Chapter 8
Booth sat at his desk going through crime scene photos and forensic reports on the bookstore explosion. The FBI lab had completed its examination of the bomb fragments but had not come up with anything useful. The delivery man had no apparent motive to cause the destruction that ended his life. His residence had been searched but no bomb making materials were found or anything else incriminating. He seemed to be what he appeared, nothing more than a man willing to stretch a few rules to make some extra pocket money.
At that moment, Booth's cell phone rang. He grabbed it off of his desk and found himself smiling when he noticed the call was from Bones.
"Hey, Bones. How are you doing?" he answered.
"I'm fine,Booth," answered Brennan. "I'm on my way to see Dad and Russ. Thought you might want to know that we met Marianne Maisson, Anna's grandmother, at the hospital.
"Thanks," Booth said, "I just got the report from our undercover person at the hospital. She'll be approached to help her find a secure place to stay. We're finished with her daughter's apartment but it probably isn't the best place for her until we know more about what we're dealing with."
"I had a chance to ask Anna if she knew anything. All she said was that her mother sometimes had abusive people and odd phone calls at the store. Probably fundamentalist religious types. I imagine that kind of thing would be an occupational hazard for anyone, let alone a psychic, running that kind of business." Brennan said.
"Yeah, we're already going over her phone records. It's a good thing she hasn't been in the city that long. It should be a quick search. Maybe her mother can fill in something," said Booth.
"Hopefully. I'm just pulling into the prison now. Gotta go," said Brennan, as she ended the call on her speaker phone.
"I'll catch up with you as soon...," replied Booth realising she had already hung up and missed his last sentence.
Brennan drove through the security gate and presented her ID for inspection. Once cleared, she was directed to visitor parking and made her way through the various security stations. She was glad that she would be allowed the use of one of the double entry glass partitioned interrogation rooms instead of the little cubicles where you could only talk by telephone through the glass. Brennan was directed into their assigned room. It was brightly lit but the nearby armed guards kept the atmosphere anything but relaxed.
While she waited, she thought about her recent experiences and wondered how she was going to deal with whatever might come out today. Although security had taken her handbag, she was allowed to keep Anna's picture. She wanted to stay objective, as if this were just another case she was working on.Instead, she found just thinking about her mother made her eyes tear upand a lump form in her throat. She was dismayed at how her emotions seemed so close to the surface.
She was distracted from her thoughts suddenly by the appearance through the glass of Russ and her dad as they made their way down the hallway past the other interconnected rooms. She quickly brushed the forming tears from her eyes.
"Tempe, are you alright?" said Russ as he entered the room first. Brennan stood up to give him a hug as Max came in.
"Yes,I'm fine. Just don't hug me too tight," she answered, trying to pass her injuries off as lightly as possible as she movedto give her father a hug as well. "Some bruised ribs, nothing to worry about."
Both Max and Russ did a silent inspection of the cuts and bruises visible on her face and arms as they all seated themselves around the table.
"We were told yesterday that you had been hurt when a bomb blew up a bookstore killing two people. That's all they told us except that you had spent time at the hospital before being released. It was hard just sitting here and not being able to be with you," said Max.
"We're still not sure what that was all about. Dad, some new information on Mom and her death came to my attention yesterday but it's from an unverifiable source. I asked to see both of you together because Russ has a right to know about this, too," Brennan started in on her main purpose for being there.
"You've never told us what happened to Mom exactly," said Russ, his curiosity now awakened and wondered what his sister had found out.
"What's this all about, baby?" Max said, trying to get a feel for the situation.
"Dad, will you please tell us what happened? All we know from her remains and the investigation so far is that she was injured during a confrontation with Vince McVicars a short time after you left us and that injury never healed. It caused a subdural hematoma that grew gradually and caused damage to her brain. She died no more than two years after being attacked with that revolting bolt gun McVicars used to slaughter pigs and his human victims," said Brennan, with disgust in her voice as she remembered the search for her mother's killer, meeting McVicars and finding the bolt gun in question.
