S01E06 – The Man in the Wall
Author Notes: I change the character highlighted on each scene. Words in italic are their thoughts. Words underlined are other character's thoughts.
Main characters in each scene are Seeley Booth (The Hole in the Wall, The Hands and The Rap Lyrics), Angela Montenegro (The Crash) and Zack Addy (The Dead DJ, The Interrogation and The Question).
Chapter One
In which the women crash and the victim is identified.
Basement Club
Washington D.C.
Booth and Zack followed Special Agent Furst down a set of stairs.
"Are you sure she can handle this?"
"No one in the FBI lab knows the first thing about dealing with a mummy. I'd have to call Bones in anyway."
"She assaulted two agents who were trying to tape off the body." – Furst pointed at Brennan, who was asking two men to stay away from the body.
The forensic anthropologist's argument was simple:
"They were trying to compromise the remains."
"A cloud of meth covered the dance floor." – Furst pointed at the two who had been dancing prior to the meth cloud. – "I think they've inhaled quite a lot."
Booth smiled at the two women from the squint squad:
"Are you two high?"
Angela was fidgety and talking very fast:
"Only by accident, so it doesn't count. Why is Zack all dressed up? This doesn't seem like such a great date."
"We were out to dinner when we got your call." – The squint paused before changing the subject. – "Your pupils are unbelievably big."
"Oh, where did you go?"
"The Founding Fathers."
"I love that place! Do you think Hodgins would take me there if I asked?" – Zack tried to speak but the artist cut him off. – "I can't do that it would be too… I know! You can let it slip causally to him in conversation."
"Casually?"
She snapped her fingers:
"That too."
Meanwhile, Brennan rushed over to stop a police officer from approaching the cadaver:
"Wait, get away from the remains!"
"Bones, simmer down."
Then the anthropologist finally noticed Zack was at the club and dragged him to see the corpse.
A cane-carrying man and his bodyguard arrived at the club. The burlier of the two men spoke first:
"How long is this gonna take?"
Booth answered very politely:
"Who the hell wants to know?"
The other man leaned on his cane:
"I'm sorry, he works for me. I'm Randall Hall, I run this place."
"You run this place Mr. Hall? Interesting, you know, cause we know found some drugs on the dead guy. We're gonna want to know where they came from, why he had them and if you have any idea who he is?"
"The guy barely looks human. What makes you think I'd recognize him?"
It's your club!
Booth turned back to Brennan, who was talking to Zack:
"Bones, how does something like this happen?" – He pointed at the mummified body.
The anthropologist grabbed Booth's arm to stop him from getting too close:
"Well, the Egyptians would give the body a cedar oil enema and then rinse it with wine and cover it with salt. But I don't think that's what happened here."
Zack detached his boss's hand from his lover's arm:
"I am sorry, she is completely wasted."
Brennan turned and saw Vincent and Wendell coming down the stairs. She rushed over to them and led the pair to the mummy:
"Vince! Wendell! Come here! Come here! Isn't this a beautiful specimen of mummification?"
The British squint was confused to say the least:
"What's going on?"
"Let's just say your boss inhaled."
Vincent raised an eyebrow at Booth's response, and Zack decided to be specific:
"Methamphetamine."
"See how perfectly dried and preserved the skin is?" Brennan pointed at the cadaver. – "You don't find something like this every day. Have you seen it, Zack?"
Angela was still affected by the drug:
"It's so hard to believe that you two would be a couple. You know, cop and squint. It's very touching."
The squint in question rolled his eyes and looked at his lover:
"What scares me about this scenario is that she still acts like this when she's in full control of her mental capacities."
True.
Booth smiled, but then turned serious:
"Can we just stick to the business here? Thank you." – He turned to Hall. –"I'm gonna need a list of your employees, alright? We'll run it through the system, see if any one of them have a drug conviction." – He turned to the squints who weren't drugged. – "How long before you can ID him?"
"With all of us on the case?" – Wendell smiled at Booth. –"Before dawn break."
Zack and Vincent took photos as Brennan and Wendell swept some cobwebs out of the way.
Medico-Legal Lab
Jeffersonian Institute
The deceased was lying on one of the tables on the forensic platform. The members of the squint squad were scattered around the platform. Angela, Zack and Vincent were sitting by the computer while Wendell and Brennan were by the body.
"Crystal meth is made from cold medicine, lye and the strike pads from matchbooks." – Hodgins walked up the platform with a stack of papers. – "The body was not designed to deal with that kind of assault."
Brennan's voice was strained and tired:
"So I'm finding out."
Vincent tried to help:
"I've heard that chamomile tea is very soothing in these cases."
"No, I just need Hodgins' results."
"How about a stick to pry the monkey off your back?" – The blond squint muttered so low only the not-hungover people could hear.
Angela was looking completely drained and out of it:
"Are you sure you need me here?"
"Payback for showing me the good life."
"Besides, Hodgins wanted to keep an eye on you." - Zack whispered to the artist.
Really? Huh.
Booth swiped his (Well, Zack's) card and walked up to the platform:
"Ok, so how is my man, the Tut?"
"In better shape than I am."
That's for sure. I feel like there's a marching band playing in my skull.
"The meth found in his lungs and nasal passages matches the meth that juiced Angela" – Hodgins spared a moment to smile at his date and handed Brennan the report. –"and the good doctor here."
"Can you please keep it clinical?"
"So, uh, he died of an overdose?"
"Well, technically he died of asphyxiation, Se- Agent Booth. Meth coated the alveoli in his lungs, making impossible for him to breathe."
"So, he overdosed with his meth behind the wall."
