April 18th, 2016

William sighed as the sound of laughter erupted once again from the bedroom next to his. He hated it when his sister had friends sleeping over. He hated the sound of giggling, the gossip he was pretty sure they were exchanging as they laid in their sleeping bags, a flashlight serving as the only source of lighting in the room. Actually, he hated girls. How was he supposed to read when the girls didn't stop giggling in the next room?

"Shut up!" Will growled as he threw his book aside on his bed and blocked his ears.

It was past ten and they had school tomorrow. Shouldn't his sister and her friend be sleeping by now?

He guessed he couldn't blame her. Ever since his family had moved in 53 Maple Street, he, himself, had had trouble falling asleep. And Marshall's story on what had happened in this particular house several years ago didn't help. The first few nights in their new home had been spent in complete fright as nightmares of ghosts and dead bodies populated his dreams. He never really believed in ghosts before but there was just something about this house that was making him willing to reconsider the whole idea.

Another fit of giggles erupted from the other room and this time, the pre-teen decided he had had enough. Jumping out of bed, he walked out of his room and knocked on the closed door of his younger sister's bedroom. A chirpy voice told him to come in.

"Are you two going to bed soon?" William asked, irritatedly, after opening the door.

"No." Mickey replied, giggling. "Mommy said we could stay up as long as we wanted."

"That is so not true."

"Is to."

"Is not."

"Is to."

"Is not."

William sighed. It was impossible for him to lose this argument. His sister could go on for hours. He'd have to find something else to quiet her. Suddenly, an idea hit him. He smiled evilly.

"Would you girls like to hear a story?"

Mickey and Riley exchanged looks then nodded. Laughing internally, William stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him.

He settled himself comfortably on his sister's bed before snatching the flashlight out of her hands. Mickey protested but William ignored her. Instead, he took a deep breath and began the chilling tale of 53 Maple Street.

"This story is true." William started in a low voice. "Thirty years ago, something very strange happened in this house."

Riley gasped while Mickey squealed excitedly.

"What happened?" She asked in a whisper.

"Well, one night, there was some big earthquake. Nobody quite understands why it happened, even the scientists weren't able to explain it. In this house lived a family called the Joyce's and the Joyce's had a little girl called Laura. On the night of the earthquake, her mother heard her scream in her room but by the time she got to her, Laura had already disappeared. Nobody knows what happened to her. They never found her or her body."

Riley grabbed her friend's hand. Mickey eyed her brother suspiciously.

"You're lying."

William shook his head.

"No, it's true. Nobody knows for sure what happened to the girl but there's a rumor."

"What is it?" Riley asked, her eyes open wide and her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

"They say that Laura's body is still in this house."

Both girls gasped loudly. William forced himself not to laugh. His sister and her friend were too gullible, he thought.

They stayed in complete silence for a few seconds before Mickey spoke again.

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is. Marshall Simmons told me. He says that his mother was a friend of Laura's older sister. She lived across from their house."

Still, Mickey remained skeptical. She was used to having her brother play tricks on her. She wasn't going to believe his story so easily. A wicked grin spread across Mickey's face. If he wanted her to believe it, he'd have to prove it.

"I know what we should do." Mickey said, sounding cheerful.

"What?"

"Let's go look for it. Did Marshall tell you where the body is?"

"In the basement." William replied, unsure of what his sister was planning on doing.

Mickey stood up.

"Then let's go down to the basement and see if we can find her."

William's heart skipped a beat. The basement? At night? He barely even liked going down to the basement in broad daylight. If he had known his sister would have reacted this way to the story, he wouldn't have told her about it.

Feeling the two girls' eyes on him, William took a deep breath and nodded. Getting to his feet, he walked out of the room and led the two girls down the corridor, the stairs and down another hallway. The house was quiet and the floor cracked under their steps. Will's heart raced madly in his chest. Why had he decided to tell them that story?

He already knew they wouldn't find anything. This was just a rumor. Marshall Simmons had only been kidding when he had told him he would find Laura Joyce's remains in his basement. If Laura's body had never been found, then there was no way Marshall could have known about its whereabouts. Rumor. It had been just a rumor.

The steps cracked and darkness engulfed them as the trio slowly made their way down the stairs. Riley's heart beat quickly and her legs were shaking. She simply wanted to run back up the stairs and go back to Mickey's room where they would be safe. But she couldn't. She had to be brave. William would laugh at her if she got scared.

Her feet touched the cold cement floor. Riley shivered. She hated the basement. She reached out for her friend and grabbed her hand. Mickey squeezed it reassuringly. Riley calmed down a bit. At least she wasn't alone.

