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.
I am so sorry for taking so long with this chapter; I meant to get it out by yesterday (20/01) but there were thunderstorms here. And my laptop was out of battery, so… Once again, sorry.
Sonikku28 is the newest addition to my team of reviewers. You all play nice.
Main characters in each scene are Wendell Bray (The Wall – Video, The Wall – Behind and The Bone Depression), Seeley Booth (The Father), Zack Addy (The Belly Button Ring and The Car Ride), Jack Hodgins (The Date) and Temperance Brennan (The Rapper).
Chapter Two
In which it's determined foul play, a suspect is added and a letter arrives.
Basement Club
Washington D.C.
The anthropologists from the squint squad were working where the body was found. Zack was handling a cable connected to a wire inside the wall while the others watched the images on a screen.
"Was it fun coming to the club?"
"Yeah, before the drugs and the dead body. Tilt—tilt the camera down a bit. Please." – Brennan noticed something on the screen. – "Footprints…in the dirt, and the termite shavings. Someone was on the other side of him."
"There is light. This must lead outside."
But where?
"We need to get inside that wall." – Wendell agreed with his lover. – "Or take it down."
Bones looked at Agent First:
"One last look?"
The man acquiesced and told his subordinate:
"Take 'em in, show 'em around."
Special Agent Seeley Booth's Office
J. Edgar Hoover Building (FBI)
An old African-American man entered carrying a box. The man in question knocked on the frame:
"Agent Booth?"
"Yes?"
"I'm Roy Taylor's father. Maybe you know him as DJ Mount."
"Mr. Taylor, please come in."
"Thank you for seeing me."
"Please sit."
"You're the one looking onto my son's murder?"
"Investigating his death, yes, sir. I'm…sorry for your loss."
"I have some information you need." – He unconsciously tilted his head towards the box he was holding.
"About your son's death?"
"No, sir." - He placed the box on the desk. – "About his life. I've been reading in the newspaper how my son was part of the meth scene, how he was killed by drugs behind a wall like that." – He took out a framed graduation photo from the box. – "What my son did was graduate third in his class from high school. He would've graduated first except he—he worked a full time job." – Medals and trophies came out of the box next. – "Track-and-field medals, baseball. Roy never drank, and he never did drugs. Do you understand me, sir?"
"Mr. Taylor-"
Booth was cut off:
"How they are portraying my boy in the newspapers is wrong. If his mother was live, it would kill her. I taught him a relationship with Jesus. Do you understand, sir? A personal relationship with Jesus."
"With all due respect, sir, sometimes when kids grow up, they change, they move away from what they were taught."
The older of the two men hold up a hand print ceramic:
"Five years old, he made this. And a lady who…who reads palms...she looked at it and she said…she said my boy was going to be a great man, a good man. She read no evil in that boy's hand."
"I can see that now, sir."
"Some iniquity killed my boy. You know that word, Agent Booth? It's from the Bible."
I know.
"Deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men."
"You know your psalms, sir. I can trust that you will find out what happened to my boy?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good." – He put everything back into the box. –"Then I'm glad I came by."
This shows that Hall lied.
Behind the Wall
Basement Club
The FBI Forensics guy was leading Brennan and Wendell into the space behind the wall while Vincent and Zack stayed behind to make sure the other members of FBI Forensics team behaved.
"Can we conform to as much forensic protocol as possible?"
"We're better at this than you think."
They heard squeaking noises.
"You know what those are?" – The Forensics guy asked smugly.
"Rats."
"You trying to scare us with rats?" – Wendell rolled his eyes. – "We've been to places where the rats eat the laces right out of our boots."
"Take it easy there, Willard."
"Can I hit him?"
"Alright by me, but don't think Booth would like it, Wendell."
"Fine." – The blond squint shone his light on the ground. – "There are the footprints. There are marks on the wall, it's scraped."
"Blood smear, dried." – Brennan trailed her light against the wall where there was something that sparkled. – "I see something, can I retrieve?"
"Yes." – The FBI guy grudgingly handed her an evidence bag.
Can I smother him with that bag? Nah. Vince wouldn't approve.
The anthropologist leaned down and bagged a small charm.
