Yes, this chapter is a bit shorter. Sorry about that.
"You let me sleep in!" she accused irritably.
"By ten minutes," he retorted, "And believe me I wanted to let it be an hour. You have no idea how peaceful you look when you're sleeping. I should take a picture sometime."
She stared at him and then rolled her eyes before hurrying off to get the rest of her morning routine finished. Sometimes he could be so ridiculous. But... she had to admit the extra ten minutes had probably made a difference. Yesterday had been such a long day, and exhausting, but to add on that movie going till eleven... she didn't even remember climbing into bed.
"Here," he said, handing her a muffin as she went past him.
"Thanks," she mumbled through a bite of it. "Where did you get this?" she added.
"Grocery store," he said with a shrug. "See, me doing the shopping has its upsides."
"Yeah, and it also means I have to go shopping again later in the week because you don't get half the things I usually do."
He grinned and she scowled, but she had to admit the muffin was very good.
She made to grab the keys off of the side table as they headed for the door, but he somehow beat her to them. "No way, Bones; I'm driving today."
She put her hands on her hips, but he didn't pay attention and instead held her apartment door open for her. She sighed and stepped out with him following. She didn't protest as she climbed into the passenger seat, knowing that he probably deserved to drive today and that it would be the argument he would use. Or he'd tell her that she was too tired, which would be true since when she'd last glanced at herself in the mirror she had looked quite far from being awake. And that had been after a shower, which was what usually woke her up completely in the mornings so that she could focus and be alert at work.
"So are you going to re-question Lemaire today?" she asked, fully intending to inform him that she was coming along and she was helping no matter what he had to say about it. Instead he sighed, his brow creasing and his features suddenly taking on an agitated look.
"No. They had to release him yesterday. He was at the club he said he was at all night, and apparently he arrived at least an hour before the landlord said he last saw her. Since we don't have any other solid evidence to hold him on, he got a date for a parole hearing and was sent back to his place where they'll be monitoring him. We don't have a credible reason to re-interrogate him, though, unless we get more proof tying him to it."
"Oh," she said, knowing that it sounded inadequate. "Well, Dr. Thomson will hopefully have narrowed down time of death, so we can determine if she was missing for another day or several after the landlord saw her. It could still be Lemaire; we just need more proof."
"Good," he said with a nod. "He any good as an entomologist, anyways?"
She nodded grudgingly, "I can't deny that he is very skilled in his field."
"Well that'll help us at least," he responded under his breath. "You know, I hate to say it, but I think I miss your other squints. Never thought I'd say it was a shame not to have Hodgins around."
She smiled at him, picking up on the slightly teasing tone to his voice. He still liked to claim he didn't get along with or like some of the squints, but she knew he thought of them as family almost the same way that she did. He grinned back, obviously seeing that she understood he was joking a bit.
They arrived at the Jeffersonian a few minutes later, and both of them entered the building together, nodding greetings to the security guards and then splitting up.
"I'm gunna go interrogate that Thomson," Booth said, "See if there's any reason for me to make some phone calls."
She nodded and turned towards her office to go drop her bag off, get her coat, and check her emails. She was just sitting down at her desk, her computer humming to life as she did up the last button on her blue coat, when Booth entered. He didn't knock, which was not at all unusual.
She clicked to open her inbox and then looked at him expectantly.
"Thomson says death occurred sometime after Sunday," he reported.
"So are we going to go pick him up?"
"What? No, Bones! I already called for a search warrant to look for your twine or whatever, and you aren't coming. I'm gunna arrest him, but until he's locked up nice and tight you aren't tagging along, got it? The guy's a criminal, remember? We don't have proof that he murdered Danielle, not yet, but we do know that the two of them were working together to rob stores and such. He probably did kill her, and... just stay here, okay?"
"No," she said firmly, setting her jaw in irritation. She glanced at her computer screen as the emails popped up.
"Bones, listen, you can help me out in the interrogation room, alright, but I told you I don't like-" he broke off, clearly seeing that she wasn't listening to him. Her attention was focused completely on the computer screen, and the email from her publisher informing her that she needed to work on the next book and that she had a book signing in two weeks.
"Book signing..." she muttered, frowning at the words as the pieces fell together.
"What?" Booth asked, clearly confused. But she didn't look up or answer him.
What he'd just said, about Danielle and Lemaire working together to steal...
Stolen books... signed book her niece got her... sitting on a shelf one floor down...
"Booth!" she gasped, "They robbed the old lady in that building! We have to get back to that apartment... I have to see... I have to check the copy of that book..."
"Whoa, Bones, what are you talking about?"
"That old lady whose books were stolen when someone broke into her apartment! They never left the building! Remember, in Danielle's apartment, there was a bookshelf, and she had my books!"
"You aren't serious," he said, staring at her with his mouth open. She could see from the look on his face that he was piecing it all together too. He knew she was right. "Come on," he said suddenly, "Let's go."
"What about Lemaire? Is anyone heading over to arrest him?" she practically yelled as she ran after him out the door of her office.
"I'll call them later; we don't have the search warrant yet, and we want to make sure it specifies books too, now...." he whipped out his phone as they rushed back through the lab, getting a bewildered stare from Cam, and she heard him speaking rapidly to another agent, not catching most of it as she wrenched open the door of the SUV and climbed in. Booth tossed the phone into her lap as he turned the key and they pulled out of the Jeffersonian parking garage.
