Brina had been fed, potty-trained and dressed for at least fifteen minutes when Temperance stopped at the bottom of the stairs, her two-year-old daughter in her arms.

"Lukas! Riley! Let's go!" The mother shouted.

"Don't make my daughter deaf." Booth replied as he stepped up behind his wife and took his daughter.

Oblivious to her husband's comment, Temperance turned around.

"They're going to be late for school."

"So what? We'll just drive them."

"We?"

"Yes, we. We're their parents, we'll drive them together."

"In two separate cars?"

"Of course not. We're taking the cool car today."

"I doubt your FBI-issued SUV is considered cool, Booth."

"It is to them." Booth muttered in reply.

Footsteps were soon heard above their heads and, almost instantly, two brown heads appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Dad, tell Lukas to give my shoes back." Riley ordered.

"Well tell her to give me my book back."

"I didn't take your book."

"Well I didn't take your stupid shoes."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"No I didn't."

"Guys."

Getting no response, Booth tried again.

"Guys! That is enough!"

The two children turned to their father, momentarily stunned.

"You're both late for school and your mother is near burn out waiting for you two."

"I am not." Temperance replied, offended.

"Lukas, you give your sister her shoes back and Riley, you go get your brother's book. I want the both of you down these stairs in a minute, am I clear?"

"Yes, Dad."

As their children turned around and headed back to their respective rooms, Temperance said:

"I am not near burn out waiting for them."

A smile twitched at Booth's lips.

"I know." He said before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "One thing is true though. Lukas does have your temper."

Temperance gaped.

"No he doesn't. I'm a very calm person. He has your quality of patience."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

Throwing her his charm smile, Booth walked away.

He wished that some day, he could stop turning into that driveway. Simply being in proximity of that house made him feel edgy. At every move, he felt as though a dozen pair of eyes were watching him, sending deep shivers down his spine. His senses were immediately turned into over drive as he walked towards the front door, his eyes glancing around him as if in search of something. Of someone. He wondered if his partner could see how nervous this house made him feel and she felt the same. He doubted that he felt Melanie's presence the way he did. He doubted she would even believe it if she saw Melanie's ghost in front of her. She would immediately turn into scientific mode, using some kind of psychological talk as well, trying desperately to explain what was going on before her eyes, to prevent everything she knew about science to come crashing down around her. But he knew what he had seen. He had seen Melanie and he believed Jeremy when he said he did too. Melanie's soul was restless. She wanted closure and Booth was going to bring them to her. Next Wednesday was her dad's appeal. He would do everything in his power to bring that man the freedom he deserved.

His arm felt heavy as he lifted it to knock on the Robertson's door. As the knock echoed loudly in his ears, he once again felt the pair of eyes watching him. He turned to find his wife staring weirdly at him. She looked about to ask him something when the door in front of them opened.

Smiling politely at them, Lucy let them in. The house was cool compared to the outside world and Booth couldn't help but shiver.

"Sorry." Lucy said. "It seems the furnace broke down this morning. No matter how high I turn it up, it is still cold inside."

Lucy rearranged her house coat around herself.

"He's waiting for you in the living room."

Booth nodded before stepping past the woman and inside the living room.

William looked up at the sound of the visitors walking in and forced a smile. The anxiety he had felt as he had opened his eyes this morning came rushing back to him, hitting him in the stomach like a big punch. He knew Temperance and Booth as Riley's parents. He knew Temperance and Seeley. But today, seeing them as Agent Booth and Dr. Booth changed his perception of them.

"Hey Will, what's up?" Booth asked him, trying his best to stay chummy with the boy.

"Nothing much."

"I'll need to ask you a few questions, some of them you probably already answered."

"Then what's the point in asking them again?"

"Will." Lucy gasped, offended and surprised.

"It's okay, Lucy. You see Will, I'm getting old." Booth said as he sat down in an armchair near the window. "My memory isn't as good as it used to be."

A smile twitched at William's lips.

"I want you to tell me what happened on the night you found the bones in your basement."

William glanced briefly at his mother who nodded in approval.

"I was in my room trying to read. Riley and Mickey were in the other room and they wouldn't stop giggling. They were being annoying so I went to Mickey's room to tell them to be quiet. When Mackenzie refused to stop, I decided that maybe a scary story would shut them up."

"You didn't expect them to take you seriously."

"No. Riley maybe, no offence, but Mickey? She never believed a thing I said."

William felt his heart swell in pain as he thought of his sister. He forced back a couple of tears.

"It seems silly today, huh?" Booth asked, his tone softer.

William nodded.

"She told me to prove it, to prove to her that the bones were really in our basement. So I went down there. I didn't think I'd really find the bones, though."

"Will, who told you about the bones in your basement?"

"Everybody knows about them. It's a legend here."

"I didn't ask who knew about the bones, I asked you who told you."

William looked up at his mother.

"Tell them Will, if you know."

"Marshall told me."

Booth nodded.

"Marshall who?" He asked as he took off a small notepad and a pen.

"Marshall Kresic."

Booth nodded once more.

"Anything else you can tell me?"

William shook his head.

"Does the name Jeremy Lexington ring a bell to you?"

"Isn't he Clarissa's little brother who disappeared?"

"Yes. And you do know that we found him, right?"

"No, I didn't."

"They found him living under our basement." Lucy informed her son.

William's eyebrows shot upwards.

"You mean, where the bones were?"

"Yes."

William shuddered.

"Clarissa told me that you told her about the bones. Did you tell anyone else?"

