The Rings in the Heart
Chapter 13 - Turning over a new leaf
Disclaimer: Just to reiterate the obvious; I do not claim ownership over anything in the BONES universe. They don't even know that I'm alive, which makes me unaccountably happy.
A/N: The case continues...did you think it was going to be all hot & fluffy?...okay, there *is* a hot sauce garnish!
Ten minutes after Booth and Brennan had been caught in the act by Angela, they showed up to the afternoon briefing. Common sense had kicked in, making a quickie in the office impractical given the time constraints. Retreating to opposite corners of Brennan's office in a fashion reminiscent of a wrestling ring, they took a few minutes to compose themselves back into professional mode. They glanced across the office at each other, and when their eyes met the challenge was still there because this sexually charged smackdown was far from over; it was their pre-existing competitiveness with a saucy twist. The sauce had a high scoble rating; in other words, it was hot sauce.
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The first thing that Booth observed after lifting his gaze from the hypnotic sway of the hips of the anthropologist walking ahead of him into Angela's office, was Hodgins. The bug and slime guy was giving off subliminal signs of twitchiness, indicating that he had a discovery to share with the team. Angela was absently rubbing a hand over Hodgins' upper arm, which had rock hard bulging muscles following an afternoon of pipe bending in his work room.
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Cam called proceedings to order, and Angela took her hand away from Hodgins' arm with an audible sigh as she made some adjustments to the information being loaded onto the giant screens. Booth leaned against the brick wall opposite the screen and pulled the swag of overgrown post-it notes that he used to keep track of recent case details. He checked his phone message logs to make sure he hadn't missed anything whilst undergoing his intimate safety assessment. Brennan came to stand in front of him and made a feinted move as if she planned to lean back against his body, but stopped short, making an unnecessary adjustment to the sling on her left side. Booth could see the amusement in her body language, despite not being able to see her face. Deciding to get a little early revenge, Booth leaned forward and faked making a minute adjustment where the strap met her collar. Brennan tensed at the feather-light touch, and shifted a little as she felt the deliberate puff of hot breath directed at the sternocleidomastoid muscle running down the side of her neck.
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"Okay people" interrupted Cam, flicking a look of censure at Booth. Whatever reaction Bones had experienced must have been observed on her face. Booth stood up a little straighter and shuffled his notes in a lame attempt at feigning full attention. Cam continued on.
"We have a lot of detail to cover. So let's start. I for one don't want to be here all night, because we have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. Many of us would benefit from an early night so that we can be raring to go in the morning."
"Are we going somewhere in the morning?" asked Brennan in a murmur over her shoulder to Booth.
"No Bones, it's just an expression" Booth whispered.
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"Firstly, we have a positive ID on our mummified victim" announced Cam. "He is a 41 year-old Egyptian national, a Professor Nizam Mubarak, currently tenured to the academic Botany program at A.N.U., he has been missing for at least six weeks, but we are still tracking his last known overseas movements. Any updates on that Booth?" asked Cam.
Booth nodded and provided an up to date summary. "The FBI have been liaising with a number of agencies to piece together Mubarak's background and movements. He initially arrived in the U.S. on a college basketball scholarship, but he spent too much time on the injury list to get drafted into the NBA. He retired after he was awarded an academic scholarship in biological science. It turns out that our victim travelled a lot, and to some fairly far flung places. He led a triple life. Respected Botany Professor, family man in Cairo, and part-time eco-warrior on a quest to find new plants to cure cancer and such."
Brennan added her own findings. "Isotope analysis of the bones and dental samples confirm the region of birth and upbringing, as do signs of mild malnutrition in early life. Results relating to Professor Mubarak's adult life are understandably equivocal, given that he spent time in many regions."
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Hodgins was now aghast. "I can't believe he's dead. Not that I ever met him; but Mubarak had a following. He seriously pissed off some of the pharmaceutical companies in the past ten years by patenting his botanical discoveries, and insisting upon ethical clauses when big pharma companies wanted to develop new drugs. No animal testing, transparency on R&D costs, plus capping of pricing on new drugs to allow countries outside the Western world access to cutting edge treatments."
Booth took this new information onboard. He was going have to talk to Caroline Julian about getting corroborating evidence and some cooperation from the pharmaceutical companies. They tended to have armies of lawyers at their disposal; there was no way that he was going to go knocking down those doors without some serious warrant powers behind him.
