Chapter 3
Hodgins was the first to see Angela and Booth when they entered the Lab. Followed closely by Zack, he rushed down the platform stairs to meet them.
"Angela, finally. Don't do this to me. I'm used to worrying about government conspiracies, not thinking about you getting 'blown up'," said Hodgins as he fussed over her various injuries.
"Oh, Hodgie, I'm fine," reassured Angela. "Can you give me a little time? I still have to write up my statement for Booth before I forget the details. I also need to start working on a drawing of Karina, as well."
"Karina?" asked Hodgins.
"She's the woman from the bookstore that blew up," explained Angela.
"All right. I warn you, though. I intend to hover," said Hodgins relieved that his fiancée was not seriously hurt. They left the platform area and canoodled affectionately as they made their way to Angela's office. [Anna followed them, not wanting to get lost.
"How is Dr. Brennan, Seeley," asked Cam, coming from her office for an update.
"She'll be fine. She'll need a few days to heal. Bruised ribs and concussion are the worst. If her tests come back okay, they'll release her tonight. She should take a few days off but we both know that won't happen. She will probably be back to work sometime tomorrow," said Booth adding, "Have the remains arrived yet?"
"Yes, I was just informed they are being unloaded right now. We can start identifying them as soon as they are brought up. How is the little girl? I understand the dead woman had a young daughter found alive in the debris," asked Cam.
"She has a broken arm, some cuts and burns. She's still unconscious and the doctors are hoping she hasn't had any trauma to the brain. They're afraid she might go into a coma if she doesn't wake up soon. Hopefully, we can locate her family," replied Booth.
"The property management company that owned the bookstore may have information on her mother. Witnesses at the scene said that Karina Maisson had opened her bookstore a couple of months ago. We'll also be following up on the delivery service, too. We were able to trace the vehicle and it hadn't been reported stolen," He turned to leave and added, "I'll check back later."
Two hours later - [Anna wandered around the office while Angela worked on her drawing. A book on a table looked interesting. It was open to pages showing several drawings of colorful butterflies. She had found it very hard to pick up anything but was able to turn the page.
Angela caught movement out of the corner of her eye and was startled to see a page of one of Hodgins' insect books left open on the table move by itself. Deciding it must have been a breeze from their sometimes-erratic ventilation system, she returned to her task of completing her memory drawing of Karina. She knew that within a few hours, Karina's skeleton would be ready to be examined. Zack had informed her that Cam had completed her preliminary exam of both victims. Due to extensive burn damage, she had authorized that Karina's remains be turned over to Zack's beloved flesh-eating beetles for cleaning.
[Anna had discovered that no one seemed to see her. She really must be a spirit person. Her mother always told her that she was special because she was one of the few who could see spirits. Feeling bored, she left Angela's office and walked down the hall. She passed an office where a woman sat at a desk talking on the phone. Moving along, she next came to a room with a huge glass case full of big bugs in the middle of the floor. They were crawling all over something but there were so many of them, she couldn't tell what it was. Anna really didn't like these bugs so she quickly ran back to find Angela.
(During the same time frame)
Cam's desk phone rang. "Saroyan," she answered.
"Hi, Cam. We were able to match the partial prints from the male victim you examined. He came up as Harold Walters, age 39. He was a legitimate employee of the delivery service but the parcel he dropped off wasn't included on his log sheets. He was known to local police for small time stuff and had been reprimanded by his boss a few times for taking deliveries on the side. I'll fax over the full details right away. Our bomb crew is still sifting through the debris collected at the scene but so far, we know that the timing mechanism was an ordinary alarm clock. I know it's not much to go on. Still, no idea who did this or who was the intended target," said Booth, as he filled her in on the latest developments.
"Anything on the woman and her daughter?" Cam asked.
"Still tracking down next-of-kin but the forensic team located Karina Maisson's handbag and her ID's checked out. A team is going through her apartment now. Apparently she was from New Orleans. She moved around a bit, since leaving home after 'Katrina'. At least that's what she told the property management staff that rented the store space to her last November. She paid her rent on time."
