Booth was walking over to Brennen, his pride wounded but in tact. She looked up and saw him, a slight smile on her lips.
"What?" Booth smiled back, wondering if he had missed a joke.
"It's a match." She stood erect and held up the saw they had collected from Raymond Stark's home "This is the saw that was used to dismember these remains."
Booth nodded, relief and frustration in his features. "We've got him," he said by way of explanation, "we just gotta go get him."
Then as if someone was reading his mind his phone rang, he excused himself and stepped few feet away from Brennen who set out trying to match the knife to the wounds on the bones.
"Booth…yeah….what!?…okay…yeah, we'll be there in fifteen minutes." He closed the phone. "Bones we gotta go, now."
"Just a second Booth, I just need to match these markings on the bone to this knife and…"
"Raymond Stark just turned himself in."
"What?" She straightened as Booth headed toward the stairs.
"And he's refusing to speak to anyone other than the lead agent in the investigation. So that's our cue, lets go. Zack can do that."
He had barely finished speaking and Brennen was stripping her lab coat and grabbing her bag. She brushed past Booth, her senses acutely aware of his cologne and she shook her head slightly at the momentary desire to stop and take in the smell.
"Zack!" She called as she descended the stairs of the platform, Booth not two steps behind,
"I have a match to the knife and our remains."
Booth lightly took her elbow and pulled her toward the exit doors. "C'mon Bones lets go."
"Just a second Booth. Zack, see if the knife we found is consistent with the Coroners report for the COD of the other victims and fax over your findings."
"Yes Dr. Brennen." The flustered assistant said, but she and Booth were already out the door.
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Brennen found the silence in the car unwelcome as her mind involuntarily kept making her inch toward Booth a little just to catch a whiff of his smell.
"Didn't uh…" She started, trying to remember what she was going to say, "were'nt you supposed to have Parker this weekend?" She thought back to the night before, Booth should have been with Parker, not at her apartment.
"Yea, but he got the chicken pox, Rebecca's going to let me have him next week." Booth took his sunglasses off as the sun had just passed behind a cloud.
"You've never had the chicken pox?"
Booth shook his head, "Nope, Jared got them when we were younger and my parents kept him isolated so I wouldn't get them."
"That was foolish." She muttered.
"What?" Booth glanced over at her, her face was not confrontational, more concerned.
"It's just that the varsilla-zoster virus is much easier to deal with in children. Adults are more likely to die from chickenpox and have serious complications from the varsilla infection. It would have been more logical to simply expose you to chicken pox when you're brother had them."
"Yea well, they were doing their best Bones. Just trying to protect their child. Love isn't always logical."
"Well that's obvious." She said to the window. Although neither she nor Booth were sure is she was referring to his parents or their partnership.
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At the FBI headquarters Brennen stopped Booth before he went into the room by placing a hand on his chest, which she quickly withdrew when she saw the surprised look on his face.
"Booth, maybe you should wait out here." She had been watching him throughout the ride and his anger was growing with every moment. She was afraid he wouldn't be able to keep himself under control in the same room with Stark.
"What are you talking about Bones?" He moved to get past her but she stepped in his way again.
"Just stay out here for a minute and calm down. You'll be able to see through the glass." She spoke low, but not low enough for Booth, who was now getting demeaning stares from the other officers.
He glanced up at them and then back at Brennen, the anger in his eyes surprised her. Just before he turned away she saw the slight red tinge in his cheeks and her stomach sank.
Oh no, I've embarrassed him haven't I? Great job Temperance.
She shook it off and went through the doors and saw the EC Chopper for the first time.
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At first glance, Raymond Stark did not look like a serial killer. Especially not one that specifically targeted children. But although Brennen wasn't very adept at reading people, she could see that through those soft features of his face, his blue eyes held an inner darkness that allowed him to do such horrific things.
Brennen sat on the opposite side of the table from their suspect, as Booth watched through the one-way glass. His cheeks were still on fire, but he couldn't tell now if his sudden warmth was due to embarrassment because of Bones or rage because of the EC Chopper. He knew she was right to make him stay outside and calm down for a second, because at that moment all he wanted to do was put Starks head through the wall. And he would do it too if the asshole made even the slightest hint of a threat toward Bones. A threat including a wide range of things, Booth decided. Like say, a hiccup.
"Who're you?" Stark's voice was like gravel under tires. Brennen narrowed her eyes at him and put the file down in front of her.
"My name is Dr. Temperance Brennen."
"I was told the agent in charge was someone named Booth.'
"It is. I'm his partner." Brennen noticed Stark was well dressed in a bulky sweater and slacks. She found it ironic to think the man had dressed up to turn himself in for what would undoubtedly lead to a life sentence if not the death penalty.
