(After 'The Life in the Light)

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He was back at home and he was doing his best to keep Brennan's trust. He had slipped up and gambled and if that hadn't been bad enough, his debts had got so big that his bookie had threatened Brennan if he didn't get his money. He had been humiliated that Brennan and his daughter had been threatened and he had not been there to protect them. At first, he had insisted that it was a mistake, but let's face it, a $30,000 gambling debt wasn't a mistake. It was an insane trip down a path that he had been lucky to get off of. Why he had allowed himself to start back gambling was a mystery to him. Everything was starting to go well and Brennan was pregnant with their second child, but the urge to gamble had intensified with each passing day and when he'd gone under cover and gambled, he'd tasted what it was like to win and he'd given in.

Now he was trying to stay sober and it was important for him to remain as far from gambling as possible. He'd even given up football pools at work since they were just another form of gambling. He never wanted to let his family down again and he felt that he would die before he let that happen.

It was a quiet Saturday afternoon. Brennan had taken Christine to a birthday party for one of his little girl's friends and he had decided to clean up the garage. The day was warm, but not unbearable. The garage door was open and he'd parked his Mustang outside on the driveway to allow him room to pressure wash the cement floor. While he was spraying the floor, removing a year's worth of grease and oil stains, a woman walked up to the opening into the garage and called out. "Seeley Booth?" She had to call out three times before Booth heard her.

Cutting off the jet stream of water and turning off the machine, Booth propped the wand against the machine and turned to face his visitor. "Can I help you?"

The woman didn't move closer, choosing to stand where she was. "Are you Seeley Booth?"

A little wary, Booth nodded his head. "Yeah, you haven't said what you want."

She was nervous, but she had a mission to complete and she was going to do it. "My name is Tonya Harlow. I . . . um . . . I . . . forgive me, but this is hard, um, my brother was one of the ex-rangers that attacked you in your home last year . . . My family and I talked it over and I was delegated to represent them."

He thought he knew what was coming and braced himself. He had killed her brother and he was sure she was going to accuse him of being a murderer even though the charges had been dropped.

"I . . . um . . . I'm sorry." Tonya cleared her throat. This was the hardest thing she had ever done, but she and her family needed to have this done. They needed to apologize. "My brother, William, he was given a dishonorable by the Rangers three years ago. You probably know why, but even if you don't it's not important. He found a job as a mercenary and he did that for two years. We begged him to quit, but I don't know . . . He'd changed . . . He was such a sweet boy when he was a child, but . . . anyway, he did something awful while working in Nigeria and Glen Durant found out about it and he blackmailed William to do some terrible things . . . We didn't know about any of this until I cleaned out his apartment and I found some letters from Durant to my brother. They were terrible letters, full of threats against him and my family . . . Anyway, when I read them, I realized that you had been the victim not my brother when he was killed . . . My family called you murderer and worse when we were first told that William was dead and I'm really sorry that we did that. We should have known better . . .You were in prison, but you were barely mentioned in the news. We couldn't find out when you were going on trial or if there was going to be a trial and we were so angry that it looked like you might get away with killing William then I was contacted by William's landlord. He wanted me to clean out my brother's apartment since his rent was due, he always paid six-months rent at a time because he traveled a lot." She stopped and clasped her hands together staring at Booth. She didn't know if she should continue or not. The man looked ill. "Are you alright?"

Booth had heard her little speech so far and he wondered where she was taking it. "Yeah, I'm okay." He could see the woman was struggling to talk to him and he wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Good . . . I told you that I found the letters and I read them and I was horrified . . . I'm sorry, I'm not telling you my story very well, it's all jumbled up . . . It's just that . . ."

"No, you're doing okay. Tell it the way you want to." So far, the woman's story had been hard to follow, but she knew about Glen Durant and she knew that her brother hadn't been murdered by him and that was good.

