AN: Thank you for the lovely reviews I received on the latest chapter. If I could send each of you a free hug from Booth, I would, but sadly, I must use the money to go to college. Haha.

Enjoy!

Climbing onto the roof of Vinn's store, Brennan and Booth were pegged in the face by the sudden rain that had erupted from the overcast sky mere minutes before. The shrubbery and gardens upon the roof shook and shivered from the pounding raindrops, as did the young teenage boy, crouched in a corner of the roof, his gloved hands covering a fresh pile of dirt.

"Geremy Fitchkins?" Booth called out to him over the oncoming storm.

"Vinn said to keep this dry. I'm keeping it dry," Geremy responded, his small voice barely detectable.

"Geremy, do you know what happened to Mr. Fud?"

"He was a bad man." The pair shuffled closer and Brennan tugged on Booth's jacket sleeve, pointing to the gloves Geremy wore.

"If I give those to Hodgins, he could prove they were the same exact gloves used at the crime scene." Booth restrained himself from scolding her about how to talk in front of a suspect and merely nodded. He kneeled down to Geremy's level and the boy finally looked him in the eye.

"He did terrible things to my mom. He stole our money. Why should he get all of our money and not us?"

"Did he tell you he took the money that night, Geremy?"

"No. But I knew he was lying. Cause he's a liar. Liar, liar, but no pants on fire." He fiddled with the gloves, plucking them off slowly and dumping them onto the ground. "I know I shouldn't have done what I did but he wouldn't stop lying. If God says don't lie, then you don't lie, right?"

"Right," Booth sighed and placed a hand around Geremy's arm, hauling him up to stand, "What exactly happened that night?" The boy began sobbing and biting his lip until blood started to trickle down, mixing with the falling rain.

"He came up to me in the parking lot. I was heading back home and he started touching me and grabbing me, kept screaming that he didn't do anything wrong," His face twisted in pain and his sobs grew louder, "But he was a liar! Fud has always been lying to my mom and I didn't want to see her cry anymore. My mom is a good person and he was just lying and lying and he wouldn't stop!" Brennan moved forward, placing a comforting hand on Geremy's shoulder. "He told me the president was making him do it, that he couldn't stop the bank from taking the money, but I knew he was just making up excuses."

"What happened after that?"

"He wouldn't stop putting his hands on my cart, so I ran him over with it and kept pushing him and pushing him and he wouldn't stop lying! No matter how hard I hit him, he just wouldn't stop, so I picked up the cart and threw it on top of him. After that, he stopped moving, so I pulled him into the cart and took him to the store. I figured that I could keep him in the freezer until I found somewhere to put the bastard and then Vinn found him on accident. He just… he just wouldn't stop lying! And no one makes my mom cry. She's tough. But that man… he made her cry."

"Well, you know what happens now, right?" Geremy nodded solemnly as the rain poured down around them.

"Yeah. I killed him. He deserved it, but I killed him." As Booth headed back towards the staircase to arrest the boy, Brennan leaned down to place the gloves in an evidence bag. What caught her eye, though, were a few small flowers peaking out of the drenched soil Geremy had been trying to keep dry when they had first arrived. With her free hand, she grabbed an empty box from the side and covered the flowers to keep them safe.

\/

After a steaming cup of coffee, Brennan made her way to Angela's office to bid farewell to her friend before leaving for the night.

"Ange?" Brennan knocked against the doorway. On the computer screen was a newspaper article dated a few months before Fud's death. "What's this?"

"This is from the Washington Times," Angela spoke up, "It's about a fatal car accident involving Fud's wife and two sons." She turned towards Brennan, a sad smile on her face. "Bren, the money that Fud came into was from his family's life insurance."

"What was he going to do with it?"

"According to his secretary, he planned to give it to charity. Maybe he didn't have anything left to live for, but there was no reason for his death. Elmer Fud was an innocent man."

AN: Short, yes, but the next chapter promises B&B, so stay tuned.