"Like I said, everyone knows about the bones. There's been a rumor going around the school about this. No one knew for sure that it was true."

"And you hadn't thought of checking yourself before?"

"Not really."

"Okay. Well, thank you William for your cooperation. If you remember anything, just call me. Anything you say will help us catch your sister's killer."

The pre-teen nodded.

"So what do you think of his story?" Temperance asked after they had climbed in the SUV and shut the doors.

Putting the vehicle in reverse, Booth drove out of the driveway.

"I think that everything he said is plausible and that we should talk to this Marshall kid."

"Won't you need his parents' approval first?"

"Well shouldn't be too hard. I can be quite charming sometimes."

Booth chuckled at his comment, earning him a hard punch from his partner.

"Ow! What have I ever done to you?"

He didn't really like interviewing children in the depths and darkness of an FBI interview room but he had no choice. His partner had been called to the Jeffersonian for an emergency autopsy and he had had no choice but to drive her. He had spent the afternoon searching for Marshall's parents and had finally been able to contact his mother. A meeting had been scheduled for the late afternoon.

As he waited in his office, Booth mentally went over the case. Things were finally beginning to make sense. The thought of having a ghost committing murder was slowly being pushed towards the back of his mind, leaving a well-alive murderer on the loose. Excitement flowed through his veins. His instincts had never failed him before and Booth suspected that Marshall's story would be the one that would turn this investigation around.

Laura Joyce had disappeared during an earthquake and her autopsy had revealed that she had been strangled. No other signs of injuries had been found on the body, meaning the child hadn't struggled. This minor detail somewhat bothered him since the report had stated that Laura's mother had heard her daughter's screams of terror. Had Laura screamed because she was afraid of the earthquake or had it been because someone had been in her bedroom? Laura's mother had passed away recently and only her siblings remained. Her father had apparently moved out on them after Laura's disappearance. This is all he knew.

Melanie Pharatt had been tripped down the stairs and then strangled. Raine Bennett had been hit by a blunt object before the head after vanishing from her backyard. Zach and Monica were still trying to determine which blunt object could have caused her injuries but he still had a hard time believing a nine-year-old girl could disappear in broad daylight with no witness.

As for Hope, Booth could only assume that whoever had drowned the little girl in her rub had also taken her out of her house and into that trapdoor before dumping her body in that cold room under the basement. No prints on the doorknob other than Hope's parents' proved the murderer had worn latex gloves but how the man had had the time to take the little girl's body, to bring her outside before Hope's mother came back upstairs was still a mystery.

The elevators chimed open and something told Booth his visitors had arrived. He looked up to find a small red-haired woman and a tall and skinny black-haired boy walking towards his office, a security guard guiding the way. Booth stood up behind his desk and nodded politely at his visitors.

"Marshall?"

The young boy nodded.

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"She's asleep." Booth announced as he walked in his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he collapsed on the bed.

"I think that's a new record." Temperance said, her eyes never leaving her book. "How long this time?"

"Twenty minutes."

"It's weird how she never wants to go to bed."

"She must have gotten that from you." Booth replied as he snatched the book from his wife's hands.

"Hey!"

Extending her arms, she tried to reach for her book without luck. Booth simply chuckled before closing the novel and throwing it on the floor. Then, flipping on his stomach, he smiled triumphantly at her.

"No more reading for tonight."

"That's not fair."

"Yeah well, Bones, life's not fair."

Giving her a quick kiss, he sat up against the wall.

"You never told me about your interview today. You said that you'd tell me when we got home but then you didn't."

"My interview with the Marshall boy?"

Temperance nodded.

"Apparently, he heard it from his older brother but he has no idea how his brother got the story. According to the kids, the 53 Maple Street case is a legend here. Everybody knows about it but nobody knows who did it."

"Do you think it's possible the murderer lives among us?"

"You mean with the living? Yes."

"That's not quite what I meant."

Booth chuckled.

"I know what you meant, Bones. I was just kidding. Anyway, Marshall told me that about seven or eight years ago, his brother Rowan told him about the murders. He said that he knew where the bodies were and how Hope Lawson had died."

"But isn't Marshall William's age? If he is, that would have made him five or six years old when his brother told him that. How can you be sure it's a legitimate story?"

"I thought the same thing too when Marshall started talking. I wondered if maybe Marshall wasn't just repeating what he had heard on the street but for some reason, I believe his story."

"Why is that?"

"Marshall said that soon after his brother moved to California to live with his uncle."

"So?"

"So... his mother told me that she had noticed a change in her son. She said that Rowan, who had been a very happy kid, had suddenly turned calm and serious. He also started having trouble sleeping and his grades at school went downhill. Near the end, before Rowan took off, she noticed that he was jumpy. Every time the phone or the doorbell rang, Rowan would be startled. He left before she could question him about his weird behavior."

"Does Marshall remember this?"

Booth shook his head.

"You're thinking that Rowan might have known the killer personally?"

"It's possible."

"But how?"

"There are a lot of possibilities, Bones. Rowan is taking a walk, sees the murderer with Hope Lawson, the murderers sees him and threatens him to kill him if he talks. Maybe the murderer is somehow related to Rowan's family. Rowan catches a conversation between the murderer and another person. The list goes on. Right now I'm trying to locate Rowan. Marshall's mother gave me her brother's phone number and I'll try to get her son to talk to me. We'll see where that leads."

"All the evidence is ready for David Pharatt's appeal Wednesday."

"What time is it at?"

"Ten."

Booth nodded.

"Can I have my book back now?"

Chuckling, Booth reached over the side of the bed and picked up the abandoned book.