Even though he had heard these details before, Russ found himself shocked anew at hearing what had caused his mother's death.
"So what's this new information you have," said Max, still trying to delay fulfilling his children's request.
"Dad, just tell us. We can both guess it must have been difficult. You had to run from McVicars when he attacked Mom. She died and you buried her in that cemetery in Pennsylvania," urged Russ, as he glanced from his sister and father.
Max's face filled with emotion as he tried to arrange his thoughts. The inevitable had come to pass. He would have to tell them... everything.
"I didn't want to keep it from you but your mother was gone and it seemed better to just forget. I didn't know how to tell you both. You already had lots of good reasons not to trust me, I was afraid I would lose you all over again," Max said.
Brennan pulled Anna's picture from her pocket and opened it for both Max and Russ to see. Russ' face clouded as the possible scenarios suggested by the picture began to form in his mind.
"My God," whispered Max as he looked at the drawing. "Who drew this? It looks like a child's drawing."
"Yes, actually you're right but I'll explain the picture after you tell us what happened to Mom," Brennan said, making it clear she wasn't going to settle for anything but the whole truth.
"I don't know how anyone could have known. This picture makes no sense," said Max puzzled over this development.
He took a deep breath and finally started his story. "Okay. As you can expect, we moved around a lot trying to stay ahead of anybody still looking for us. I really hoped I had killed McVicars after he hurt your mother with that bolt gun you mentioned but I couldn't be sure," he said as a flash of anger crossed his face as the memories surfaced in his mind.
"About a year later, we moved to a friend's family farm next to this old country cemetery near Salisbury. It was beautiful countryside and your mother loved walking in the cemetery's park. We didn't know she had been seriously hurt. The cut on her head healed quickly leaving only a small scar hidden by her hair. She had started getting headaches but it just seemed to be the stress we were both under. She had always had the occasional migraine. You may both remember that."
"I had gotten a job nearby as an electrician. I know in Chicago, you knew me as a science teacher. Before we got pulled into our life of crime, I had spent years working in construction so it was easy work to get," Max paused as he reached out to hold both Russ' and Brennan's hands in his."
"What this picture shows is true. About March that year, your mother became pregnant. She missed you both so much and was so afraid of doing something to expose you to danger. We never risked trying to keep tabs on you. It wasn't until after your mother died that I tracked you both down. You weren't in perfect situations but you were okay in your own lives. I knew that to keep you safe, I still had to keep my distance under the circumstances."
"Anyway, your mother became very protective of the baby and seemed to feel somehow that God had forgiven her for leaving you two behind to give us another child. She started to behave in odd ways...paranoid and over-emotional. Whether this was just her pregnancy and hormones or some effect of her injury, I don't know. She refused to see a doctor for her headaches or the baby. She kept saying having you two was enough experience. Remember we were living in the country. It was secluded and seemed safer."
"For the last five months of her life, she never went into town or met anyone in the community. I did our shopping and while I was at work, she spent her time either gardening or walking in the countryside. In late September, she was about seven months and the only outing I could talk her into was going to a movie theatre with me in a small town a couple of hours away. Somehow, I convinced her that there was no chance anyone would recognise us. It was one of her last 'good' days when the headaches didn't bother her too much."
"A few days later, I came home from work and...," Max paused as he gave his son and daughter's hands a squeeze and a tear started to fall down his cheek, "I came home and couldn't find her anywhere. At first I thought she was just out walking but there was a storm brewing. There had been tornado warnings but then I found blood on the bed and in the bathroom."
At this point, Russ and Brennan linked there other hands together to complete a circle of support with their father.
Max continued, "I didn't know if she had been attacked or if it was something to do with the baby. I followed the trail of blood into the woods. It was getting dark and had started to rain. I came out near the cemetery and saw her in the distance. She was kneeling on the ground covering a hole with dirt. When I got close enough for her to see me, she tried to tell me what happened but she was so distraught, it didn't make a lot of sense. Best I could gather was that she had gone into labour that morning and had no way to contact me. We didn't have a phone. We had talked about names for the baby - Ryan for a boy and Elizabeth for a girl. The only way I knew the baby was a girl was she kept repeating the baby's name, "Beth". She said Beth lived only a couple of hours before something went wrong and died."
