(The Brother in the Basement)

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I don't own Bones.

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Since it was taking so long for Alan McBride to wake up from surgery, Booth had to leave the hospital and return to the Hoover. Aubrey was assigned the task of sitting outside the recovery room while they waited for Alan McBride to wake up. The home invader had been badly injured and had lost a lot of blood, but miraculously he had survived the surgery and had a fifty percent chance of making it. Aubrey hoped McBride did survive since he needed the man to testify about what had happened a Masbourian's house.

Snacking on some Fritos, the bag was almost empty when McBride's surgeon left the room and talked to the agent. "He's awake. He's in pain and he's not completely alert, but you can try to talk to him . . . 10 minutes, Agent Aubrey. Nurse Boyer will make sure of that."

The nurse he pointed to in the patient's room turned and frowned at Aubrey. Clearly, the agent knew that charm would not get him an extra minute.

"Got it Doc." Stuffing the bag of chips in his jacket pocket, he entered the room and stood next to the bed looking down at McBride. "Mr. McBride." Aubrey held up his badge and credentials and patiently waited for the man to open his eyes. "I'm Agent Aubrey of the FBI, I'm going to read you your rights, but I am aware that you're recovering from anesthesia and any good lawyer will make sure that what you say isn't held against you, okay? By the way, I'm recording this conversation with my phone."

Nodding his head, McBride waited until his rights were read. "I . . . don't have anything to say."

"Okay, that's fine, just listen to me. That's all I ask." Once he was sure that McBride understood his rights he continued. "You and Pete Montgomery, Alex Holmes and Mitch Curtis broke into Vincent Masbourian's house." He held up his hand and smiled. "Don't say anything yet. You were found in Masbourian's house bleeding to death with a gun next to you. Pete, Alex and Mitch are dead. So is Masbourian, his cousin and some guy that worked for him. We also found the two guys you and your friends killed and hid in the backyard. We guess you killed them in the front of the house and drug their bodies into the backyard. Then you broke the lock on the back door and entered the house. You confronted Masbourian in his office, but they were armed and ready for you. It turned into a shootout. They had a camera focused on the back door, so they knew you were coming . . . This could have been planned better."

Since the evidence was irrefutable, McBride nodded his head. "Pete and Alex were in the Navy and had some genius in the FBI working with them to plan this thing . . . I thought it'd be okay since Masbourian is . . . was a drug trafficker and a human trafficker too. He was scum and that two million he had sounded like easy pickings . . . We were wrong. I didn't kill the two guys at the front door. Alex and Pete did that, but I was there." McBride held his breath and waited for the pain to pass. "Am I going to die?"

After seeing the nurse shrug her shoulders, Aubrey turned his attention back to McBride. "We don't know. You lost a lot of blood. Do you have any relatives we can call for you? I know you're not married and your parents are dead."

"Just a cousin, Ruth Schooley. She lives in McConnellsburg, Pennsylvania." A tear escaped his lashes. "The money sounded so good . . . I don't know the last name of the FBI Agent, Pete called him Ben. He was Pete's friend not mine, but Pete used his phone to text message the guy. If you have Pete's phone, then you should get him that way."

The ten minutes were up and the nurse was pointing at the door. "I'll call your cousin, Alan. I'll call her once I get back to my office. There's a policeman outside this room. You're under arrest for home invasion and the murder of Masbourian and his men."

Closing his eyes, Alan nodded his head. "Yeah, that figures."

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Once he had finished his call to Ruth Schooley to tell her about her cousin, Aubrey called Angela Montenegro. "Hey, have you looked at the phones we gave you from Mosabourian's house yet?"

Yes, I have and I sent a transcript from the phone messages I found on everyone's phone. Pete's phone gave us what we need to nail Metzger. You'd think people would know better than to use their phones or use email to plan to commit a crime.

"Well prisons are full because people who break the law aren't the brightest people in society." Aubrey glanced at his watch. "Okay, thanks for your help, Angela. I'm going to go talk to Booth. See you."

Oooooooooooooooooo

Booth was sitting in his office talking to Caroline about their case when Aubrey knocked on the office door frame. "Yeah come in and sit down." Once Aubrey was settled on the chair next to the window, Booth spoke. "Okay, just to bring you up to speed, Angela sent me the transcripts from the phones taken from the phones in Masbourian's house. Both Caroline and I have gone over them and we think we have what we need to go after Metzger. Bones is on the way over to help me interview him in the interrogation room. You and Caroline will be standing in the observation room monitoring our conversation. Metzger has already been picked up and escorted to the room by two agents. Agent Miller is on the way and she's going to observe with you. I need you to keep Miller in the room. I don't know how she's going to react to the interview, but I don't want her barging in."