Quickly nodding her head, Tonya swallowed and continued. "I took the letters home and let my parents read them and we knew that we had to do something, but we didn't know who to trust. You were in prison and we knew that you had been set up. But you're an FBI agent and you were arrested by the FBI and accused of killing my brother and two other men and they said he was an FBI agent and we knew that wasn't true and we were afraid . . . We didn't know who to trust. I'm so sorry. We were afraid that the man blackmailing my brother would come after us if we said anything, but you were in prison and I couldn't stand it . . . I told my parents I had to get you out of there, so I told them to go visit my mother's brother in Canada and once they were there, I was going to turn the letters over to my Congressman . . . Before I could do that, you were released from prison and the charges were dropped. My God, we were so happy for you. I didn't give the letters to anyone at that point. I just held on to them and I thought I might send them to you, but by the time I worked up the courage to do that, Glen Durant was under arrest for treason, murder, blackmailing federal employees and representatives . . . It was like my prayers had come true."

Booth knew how dangerous Glen Durant had been and he didn't blame the woman or her family for not coming forward with the letters. Durant could have wiped them out without a care. "Yeah, I work with some fine people from the Medico-Legal Lab and they helped me prove who and what Glen Durant was."

"He's a monster and I'm glad you arrested him." Tonya felt tears start to fall down her cheeks. "I wish I had been brave enough to do something about the letters sooner. I might have got you out of prison sooner and maybe you could have used the letters to go after Glen Durant . . . I was a coward and I am so sorry."

"No." Booth walked over to where the woman was standing and placed his hand on her upper arm. "No, you weren't a coward. Durant had a lot of people that were willing to do awful things for him. Look at what happened to me. Three ex-Rangers came after me in my own home. I protected myself, but my house was destroyed and I was shot. I almost died. You and your parents wouldn't have stood a chance. I don't blame you for not coming forward sooner . . . I do appreciate that you were going to step forward, but I'm glad my wife got me out of prison before that happened. You would have been in danger."

Sniffing, the woman used her hand to wipe her damp cheeks. "Do you forgive me?"

"Yes, I do." He meant that. Tonya was obviously an honest woman who had been terrified about what was going on. The fact that she had decided to come forward and help him made him feel that there were still good people in the world. "You didn't have any control over what your brother did. I'm sorry that I had to kill him, but he and the two other men that came after me left me with no choice. Glen Durant made sure of that. Durant is to blame for everything that happened. Your brother was a victim just like I was." He didn't know if he really believed that or not, but Booth wanted Tonya to have some peace.

Grateful for Booth's kindness, Tonya stepped closer and hugged Booth. "Thank you for talking to me. I wouldn't have blamed you if you had ordered me off of your property. My parents and I wanted to do the right thing and I was willing to face your anger to do it . . . anyway, thank you." She stepped back and withdrew an envelope from her purse and handed it to Booth. "These are the letters from Durant to my brother. If they can help during Durant's trial then that would be great. It will prove beyond a doubt that you were attacked and that my brother was forced to do it. I hope Durant rots in hell and I hope that you have a long and wonderful life." Her mission finished, Tonya turned to leave. She had done what had to be done and at least she and her parents could rest easy now that Agent Booth had the letters.

Watching Tonya walk down the driveway, Booth felt like he'd been through an emotional whirlwind. Opening the envelope, he read the letters and knew that Durant was as evil as Tonya believed. Durant had threatened to murder William Harlow's family in a horrific manner if he didn't do what Durant wanted. Harlow had to choose between attacking and murdering an FBI Agent or having his parents and sister slaughtered. The man had been backed into a corner and he had done what he did to protect his family. It made the attack seem even more horrific than it originally was. The fight in the Mighty Hut had been between two men desperate to protect their families. It was possible that the other two ex-Rangers had been in the same position. He'd probably never know, but it did make him hate Glen Durant even more and he would make sure that Caroline Julian got the letters before Durant's trial began.

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