Startled to hear her sister's name confirmed, Brennan covered her surprise by giving her father's hand an encouraging squeeze.
"Your mother buried your sister. She knew we wouldn't be able to report it. She collapsed from loss of blood and I carried her home in the rain. She died in my arms before I could even think of driving her to the nearest hospital in Meyersville. The next day, I buried her near where I thought she had buried the baby, cleaned the mess in the house and left. Your mother and sister died on September 27, 1993."
At this point, everyone's faces were covered with tears as Max finished telling of their family's tragedy but these were now cleansing tears. Russ and Brennan could now hope for some closure to their mother's absence in their lives once they were able to process these new details of her death and to grieve for the sister they would never have a chance to know.
"You blame yourself, don't you?" asked Russ, although it was more of a statement as the answer was obvious.
"Of course I do. If I had been there when she needed me, they both might have lived," Max said, releasing their hands to wipe away his tears.
"Dad, there was no way for you to have known about Mom's injury. You said she refused any medical treatment and keeping her calm may have prolonged her life a short time. If you had been able to get medical help at the right time - which is difficult to know when that would have been - there's no guarantee that she, or the baby, would have survived the surgery from this kind of damage. It may have even caused her premature labour. I can blame you for quite a few things but not this. McVicars is to blame, not you," said Brennan, through her tears. "I'm afraid she would have died from this within a short time, no matter what happened."
"I can't blame you either, Dad. I trust Tempe's knowledge on this," added Russ. "You did all you could to keep her safe."
Max was speechless. He had held this in for so long and had worked himself into a state thinking, with everything that had happened, blaming him for their mother's death would be a naturalconclusion in their minds. He felt a great weight lifted off his shoulders.
'You know, I almost wish your mother hadn't been found. Not for the reason you think. It's just that she loved that place so much. It was a real sanctuary for her." As he said this, he remembered one of his few happy memories from this time. He would come home late in the evening after a long day at workjust before sunset and see Ruth cross the clipped lawn surrounding the cemetery, backlit with the colours of the setting sun. "It's okay where you have her now, but it would be nice if she could be together with your sister, somehow."
"I've already requested a sweep of the area where Mom's remains were found with a ground penetrating radar device. I will be informed of anything found and have left express instructions that I will perform the examination on site," explained Brennan.
"The only thing she didn't like about that place was a nearby wolf pack that would sometimes keep her up with their howling. Near the end, they got worked into her paranoia and she was almost too afraid to go on her usual walks. She even had nightmares of them chasing her through the woods during those last few months," Max said.
Brennan's face suddenly turned white at hearing this. Her recent brush with the paranormal had her thinking all sorts of weird and unacceptable things. She tried to reassert her logical nature but it was too late to prevent both Russ and Max from noticing her reaction.
"Tempe, are you alright?" asked Russ at the same time as Max said,"Baby, what's wrong."
Brennan sighed and tried with difficulty to collect herself. "About a year and a half after you and Mom left, I started to get these dreams. I assumed it was just stress from the living situation I was in at the time. It was a difficult placement and I moved again right away. For years afterwards though, that dream would show up whenever I was stressed about something. It was just like what you said about Mom's dreams. Wolves would chase me through the woods and I would wake myself up screaming. Did Mom have a fear of wolves that I might have picked up as a child?"
"No, not that I recall, but you never know - maybe," replied Max, puzzled by his daughter's admission.
"I'm not sure how to explain this, but the reason I needed to talk to you both today is because of something odd that happened yesterday. This is so far away from anything I have ever accepted as true but I met a little girl yesterday, moments before that explosion. That picture was drawn by her while I watched. She believed that Mom was there in the room with us. Only she could see her and communicate with her. She knew your names and I mean your real names. She even knew about the "bad things" she called them, that you both have done. Apparently, Mom worries about you both."