Forensic Platform
Jeffersonian Institute
At the lab, the charm was being examined by Zack and Brennan while Booth watched:
"Apparently there's a rivalry between Mount and this guy, uh, Rulz."
"We saw him perform at the club last night. Did you talk to him?"
"Oh, no. I don't have enough yet. I go in too soon, he could run."
The best artist of the Jeffersonian Institute approached the trio:
"Wow, that's a beautiful piece. Zirconium or diamond?"
"I'm more focused on the dried blood and flesh at the moment."
"Do you two have anything yet?" – Booth asked his squint and his partner.
"Given the rate of air convection and the degree of dehydration of the flesh, I'd say they were there at the same time."
"Very good, Zack. I concur."
"It must hurt like hell to get that thing ripped out of your belly button."
Brennan looked at her best friend:
"I thought it was an earring."
"Look at the size of the stud." – I must not blush nor look at Seeley. –"I had one of these before they became totally Miami divorcée."
Hodgins approached, with a jar in hand:
"Good news." – He placed it on the table. – "I was able to pull some particulates."
The FBI agent was squeamish:
"Uh, are those his?"
"Eyeballs? Yeah. Two types of foreign material in the eyes. Low density polyethylene residue and methamphetamine crystals."
"Polyethylene? Wait, I know this one." – Angela bit her lower lip while thinking. – "Plastic. My guess is from the bag holding the meth."
Hodgins nodded and smiled at the artist.
Brennan gave Vincent the bloodied bling before joining Wendell and Zack over at the cadaver:
"This can be cleaned now."
Booth cleared his throat.
"Please." – The anthropologist amended.
"The inside of the lips was damaged by the teeth, this was not an accidental inhalation." – Zack showed his findings to Wendell and Bones. – "The meth was pushed against his face with force. Someone was trying to smother him."
"Which would explain how the particulates got into the eye."
Angela agreed with her boyfriend:
"So he didn't OD. He was murdered."
"So we just have to find out who owns this belly button ring." – Booth's face turned pensive. – "Owned."
Vincent cleaned the piece of jewelry and uncovered letters.
"Guys? I believe I may have found something." – The British squint captured the others' attention. – "It has 'Love Rules' engraved. Although love is spelled L-U-V and rules is spelled R-U-L-Z."
"Well, at least we know who to ask."
Angela Montenegro's Office
Jeffersonian Institute
The Jeffersonian Institute's best entomologist knocked on his love's door:
"Hey, Ange? Can we talk?"
"Sure, Hodge. Come in, come in."
"I would like for you to accompany me to the Founding Fathers. When we finish this case."
I have to thank Zack for this tip.
"I'd love to."
I have to thank Zack for doing this.
DJ Rulz's Office/Studio/Loft
Washington D.C.
Hip hop music was playing so loudly the door actually shook.
"This way." – Booth knocked on the door. – "Hello!"
"Yeah, it's open." – They heard the loud answer.
The field agents (both official and unofficial) walked in:
"FBI Special Agent Booth."
The Disc Jockey gave Brennan a slow once over:
"What, is the FBI recruiting from America's Top Model now?"
I'm hardly a model.
"I'm a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian."
"She works for the FBI."
"Yeah, I could live with that."
"Yeah, Dr. Brennan also discovered that Roy Taylor was murdered."
"So?"
"So murder is whacked see, 'cause those are the rules, Rulz." – Zack had the strong desire to giggle at his lover's antics.
"Well, maybe he had it coming to him."
"Oh, so you and Roy Taylor don't get along."
"That sucker ran me down. Tried to slam me in one of his tracks and ain't nobody do that."
"And what happens when they do?"
"I take a piece of 'em. I got in his face one night at the Basement and I told him to disappear, and I ain't seen him since cause he knew to follow the Rulz."
"Perhaps your girlfriend made sure that your problem just went away." Zack showed Rulz the belly button ring.
"That ain't my woman no more. I kicked her sorry ass out months ago."
The FBI agent continued with the interview:
"What is her sorry-ass name?"
"Eve Warren."
"What was she doing with Mount?"
"Take a guess. I guess it was just his turn."
"She kept your ring."
"It's a diamond, man. Why she gonna get rid of that?"
