'm sad to say he obviously has a role in law enforcement and has convinced himself that he is only conducting his actions due to the way others have treated him. He sees himself as something of a Christ figure, a special man who the world has shunned and punished for no reason that he can understand. Somehow, this has led to some sort of connection to Doctor Brennan, possibly due to her books, thereby pouring his frustrations on to her."
Katie frowned, looking down at her notes.
"Of course, she is a powerful and successful woman, suggesting that there might be an issue there, most likely a dominant matriarch in his childhood. He is probably angry that this woman has managed to achieve so much, probably more than he ever will, hence his need to compete against her and show that he is better than her in the end."
She paused a frown creasing her delicate features.
"That handwriting… The word structure…"
She tailed off, staring down at the evidence in front of her, her eyes darting about over the photographs and notes.
"Oh my God…"
Angela leaned forward, curious what was going through the profiler's mind. Katie's head snapped up, her eyes wide.
"I think I know who it is…"
Angela swallowed hard, surprised at the revelation.
"Who?"
But Katie had already raced out of the door, leaving Angela just staring after her. Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she shook her head.
"Now that's just not fair…"
A/N: On a side note, the body on the obstacle course was originally going to be Katie when I was first thinking this up (as a couple of people guessed) but damnit, I've grown to like her! And yes, it's highly unlikely a profiler would have that much insight straight away but I really don't care. It's fiction! Anyway, me off to go get muchos drunkos... Don't worry, I'm sure I'll manage an update through the hangover tomorrow. Though it largely depends on how many encouraging reviews I receive... Hee hee, catch ya later alligator!