"They're calling it into the judge," he informed her as they turned the corner. "They'll alter the warrant so we can take any books we find once we make sure you're right and there really is a signature in that other book."
She just nodded, staring out the window as they drove too fast towards the apartment building.
Hashly let them in, looking thoroughly confused as they rushed past him up the stairs. Booth used the key he'd given them last time, and she hurried past him, yanking on gloves as she went, and took out the books.
"Signed," she said, pointing to the first page of the latest book. She scanned the rest of the shelf. "These are probably all from robberies..." she murmured, scanning through them. "Odd thing to take as a souvenir..."
"Yeah, but I've seen weirder," Booth commented grimly.
She pulled out evidence bags and slid both of the books into separate ones. "I'll bet you can find both of their prints and Ms. Sickle's on these," she said with a raised eyebrow.
Booth's phone was ringing, having been returned to his pocket on the way to the apartment building. He yanked it out and pressed it to his ear.
"Gotcha. Thanks. Yeah, meet us there." He snapped it shut and re-pocketed it. "Come on," he said, heading for the door. "A team's coming over here to get the evidence and anything else; they'll check for prints. Leave those on the counter."
She nodded, placing the bags next to each other, and then they hastily locked up and hurried back out once more.
"Telling you to stay in the SUV isn't going to work, is it?" he said through slightly gritted teeth. She shook her head at him, and he sighed. "Okay, Bones, but... be careful, okay? We don't know what this guy might be capable of."
"I'll be careful," she promised, but she knew that she would disregard that if something came up to change the situation. If she had to, she would certainly grab anything she could use as a weapon and use it against Lemaire should he try to attack her or Booth. "We do have backup, right?"
"Yeah, a team's on the way. We've got the warrant, not that we need it with probable cause and the chance that this guy is gunna try to make a run for it rather than stepping out and letting us take him..."
It wasn't a long distance to Lemaire's apartment, but the fifteen minutes was tense and mostly silent. It was clear Booth didn't want her there, and yet he'd let her come along and now he was going to deal with the consequences. She was fine with that, but it was frustrating, with him clearly worried more about her than anything else. This shouldn't be any different than any other arrest. Booth was just taking it way more seriously because the guy had looked at her in a way he disliked, and although none of their murderers from other recent cases over the last three months had gotten him this agitated, it didn't change that she was able to take care of herself. And they were about to close another case; they had a good deal of evidence already, and they were going to find more at Lemaire's apartment. He should be glad they were reaching the end of yet another mystery.
"Here we are," Booth said, pulling the SUV up to the curb in front of a very small, dilapidated house that was overgrown with bushes and weeds so that it was barely visible. "Okay, you stay behind me, you got that, Bones?"
She just nodded, knowing that would be the simplest thing to do, rather than starting an argument over it.
They both climbed out and Booth led the way up to the door, drawing his gun carefully before rapping on the wood and calling out, "Open up, FBI!"
There was silence, and he banged again, shouting louder. Meanwhile, she'd stepped off of the front stairs and was peering in one of the windows, frowning into the darkness.
"He's in there," she informed her partner, who turned and immediately gestured for her to get back over to him.
"Bones, I said behind me. Not way over there," he hissed.
"Yeah, but I could see someone moving around inside. I think he's ignoring you."
"Really?" Booth muttered, banging on the doorframe. "Mr. Lemaire! Open the door now; we know you're in there!" A pause while they listened... and then Booth swore. "Told you so," he hissed as she realized that the sound they'd just heard was running footsteps. Then he threw his shoulder into the door. It easily flew open, given the terrible state it and the rest of the house were in, and Booth pointed his gun around quickly before rushing through towards where they'd heard the sound coming from. She followed behind him, looking around warily, but mostly searching for evidence or signs of the weapon that might have been used to kill Danielle.
There was shouting from the adjoining room, and she moved towards the door, suddenly concerned that Booth might need help, even though he had a gun.
And then she was suddenly knocked over as a shape came hurtling out of the darkness into her. She instinctively caught herself on the edge of a counter and spun around, kicking out and making contact as the person tried to rush to the front door. Booth came hurtling in just as the man dove to the side, once again bringing himself close to her. She lashed out, but he ducked. It was too dark to see exactly what was happening, but the light that was filtering in through the open door was slowly adjusting her vision.
Something swung at her from the side, and she blocked it with a raised arm, wincing as she realized it wasn't a fist or a foot, but rather a blunt object. It knocked her slightly off-balance, but she steadied herself and avoided a second attack. Booth, she suddenly realized, was clutching his face, and she saw blood. He'd been punched in the nose during his earlier confrontation in the other room... probably surprised after stepping into the further darkness in search of Lemaire...
She stepped backwards and realized she was up against a wall, her side pressing into a wooden rack hanging just barely on what appeared to be a single rusty nail. A glint of metal told her that there were kitchen knifes hanging on it, and she grabbed one.
Suddenly, it was very bright, and she lost complete sight of everything. A moment later she felt a foot slam into her leg, and she lashed out, but a second blow knocked her off balance. She felt the rack give way as she hit it with her shoulder, and then she hit the ground and it crashed down on top of her, knives and all.
My knowledge of law enforcement is limited to crime shows. And I'm horribly lazy when it comes to research. Anything that looks like an accurate fact is probably not.