(After 'The Turn in the Urn')
I still don't own Bones.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooo
The next morning, Booth and Sweets drove into Spartanburg, South Carolina and stopped by the police station. Holding up his credentials, Booth introduced himself. "I'm FBI Agent Seeley Booth, this is Dr. Lace Sweets . . . we're here about a body that was found in Crowders Mountain State Park."
Puzzled, police sergeant Harry LeBlanc shook his head. "That's in North Carolina. This is South Carolina."
Amused, Booth smiled. "Yes, I know . . . the body that was found was Jesse Houbiak and his last known residence was here in Spartanburg . . . Was a missing person's report ever made out for Jesse? It's not in any Missing Person's database that I know of."
Feeling a little defensive, Harry shook his head. "Jesse was tossed out of the house by Candy Owens, the lady he was living with. No one knew he was missing. We just assumed he left town and went back home. Good riddance too."
"Can you tell me why Ms. Owens threw him out of the house?" So far, Jesse's life seemed to have been one big mess, all his own making.
"Well, this isn't gossip you understand . . ." He noticed both Booth and Sweets nod their head and he continued. "Jesse met Candy when he started working for her father, Brett Owens over at the flower farm. Brett thought it was love at first sight and he was happy Candy had finally found someone . . . anyway, everything was fine for a while then one day Jesse came home drunk and beat the hell out of Candy. She didn't want to press charges and claimed it was her fault for yelling at him for coming home late and drunk. I thought Brett was going to kill the guy, but Candy talked him down and everything was fine until Jesse did it again. That time, Candy drove over to her father's place and he called us . . . we went out to the farm and Candy wanted to press charges. She told me she was no one's punching bag."
Booth nodded his head. So far, so good. "It seems like Jesse couldn't keep his hands to himself."
"No, he was a dangerous drunk, a bully really." Harry leaned on the counter in front of him. "It took us two days to find Jesse. He'd actually gone fishing hoping Candy would calm down and let him come back home. We arrested him when he came back to the farm to work and Candy went through with it and pressed charges. He made bail and when it was time for his trial he didn't show up. Jesse had been working over at the flower farm when he disappeared . . . You see, Brett had wanted to fire him, but Candy didn't want Jesse to be out of work with no place to live. Jesse actually slept in one of the barns at the Owen's farm and behaved himself . . . of course, he wasn't welcome at Candy's house no more and Brett tolerated him for his daughter's sake."
"That's understandable." The more Sweets heard about Jesse the more he despised the man.
Nodding his head, Harry continued his story. "Anyway, when he didn't show up in court, Officer Bill McGarrity went out to the farm to bring Jesse in, but he wasn't there. No one at the farm had seen him for a couple of days. His clothes and things were still in his car. We found his car parked in the barn on the Owen's farm, but we couldn't find Jesse. His car had been having issues so we figured he got a ride with someone and just left town to avoid court. I checked around and no one admitted to giving him a ride somewhere . . . it's weird he left his clothes and stuff behind, but we didn't have any proof that something bad happened to him . . . not that the Owens family cared. Jesse didn't have any real friends. He was a mean son of gun and rubbed everyone the wrong way . . . well, almost everyone. He was a friend of Bruce Gold, but Bruce is friends with everyone. That boy doesn't seem to see the badness in anyone. It scares his father believe me . . . the boy is misused and taken advantage of all the time, but what can you do. Bruce is a babe in the woods . . . a little slow and a smile on his face all the time. I'm only mentioning Bruce because Bruce was probably the last one to see Jesse. He saw Jesse leave the bar downtown and Bruce said he waved at him. No one else had seen Jesse leave the bar and as far as I can tell, no one saw him at all after that."
"Except for his killer." Booth leaned on the counter. "Like I said, his body was buried in North Carolina and we're trying to find out what happened to him. I'd like to know how he ended up shot and buried in a state park."
