(After 'The Recluse in the Recliner')

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooo

The victim found near the waterfall in Great Falls Park was quickly identified. The man had been in government service for thirty six years and had retired six months prior to his death. Corbet Frye had worked for the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Cybersecurity and Communications and that raised concerns for Booth and Deputy Director Stark. Corbet had lived in Richmond, Virginia and he was a widower. He had one daughter who lived in Houston and she hadn't heard from him in three weeks. She had become concerned enough that she was making arrangements to fly up to check on him when she was notified that he was dead.

My father was in pretty good health but he wasn't into hiking or camping. I don't understand why he went out to Great Falls Park by himself. It's out of character. I'd understand a walk around the block where he lives but not in a forest. He always laughed . . . he always laughed that he was a city boy and forests made him nervous.

"Yes ma'am. We're still trying to determine if he was out there alone or not." Booth didn't want to give out too much information. "I may have someone from the field office in Houston come and talk to you if you don't mind." He could hear her crying and he knew he needed to end the conversation soon to let her mourn. "I'm sorry for your loss, Ms. Frye. I will keep you informed about the progress of this case."

Thank you. I think something's wrong Agent Booth. I don't think he died in an accident. You know who he worked for . . . he was a patriotic man who loved his country. During his career he stopped a few things from happening that he couldn't really talk to me about and he made some enemies during his career. Maybe they went after him now that he's retired. I don't think this was an accident.

"Yes, that's possible. I'm sorry for your loss." Booth ended the call and realized that this case might be hard to investigate. He was certain that Homeland Security would question his security clearance and he might have to get some help from Caroline or someone else a little higher up in the government food chain to run interference for him. His gut was telling him that this case might be more than it seemed and his gut never failed him. Well, almost never.

Oooooooooooooooooo

He'd read about the death of Corbet Frye in the newspaper and the fact that the man worked for Homeland Security and had been found dead in a National Park made Pete curious. He wasn't trying to tie every murder in the district to what was going on with the blackmailer case that he and Angela were looking into, but it just seemed that Frye's death appeared to be a little too bizarre for his taste. A 68 year old man goes hiking by himself and falls to his death? They didn't find a walking stick, a backpack or anything that hikers normally carried when hiking. Not near the body or anywhere along the falls. Could that red flag be more obvious? Pete didn't think so. "Hell no. This was murder."

Checking into Frye's background, he started to hack into accounts that he knew were safe looking for information about the man. His hope was that Frye's death was a murder for money or a lover's scorn thing. There had been too many deaths lately that could be traced back to the McNamara corporation or King's Company. The puzzle was getting ungainly and it worried Pete that in the end some traitors were going to walk away from what they had done just because they hadn't been noticed.

Careful to steer clear of the Homeland Security servers, he collected what information he could from other sources and found something interesting that he knew he would have to pass on to someone. At first, he considered sending the information to Angela so she could pass it on to Booth, but once he had read through the information he had, he decided to pass it onto Danny Beck. The man had ways of getting information from outside the United States that Booth didn't have. Corbet Frye's death might not have nothing to do with the Blackmailer, but Pete needed to make sure.

Oooooooooooooooooo

Being the new guy on the team, Aubrey knew that he'd probably do a lot of the grunt work, but he didn't mind. He needed to learn the FBI business and doing was learning. He had ambitions and one of those ambitions was to be the best at everything he did.

He'd assisted Booth, Brennan and Hodgins in examining the house that Corbet Frye had lived in. Frye had moved to his house a month after he had retired. His twin sister lived in Richmond and he had moved there to be near her and her family. The house was a small two bedroom, one and half bath house with a pool in the backyard. Combing over papers found in a desk in the spare bedroom, Aubrey had found bills, all currently paid, copies of tax returns, receipts for appliances for the house and a lot of cancelled checks for utilities, insurance payments etc. They were no surprises in that desk. They were the things he expected to find in most homes.