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"As for the cause of death" said Cam. "Massive nicotine poisoning was confirmed from tissue samples, with dermal and subdermal tissues of the limbs having the highest concentrations. These areas had tobacco leaves wrapped next to the skin under his bandages."
"Was it enough to kill him, Cam?" asked Booth.
"I believe so" replied Cam. "Tobacco is extremely toxic, particularly when ingested through the oral or dermal routes. The nicotine in the end of a cigar is sufficient to kill a small child if ingested."
"Wow" said Booth.
"One more reason not to smoke around children" commented Angela with a tone of distaste.
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"What we are trying to confirm now, is whether the poisoning occurred before or after his pseudo-mummification" said Cam. "Hodgins has mapped the tobacco leaf particulates from the scene and those found on and around the body to establish a timeline because insect activity was almost non-existent."
Booth raised an eyebrow at that. "No insect activity?" he asked Hodgins.
"Not enough to give us a clear indicator on the time of death. The nicotine in tobacco is a powerful alkaloid poison and a natural insecticide, which makes the task more challenging, but not impossible. Cam has been working the tissue degradation angle under mummification conditions with Egyptology, while I have been studying tobacco leaves,…and I found some interesting anomalies" said Hodgins with a pause for dramatic flair.
His efforts were wasted on those gathered. But Angela took the opportunity to bring up the photographs and charts that Hodgins had prepared for the case.
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"There were three sub varieties of Nicotiana tabacum leave found in and around the curing shed, commonly referred to as Brightleaf, Burley and Cavendish. It appears that this shed was used by a cooperative of local tobacco growers to maximise profits and minimise overheads. I undertook a mapping exercise of all leaves found in the curing shed, and traced them back to their respective farms. None of these tobacco leaf types were of the type found wrapped around our mummified victim."
Cam interjected. "Analysis of the leaves which poisoned our victim were a commercial strain of tobacco; much higher in nicotine content and potency."
"But the real smoking gun was in the particulates underneath the commercial leaves" said Hodgins. "There were traces of dokham tobacco, which is native to the Middle East – not grown anywhere in the Pittsylvania region."
Angela adjusted the images on the screen. "I did an analysis of leaf patterns imprinted on the arms and legs of our mummy. There is evidence that the Middle Eastern variety leaves were scraped off the skin and a soapy residue left on the skin matches the chemical composition of the commercial leaves."
"You sound so hot when you say chemical composition, Ange" remarked Hodgins in a low voice. Angela grinned, but wiped the smile off her dial, replacing it with a cool professional expression, when she saw Cam fixing to blow a gasket over their Public Display of Affection.
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"Mubarak wrote a number of papers about the traditional medicinal uses of dokham tobacco leaves" said Hodgins.
"The leaves have analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties" said Brennan. "Given the extent and severity of degenerative changes to the joints of the lower limbs, It is a possibility that the tobacco leaves were being used as a traditional poultice."
Cam nodded her head considering. "That could be a possibility Dr. Brennan. When the FBI track down a close friend or family member, we can ask them."
"We've got some interviews at A.N.U tomorrow with the faculty. Hopefully, they can tell us something about Mubarak now that we have made an ID. So does that wrap it up Cam? I could do with an early night, y'know" said Booth with a smirk.
As Cam agreed with the decision to wrap up, Angela gave a snort at the thought of Booth trying to convince Brennan to get an early night.
"Yes. Booth, I agree. Please take me home to bed" said Brennan, as she was feeling quite fatigued. She couldn't understand why everyone suddenly found her statement funny.
"Yeah, you must be tired Bones. Let's get you home, we'll order in when we get there" suggested Booth, trying to steer Bones toward the door.
"Did I say something amusing?" Brennan asked Angela, stopping Booth from ushering her out of the office by placing a hand on his arm.
"No, Sweetie" said Angela. "You just have no idea how long some of us have waited to hear you say that in public."
"Ah! The innuendo in your tone suggests that you interpreted my comment as a sexual proposition. I will concede that this could be considered amusing in a juvenile context" said Brennan.
Cam threw her hands in the air and grumbled a hasty 'Goodnight' as she beat a hasty retreat back to the relative sanity of her own office.
"Well, it just conjured up images of Agent Hot-stuff here having his way with you. It was kind of hot, Bren" said Angela with a saucy grin.
"Bones!" warned Booth. "Not going there, okay?"
Brennan gave a shrug and started to make her way to the door.
"But, Booth! Angela is presenting a very one-sided interpretation of this scenario. What if I prefer to be the one having my way with you?" Brennan argued.