"Why did you turn yourself in?"
Stark leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "You guys made it to my house, I figured it was time. I always said if you made it to my house I'd turn myself in."
From the other side of the glass Booth watched like a hawk as his partner questioned Stark. He really was trying to calm down, but Stark was making it difficult. He leaned back casually from the table as Brennen presented him with the evidence. He showed no remorse, it was as if he and Bones were discussing last night's football game. Booth knew they had enough evidence to send him to trial, but they didn't have a motive. Booth wanted a motive for all these murders. Especially the first, why had he killed the first girl Maureen Stark?
It was then that another agent came into the room and handed him a couple of papers.
"Thanks Scott." He mumbled, already looking things over. He recognized what they were, faxes from the Jeffersonian. The finished face from Angela and the DNA results from Zach along with a positive ID for the knife to the injuries on the other victims.
Booth burst into the interrogation room, startling both Brennen and Stark who had not known he was coming.
"You killed seven kids." He growled, he leaned far over the table in Starks face, standing next to Brennen, who made no motions to pull him back.
"You left seven families torn to shreds. Six innocent kids and" Booth threw Angela's picture down on the table in front of Stark. "Your own twin sister."
Brennen looked over at the picture and then strained to see the DNA results Booth had just brought in with him. The DNA was a match and the birth dates were identical. Raymond and Maureen Stark were brother and sister.
A look of panic passed quickly over Stark's eyes, but disappeared when he looked up and sneered at Booth.
"So you finally figured it out huh Agent Booth? Well you're right I killed seven people, but they weren't innocent. None of them were. Maureen knew how I felt about her. I'd told her, but the stupid girl wouldn't listen. She slapped me, called me a freak and went ahead and married James. That whore."
"You were in love with you're sister?" Brennen felt naseous. "And when she refused you're twisted advances you stabbed her to death and dismembered her body?"
The look on Stark's face was confirmation enough.
"What about the others? Melanie, Sasha, Grace, Debbie, Megan, Kayla. Those girls never did anything to you." Booth hissed.
"No. Not to me. But I saw the way their brothers looked at them and how they constantly brushed them aside. I gave them what they deserved, so their brother's could go on to live a better life without them." The same sick grin played all over Stark's hairy face. Booth's jaw muscles ached from how he'd been clenching his teeth but he had yet to relax them.
"You're a sick bastard." Booth's low, menacing voice responded. He really thought all those boys were like him? I hate psycos.
Finally Brennen couldn't hold back any longer. "But you screwed up."
"What?"
"You're last victim wasn't a girl, it was a boy. Tommy Bennett."
It was Booth's turn to sneer as he watched horror take over the man's face as Bones' words registered.
"You mistook Tommy for his sister and you killed him. Kayla is still very much alive."
Stark's lips curled in and he dropped his gaze to the table. "You're lying." Then suddenly, all civility was gone from his features and he looked at Brennen, beggining to rise from his seat and move towards her.
"You lying Bitch!!"
Within seconds Booth had grabbed Raymond, pulled him away from theh table and slammed him into the wall. Stark was prepared for this though, and as the agent pinned him, he pulled something shiny from his sweater sleeve. Brennen saw but it was too late.
Booth staggered away from Stark, his hands cradling the knife protruding from his stomach.
Brennen kicked her heel into Stark's chest, causing him to crumple against the wall gasping for air. Agents were already flooding the room, but Brennen paid no attention. She was kneeling at Booth's side, he'd fallen to the floor and was struggling against pain and the sudden urge to close his eyes for a while.
"Booth? Booth stay with me!" She took his hand with one of hers and applied pressure to his wound with the other. Trying desperately to stop the blood that gushed forth. On instinct Booth had already yanked the knife out, and both of them knew that was not the right thing to do.
Booth cursed himself as the waves of pain hit his body causing him to shudder.
Brennen glanced over at the knife next to his body, bloodstained all the way up to the handle. It was a very deep wound. Blood was already soaking his shirt as his face contorted in agony.
"Temperance…" He whispered weakly.
"Someone call 9-1-1! Call 9-1-1!" Brennen heard her voice screaming, but didn't think she remembered opening her mouth to do so. She just clutched Booth's hand with all her might, willing him not to let go. His eyes closed and she saw a bit of blood in his mouth and he started to tremble, he was going into shock. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized how serious Booth's injury was.
Stark hit the stomach lining! He's bleeding internally...
"Booth! Seeley! Seeley please…"
She wasn't even aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks.
I am a bit of a cliffee junkie...so tell me...want the last chap??