"That's excellent progress, Seeley," Cam said. "I hope for the little girl's sake, they can find her family."
"Yeah, I know. I'm on my way back to the hospital to pick up Bones, now. Hopefully, she's ready to be released. If you need to find me, I'll be at her place tonight," said Booth.
"Oh?...Well I hope she's feeling better. I'll talk to you tomorrow," Cam said then ended the call.
She knew she really had no claim on Booth except as friends but the obvious connection between him and Brennan still gave her unexpected pangs of jealousy whenever she saw them together. He had ended their relationship saying that he felt it was too dangerous to be involved with someone he worked with. Considering what she saw between Booth and Brennan, he may just have to eat those words.
She was okay with things as they stood between her and Booth. It wouldn't have worked out between them anyway and had been just for fun, despite a strong affection that still lingered between them. At that moment she was startled to see a little girl wearing something red pass her doorway, running down the hall. It was probably a child from a nearby tour group. This seemed to happen fairly often. She wasn't yet used to working in such a public area. Working in one of the country's most famous museums got a bit crowded at times.
She left her office to make sure security caught up with the errant child, but when she looked down the hall, there was nothing there except Angela walking toward the imaging lab. She called security but they hadn't seen anyone that fit her description.
[Anna followed Angela into the lab containing their three dimensional holographic projector affectionately named the "Angelator". All Anna saw was a large black box in the middle of the room with buttons and knobs connected to a computer. Angela turned on the machine and wrote something onto a computer screen. In a moment, a skull and then a woman's face appeared among the sparkly lights.
Anna was amazed to recognize the face. "Momma!," she said to herself, continuing to stare at the image. She touched the light table and a moment later, Anna found herself standing on its surface reaching up to touch the face. As she did, the face turned around in a circle and came back to look at Anna with a happy smile. Now she could see her mother all of the way down to her waist. She knew her mother had found her and she was overjoyed. Karina, happy to see her daughter, reached down, picked her up and held her in a big hug. "Hi, baby," Anna's mother, whispered. A moment later, they both disappeared.
Angela entered several calculations into the Angelator's interface tablet from her examination of Karina's skull that lay in fragments nearby on a metal tray. She looked up to check her results. The translucent image changed from the original skull structure to one that included an overlay of muscle tissue and finally realistic facial features. Comparing her drawing with the facial reconstruction, Angela was pleased with her results and finally gave in to feelings of utter exhaustion. She could soon collect Hodgins and then head home.
She looked up at the Angelator's image, ready to power down the complicated and very expensive machine. She knew she was tired but what she saw took her breath away. Before her eyes, she saw a body miraculously fill in down to the waist with arms that held a little girl exactly like Anna had looked earlier that day. The 3D image's facial expressions had changed from its initial static blank look and now had a beautiful natural smile. The head turned to look down at the image of Anna in her arms.
Angela looked down at the computer display to check it's settings, but found they were exactly as she had entered. Taking a deep breath, Angela closed her eyes. When she reopened them a minute later and looked back up, she saw her original facial reconstruction superimposed on the underlying features of the skull.
"Hey, Angela, are you ready to go home yet?" urged Hodgins as he entered the lab. He called her name again but got no response. Noticing Angela's odd expression, he said, with a concern in his voice, "Angela…Angela…are you okay?"
"What…oh, ummm…yeah. Did you just see anything odd up there?" She said, indicating the machine.
"No. Just your usual high standard of excellent work," he said, trying a little flattery to get a smile out of her. He was getting worried about Angela's state of mind. Her unusual day must be catching up with her.
"Umm, thanks," Angela said, giving Hodgins a reassuring smile, "Let's get out of here. I'm exhausted."
She turned off the machine, collected her papers and the tray of skull fragments that she needed to return to the examination table where the rest of the remains were laid out. As she left the lab, she turned to give a puzzled look at the Angelator and turned out the lights.