Total Drama Lab Chapter Fourteen: "The nails in the sand"
Bones, Booth, and Hodgins arrive at the latest crime scene. The beach is swarming with FBI agents. They go up to the body, wearing a wet suit, where seagulls are scavenging. Bones scares them away. Bones and hodgins kneel over the body.
"The victim is male, age is somewhere in the mid-twenties, and his vertebrae and mandible suggests he was Caucasian. The remains needs to be stripped of flesh before any injuries can be ascertained. Dr. Hodgins, have you noted anything?" Bones asks.
"Yeah, there are several liquids present in the spaces where the nails should be. It doesn't appear to be nail polish. I'll swab some and take it back to the lab." Hodgins takes a sample and leaves.
"Booth, let's get this back to the lab." Bones says.
"Got it. Back to the lab, people!" Booth exclaims.
Later, at the lab table…
Booth, Cam, and Bones are at the table looking over the body.
"Ok, the officers say witnesses mentioned the body washed up on shore. So, the identity of the victim is the first priority before any of your tests begin. Where's Angela?" Booth raises his voice a little.
"Booth, are you ok?" Bones asks.
"Just get Angela here, now." Booth walks away and Owen walks past him to the table.
"So, what do we have today, Dr. B?" he asks.
"Apparently we have to wait on Angela, first." Bones says, annoyed at Booth.
Five minutes later…
Hodgins helps Angela to the lab table.
"Ok, I'm here." Angela says and heads to look at the skull and begins the facial reconstruction.
"I checked the residue in the fingertips and found algae, but not just any algae, but red algae, which helps with the formation of coral reefs, which might explain why the victim was wearing a diving outfit." Hodgins says.
"Maybe the victim was just fish food." Cam says. Hodgins and Bones laugh at her. Owen is confused. "What's so funny?"
"Cam, you're starting to slip now. If the victim was fish food, there would be way more scavenging than this. Coral reefs aren't five minute swims from the shore. If he was attacked by a shark of something, his body never would have made it to shore." Hodgins says.
"Plus, the wound to the victim's face that took off his flesh is irregular with bludgeoning, slicing, etc. The flesh looks stressed and stretched, like it was ripped off. Cam, you're the pathologist here, you should've noticed that before asking such a stupid question." Bones says.
"I am the boss, Dr. Brennan. Do not cross the line." Cam says.
"Relax, you'll be able to run this lab's reputation to the ground in two weeks when I leave for Maluku."
"Excuse me?" Booth asks as he walks up.
Everyone looks at each other.
"Booth, we can discuss this later. Ang, how's the sketch going?" Bones asks.
"It's done. I'll go and see if I get any hits off missing persons or the FBI database." Angela says and walks to her office.
Booth and Bones just stare at each other. Hodgins swabs the area around the torn flesh and leaves. Cam and Owen just awkwardly stand there.
Meanwhile, in Hodgins' lab…
Hodgins is waiting on the results from the spectrometer. Sweets walks in.
"Hey, I heard you were having a boy. Congratulations!" Sweets says.
"Thanks. How did you find out?" Hodgins asks.
"Angela told me. I don't know if you know this, but Angela and I are good friends. There was a reason she kept inviting me to lunch with you guys."
"Huh, well ok then. So, is there more to your visit?"
"Yes, I saw you carry Angela up the stairs today. Maybe she should go on maternity leave. This job could be really stressful for her.'
"She's fine. And don't worry. We've made some plans already. I have no intention of dealing with Cam without Bones or the interns here. Angela and I are going on sabbatical until she gets back. I'd hate to leave Booth alone with her, but whatever."
"Ok, don't tell Dr. Brennan or Cam that you know this, but Booth has checked out of his office because he's going to Afghanistan in two weeks. He told me this in confidence, so don't tell him that you know."
"Cam is going to ruin this lab!" Hodgins exclaims.
Meanwhile, in Angela's office…
Angela is looking at the hit she got off of the FBI database. Booth and Bones walk in at the same time and refuse to look at each other.
"Ang, is this the victim?" Bones asks.
"Yes, his name is Donald Gear. He was a well known researcher of coral reefs. In this article here," she fiddles with her controller and pulls up the article, "he said we was close to finding something incredible in some reefs he had just discovered. His crew for that trip consisted of his brother, a fisherman, and his wife, Jamie Gear, a cook. That trip set sail four days ago. I'm sure whatever he found, the two or one of them killed him or the other two for it."
"It sounds legit to me. I'll put out an APB for both of them. They'll be found sooner or later. Question is, which one is the murderer?"
"I can answer that!" Hodgins says and walks in. "The flecks of metal that I found in the wound on the face were focused deeply at one point, like it was barbed, so I analyzed the metal and it matches specific metal used in professional fishing rods. The only one on that boat that was strong enough to wield a professional fishing rod was the brother." Hodgins looks at Booth directly.
"Then we have a potential murderer. We'll find the murderer at some point. Good work, Hodgins." Booth says and walks out.
"King of the lab!" Hodgins exclaims.
A week later, in Angela's office…
The gang, except Bones and Booth are reading the article that they caught the diver's murderer.
"Wow, I photograph great." Angela says.
"I'm sorry, Cam. I took up half of your face while trying to squeeze between you and Dr.B." Owen laughs.
"Whatever." She says.
Sweets gets up and walks out. Hodgins sees him leave and follows him outside Angela's office.
"Sweets, are you ok?"
"Yeah, it's just, I can't handle it. Seeing all of us in there, and in a week, that won't be true. I can't stay here if you guys are all leaving. I just can't do it." Sweets rubs his hand over his head.
"Sweets, it's ok. You don't have to stay. Go somewhere, too, then. We'll all be back in a year, ok. I won't lie, things will be different when we get back, but we'll be back, I promise." Hodgins pats Sweets' shoulder. Angela watches from the door of her office and smiles.
Meanwhile, at Bones' apartment…
Booth and Bones are sitting across from each other.
"Were you ever going to tell me or just wait on me to learn you left on that same day?" Booth asks with a heavy tone.
"Yes, but I didn't think it was any of your business." Bones says.
"You know what, I get that. I'm going to Afghanistan for a year, and I didn't tell you, so that's fair. Thing is, I only found out weeks ago, you knew months in advance, because I know you don't do things last minute."
"Well, where does that leave us now?" Bones asks and leans back and sighs. Booth is silent.