(The Loyalty in the Lie)

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I don't own Bones.

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A knock on her office door startled Grace Miller, but she recovered quickly, moved over to the door and opened it. "Yes?"

Holding his identity card and badge out for her to see, Booth introduced himself. "Agent Seeley Booth."

"Head of Major Crimes." Rolling her eyes, Grace walked back to her desk and sat down. "I know who you are Agent Booth."

"Just making sure." Entering her office, Booth stood near the desk for a moment and decided to sit down for the time being. He hoped it would make her more willing to talk to him. "Richard Bannerman hasn't been at work for four days. As far as I can tell, he hasn't called anyone to let them know where he is. Do you know where he is?"

Curious, Grace leaned forward on her desk. "Why do you care if Richard is at work or not?"

"You're not going to answer my question?" Waiting to see how Grace would handle that question, Booth studied her closely looking for any signs of deception.

"You do know who you're talking to, don't you?" Grace felt like she was being interrogated and she wasn't used to that. It made her angry and felt disrespected.

His face emotionless, Booth nodded his head. "And you know who I am, so answer the question. Do you know where Richard is?"

Her anger increasing, Grace leaned back against her chair and snapped out her reply. "Who are you to question me about Richard?"

Standing, Booth leaned on her desk. "I'm the one who is going to haul your ass into an interrogation room if you don't start answering my questions. Do I need to get Deputy Director Stark involved in this conversation? I can arrange that."

Since she had no idea why Booth was interested in her partner, Grace felt it would be wiser to take a step back and calm down. "I don't know where Richard is. Do you suspect that something has happened to him?"

"Why didn't you report him missing?" Booth could see that Grace was hiding something and he wanted to know what that was. "If my partner was missing, I'd sure as hell tell someone."

"Well, I'm not married to my partner." Grace gave him a humorless smile. "Maybe you should tell me why you're looking for him and I'll tell you what I know."

He didn't see any harm in telling her some of his reasons. He would have to wait and see if he could trust her before telling her all of it. Once he was seated, he leaned forward. "Richard works for Internal Affairs as an investigator, just like you. No one has heard from him for four days. His partner hasn't reported him missing which I find odd . . ." Since she didn't react or say anything, Booth continued. "It is suspected that he might be involved in something he shouldn't be, but if you're not going to be up front with me, then I can't tell you anything else. All you're doing is making yourself look suspicious. I've been ordered by Deputy Director Stark and Director Darouse to find him and I will with or without your help."

Since Booth was involved in Major Crimes, it seemed like it was possible her partner might have done something that he shouldn't have. It didn't sound like a risk Richard would take, but her ex-lover had changed in the last few months and she didn't think she knew him anymore. "Look, I dated Richard for a while and then he met someone else and we broke up. I wasn't happy about it and we had words. A lot of heated words . . . Things have been strained between us and we haven't talked to each other except to do our jobs. If Richard is doing something he shouldn't be doing then I can truthfully say I don't know anything about it . . . I will tell you that when Richard didn't show up for work for two days and no one had heard from him, me and Agent Bukhari went over to Richard's house and using the key I have to his front door, we entered the house and searched it. We didn't find anything that pointed to him having been kidnapped or harmed in anyway. The house is as neat and clean as it always is."

"What's the name of Richard's new girlfriend?"

"His fiancé's name is Chloe Robertson." Grace pursed her lips and stared at Booth. "I know where she lives and I did check to see if she was at home and she wasn't. Her neighbor says she hasn't seen Chloe for at least four days when I talked to her. That was the day I went over to Richard's house."

Pulling his notebook from his jacket pocket, Booth jotted down a few notes. "So, Chloe Robertson has been missing for at least six days and Richard has been missing for four days." Puzzled, Booth stared intently at Grace. "This didn't ring any alarm bells with you? It sure as hell looks like something's wrong to me."

Not willing to admit that she hadn't cared about Chloe's disappearance, Grace shrugged her shoulders. "They could have run away together. It's a possibility."

"Not a likely one though." Booth shook his head. "If Chloe disappeared before Richard then I'd say we should consider that something bad has happened to both of them. I have a team of forensic experts at Richard's house right now. We'll see what they come up with."

"I told you I already looked through his house." Annoyed, Grace crossed her arms against her breasts. "Agent Bukhari and I didn't find anything."

His expression grim, Booth stood up. "You aren't a forensics expert." Shaking his head, Booth commented, "Your partner has been missing for four days and his fiancé has been missing for six days and you didn't report it up the chain of command. This looks bad Agent Miller. This looks very bad . . . for you."

"I don't know where he is." Standing she leaned on her desk. "I'm not his keeper."

Slowly shaking his head, Booth finally spoke. "Good luck with that as your defense. You might need a lawyer."

"The hell I do." Outraged, Grace glared at Booth her fists clinching and unclinching.

Turning on his heels, Booth marched out of the office and made his way back to his office. He hoped Brennan found something to point to where Richard was because if he had the list of undercover agents and he was staying away from the FBI, this was very bad for the agents on the list. On the other hand, his gut told him that Richard and Chloe were in trouble and they needed to find them soon. It was possible that this was about more than the list.

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While searching Bannerman's house, Aubrey checked the freezer and found a human finger. "If Agent Miller checked the house for anything suspicious, I'd say she missed something pretty important." Holding up the plastic bag containing the finger, Brennan noticed it was frozen solid. "It looks like it was cut off."

Careful to take the bag from Aubrey with gloved hands, Brennan studied it for a moment. "It's small. I'm certain that this didn't belong to Agent Bannerman."

"Yeah, probably not." Aubrey stared at the finger. "Maybe it's his girlfriend's . . . This is starting to look like a kidnapping thing." The agent stared at a picture of Bannerman and a younger woman that was taped to the refrigerator door. Bannerman had his arms around the woman and her face was tilted up, giving him an adoring look.

"Yes, I saw this method used a few years ago." Brennan placed the bag in an evidence bag and wrapped it in a hand towel she found in a drawer. Handing it to a tech, she asked her to place it in a cooler for transport back to the Lab. "A young boy had his finger chopped off with an ax and sent to his father. The boy's kidnapper was working for a CEO whose company was suspected of selling defective bullet proofs vests to the Army. The boy's father was a whistle blower and the CEO was trying to silence his former employee. Luckily, we were able to rescue the child. Sadly, his mother had been killed when the boy was kidnapped."

Horrified, Aubrey couldn't hide the disgust he felt. "God, that's awful . . . Maybe someone kidnapped Bannerman's girlfriend and he was forced to get the list to save her . . . This whole thing seems to be pointing to something pretty terrible."

"Indeed, it is." Brennan turned to talk to the tech. "I'm going to take the cooler back to the Lab. Continue to search the house and see if you can find any clues as to where Bannerman went or if he was kidnapped." That taken care of, Brennan walked over to where the cooler was and picked it up. "I'm leaving Agent Aubrey."

Feeling a sense of urgency, Aubrey waved his hand at Brennan. "I'm going to stay and help search the house. I'll let you know if we find anything else, like another finger or a head."

"Yes, do so." Moving through the house, Brennan texted Booth and let him know about the finger.

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"Damn it!" Booth stared at the text and now felt a greater sense of urgency about finding Bannerman. Calling Caroline, he knew she'd be interested in what Aubrey and Brennan had found in the missing agent's house. They had thought it was possible that Bannerman had been hiding from the FBI because he was trying to sell the list he had downloaded on his computer. Now it looked like the man might have had a reason to download the list and not because he wanted $2 million. If that finger turned out to belong to Chloe then they were dealing with a kidnapping, extortion and possibly murder.

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