There were some photo albums which Booth had flipped through, then put in a box to take to the Jeffersonian for Angela to look through. He wasn't sure if any of the pictures were important, but he wanted Angela to compare them to the photos of the people found on Wesley Foster's data chip. "Better safe than sorry. He didn't work with Wayne Kitchen, but we know there is a least one person of interest still working at Homeland Security. Deputy Director Jackson is monitoring the man's movements and his correspondence."

Brennan was concerned about some dried blood she had found by the pool. After Hodgins took pictures of the area he also took samples of the dried blood and some of the water from the pool. Being careful, both Brennan and Hodgins decided to refrain from any conjecture until they knew who the blood belonged to.

There didn't seem to be anything pointing to what had happened to Corbet at the house, but Booth made sure that someone kept an eye on the house for the time being.

After he received a copy of the autopsy report from Cam Saroyan, Aubrey poured over the data looking for any discrepancies that might give them a clue as to what had happened. Reading the report, Aubrey was impressed with the details provided by Dr. Saroyan and Dr. Brennan. There were also notes included by Dr. Hodgins that went over particulates and what was found on the clothes worn by the victim. He knew that he was working with very thorough people and for that he was grateful. Once he'd made a few notes, he checked in with Booth. "Okay, it looks like Corbet Frye died from a blow to his throat. His windpipe was crushed. That's a bad way to die. Needing to breathe and can't. No way to scream for help and the waterfall would have muffled any screams he had made if he could . . . His arms and legs damaged, so he couldn't walk or climb, so he was stuck where he was. Why throw him off the ledge? Why not crush his windpipe in the first place on the ledge above where we found him? Whoever killed him was risking being seen. I mean it is a national park. I don't get why they didn't just shoot him and leave his body where it lay . . . or strangle him or throw him in the waterfall."

"Maybe they thought the fall would kill him or they could have been torturing him before they killed him . . . there was no ID on Frye, nothing in his pockets, no backpack . . . they had to know he'd be identified pretty quickly when his body was found. Whoever killed him didn't make any effort to hide the body or even prolong how long it would take to find his body . . . They wanted the FBI involved with the case and they wanted him to be found . . . His killers were sending a message to someone . . . He's retired. He doesn't have any connection with the Department of Homeland Security anymore . . . this was a message, has to be."

Surprised that Booth had gone down that path, Aubrey stared at his supervisor for a moment thinking about what the man had said. "A message to who? Someone at Homeland Security? Why Frye? Why not someone still working at Homeland Security? He's been gone from that agency for six months."

"Those are questions that we need answers to." Booth picked up his baseball and stared at the seams of the ball. "Angela is looking at the photo albums I got from Frye's house. I checked into Frye's bank accounts. He had a modest checking account and savings account. He had a 401K plan and it isn't excessive or suspicious. It doesn't look like he was on the take. He's not listed in McNamara's shell companies as being paid for anything . . . Bones said the blood found by the pool belonged to a dog . . . I checked with his daughter and she said Corbet owned a small terrier. She's worried that the dog isn't being taken care of. I told her the dog wasn't at the house. I checked with Corbet's sister and she said she didn't have the dog. She gave me the name of the vet he uses and Dr. Sonnier doesn't have the dog either."

"Someone comes to his house. The house wasn't broken into so we have to assume he invited them in. They go out to the pool to chat. That someone kills or hurts Corbet's dog to make a point." Aubrey stared at the Bobble Head Bobby, thinking out loud. "Corbet is forced to go with that person. They take the dog with them . . . I wonder what they did with the dog . . . anyway, they drive Corbet out to the Park. They walk to the waterfalls, they demand something from him, maybe they don't . . . they throw him to the ledge below. He's hurt and can't go anywhere. Maybe he starts screaming and the villains in this play climb down, punch him in his throat and leave him there to die . . . I'm inclined to go with your idea . . . Corbet's death is a message to someone . . . but who?"

"Yeah, that's what we have to figure out." Placing the ball back on the desk, Booth knew he'd have to let Danny know about Corbet's death. This wasn't just a homicide. "This is connected to the Blackmailer. I'm sure of it."

Disgusted, Aubrey exhaled deeply. "We need to catch this guy. He already has too much blood on his hands and whoever this message is for could be in danger."

Ooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.