"Got it." Aubrey wasn't a fan of Grace Miller, but he understood that emotions might get high once Metzger was confronted about murdering Richard Bannerman and Chloe Robertson. Richard was Grace's partner and former lover and he knew how he would react under these circumstances.

Once Booth was sure everyone was in the observation room that needed to be there, he entered the interrogation room with his partner, Brennan who had arrived ready to confront their suspect. His face an unemotional mask, Booth sat down across from a nervous looking Metzger while Brennan settled on the chair next to him.

Unable to remain silent Dr. Benjamin Metzger cleared his throat, glanced at his lawyer then back at Booth and Brennan. "Okay, why am I here? This is the second time I've been brought to this room and I want to know why."

"You were read your rights by Agent Moss." This was a statement not a question. Booth waited for Metzger to nod his head before he continued. "Richard Bannerman and Chloe Robertson's bodies have been found." He waited for a response.

"Wow Richard was killed? Who is Chloe Robertson?" Metzger knew that he had been careful not to leave any evidence behind when he killed his victims. The gun he used was tossed into the Potomac River and it would never be found.

With his face an unemotional mask, Booth opened a folder that he had brought into the room with him and removed two pictures. Turning and laying them on the table, Booth watched Metzger's face while he looked at the partially dissolved bodies. "The murderer shot Ms. Robertson and beat Richard Bannerman to death. He then poured sulfuric acid over the bodies to destroy them, but we found them before all of the tissue was destroyed."

Since he felt they had no proof he was involved, Metzger leaned back against his chair and folded his arms against his chest. "Why show them to me?" There was no way he was going to incriminate himself.

Removing another sheet, Booth placed it in on the table so the doctor could read it. "Phone transcripts between you and Kevin O'Donnell."

A slight smile on his face, Metzger shook his head. "Wishful thinking really. Kevin is an old friend and he needs money. I thought it would be fun to plot out a robbery of a very bad man. It was a game and not intended to be real. Come on. Who would really attack someone that dangerous for money? It's like wishing for a million dollars."

Not through, Booth showed him the next sheet he had in the folder. This time it showed the transcripts from messages and emails between Metzger and Pete Montgomery, between Pete and Alex Holmes and between Pete and Mitch Curtis. He also had transcripts between Pete and Alan McBride but he didn't show Metzger those for the moment. "I suppose these men were in on the joke."

Feeling a dribble of sweat moving down his back, Metzger swallowed but chose not to say anything.

"Pete Montgomery, Alex Holmes and Mitch Curtis were killed when they invaded the home of Vincent Masbourian. They murdered two men who were guarding the front of the house. They broke into Masbourian's house, but Masbourian was waiting for them along with two other men. All of these men died . . . There was another man involved that I didn't mention. Pete talked a man named Alan McBride into helping with the robbery. Alan survived being shot and he has talked to an agent about what happened." Removing his phone from his jacket pocket, Booth opened up an email attachment and played the conversation Aubrey had recorded with Alan McBride. Booth and Brennan stared at Metzger as he listened to the conversation and both felt some satisfaction watching Metzger grow pale.

"I noticed that your hand is broken." Brennan continued and didn't let Metzger respond. "We can get a court order to review your x-rays . . . You beat Richard Bannerman to death with brass knuckles. I will be able to prove that with the x-rays . . . We got you."

Panicked, Metzger tried to rise and Booth stood and glared at the man. "Sit down . . . Now!" Once the man was seated, Booth sat down as well. "We don't need a confession, Dr. Metzger. We have you. You are being arrested for kidnapping, murder, conspiracy to commit a robbery and accessory to murder. Nine men and one woman are dead because of you and another man is in the hospital and he may die too, we're not sure yet. You are responsible for all of those deaths. All of them."

Satisfied, Brennan stood up. "You are facing the death penalty because the men and woman who died all died in the state of Virginia which has the death penalty. When you die that will make eleven people dead possibly twelve all because you are greedy and detached from humanity. You won't be able to walk away from this."

"No, no, you can't pin this on me! I'm innocent." Metzger was panicking. It had all gone wrong and he needed to fix this. He had to fix this. "This is all circumstantial evidence."

Standing, Booth gathered up his photos and placed them in the folder. "I'll get you a dictionary so you can look up the word circumstantial or maybe your lawyer can explain it to you." Moving towards the door, he opened it and waited for Brennan to leave the room. Once she was in the hallway, Booth turned back to look at the man weeping next to the table. "You've dishonored the FBI and I'm glad you're going down for that."

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