Hi everybody again,
Here is the twelfth chapter of my story. I hope you like it.
Disclaimer: as always, Bones is not mine…
REVENGE
Booth was sleeping on Bones' couch for a while. He was exhausted too, after everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.
Brennan replied a few emails and then went to check how Hodgins was doing with the analysis of the syringe the killer had used against her. It had exactly the same substances as the one he used against Booth, but less concentrated this time. He didn't want to kill her, just left her unconscious. He had searched for particulates on the paper he had left before escaping through the sewers. He had found a partial thumb print and had sent it to Angela. She left him working on the evidences of the new crime scene, from the couple he had killed this morning.
Brennan entered Angela's office when she had just finished scanning on the university videos.
"Hey Bren! You're awake! How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine." She said, a little more dryly than she wanted. They hadn't talk since Angela left her with Booth on the upper platform. But she didn't really want to talk about that now.
"Bren… I'm sorry… I didn't want to lay a trap on you before. It wasn't fair, but it wasn't planned. He just showed there at that very moment, and you were being just so honest with me…"
"Angela, stop! I really don't want to talk about that right now. We have a killer to catch before he does something else. We'll have time to discuss this later, ok?"
"At least say you're not mad at me, please!" Angela begged.
"I'm not mad at you. I know you didn't do that on purpose. We'll discuss it later, ok? Do you have something new?"
"I've sent the fingerprint Jack found on the paper to the FBI and I'm waiting for the results." She explained. "I have a few results from the hospital cameras, but as I told Booth before, there's nothing helpful." Brennan didn't know that Booth and Angela had been talking. Maybe Angela already knew about what had happened between them. She hid it from her face before Angela turned to look at her. "Just a few good images from his face, which I've sent to the FBI too for them to run in their databases, that's all. He doesn't appear in any record before today. And I guess he has nothing to do with the university because he doesn't appear in any recorded image." She explained. "I'm sorry… I'd like to tell you something more useful, but…"
"You're doing great, Angela. Your work is excellent. If I could just remember where I've seen him before… Where else could I've seen him?" She asked to herself.
"Maybe here. Think about it. You have thought about the university because you knew him. You've thought about the hospital because he seemed to know it very well and had access to some chemical substances. But we have those substances here too… and our security inside the lab is far stricter than the hospital. I mean, he couldn't enter here easily. Maybe he's some worker of another department and you've just seen him at the corridors or at the dinner…"
"But if he works here somebody else could recognize him. You've seen his face in the videos and haven't recognized him."
"Yes, you're right, but you and me not always move in the same departments, nor go with the same people… The Jeffersonian is very big… we sure can't know everyone."
"Well… we have nothing to lose. Maybe you're right. I'm going to ask for an employee list, just to be sure."
"No, don't worry. I'll do it. I want to ask for our surveillance videos too, to run the facial recognition test on them, just in case."
"Ok. Call me if you found anything." Brennan said, walking to the door.
"Sweetie… I know you don't want to talk about that, but… how is Booth doing?" Angela asked. Brennan turned pale. She didn't want to talk about it right now, not even with Angela.
"He's sleeping right now. He needed to rest more than me. I'm not the one who has been through surgery a week ago..." She said. "I have to go…"
"Hey… do you want an advice?" Angela offered sincerely.
"I'm not sure…" Brennan answered cowardly.
"Well, I'm going to give it to you anyway… sometimes, when somebody searches too hard for something or someone to be happy with doesn't find it, because is too busy just searching..."
"That doesn't make any sense…"
"It'll make sense when you search in the right direction." Angela said, and then Brennan left her office absolutely confused. She hadn't understood the advice Angela gave her, and discarded it in the bottom of her mind.
She went to talk to Cam too, but she was busy with paperwork of this and past cases. She was waiting for the bodies to arrive, to perform the autopsies, although they already knew the causes of death. The autopsies were just a way to certificate it.
She then headed to her office, but before she could open the door Perotta arrived.
"Dr. Brennan!"
"Agent Perotta!"
"How are you? Do you feel better?" Perotta asked.
"Yes, I'm ok. I've slept a few hours here and now I'm fine."
"How's Booth doing?"
"Well, he's sleeping right now. I don't want to disturb him if it's not absolutely necessary. Do you mind if we talk in another place? He need to rest properly for once."
"No problem." Perotta agreed. They headed to the upper platform, to the same place where these days Booth and Brennan had been sometimes trying to hide themselves from the world.
