Title: Six Bodies in the Pasture
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Bones belongs to FOX anything else probably belongs to Bellisario. We'll see. Oh I do own the victims... Here is the first of the case.
Rating: T
Chapter Three: Baby on the Table
"They found another body, that's six Booth." She said. He sharply turned the wheel, heading in the direction of the museum.
"Thanks Booth." She whispered. He didn't respond, only nodded and remained silent.
They reached the museum not long after she hung up the phone, she was still dressed in teal scrubs, which had been too big for her, and her hair sat messy at her shoulders. Booth, luckily had an overnight bag in the SUV was able to change into his jeans and a black t-shirt with some random print on it.
They began their walk into the lab, greeted by the artist, whose eyes went wide seeing the sling and the bandages. "Sweetie! Are you alright?" She asked, obviously Zack told her what had happened.
"I'm fine, just an impact fracture on the my left distal radius and a laceration on the right carpel." She said, as they reached the platform. She didn't have her badge, it was in the pocket of her jeans, in Booth's SUV.
"When you say it like that, Sweetie, I'm going to worry more." Said Angela, swiping her card and walking onto the platform.
"She broke her arm near her wrist and she's got a cut on her right hand that has eight stitches in it." Said Booth translating it into English. Again his hands went to his face. "That's twice today, I am really turning into one of you squints."
No one acknowledged his comment, they all began their work. "Zack, where is the sixth body?" Asked Brennan, who walked over to the young man, looking over the set of remains in front of him.
"Its this one right here." He said. "Female between a year to twenty months, the oldest of them all." She leaned closer to inspect the small body, this one had to have been the most recent, the point of decay wasn't near as far as the others.
"Has Cam looked at this? Maybe she can get some DNA from it, and we can run it in the database for a close match, looking for a parent." Said Brennan. "I'll work on the second body, putting the skull back together."
She grabbed her supply of glue and turned to place a glove on her hand. After two unsuccessful attempts, Booth wandered over and helped her place it on the right hand. "Alright, this is going to take a lot longer than I think its going to be." She said, setting out the pieces of the skull onto the table.
"That's what I'm here for. I'll help you put it together." He said, taking a seat next to her.
She looked at him with a smile. "Thanks, but you will have to put gloves on." She said her eyes shining, like a child at Christmas.
He had groaned slightly, in the time they had been partners, he had made it without putting on any latex gloves, and today would be the first time. But he did as he was asked and the pair set out to put the skull together.
Three hours later Booth and Brennan had the skull nearly completed, when Angela came back from lunch, bringing the working pair something to eat, she stopped in front of the table only to see Brennan give a frustrated sigh . "This wouldn't take nearly as long if you'd let me take this bandage off." She snapped at her partner.
"No Bones, you will get an infection and make it worse than it is." He reasoned softly, he had the partial skull in his gloved hand. They worked it out where he would hold the skull and she would carefully place the piece onto it. The process took longer, due to the fact that she was using her right hand awkwardly as her left arm dangled at her side helplessly.
To save an argument from forming, Angela stepped in. "I've come baring gifts." She said setting the food next to them.
They each said their thanks and Booth gently set the skull down and took off his gloves, and took off her glove. "Angela, you're a godsend." Said Booth, taking a bite of the burger.
"Well, I figured you would work through lunch, knowing how Brennan can be." Said Angela with a smile.
Brennan said nothing, sitting quietly eating the salad she was provided. The artist and the agent both watched in silent amusement as she glared at a particular part of spinach, bringing the fork to her mouth and it fell off before she took a bite.
Angela laughed, but disguised it as a cough. It didn't go unnoticed by the doctor, she glared at her. "Don't you have something better to do than watch me eat?" She snapped, turning on the stool so her back faced both of her friends.
"Well, Zack placed some tissue markers on three of the victims." She started, but left it hanging.
"Then go do that, I bet its more entertaining that watching me." Said Brennan, setting the salad aside, she was being mean for no reason."But thanks again for the salad."
"No problem." Said Angela, decided that she would go pick on Hodgins, it was at least safer.
Cam came back some time later, she was in her 'own' lab working on the tissue of the final body. "Doctor Brennan, good to see you are up and about." She said, that sly smile playing at her lips. The doctor sat alone at the table.
"Sorry, I was held against my will." Brennan responded, holding the completed skull accompanied by tissue markers.
"Is Booth still here?" She asked, looking for the tall FBI agent.
"No, he ran back to his office to see what they have there." Answered Brennan, quite happy with her work. She had finished the skull on her own because Cullen had called an hour previous to summon Booth back to the J. Edgar Hoover building. "Do you have anything?"
"I got some DNA off of number six and sent it off." Cam shrugged. "Have you found anything?"
"Nothing really, I just finished putting this skull back together." She said as the rest of the team filled the platform. "I haven't even found a cause of death yet."
"I have, on victims one, three, four and five." Said Zack, who stood next to Angela. Angela was sitting on a stool. Hodgins was leaning against a table, his arms crossed. Eight pairs of eyes fell on their newest member. "Their hyoid bone appeared to be snapped."
"Some sick bastard strangled four innocent babies, maybe six?" Asked Hodgins, his eyebrow raised. "I've been looking at the particulates and I haven't seen any fibers on the neck."
"Maybe they smothered them with a pillow." Offered Cam, looking at the tables, each with its own set of remains.