The bug man pointed a small pen light at the mummy:
"Well, the space was too narrow for him to squeeze through. He got stuck, the bag broke, and when he gasped for air he inhaled and died instantaneously." – He turned to his best friend/roommate. – "You can call him Seeley if you want, we won't narc on you."
Zack blushed and thanked his best friend.
"How long was he in there, Hodgins?"
"Judging from the acrid mites in his ears, I'd say six weeks."
Booth noticed something about the deceased:
"Hey, didn't he have hands?"
Testing Room
Medico-Legal Lab
Brennan and Booth entered the room where the hands were kept inside a formaldehyde-filled jar.
"They're easier to work with dismembered. I've rehydrated them so we can get some fingerprints."
Ew.
Brennan opened the lid of the jar, and Booth became squeamish at what she was about to do.
"Off of that?"
"Sure." – She picked up the hand from the jar.
"Have you ever been to Costa Rica?"
"I was flown down once. They found a human skull 12,000 years old." – The anthropologist continued to work with the dismembered body part, placing her hand under the skin. – "Why?"
"Finally getting' some vacation time. I heard Costa Rica was beautiful."
I can just see Zack's exposed skin shining while we're at a beach.
"Yes. Fascinating wildlife, lots of parrots." – Brennan pulled the skin off of the hand. – "Is Zack going with you?"
"Oh, I don't like parrots, no. People should really, really do all the talking. And I haven't asked him yet." – Booth finally saw what his partner did to the man's hand. – "Oh God! What are you doing?"
Brennan placed her hand inside the removed skin:
"Aztecs would slay people and then wear their skin as a bodysuit."
"I guess you won't be needing mittens for Christmas, huh?"
Brennan walked over to a machine and placed her finger on the glass. The machine beeped as it worked.
Medico-Legal Lab
Jeffersonian Institute
Booth and Zack were sitting at the computer desk, waiting for the Jeffersonian women to arrive:
"Did the FBI find a match?"
No. Seeley did.
"Yep, his name was Roy Taylor" – Booth pulled up the deceased's driver's license.
I wish he did not hide his intelligence.
"Roy Taylor? You're kidding! That's DJ Mount!"
Zack and Brennan reacted the same way to the artist's statement:
"I don't know who that is."
"Mount is one of the best DJs in DC. He used to play at the club. Everyone was wondering what happened to him. His album's really gonna take off after this."
Doctor Temperance Brennan and Mister Zack Addy's Office
Jeffersonian Institute
Bones was sitting on her couch working as rap music blasted from her computer. Zack was reading a textbook on his desk. Booth entered the office:
"I never knew this side of you Bones."
"It's DJ Mount."
"You're hung over, doesn't this make your head explode?"
It's making mine and I'm not even hung over.
"I grabbed a couple of hours of sleep on my couch and showered in the lab's decontamination room."
"You really know how to live." – He got closer to his lover. – "How can you study with all this noise?"
Zack motioned to the headphones he was using:
"I can't hear a thing you are saying. I am listening to Coltrane in the highest volume possible."
Smart.
Booth smiled and focused his attention back on Brennan, who resumed talking:
"Angela said rap artists sometimes kill each other over the music. Jam Master Jay, Tupac, Biggie."
"Do you even know who you're talking about?"
"Yeah, I've done my googling." – She stood up. – "Listen…you can hear the alpha male asserting himself."
The FBI agent mimicked the rapper:
"Fill your ass up…with lead…always a nice lyric."
Zack was sent into a fit of laughter.
Special Agent Seeley Booth's Office
J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI)
Hall and Oakes were being interrogated ('Aren't you going to complain?' 'Why?' 'I just said interrogate instead of interview.' 'On this case I agree with you') by Booth and Zack. Oakes and Zack were silent for the whole exchange between the club owner and the FBI agent.
"DJ Mount, he was starting to break, finally making some money. Someone who's never had anything; it can go to your head. So he gets involved with drugs…"
I don't suppose you have any proof, Mr. Hall.
"You didn't know who he was hanging with or who might've been chasing him?"
"A dude like Mount, he had a lot of enemies. Other artists, rivalries. Everyone wants to be number one."
"I mean, you have to know who the rivals are, Mr. Hall. Affects your bottom line."
"Wait for me by the elevator." - Oakes left, but not before exchanges some glances with Booth. – "Rulz."
"What rules?"
"That's his name. He performs at the club. I'm trying to keep my crew together, Agent Booth. But I always had to run interference between those two."
"Why?"
"Ask Rulz." - Hall got up and left.
"I do not like nor trust him, Seeley."
"I'm not a big fan myself."
"And could you tell me about the looks between you and the bodyguard?"
"I'm a very hot guy?"
Yes, but not the point.
"Seeley."
"Fine. He knows I made him. He's an agent too."
"Well, that explains why he grinned back at the club; he must think that Hall was somehow involved."
Booth nodded:
"Yeah. Hey, do you want a ride to the crime scene?"
"I would like that very much."
"Great! There is something I want to ask you."
Special Agent Seeley Booth's Car on Route to Basement Club
Washington D.C.
"What did you want to ask me, Seeley?"
"Uh. I have some vacation time coming up… And I want us to spend it together."
Zack blushed a little while giving his lover a heartwarming smile:
"Really? You want me to spend your vacation with?" – No one has cared that much about me. – "Have you thought of a place yet?"
"Yes, yes and no. In that order. Actually, yes in that last one too, but I dismissed it."
"What was it going to be?"
"Costa Rica. Where do you usually go when you're on vacation?"
"Back home to Michigan. My brothers, sisters, their loved ones and their children all fly there and we have a pretty good time. As long as everyone remembers not to invite our cousins."
Oh God, the cousins.
Booth looked thoughtful for the rest of the trip.