(The Babe in the Bar)

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I don't own Bones.

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The casket was quietly rolled into the Lab with great care and as much dignity as possible. Representing his family, General Strickland Storm wearing his uniform, his hat tucked under his arm followed the casket down the hallway while Booth followed respectfully behind. Once the casket reached the platform, four workers at the Lab carried it up the steps and placed it near one of steel examination tables.

Not sure if he was welcome on the platform, General Storm stayed below and observed the casket being opened by Dr. Cam Saroyan who spoke out for the public record. "As mandated by the writ of exhumation by Judge Burton Collier of the D.C. Federal Judicial District, I Dr. Camille Saroyan will be performing an autopsy of Gale Storm, under the auspices of the Jeffersonian Institution. Date of Death: February 6, 2010, Date of Internment: February 18, 2010. Date of exhumation: today. Also present at the post-exhumation autopsy is Dr. Temperance Brennan and Dr. Jack Hodgins.

Satisfied that everything was being done by the book, General Storm turned to face Booth. "I wish to be notified once you have the results of the autopsy. Me and my son Gerald are all the family Gale had and we want to make sure that everything that can be done, is done to find his murderer. He was an honorable man working for the country that he loved. We don't want his death swept under the rug because it's convenient."

"No Sir." Booth admired General Storm and hoped that he could give him closure. "When Gale's case was mentioned to me by CIA Agent Beck, I had one of my people look into the matter and she noticed a few things done during the investigation that raised a few red flags. I read part of the Metro P.D. case file and I found out that Phil Dunmore, the man accused of killing your nephew is illiterate and not likely to have the special skills needed to defeat an advanced security system like the one found in Gale's house. There are too many other inconsistencies in the case that need to be resolved. Thank you for allowing us to exhume Gale's body. We will do our best to solve his murder and I will keep you and your son informed of our progress."

"Thank you." The General had nothing else to say about the matter. "I will leave this to you." Moving around Booth, the older man walked down the hallway to the entrance, handed his clearance badge to a security guard waiting for him at the entrance and left.

"Whew." Booth admired the General, but the man made him nervous. Confident in his partner and the rest of his team, Booth knew that Gale's murderer was going to be found and hopefully it led them to the person of interest at Homeland Security. He had given Danny Beck all the time he was willing to give. Now a real investigation was begun and Booth would get his answers. "I'm going back to the Hoover. Call me when you have something." Not waiting for a reply, Booth left. He had his job to do while his people did theirs. They were a great team and he was proud to be working with such skilled capable people.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Cam and Brennan examined the remains and immediately found that the autopsy had not been completely truthful. It had been reported that Gale Storm had been attacked by Phil Dunmore in his bedroom with a knife and that Phil had stabbed Gale in the heart killing him while he slept.

Her fingers lightly touching a large bruise she had found on the victim's left ribs, Cam shook her head. "For a dead man, Gale put up one hell of a fight." Biting her lower lip, she continued to look at each bruise and was disturbed by what she found. "All of these bruises were done around the same time of his death. If Phil Dunmore stabbed Gale in the heart killing him instantly then why the bruises? . . . There are bruises on his stomach, his ribs, his upper arms, his hands and one on his jaw . . . I will be very interested in hearing Dr. Bannon's explanation about the bruises. They should have been noticeable during the autopsy that he did."

Brennan stared at the dark bruise on the victim's mandible. "He fought for his life . . . Phil Dunmore is a long-time drug addict. Under weight, anemic, frail . . . If he stabbed Gale in the chest killing him instantly then there should be no bruises on Gale's body. The copy of the Metro report contained a mug shot of Dunmore and he is unmarred. According to his cousin Gerald, Gale was a black belt in Aikido. None of this makes sense."

His focus on the bloody pajamas, Jack shook his head in disgust. "I'd also like to know how a man who is stabbed in the chest while he's sleeping in his pajamas managed to not get any cuts in the cloth of the shirt. None . . . Blood, but a lot less than I expected . . . This man was not killed in these pajamas . . . The bruises . . . he was attacked, he fought hard to save his life and someone stabbed him to end the fight. They stripped him, dressed him in his pajamas and laid him on his bed . . . I need access to the crime scene."

"It's been over four months." Cam would make sure that happened, but she didn't have any hope he'd find anything. "I'm sure the house was cleaned up and there are probably new owners. Property prices are high in Georgetown. I don't see it sitting empty this long."

Hodgins shrugged his shoulders. "We won't know until we go look. Even if they have cleaned it up, I still might find something."

Lightly touching the victim's mandible, Brennan sighed. "I think Hodgins is right. We need to see the house. There is more to the story than the Metro Police uncovered. A lot more."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

Strickland Storm had good news for Booth. His nephew's house had not been sold after all. His son Gerald had decided that he wanted to keep it and use it when he was in town. He planned to live in it when he moved back to the States in a few years. The house had belonged to Lucian Storm and Gale had inherited it when his parents had been killed in a boating accident. Since Gale had no descendants, Gerald had been his heir.

The General also had one condition that he insisted upon before he allowed the techs and the FBI Agent to enter the house. He wanted to meet Booth and the Jeffersonian techs at the house and he wanted to observe them at work. Booth didn't know why, but he saw no harm. He might be able to ask the General a few questions while he was there.