"No, because if they would have smother them the hyoid would be crushed not snapped in half. I'm thinking its more of Shaken Baby Syndrome." Said Brennan, eyes wide in disbelief.
"What?" Asked Cam, looking at the anthropologist as if she grew a second head.
"Angela can you draw up a scenario on the Angelator, if I can give you certain variables?" Asked Brennan. "Its probably too early, but I just want to prove if it could have been Shaken Baby Syndrom." The artist nodded as they made their way to her office.
Brennan filled in the variables as the others stood around the machine, soon the image on an infant appeared on the screen. "Shaken Baby Syndrome is when the someone shakes the baby so hard it rattles its brain, causing mental, physical and emotional retardation, or even death . . ." She started. "Because when we are born, the head is out of proportion with the rest of the body, when they are shaken their head is thrown back and forth causing a whiplash snapping the hyoid." The baby mimicked the action showing exactly as she told it and with detail of the attack, they could almost hear the crack.
"Oh God." Whispered Zack, growing pale. He wasn't the only one, Angela closed her eyes and Hodgins shifted uncomfortably. Even Cam flinched.
Booth walked in the office, unaware of discomfort in the room. When his eyes met Brennan's, he too was drawn into the mood of the room. "Bones, did you find anything?" He asked with a half smile, trying to change the mood of the room.
"I think we found a cause of death, on at least four of the six infants." She said, completing the other half of the smile. Booth looked at her expectantly. "Shaken Baby Syndrome." And she began to explain the theory again.
Booths hand went to his eyes, he was tired and this case was turning out to be the case from Hell. It made him speechless.
One by one, the team left the office with Booth following Brennan to her office. "Did you get anything?" She asked almost hopefully as she sat at her desk.
"Just a list of missing persons, all from the tri-state area under the age of two." He said, setting the pile onto her desk and sat on her couch. "I can narrow it down, if you know how long the victims have been in the ground."
"That's all Hodgins, he's working on that." She said closing her eyes. "The most recent was about three weeks ago, he can narrow it."
"Three weeks ago?" Asked Booth, sitting up straighter on the couch, he stood up and started to type at her computer. "That last one is Amalie Jacobs, born March tenth of last year. She went missing March sixteenth of this year." Booth pulled a picture off the internet. Showing a picture of a bright eyed little girl, full of life and giggling.
She pulled herself out of the chair, hissing softly as she put pressure on her right hand. "Almost forgot about that." She said, Booth shot her a questioning look. "We need to tell Cam, and then we should tell the family that we found their daughter."
He nodded as he lead her out of the office, his hand on the small of her back as they walked into Cam's office. Cam sat at her computer typing fast as music played softly in the back ground. She didn't notice the pair standing in front of her, at first. Brennan cleared her throat.
"Dr. Brennan, you startled me." Cam said, looking at her disposition. The usually, strait posture and firm look wasn't there, Brennan wasn't standing up strait, more leaning into her partner and she looked upset. "Did you find something?"
"The last victim is Amalie Jacobs." She said, her voice still strong and confident.
"The girl they sent the Amber Alert about, was it three weeks ago?" Asked Cam, standing up."And they haven't found her yet, no leads or anything?"
"Yes." Answered Booth with a nod, they followed the pathologist to her lab that held the skeleton. The small body sat patiently on the table as Cam put on a pair of gloves.
"The rate of decomposition, age, race matches how long she has been missing." Said Brennan, pointed to the neck. "They hyoid looks to be broken, we should get a full set of x-rays and have Angela put a face to it, Zack can do the tissue markers."
"Are you sure this is Amalie?" Asked Cam, despite their rough start-she highly respected her opinion, she was never wrong, always waited to hear the facts before forming an opinion on any matter.
Before she could answer, Hodgins walked into the room holding a report in his hand. "I ran the levels on number six, she had a high trace of fluoride, typical to the D.C. area. I also extracted ethyl alcohol, acetone and some sort of resin on the remains. I have yet to narrow the sort of resin." He said with a raised brow.
Brennan thought over the ingredients. "See if you can narrow that down, and maybe we can narrow something." She shrugged, Hodgins nodded and left to continue his work.
"We are going to talk to the parents, tell them that we found their daughter." Said Booth, his hand never left his partners back, as they walked out of the lab.
The drive to four-thirty-two Samson Street was dreaded by both Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan. The entire ride in the car was spent in silence.
Booth stopped the car in of the house and took a deep breath. "I really don't want to do this. Nothing is harder than telling someone your child is dead." Said Booth.
"I can do it on my own if you want." She suggested softly, her blue eyes meeting his brown ones.
"Its alright, we can do it together like always." He said, taking her right hand into his left and giving her fingers a slight squeeze. Their moment lasted a little longer and then both got out of the vehicle.
The pair walked up the long drive way of the old fashion colonial, Booth's longer legs reaching the stoop first, and giving it a firm knock. A young child, about the age of five, opened the door. Booth kneeled close to the boy. "Hey, buddy. Is your mom or dad home?" He asked.
"Mommy!" Shouted the boy. "There are people at the door."
"Connor Jacobs, how many time did I tell you not to answer the door." Shouted the voice in a very thick french accent. Soon the woman made herself into view. "Can I help you?"
"My name is Special Agent Seeley Booth and this is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan, we are here from the FBI." He said slowly, not to scare her.
"You found Amalie?" She whispered, taking a hold of the boy at her legs and slowly stepping away from the door way. "Will you please come in?"