Back in D.C. Abby and the Jeffersonian team were hard at work trying to determine how to transport a body from Kansas without anyone knowing.
"Maybe, they stuffed the body in a suitcase and loaded it on a plane." Abby suggested.
Zach answered bluntly. "There is no evidence of that. None of the bones are broken in a way that suggests that he was contorted in any way."
"So, we he was laid flat. You need something big for that, it would be noticeable." Angela
"And yet, we have no evidence he was in anything at all." Hodgins smirked.
"Did any one check to see if the fiancée or her brother has been to D.C. recently?" McGee piped up.
At this Abby got excited, kissed McGee on the cheek, grabbed Angela and ran from the room.
"Where are we going Abby?" Angela managed to ask as she was dragged along.
"We are checking financial records! One of them had to bring that body to D.C. and we are going to find out whom!" Abby responded as she sat at the computer and began typing. The two stayed at it for a couple of hours.
"Man, they weren't here and neither were any of his friends." Angela said glumly.
"No, someone had to get that body here, it didn't just walk. What about the land lord?"
"Why would he kill Gunning?" Hodgins entered the room.
"I don't know, but I am checking anyway." Abby's finger flew across the key board, "There," she pointed, "He bought two train tickets to D.C. and one back to Kansas for two hours later."
"Okay eww" Angela expressed her disgust at what she had just pictured.
"What?" Hodgins was puzzled.
"I just pictured the landlord guy, propping up the body next to him on the train." Angela explained.
"That's exactly what he must have done! It's so ridiculous it would work! We have to tell Booth and McGee!" Abby ran from the room excited again. Angela and Hodgins shared a look that said, who is that girl?
Abby all but tackled Zack as she ran through the lab. The bone sample he'd been carrying went flying through the air and crashed down.
"Oops! Sorry Zack!" Abby took just enough time to help Zack back up before running off again. Dr. Brennen appeared just as Zack was picking up the bone.
"Zack, why was that bone on the ground?" She asked a little bit too sternly.
"Sorry, Dr. Brennen that NCIS girl Abby knocked me down." Bones was too busy looking at the bone to listen to the answer.
"Zack is this bone from Petty Officer Gunning?" she asked.
"Yes" Zack answered quickly.
"Look, see this," She pointed at a small nick in the side, "It's another knife mark, with blood."
"So this is the fatal stab wound! How did we miss that?" Zack silently went over his every move in his head.
"This is the femur, we were focused on the pelvic bones, and it was easy to miss a mark so small."
"I'll compare it do the other marks" Zack took off without another word.
"MCGEE!" Abby hollered as she ran down the hall "WE KNOW WHO BROUGHT THE PRIVITE TO D.C"
McGee peeked his head out the door and Abby yelled louder. "Timmy, it was the land lord! In the last week he bought three train tickets, two from Kansas City to D.C. and one from D.C. to Kansas City. He must have propped up the body on the way here, dumped it and gone home."
"What possible motive does the land lord have to kill Gunning?" Booth asked aloud
"I don't know, he may not have killed him, I only know he moved the body. Angela is getting security footage from the train stations." Abby ran from the room to get back to the computer, leaving Booth and McGee to continue the discussion.
"The land lord said Gunning was a model tenant." McGee recalled.
"No, he only said he moved out awhile back, he never mentioned what he thought of him" Booth corrected.
"So, maybe Gunning was behind on rent?" McGee suggested.
"He can't get his money if Gunning is dead." Booth countered.
"Good point." The two agents went back and forth discussing for awhile until their phones rang. Both men reached for their phones and answered. Both conversations were short.
"That was Bones, Gunning was killed by a stab to the leg, it severed his femoral artery he bled out is minutes" Booth relayed.
"Mine was Abby, she and Angela confirmed that the land lord brought the body to D.C." McGee also relayed, "Well I better update Gibbs." He dialed the phone and talked as Booth continued to ponder motive.
After McGee hung up the whole team met up on the platform. They had figured out who moved the body to D.C., but still needed to figure out how it got to the park, why it was dug up, and who actually killed him for sure. They had done enough for the day.
The Jeffersonian team took McGee and Abby to the diner for a good meal and then everyone went home to bed.