"Any idea where she is now?"
"Probably ripping somebody else off. That girl don't care about nobody but herself. You know she got a kid? Don't care about her neither. Let her brother shoulder that. Bitch."
Brennan was intrigued by Rulz's scar:
"What happened to your hand?"
"I got shot through the wrist a few years ago."
"Shattered the lower radius and the pisiform."
"Yeah. I got some nerve damage too."
"It's impressive."
"I got shot in the back and through the leg too, you wanna see the scars?" – He stood up and began taking off his white shirt.
"Thanks anyway. Let us know if you hear from Eve."
"That's all I got for y'all. Come on, get back to work." – he returned his attention to the sound board. – "Let's hit it!"
Zack and Booth were almost out of the door when the squint realized Doctor Brennan hadn't moved, and was watching Rulz and his entourage singing and dancing. Zack poked his lover and pointed to his boss.
"Bones!" – Booth snapped his fingers and pointed to the door.
"I like this music."
Special Agent Seeley Booth's Car on Route to the Jeffersonian Institute
Washington D.C.
Like always, Booth was driving with Zack in the passenger's seat and Brennan on the backseat.
"Ok, how about this?" – The FBI agent decided to bounce some idea off his lover. – "Deejay Mount trusted Eve because they were sleeping together. So she meets him in the wall, takes the drugs, kills him for Rulz, then he takes off."
The female anthropologist was not amused:
"Hey, you should write fiction."
"What? Reasonable."
"It's not based on evidence, it's conjecture."
"Look, I'm positing a scenario. We've been through this before."
Zack decided to be quiet and fade into the background.
It's no use to try and stop them now.
"Yeah, and it always seems to be a waste of time. Now, finding a marker on a bone…"
It's not a waste of time if I use it to put my ideas in order.
"You know, I think I need a vacation. I think you do too."
"Well, I'm not the one who's snippy."
"Snippy?" – Booth chuckled. - "What are you, like 70?"
"See what I mean? I think you should find a nice relaxing place to go on that vacation. Somewhere where you can get a massage, maybe do some yoga."
"I don't do yoga. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups. That's what I do."
"Yeah, that's more cardiovascular. Yoga deals more with-"
Booth held his hand up to cut her off:
"Why exactly are we talking about this?"
"Because you're tense."
"Because we're talking." – The FBI agent turned on the radio, which started to play rap music. – "You switched my music."
"I did no such thing."
"They are just like Rick and Emma." – Zack pinched his nose while he muttered to himself. – "I mean the similarities in their relationships are uncanny."
Skeleton Room
Jeffersonian Institute
Vincent and Wendell were talking while analyzing the bones.
"I received a package from my mother. Along with my archery equipment there was a note and envelope. The note said 'give this letter to your man'."
The blond squint gulped:
"Your father's or your mother's handwriting?" - The British squint refused to meet his lover's gaze. – "Your mother."
Vince's mother doesn't like me a lot.
"Did you know that there are approximately 84 million mothers in the US?"
Wendell had time to kiss Vincent chastely before Brennan and Zack walked in:
"Roy Taylor?"
"Yes, Dr. Brennan."
"Anything pop out at your now that the bones are clean?"
"Some damage to the facet joint and foramen on C-4 on the right side of the neck."
"Which suggests his head was forced that way." – Vince completed his lover's findings.
"One other thing. I was looking at the skull through the microscope. I came across a slight depression, barely discernable."
The blond squint walked over to the computer to show them.
"A slight indentation?"
Zack listed the possibilities:
"It could be congenital or a bone anomaly or something else entirely, like an unknown object."
Brennan picked up the skull.
"Do you ever go on vacation?"
"I usually take my vacation when you take your vacation."
"What do you do?"
"Go back home to Michigan, see the family. I have three sisters and four brothers."
"Do you enjoy that?"
"As long as we avoid inviting the cousins."
"Uhm. What about you two?"
"England. To visit my parents. Or to San Francisco to visit my brother."
"I usually tag along with Vince."
Brennan nodded and gave Zack the skull:
"Take a closer look at the anomaly under the scanning microscope. See what made that mark."
"We will be right on it."