"Last night, I had that wolf dream again for the first time in almost ten years and this time, Mom was there. She told me to find Beth. In my dream, I asked her who Beth was and she told me she was my sister. That dream gave me information only you would know." Brennan started to lose her composure, "I can't believe I'm dreaming of ghosts. They don't exist. They can't..."
Max stood up and went around the table to gather his daughter into his arms as she burst into sobs. Max tried to comfort her as best he could but he was also reeling with the implications of what she had just said. Could his daughter and his wife have been psychically linked somehow? Just like his daughter, he prided himself on being practical and this kind of thing was beyond his understanding.
Brennan fought herself to calm down and a couple of minutes later, said "I'm okay...I'm okay." Brennan picked up Anna's picture as she sat down and Max returned to his seat after giving Russ an affectionate pat on the shoulder.
"The little girl who drew this is only four years old. Her name is Anna Maisson and the explosion killed her mother and the person who delivered the bomb. We were walking past this little New Age bookstore and Angela suddenly decided to have our fortunes told. We had just left the store and were lucky to be missed by the full force of the explosion."
"Angela's okay just some cuts and bruises. This morning when Angela and I visited Anna, one of the first things she asked me was if I was going to find Beth like my mother wanted. How could she know?"
"Anna said Mom wanted us to know that she loved us all very much. I don't know what to believe anymore," Brennan said, completely spent emotionally.
Russ had been quietly listening to all of this and finally said,"Tempe, I can understand why you're confused right now. This is all remarkable but is it so hard to accept that Mom would want to reach us, somehow?" He had always been more like his mother when it came to accepting the mysteries of the world. Working as a travelling carny ride operator, he'd met a couple of seemingly talented psychics among the many flim flam artists over the past few years.
"Yes," Brennan said forcefully," I don't accept anything survives death. it's just flesh that rots away leaving the bones. Nothing more."
Shhhh..." said Max, reassuringly. "It's alright, Temperance. We all have to deal with this in our own way. I'm glad you both know about your mother and sister now. We can start to put this all behind us."
At this point, a guard signalled and caught Max's attention. "I'm sorry but I think our time is up for using this room," he said.
"Yes. I need to get back to work. We still have a bomber to catch," replied Brennan as she got up to give Russ and her father a hug goodbye.
Booth had been watching the Brennan family for several minutes from a short distance away. He hoped she was finally getting the answers she needed. Brennan came out of the small room and saw Booth waiting for her. She felt emotionally drained and physically exhausted.
"Hey, are you going to be okay," Booth asked quietly as she drew nearer to him. He had witnessed her emotional states while talking to her family. Her eyes were red and puffy and her face was well stained with tears. Brennan walked into his arms that automatically moved to encircle her in a protective embrace.
"Yes. You know, for the first time in a long time, I think I will be," she said as she met his eyes with the beginnings of a smile.
Back in their meeting room, Max and Russwaited for their respective escort guards and saw the obviously affectionate greeting between their Temperance and Booth.
"I think our Tempe has finally found her man," said Russ as he exchanged a grin with his Dad.
"Maybe," Max responded, "He's got a lot of walls to climb. I couldn't wish for anyone better for her. He just might be strong enough to get through to her. I wish him the best of luck."
As Max and Russ were ushered back to their daily activities, Booth and Brennan made their way through the security checkpoints to retrieve their personal belongings. As they were going out the last set of doors, Booth's cell phone rang with an incoming text message that read,"Unidentified pkg found at psychic fair, Lincoln Community Centre. Evac in progress. Presence required ASAP."
Booth handed his phone to Brennan to read the message and grabbed her other hand to drag her with him to his SUV. Within a minute, theysped off with Booth's cherry light flashing, slowed only slightly to exit the final security checkpoint and to flash Booth's ID to the startled guard.