William finally found the switch and a dim light illuminated part of the basement. He turned to face the girls.

"Now what?"

"Let's look for her." Mickey replied as if the answer had been obvious.

"You want me to look for a dead body?" William asked, not entirely convinced.

"Of course." Mickey answered as she let go of Riley's hand and began walking around the basement. "You said that Laura's body is still here. Let's find her."

"You're crazy. Besides, I said that it was just a rumor, which means it's probably not true."

Mickey froze in her tracks.

"What?" William asked, frightened.

Mickey smiled.

"Nothing."

The little girl giggled. William growled. Suddenly, he got an idea. Another evil idea.

"Marshall said that she was probably in our laundry room."

William headed towards the tiny room at the back of the basement, trying his best to ignore the hair rising at the back of his neck. Mickey and Riley followed closely.

The entire house was silent, their parents probably already in bed. The only sound came from the water gurgling in some pipes somewhere in the basement.

The door to the small room creaked on its hinges as it opened. William took a deep breath before flicking on the switch. The bright light illuminated the entire room making the three children squint. Somewhere above their heads, a loud tock. The three children jumped, startled.

William looked down at the floor. He'd seen it before. That crack in the wooden boards. He hadn't paid much attention to it. Tonight, the slit seemed to be staring at him, like a black eye following his every move. Images of a dead body flashed before his eyes. A girl. Laura?

"Is it there?" Mickey asked, pointing to the crack.

William spun around, startled. Again, above their heads, another noise. Footsteps. Will's breath caught in his throat.

"Maybe." He replied, his voice thick with fear.

Mickey looked up at her brother.

"We'll need something to take off the board."

William nodded before pushing the two girls aside and running down to his father's workshop. He'd seen a crowbar in there before, he was sure of it.

Mickey turned to her friend.

"Do you really think Laura's body is in there?"

Riley shrugged, unable to reply, her own voice stuck in her throat. Her heart was racing and now, more than ever, she wished she could have slept at her house tonight and not here. Who cared if Mommy and Daddy had needed some time alone? She wanted her house, the safety of her bedroom, knowing that her father was in the other room, protecting them.

William came back a few minutes later. Mickey's eyes fell on the crowbar.

"Daddy will kill you if he ever finds out."

"He won't." William replied, knowing perfectly well it wasn't true.

In a couple of minutes, there would be a hole in the floor. Of course his father would find out.

Sticking one end of the bar into the crack, Will tried to lift the board, unsuccessfully. His hands were shaking, making him weaker than he already was. He turned to his sister.

"You wanted to go find the body, you help me."

Mickey looked doubtfully at the bar for a split second before taking a deep breath and grabbing it. Together, they struggled to rip the board from its spot on the floor. Behind them, the stairs cracked. Riley jumped, startled. From where she stood, she make out the outline of feet coming down the stairs.

"Guys, somebody's coming." Riley whispered.

But the siblings ignored her.

In a loud crack, the board was ripped from the floor.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Three loud screams pierced the silence of the basement. Startled, William dropped the bar on the floor, making a loud bang as it hit the wood. Mickey grabbed her brother's arm while Riley threw herself in a darker corner, behind the door.

Slowly, the figure stepped into the light and the siblings recognised their father. The two children exchanged worried glances before turning towards their father.

Richard Roberston stopped in front of his children and looked down disapprovingly at them. When his son opened his mouth to say something, Richard cut him off.

"Aren't you supposed to be in bed?" Richard asked coldly.

But before the children even had a chance to reply, the man's eyes fell on the hole in the floor.

"And what..."

But the rest of his sentence fell as he noticed the circular hole in the cement floor. William looked at his sister before following his father's glance. Mickey did the same. Hearing nothing but silence, Riley stepped out of her hideout and peaked inside the room. She saw it too.

In a flash, Mickey's father had disappeared into the darkness of the basement. He came back seconds later with a flashlight. Laying on his stomach, he plunged the flashlight into the hole.

The hole was steep but from where he laid, Richard could decipher exactly what it was. Shaking slightly, he pulled his arm back up and got to his feet.

"I want all of you in your room NOW!" He said, the shakes spreading to his voice.

The children obeyed instantly. Richard followed them up the stairs silently. In the kitchen, he snatched the cordless phone from its base and dialed 911.