"How's your partner?" Brennan asked.
"He's doing fine. He's already awake."
"I'm glad to hear that." Brennan said. "Could you tell me something about what has happened today?" Brennan asked without ceremonies.
"He had attacked a couple this morning. The man has been crashed against the wall and his cranium just cracked. Then he attacked the woman, who was upstairs in the bedroom. I'm not going to soften it, because I think it's just impossible."
"I'd appreciate it. I prefer the truth, even if it's a hard truth."
"Well, he attacked the woman in her bedroom. He hasn't injected anything to her this time. He beat her violently. She was tied to the bed with her husband's neckties. The forensics think that he tied her and then went on with the beating. Then he raped her, several times, and brutally for what I know. I don't know more details of this part, because, honestly, I don't want to know what that son of a bitch exactly did to her, nor how many times, nor… no, I don't think this information could be useful, just lurid details. Well, after that he stabbed her with a knife he found in the kitchen. Several times too. Then he went downstairs to the kitchen again, left the knife covered in blood in its place, and left this note for Booth." She handed the note, what was in an evidence bag. Brennan read it carefully and thought that Booth had been too careful to not let her feel what that bastard really wanted to transmit. The irony, that was what disturbed her the most. That lack of feeling, he almost seemed to be enjoying all this. How on Earth could another human being be this cool-hearted to kill a man and torture a woman and a few moments later write an ironic note? She felt relief in the thought that she hadn't been that tortured woman, and was that relief what made her feel even more guilty, if that could be possible. That woman had undergone indescribable sufferings because that bastard couldn't get her.
She handed the letter to Perotta again, but said nothing. So Perotta continued.
"Well, you know he escaped through the sewers under the hospital. The house he has attacked is beyond Rock Creek Parkway. We think that he went in that direction for a reason. We suspect it wasn't a random choice that he attacked that couple in particular. We thought that he had the woman in mind just in case he couldn't catch you at the hospital. Their names were Jeffrey and Caroline Stanton. He worked in the Sales Department of a big supermarkets chain. She was the head of Health Services of the Strayer University. She had a Ph.D in Chemistry and was, seemingly, developing an investigation about some medicines to treat an illness, Bec… Best…Syndrome, or something like this."
"Behçet Syndrome." Brennan stated.
"Yes, that."
"It's an extremely rare disease, characterized by causing oral aphthous ulcers, skin lesions, ocular symptoms, and genital ulcerations …" Brennan explained.
"Yes… a very bad thing…" Perotta interrupted her. "Getting back to the point… I'm sure he didn't choose his victims randomly. Caroline Stanton had some similarities with you, like Karen Lindberg. I don't want to jump to conclusions but I'm sure that he killed Mr. Stanton because he opened the door in the middle of the night. It seems that he was attacked just after open the door. Maybe the autopsy will confirm it, but he didn't defend himself, and I suppose it was because he didn't expect a sudden attack like that. The killer just made him crash against the wall. There was a big mark on the wall, full of blood. He died because he was there."
"I see…" Brennan said, trying not to show the disgust she was feeling.
"It's obvious that the killer knew the woman. We're investigating the husband environment too, because we don't know if he knew her by himself or through her husband."
"I bet he knew her by himself…" She was sure of it.
"We're not sure, because the husband didn't doubt to open the door. We suppose he knew him too. But we have to cover all the fronts."
"Yes, of course."
"Do you have something new? Maybe something from the images?" Perotta asked.
"Yes." Brennan explained everything about the images, the clothes, the note, the partial fingerprint… everything they had until then. After that they went down to see if Cam had started with the autopsies of the bodies. She was working on Caroline's body now, and she seemed to be really disturbed for what she was watching in her.
"Hi Brennan, Agent Perotta…"
"Hello, Dr. Saroyan. I'm sorry for interrupting your work, but I want to know if you already have something from the bodies." Perotta asked.
