Snapshots in Time
Chapter Two: The Clues in the Boy
Angela Montenegro, forensic artist and computer specialist at the Jeffersonian put one last final touch on her facial reconstruction, and smiled to herself. She had always been gifted in the ways of art, and she was proud of her hard-earned talent. She stood and took the sketch, placing it in her scanner and scanning it into the computer. Once that was done, she input some data and and ran a cross check between her sketch and the Missing Children's Database. While the computer did its work, Angela crossed her office to her desk, where her cell phone sat. She picked up the device and dialed a number she'd memorized, kind of on accident.
"Hello, Kelly? It's Angela. Yeah, I know this is the third time I've checked in today, but I can't really help it-it's my first day back, and I'm a little frazzled, you know?" Angela managed to get this all out before her and Hodgins' young babysitter, Kelly, could even breathe a word.
"Oh, yeah, no, it's fine. I definitely see where you're coming from," the teenager confirmed.
"Thanks," Angela replied, smiling. "So, how is Michael doing?"
"Oh, he's great. We just got back from a walk in the park, and now we're having lunch, isn't that right Michael?" Kelly switched to her baby-talk voice. Even though Angela didn't know Kelly too well, she recognized it in her. She, and anyone else, for that matter, could probably recognize it in anyone.
"Alright, well, it's almost time for me to let you go here, but before I do, I just want to thank you again for helping us out."
"Of course, Angela, I'm happy to help. Besides, I love babies. Who doesn't, you know?"
Angela smiled. "Yeah. Well, I'm gonna go. I'll see you when Hodgins and I get home from work, okay?"
"Sounds like a plan," Kelly agreed. She hung up first.
Angela sighed a little, then focused her attention on the computer screen. She'd gotten a match-the victim's name was Joshua Gansberg. As she read over his profile, something stuck out at Angela that she knew would interest Brennan. So, she took her results and headed for the forensics platform.
"Cause of death appears to be a gunshot wound to the temporal bone, but I'll know more once Dr. Edison cleans the bones," Brennan noted, giving her grad student, Dr. Clark Edison, a pointed look.
"I got the tox screen back," Cam announced, "Victim showed high levels of ethanol in his blood stream."
"He was drunk at the time of death?" Brennan questioned.
"I suppose so," she answered. "I also took a look at the contents of his stomach-or what was left of it-and I was able to find trace amounts of what used to be a hot dog, and get this: hay."
"Funny you should mention hay," Hodgins countered, joining them. "I examined the particulates on the victim's clothing, and I saw fertilizer, garden-variety soil, rat and mouse excrement, insect shells, and hay."
"What does this mean, exactly?" Brennan asked him.
"The floor of a barn. The victim was in a barn just before death. And unless he was rolling around on the ground voluntarily-"
"Possibility," Cam interrupted, "The victim was wasted when he died."
"-he put up a fight, and wrestled with his attacker before he was killed."
"Hey, so I identified our vic," Angela declared, joining the lot on the platform. "I did a reconstruction, and got a hit off the Missing Children's Database. Joshua Gansberg, sixteen. He was a foster child living in Glen Allen, Virginia. Went missing five months ago."
"Foster child?" Brennan questioned.
Angela nodded.
Brennan gave a small 'huh'. Booth chose that moment to waltz onto the platform, pausing only to swipe his ID badge. "Hey, so, what do we got?"
"Joshua Gansberg was a foster child who disappeared from his foster home in Glen Allen five months ago," Angela offered. "He was sixteen."
"And wasted, around the time of death," Cam continued. "His blood-alcohol levels were off the charts."
"He was killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head, execution style," Brennan added.
"In a barn," Hodgins finished. "Or, at least, he struggled with someone in one. My guess is, he was killed in one too."
"Alright, so, now that we have identity. Bones? You comin'?" Booth questioned his partner.
"Of course I'm coming," Brennan replied, already unbuttoning her lab coat. She followed Booth off the platform, and after a quick stop at Brennan's office, the partners were off.
"Isn't Glen Allen, like, two hours away?" Angela questioned.
"Yep," Hodgins confirmed.
"Oh, I am so giving Bren a call once they hit the road," Angela said, smiling deviously.
"Would you mind putting it on speaker?" Cam asked, causing the three to chuckle lightly.
The three crime solvers then proceeded to leave the platform to return to their duties.
Clark, who had been silent the whole time, was left to shake his head in amusement and pack up the remains to deflesh them.
Author's Note: Another snooze chapter, I know, but we'll get to the good stuff soon enough. I promise. Drop me a review if you love me?