"Well . . . I guess you should talk to Candy or her father. I don't think they can help you, but they might know why he might have been in North Carolina instead of here." Harry shook his head. "It's a shame. Jesse was a hard worker but he was an unpleasant man and well, no one has missed him . . . if you think about it, how awful is it when no one cares if you're around or not?"
Slowly nodding his head, Booth pulled out a notebook from his jacket pocket and handed it over to the police sergeant. "Can you write down the address for Candy and for her father's farm?"
Once that was done, Harry handed the notebook back over to Booth. "If you need my help, let me know. I didn't like Jesse, but he didn't deserve to be killed and buried in the woods. That's just downright disgusting."
Oooooooooooooooo
"Jesse Houbiak? What's he done now?" Candy stood in the doorway of her house and stared at Booth. "Don't expect me to bail him out. I haven't seen him for five years. I told him he wasn't welcome back here and that hasn't changed."
The way her arms were tightly wrapped across her chest and the glare in her eyes told both Booth and Sweets that Candy Owens was still angry with Jesse and wasn't in a very forgiving mood. "Ma'am his body was found a few weeks ago in Crowders Mountain State Park."
Her arms dropping to her sides, Candy stared in amazement at Booth. "Jesse's dead? Wow . . . I kept expecting him to come back, but he never did so I figured he knew that it wouldn't do no good to try to get back on my good side . . . Did he die in an accident or did he just drink himself to death? Oh wait, he finally tried to beat up the wrong person and they killed him?"
Clearly, Candy had no sympathy for the death of her ex-lover. "We're looking into that now . . . Was Jesse a drug user?"
"Drug user? Not hardly. He drank Bourbon and beer and sometimes Scotch if he couldn't get some brand of Bourbon he liked, but drugs? No way. His youngest brother died of a fatal overdose when he was a kid and Jesse was so anti-drug it was hard to keep aspirin in the house without hearing him complain and giving me a lecture on drug abuse . . . the sanctimonious asshole. What did he think liquor was? I don't mind someone drinking alcohol, but when they turn mean as a snake, I'm done."
Placing his credentials back in his jacket pocket, Booth looked around the well kept yard then back at Candy. "Do you know who his friends were? Did he hang out with anyone while he was living with you?"
"None that I know of . . . well, he was kind of friends with Bruce Gold, but Bruce is friends with everyone. Bruce doesn't really understand hate or meanness. He assumes everyone is his friend . . . Bruce works out on my Dad's farm. He's really good with roses and mums. That's where Jesse met Bruce. They didn't hang out much, but sometimes Jesse took the boy to the movies or out to get ice cream. Bruce is like a big kid. Everyone looks out for him."
"I see. Did Jesse have any enemies?" Booth saw Candy smile. The first smile he'd seen her make.
Her hands on her hips, Candy laughed. "Agent Booth . . . the only enemy Jesse didn't have was Bruce. Most of us hated Jesse or just tolerated him. That's the best I can say about him. He started out being nice, but it didn't take long to figure out he was a horrible human being."
"Can I find Bruce at your father's farm?" Booth was running out of leads and he wasn't hopeful that Bruce was going to be a big help with this investigation.
"Sure, Bruce's father delivers our flowers throughout the state and Bruce stays at the farm on the days that Dwayne can't be back before dark. Dwayne don't want his son living alone in the house and Dad doesn't mind having Bruce at the farm. He's such a sweet man."
Once they were in the truck, Booth sighed. "Jesse had too many enemies. Bruce is my last hope, I think. He was the last one to see Jesse alive besides the killer."
"Maybe Bruce killed Jesse." This case was proving to be very frustrating for Sweets. He'd never seen a man with so many enemies and so few friends.
"I doubt that . . . We'll see. I'm glad Bones stayed home with Christine, she'd have just worried about our daughter. She's getting her back molars and she's been crying a lot. Bones wanted to keep an eye on her."
Buckling his seatbelt, Sweets smiled. "She's such a good Mom."
"She sure is."
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