"Well, I haven't started with the husband yet, but a preliminary sight of him tells me that he died because of this cranial trauma. He must die instantly. At first sight there's no other evidence of violence in his body. But the woman, that's another story. I have counted thirty stabs, some pre-mortem and some post-mortem. I've also found multiple bruises throughout her body. Clark was taking photographs from her to determine the projection of the stabs and blows. As soon as I finish with the autopsy Dr. Brennan can work on the bones. It'll be easier to determine the direction of the stabs from the marks on them." Cam took a deep breath before continue. "The body shows also marks of sexual assault… she was raped… brutally. But this time he has been less careful. I bet he was really angry this time and that made him make some big mistakes. I've found semen and more pubic hair in her this time. I'm going to do an exhaustive research on her skin for fingerprints, maybe we're lucky. And a toxicological test too, although it seems to me that she wasn't drugged this time, at least not with tranquilizers. I've found skin under her nails, so she fought…" She took another breath. "Sure she left some marks on him before to die. I'm running a DNA test on that skin, to compare it with the pubic hair I found in the first victim, Karen Lindberg. And that's all by the moment, though I don't think I'm going to find so much more."
"Thanks Cam. Call me when I can start on the bones."
"Ok."
Brennan and Perotta went out of the autopsies room in silence. They headed to the upper platform again.
"Do you want a coffee?" Brennan asked.
"Yes, please. Dr. Brennan." Perotta said while Brennan put the coffee machine on. "I have to tell you something. I have an idea to catch that bastard, but I'm not sure if you'd be willing to do it."
"Go on." Brennan answered, not raising her gaze from the cup.
"In any case we're going to wait until we have all the new evidences analyzed. We need to know all we could about him before do nothing." Perotta explained while Brennan handed her coffee cup. "If we couldn't catch him in less than 24 hours, and you agree to do it, we'll go on with this plan. We want to set a trap for him."
"And I suppose I'm the bait." Brennan said dryly.
"Yes, basically."
"What have you thought to do?"
"Well, let's assume that he's watching you. I know, we can't be one hundred per cent sure of that, but it's not important. Maybe he's not outside the museum, but sure he'll know if you're alone at home. Just in case he could be out here I thought we could perform a little drama outside the Jeffersonian. It could be something like you don't want to be locked here and just go home. Once there, just wait for him to appear. Of course we'll be waiting him, and ready to catch him before he tries to do anything. We'll deploy a large but hidden police presence outside your apartment, and we'll install surveillance devices inside, such as cameras and microphones, to see and listen all that could happen inside."
"Sounds like you have all already planned." Brennan answered bowing her head.
"Well, I've had some time to think about it at the hospital, and with these new murders… I want to catch him as soon as possible, before he kills someone else..." Perotta told her.
"Yes, I understand. Me too." She said.
"Dr. Brennan... I know this plan is not too... pleasant, but I'm sure you understand that it could be our best option to catch him." Perotta told her. She did understand, of course she did. She remained in silence a few moments, trying to order all the plan in her mind.
"I have a question. That performance you want me to play outside… I suppose you want me to argue with Booth, right?"
"Yes. Since our guy seems to want you alive and is absolutely mad at him, I think that he'll feel more encouraged to go after you if he thinks you're alone and not with him. Of course you won't be alone. As I said, there will be agents around your apartment, shooters in the building in front of yours, and more agents in the apartments next to yours." She explained.
"Do you honestly think that you could prepare all this without his knowledge? If he's watching me it's not going to be easy to set all this around me." Brennan asked.
"Yes, we'll prepare ourselves incognito, as if we were neighbors or workers. Don't worry about that, we've done it before." Perotta said. "Dr. Brennan… you know Booth will not be able, on any account, to stay with you at your home while we wait for our guy to appear, right? He's not yet in good condition to face a situation like that."
"I know." Brennan said, but a feeling of uneasiness ran through her spine. She knew Perotta was right, but the idea that he couldn't be with her really disturbed her a lot. "I'll do it." She said. "You already know Booth is not going to like this idea at all…"
"I know that, but if everything else fails, if all the clues and evidences we're analyzing don't come to anything useful, I'm sure this is the best chance to catch him."
"I suppose the FBI will allow me to carry a gun."
"Yes, of course. Don't worry about that." Perotta said, smiling.
"So, as I have only 24 hours to work on the new evidences I have no time to lose." Brennan said standing up.
"Perfect. I'm gonna go to talk with the work partners of the Stanton. Call me if you find anything." Perotta replied and left.
Brennan headed to her office again but thought better and let Booth rest a little more before tell him about Perotta's plan. She knew for sure that he wasn't going to like it at all. Instead she went to see Angela again. She thought that maybe it would be better tell her before Booth.
"Bren… I was about to call you, I've found him!" Angela said disturbed.
"Where?" Brennan asked surprised and anxiously.
"Here… at the Jeffersonian!" Angela said.
To be continued...
I know, I know... too late and a short one... I promise a very quick update this time...
Please, review... muaks!