Chapter 9
Dr. Brennan's Hotel Room, Sunday at 4:15 p.m. MST (6:15 p.m. EST)
"Well Dr. Brennan, you'll be fine. I imagine you'll have a bit of a bump but there doesn't appear to be any serious damage." The friendly EMT told her.
"Thank you." She smiled at him as she held the ice pack she'd been handed to her head. He smiled back before leaving the room.
"This scene seems very strange." Sheriff Dippert commented.
"I'll say. Why break the laptop instead of taking it with you? If I was after information, I would want the computer to run it on." Brockman said.
"Unless the thief wasn't after the computer." Booth hypothesized. "Bones, where did you keep your files?"
"They're in my laptop bag or at least they were." She said. Her partner grabbed the bag and opened it up.
"Well they aren't in here now. You had them backed up on your computer, right?" He wondered.
"Yes, I did. It seems the thief was very thorough." Brennan sighed.
"So it would seem." Sheriff Dippert spoke up as he looked at the parts of the laptop.
"I'd like to send the laptop back to the Jeffersonian and see if they can't recover the hard drive." The forensic anthropologist said.
"All right. I'll have CSU print it and box it up for the trip." The sheriff nodded. "In the meantime, I suggest you grab your personal belongings and have Tim give you a new room."
"Thank you Sheriff." Brennan smiled slightly and the two lawmen left with what was left of the laptop.
"Well should I grab your things while you see if Tim will help you get another room; or are you not up for that?" Booth wondered.
"I'll be fine. You wouldn't mind grabbing my stuff?" She wondered.
"And pass up the chance to see your underwear?" He smiled trying to lighten the mood. Brennan rolled her eyes and walked out of the room. She was only gone a few minutes when Booth's phone rang. It quickly picked it up and said,
"Booth."
"Booth, it's Sam. I have the info you wanted. You owe me big." The guy on the other end of the phone said.
"Why is that, Sam?" Booth wondered.
"It turns out that your Kelly Mitchell is actually Sarah Kemp. She's hiding out in Idaho Springs as part of her cover through the Witness Protection Program." Sam told him.
"Witness protection from who?" The Agent asked.
"Salvatore Luciano. Turns out the mobster was running drugs from Miami to Birmingham and Sarah witnessed the murder of one of the drug runners at the Miami restaurant where she worked. The runner was skimming drugs off the top of the runs and replacing it with powered sugar. Luciano himself flew from Alabama to Florida and killed the guy." The information man spilled.
"Great. Thanks again Sam." Booth had figured it would have to be that complicated. With a witness missing, the US Marshals would be called in. They were good at their jobs but some times they shot first and asked questions later. Quickly, he dialed the number of the Marshal's office in D.C. and explained the situation.
"I'm sorry Dr. Brennan but with the impending snow supposedly totaling around three feet, I've been taking reservations all day. We're full up." Tim said.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Brennan asked, trying to ignore the pain in her head.
"For now, I guess you could stay with your partner, Agent Booth." The desk clerk hoped that she would be ok with that.
"All right, I hope he likes sleeping on the floor." The forensic anthropologist smirked. She turned and started to head for the stairs when another though hit her.
"Tim, did you see anyone you didn't recognize today?"
"Well it was pretty busy earlier and I really wasn't paying attention except to what was in front of me. Sorry." He told her. Brennan nodded and slowly walked back up the stairs. Her head was pounding and she really wanted to lie down.
She reached her room to find Booth still packing her stuff up. Quickly, she helped him grab what remained and the two headed off down the hall to Booth's room.
"Tim says that there is three feet of snow on the way and he's all booked. Look's like someone is sleeping on the floor tonight." Slightly mischievous grin crossed Brennan's face. However the look on Booth's face made it quite obvious, he was in no mood for jokes. He opened the door to his room and they walked in. Shutting the door with his foot, Booth set down the suitcases in his hands.
"Turns out that Kelly Mitchell is really Sarah Kemp. She's here being protected by Witness Protection against our mobster Salvatore Luciano." The FBI Agent told her.
"So you think it's no coincidence that Henry Wasmund was up here on Pike's Peak." Brennan's mood sobered immediately.
"The way I see it is, Sarah escapes Luciano's clutches in Florida and the Marshals put her up in Colorado thinking she'll be safe. Somehow Luciano finds out that she's in Idaho Springs and sends Wasmund to do the job. When he doesn't hear from Wasmund a few days later, the mobster takes off to take care of business." Booth theorized.
"We can't just make assumptions without any proof." The forensic anthropologist said.
"Hear me out, Bones. Luciano confronts Wasmund and kills him. He tries to bury his kill up on the mountain but he finds the work too hard and leaves him half-buried. Then Luciano lays low until he hears that the body of a half frozen man is found. He panics and heads down to the morgue to see what they found out and runs into Sarah. She recognizes him and he has to act fast. So he kills Dr. Saunders and kidnaps Sarah." Booth finished.
"All right but what about the finger I found in Wasmund's hand?" Brennan asked as she lay down on the bed.
"It must be Luciano's. Anyway we'll have an extra two sets of hands on this one as the U.S. Marshals are sending two agents up since a witness under their protection has gone missing." He explained. The forensic anthropologist nodded and put her hands over her face.
"You ok?" Booth asked.
"I have a very large headache." She said.
"Let me make it all better." He replied.
To Be Continued…