General Storm opened the front door to the house and let Booth and his entourage in. Once everyone was inside, the older man stood in the living room near the picture window and observed. "I had the mattress and the sheeting on Gale's bed removed. They're long gone, so you won't be able to see them, sorry. Nothing else has been done to the house. Gerald and his wife plan to come over around Christmas time and they're going to replace the mattress and the bedroom curtains. The floors are hard wood, so no blood stained carpets to replace."

Booth waved his hand in acknowledgement. "We're lucky that the house wasn't sold, so we'll take what we can get, Sir."

"Gerald has twin sons who are going to Georgetown. They're living with me at the moment." Storm glanced around the room. "My brother Lucien loved this house."

Nodding his head, Booth walked into the bedroom and leaned against the door frame while he watched Brennan and Hodgins using their black lights in the dark room. "Anything?"

"Not yet." Brennan walked towards the doorway her light trained on the floor. "Some blood drops that were cleaned up." She motioned for Booth to step aside. "I think we should check each room. I don't think he was killed in this room."

Hodgins agreed, left the room and went back into the living room. Closing the curtains behind the General, he moved methodically around the room and found signs of blood in various places near the front door that led to signs of a large pool of blood between the living room and the kitchen. "He opened the door . . . walked over there, that's where the spots start . . . he fought with someone . . ." Hodgins moved his light over various spots where blood had been cleaned up and then to the pool. "He was murdered here."

Booth made a few notes and placed the notebook back in his jacket pocket. "Make sure you photograph every spot and the pool . . . so Gale probably knew his assailant or assailants or at least knew them well enough to invite them into his house . . . Can we lift up the boards and see if there's blood underneath? If Gale fought as hard as it looks like he did, then maybe he drew blood from his murderers."

It was a good idea and Hodgins smiled. "Yeah, I'll get a team out here and we'll do that as soon as possible."

General Storm saw the proof of his nephew's murder and felt so proud of the young man. He had not died willingly. "He went down swinging. I always knew that boy was made of good stuff . . . Do what you want with the floor. I'm sure Gerald will want to replace the boards anyway." Moving through the front door, he walked over to his car and leaned on it. The death of his nephew had been hard on him and now he knew that there was more involved than a drug addict looking for cash. He would definitely have a few words to say to the police chief. A few choice words about the coroner they used too.

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Danny was waiting for Booth when the FBI Agent left his office for the day. Leaning against Booth's truck in the parking garage, the CIA Agent called out to his friend as he left the elevator. "I told you I was looking into it."

"You weren't getting anywhere, Danny." Booth didn't feel like arguing, but he would defend his actions. "Your dead Federal employee was Gale Storm and his murder investigation was a joke. He wasn't killed by a damn junkie. He was assassinated by someone he probably knew . . . I'm taking over the case and I'm going to find out who killed him. If it leads me to your person of interest in Homeland Security then too damn bad . . . Abbot was into something and he was in over his head. Gale Storm was murdered because he had some proof that your man in Homeland Security was into something bad. It's the only thing that makes sense. How Gale got the info he had and why, I don't know, but by the time I'm done I will. The Agency should have come to me and asked me to investigate this case, instead you've been acting like there was no rush or your man could handle it . . . All of this is connected . . . Kirby's people, the death of Agent Harper, Abbot, Gale Storm, the Homeland Security guy . . . I don't know who you've been using as an investigator, but he's incompetent as hell. Once I read the police report and my people looked at Gale Storm's body we knew that something was wrong. Your analyst was murdered and that drug addict had nothing do with it . . . Damn it Danny! What kind of game have you been playing at?"

The CIA Agent didn't really have any answers for his friend. "This isn't a game."

"No shit." Booth walked around Danny, entered his truck, pulled out of his parking space and left.

Amused, Danny lifted his phone out of his jacket pocket and made a call. "I told you he'd run out of patience sooner or later. He and his team have already found out that Storm wasn't killed by the junkie and he's connecting Abbot, Kirby and that jerk at Homeland. I wish Storm had come to me or you before he was killed. Why he had to keep it a secret was beyond me. Maybe he wanted to verify what he had, I don't know, but he's dead now . . . what a waste . . . We could have gone to the FBI with his proof and got them to look into what he had . . . Booth is going to figure it all out and when he does . . . well, some careers are going to be dust and someone is going to be on death row."

Good. Our hands will be clean and that's what matters. I wish Booth would have moved his ass sooner. He has more patience than you and I gave him credit for.

"Yeah, I thought he would have taken over before this." Danny moved over to his car and leaned on it. "I think getting Tom to lean on Max Keenan was the final straw that we needed. Those pages and the tape pushed Booth and his girlfriend to the breaking point. Now they're involved and we'll finally find out what's going on."

If Metro Police had done their fucking jobs and not pinned Gale's death on a junkie we would've been further along in this case and we might have that fucking traitor in Homeland behind bars by now. Damn it! The longer he's free the more damage he can do . . . Keep in contact with Booth. Help him when you can.

"Will do." The call ended, Danny got into his car. This had been a long play, but it was finally paying off. The CIA had no legal right to do investigations in the United States, so it sucked that he had to manipulate an old friend to get him to do it. He wanted Gale Storm's death revenged and he wanted the Jerk at Homeland on death row. This was a pretty big conspiracy. Just how big was still unknown, but he was counting on Booth and Brennan to find out.

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