Chapter 16
The long uncomfortable silence on the drive back to D.C. was occasionally broken by Sweets and Wendell in their failed attempts at conversation. The quartet carried the evidence into the Jeffersonian. Hodgins and Cam were waiting on the platform and started in before Sweets had set the box of files down.
"I'll take those." Angela said as she walked up the platform. Sweets turned and carried them into her office. Max walked into the lab with an armload of Chinese food.
"I had Max bring food." Cam said as she went back to the evidence. Wendell was engrossed in helping Hodgins collect particulates from the gym bag. Brennan and Booth walked into Brennan's office after her father.
"Didn't find the guy?" Max asked sympathetically.
"We found him, we think." Booth said. "We just don't have much to hold him on. Hopefully he'll give us more after we question him. Thanks for getting Parker into the summer camp."
"No problem, Booth. He's a good kid. Smart. He made me promise I'll bring him over here to have lunch sometimes." Max laughed.
"He mentioned that to me too." Brennan said.
"Just keep him away from Hodgins. Rebecca won't take in anymore bugs as pets and I keep killing them." Booth said with a chuckle. Sweets joined them and they chatted and ate. After awhile, Booth got a call from Charlie to let him know that Dr. Sullivan had arrived and was ready to be questioned. Booth, Brennan and Sweets headed to the Hoover building.
Dr. Sullivan sat smugly as Booth entered the interrogation room. Brennan and Sweets were watching from the observation room. Brennan watched Booth get increasingly frustrated as Dr. Sullivan deflected each question.
"He believes that Agent Booth is beneath him." Sweets explained. "He believes he has gotten away with this murder and there is nothing that we can do to him. He feels invincible." Brennan tilted her head slightly and stared at Dr. Sullivan. Booth left the interrogation room and entered the observation room.
"He claims the gym bag was left by a research subject and still insists that he was never in the small room." Suddenly Brennan perked up. She walked to the door.
"Whoa whoa whoa, where are you going?" Booth asked as he caught her arm.
"To question him."
"Bones, you know, that's not really your thing." Booth said, trying to be delicate.
"I get it." was all Brennan would say. She freed her arm and walked into the interrogation room before Booth and Sweets could stop her.
"Don't you think..." Sweets started.
"She gets it." Booth shrugged.
"Dr. Sullivan," she said as she walked in, "Please tell me how the shoes in the gym bag were damaged."
"Jeez!" Booth sighed as he smacked his forehead.
"As I told Agent Booth, the bag was left by one of my research subjects. I don't know how they were damaged."
"You insist that they are not your shoes?"
"No, Dr. Brennan, they are not mine. They aren't even my size."
"And you do not know to whom they belong?"
"No. I found them near a recliner in my lab."
"Do you see each of your research subjects personally?"
"I do."
"And you log their participation in addition to the numbered data?"
"I do."
"Then wouldn't you know to whom the shoes belonged?"
"Nice!" Booth said, impressed.
"No. I didn't find it until sometime after my last appointment."
"On what day did you find them?"
"I don't remember."
"How long have they been in your office?"
"I don't really remember."
"Have you asked anyone if it was their bag?"
"No."
"Have you seen any subjects since you found the bag?"
"Yes. I keep the bag in my office and forgot to ask about it." Brennan's phone rang. She excused herself to the hallway. Booth and Sweets scrambled out of the observation room.
"...yes, that's what I thought. Call Judy Benjamin and verify. Thanks Wendell."
"What?" Booth and Sweets said in unison.
"The gym bag was planted after our last visit. It wasn't there before. The clothes inside are mismatched sizes. He damaged the shoes after our visit. You were right, I was handing him a defense, and he took the bait." Brennan turned around and walked back into interrogation, Booth and Sweets right behind her.
"Dr. Sullivan, as I'm sure you know, the gym clothes do not match your size. Are any of your subjects rather short?"
"Yes."
"Are there any that are obese?"
"Yes."
"How did clothes of varying sizes get into the bag?"
"What?"
"The clothes in the gym bag do not match each other. There's no where in your lab where you could place a whole human into acid. Federal Agents are searching your house now, but I suspect you are smarter than that. But you aren't smart enough." Booth and Sweets looked at Brennan.
"I assure you, I am innocent of doing any harm to Robert Newton but I am certainly smart enough to have committed the crime. I wouldn't have left evidence in my own lab, I would have killed and dumped the body at the scene."
"Why would anyone take such pains to set you up? After all, you barely knew the man, why would we believe you killed him?"
"And yet here we are."
"You know my people are very good. They can take a bit of bone and determine where a person has lived. They are so good, they can get DNA from sweat left in a gym shoe."
"I have heard that."
"Perhaps in my last book?"
"I did read it, yes."
"You don't see the assistants in your building as worthy of notice, so you don't notice them. You never thought we'd talk to them about a place to retrieve lost articles."
"Lost and Found, Bones, Lost and Found" Booth said.
"Yes, Lost and Found. Did you know your building had one." Dr. Sullivan's eyes were wide. Sweets saw his opportunity.
"Dr. Brennan, only a great fool would plant evidence in a murder he didn't commit." Sweets said, hoping Dr. Brennan would see where he was going.
"And only the killer would have the victim's blood to plant in the gym bag." Dr. Brennan said. Sweets breathed easier.
"I didn't! There wasn't any blood, Robert was killed with a blow to the head. His body was dumped into a small limestone shell and dissolved in acid." Dr. Sullivan yelled, indignant and desperate. He looked up and saw the triumph on the faces of his accusers. "I'd like to call my lawyer please."