Blue and red lights coloured the white brick house when Booth and his wife pulled up at 53 Maple Street. Flashing his badge and Temperance showing her own, the couple stepped under the yellow tape. The front door had been left open and as Temperance and Booth made their way up the driveway, Temperance could see her daughter sitting in the stairs inside the house, a police officer beside her. Temperance shuddered and Booth wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"She's safe, Tempe." He said before kissing the side of her head.

Temperance simply nodded.

They stepped inside the house and were greeted by a team of police officers. Temperance immediately recognized the coroner. Confused, she walked up to him.

"Dr. Kelly, what are you doing here?"

"The local PD called me in since they didn't want to disturb you. That was before they found out one of these kids was yours."

Temperance nodded.

"Where are the bones?" She asked as she lifted the big, blue bag she had dropped beside her only mere seconds ago.

"Follow me."

She followed the pathologist and a police officer down a narrow hallway then down a flight of stairs, passing a young boy sitting at a kitchen table on their way.

"I swear, I didn't know they were there." Temperance heard the young boy plea.

Temperance glanced briefly at him before disappearing down the staircase.

The basement was cold and dark and Temperance wondered what had brought these children down here in the first place. Most of all, what had brought her own daughter down here. She knew Riley could be a follower but she also knew that her daughter could also be very logical at times and know when something was 'dangerous'. So it surprised Temperance to think that her daughter had let herself get dragged down into this dark basement.

They reached a small room at the far upper-left corner of the basement and Temperance instinctively knew they had reached destination. She dropped her bag at the door and listened as the police officer told her everything they already knew about the events. Temperance listened intently, trying desperately to push the thought of her daughter discovering human remains out of her head.

"So whenever you're ready, Dr. Booth, you can start excavating."

Two hours later, some time after midnight, Riley was climbing into her father's SUV and the whole family was heading back home, two streets away.

"How's Riley taking it?" Angela asked as she watched her friend examine the remains found the previous night.

"She's traumatized." Temperance replied as she placed a skull on her left. "There are three separate bodies in here."

"What?" Angela said, confused.

Temperance looked up at her friend.

"I found three skulls in the remains. That means there are three bodies."

Pulling her latex gloves off, Temperance grabbed her clipboard and her pen.

"Where's Zach?"

"Probably in his office." Angela replied.

"And Monica?"

"Probably in his office."

A smile tugged at Angela's lips. Temperance looked up at her friend, annoyed by what she was hearing.

"Are they attached at the hip or something?" Temperance asked as she jogged down the stairs.

"They're in love!" Angela called after her.

Temperance simply waved off the comment.

Just as Angela had predicted, Temperance found both the forensic anthropologist and her student in Zach's office. Knocking three times at the door, she didn't wait for an invitation to come in before opening the door and stepping into the office. Zach and Monica, who were both busy staring at a computer screen, looked up at her.

"Are you two busy?" She asked, trying hard not to sound in a hurry.

"No." Monica replied, straightening up.

"Good. Because in about forty minutes, I'll need your help."

The two of them nodded.

"Just call us when you need us." Monica said before turning back to the computer screen.

Temperance stared at the couple a few more seconds before shrugging and walking out of the office.

She ordered the bones to be transferred to an autopsy room. Sitting at a table, she grabbed the skulls and marked three separate piles. She knew the drill by heart. It had been her work for the past twenty years but she never got tired of it. It was like doing a puzzle. She separated all the pieces in different piles to later put them back together to form a skeleton.

An hour later, all bones were accounted for. Grabbing the autopsy room phone, she called the two lovebirds who arrived shortly after her call.

"Zach, I want you to analyze victim #2. Monica, you will take victim #3."

Monica stared at her teacher, wide-eyed.

"You really think I'm ready for that, Dr. Booth?"

Temperance nodded, a smile slowly stretching across her face.

"I think you're ready, Monica."

"Thank you, Dr. Booth."

Temperance nodded.

"Now I don't want you to go over the skeleton quickly. I want you to take your time, do the examination procedurally and try not to skip over anything. I want every inch of this skeleton examined, understand? If you need help assembling it, you can ask Zach to help you."

Monica nodded. A few minutes later, Zach and Monica were wheeling their set of remains out of the autopsy room.

The skeleton was small but Temperance had already deduced that observation while separating the bones into piles earlier. No taller than four foot five, the remains seemed to belong to an 8 to 10 year old Caucasian girl. Temperance jotted it down on her file before carrying on.

A fracture of the larynx showed the child had been strangled. Other than that, no apparent signs of struggles or any other fractures or injuries. Temperance frowned.

That's odd. This means this child never even broke her arm.

Temperance looked up at the clock. Two o'clock. Her stomach growled. Sighing, she pulled off her gloves and threw them in a garbage can near the door. On her way to the cafeteria, she'd stop to see Monica and Zach.

She found Zach first, walking out of Angela's office.

"Caucasian female, 8 to 10 years of age." Zach replied.

"Cause of death?"

"Drowning."

Temperance nodded before exchanging her own notes with her colleague.

"I just gave the skull to Angela. She said she'd have a sketch by the end of the afternoon."

Temperance nodded.

"Good. Is Veronica here today?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't seen her yet. I heard she was pretty sick."

"If you do see her, please tell her to come see me. I'll have her do the reconstruction of my skull. I want these victims identified before five, I don't want to wait all night to find out who they are."

On that, she left her colleague to go in search of her student.

After Zach, Temperance had refused to take on another student. It hadn't been completely out of disgust at having an assistant but mostly she had felt the need to work on her own for a while. And she had... for close to seven years.

It was after Riley's sickness that Temperance had first started thinking about getting herself a new assistant. For months, she kept her options open until, a few months earlier, a friend had come up to her asking her for a personal favor. Her niece was completing her PhD in forensic anthropology and was looking for a job. Temperance had agreed to take her and Monica had been added to the Jeffersonian team.

Unlike Zach had been, Monica was very career-driven and Temperance was pretty sure she would make a great forensic anthropologist in a couple of years. She certainly didn't lack determination even though at times Temperance suspected the young woman lacked confidence in her abilities. But then she'd spring right back up and prove her supervisor wrong.

She found the young woman in her office, talking on her phone. Temperance knocked. Monica looked up and motioned to her to come in and sit down. Temperance did just that and waited somewhat impatiently for Monica to hang up.

"Sorry about that." Monica said when she finally did. "I was on the phone with my mother down in Florida."

"Tell me about your victim." Temperance said, straightforwardly.

"Caucasian female. I had trouble deducing her age because of her height. It sort of posed a problem. Her pelvis showed she was closer to the age of 10 but her height suggested she was six or seven."

"So, in conclusion...?"

"Basing my decision on her pelvic bone, I'd say the victim was aged 8 to 10 years old."

"Very good. Any cause of death or injuries?"

"A fractured skull suggests that she was hit behind the head by a blunt object. History of broken wrists and ankles but other than that, zip."

Temperance noted everything down.

"Thank you for your help."

"No problem." Monica replied. "I already sent my skull to Veronica so she can a reconstruction done."

"So I'm guessing Angela's protegee is back?" Temperance asked as she got to her feet.

"Came back this morning and hopefully left her flu bug at home."

Temperance forced a smile before walking out of her colleague's office.

Her forced smile morphed into a real one the second she stepped out of the office. Monica had a lot of strengths, one of them being that she worked very effictively. And that, her teacher liked a lot.

Booth stepped in the Medico-Legal Lab and looked around. It had been months since he had last set foot there and found that he missed it. He laid eyes on his wife at the top of the examination platform and immediately realized how much he missed working with her. It had been close to eight years since they had last worked together. Since then, Temperance had gotten a few partners but the only one who seemed to have been able to stick around was Ryan Longström who, Booth was surprised to notice, wasn't around at the moment.

"Can you scan me on?" Booth called out.

Temperance looked up from victim #2, Zach's victim. A smile tugged at her lips as she left her spot behind the examination table and stepped down the stairs to scan her husband onto the platform.

"What are you doing here?"

Booth kissed her quickly.

"I came to pick you up."

"But my car is here." Temperance said as she walked back to the table and resumed her examination.

"I know. But it'll have to stay here until tomorrow."

Temperance raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

"Is this Riley's discovery?"

Temperance glared at him.

"One of them."

Booth frowned.

"What do you mean one of them?"

"I meant one of them. There are three."

"Three?"

Temperance nodded.

"Any idea who they are?"

"No."

"I do." A voice said behind them.

Booth and Temperance turned around to see Angela and Veronica climbing the stairs. The two women stopped in front of them and Angela handed her friend three sketches, along with the three files.

"I sent the sketches to Ryan. He just faxed me those. I'd like to introduce you to our Jane Doe's."

Temperance grabbed the files and began flipping through them. At the second photograph, a hand grabbed her wrist, preventing her from turning the page. She looked up at her husband to find him looking intently at the picture of the young girl.

"Booth?"

Booth looked up from the picture to his wife.

"This girl." He said, pointing to the picture. "It's Raine Bennett."

Gasps! It's Raine Bennett! ... Who's Raine Bennett?