13
At the Jeffersonian Institute in the District of Columbia, Dr. Daniel Bradley Goodman straightened his tie and composed himself as he strided from his office and walked through the great hall of the museum. He was a large man at six-foot-two, hardly the image of a renowned archaeology professor, but he spoke with the deep confirmed diction of a Shakespearean thespian. Moving past the large mastodon display in the great hall, he stood for a second in the center of the room and looked around one, twice then turned around to find the young heiress known as Monica Frost standing several feet away in the American history wing looking over artifacts from 18th Century Manhattan. Just behind her was her personal assistant and new accountant Amanda Baldwin, a cute petite redhead dressed in a white and light blue matching jacket and skirt combo with a black sweater. Dressed a bit more casually in designer jeans and a French blouse with a cashmere jacket, Alex's eyes looked up as Goodman approached.
"Miss Frost, enchante…" He took her hand regally to meet her. "It is such an honor to meet you. Thank you for coming to the Jeffersonian."
"I couldn't stop myself from coming." Alex looked up to the large African-American professor. "I love history. I just had to see your artifacts."
"Really!" Goodman was enraptured by this young brunette beauty and looked to the Revolutionary War display she'd been admiring. "So what do you think? What in here captures your interest the most?"
"Well…" Alex stepped away to the Civil War Exhibit. "First thing I noticed were your relics from the Battle of Antietam." She gestured to the general's sword on display amongst several pistols and an old uniform. "You do know your sword is a reproduction."
"Fascinating!" Goodman was in awe. "You know, history teachers don't catch that, but you're right. It is a reproduction. The original is on display in the Smithsonian."
Alex grinned a bit happy with herself.
"Don't get her started…" Amanda spoke up. "She may be a million-dollar heiress, but she talks like a history professor."
"Actually…" Alex continued. "I picked up a book recently about the early Norman conquests into England in the Sixth Century." She looked to Amanda and back to Goodman. "I was reading a bit about the legend of King Arthur and became fascinated with reading about post-Camelot Britain… What kind of Old English artifacts do you have?"
"I'm afraid we don't have anything like that…" Goodman confessed as Alex reacted a bit let down. "But… our Dr. Brennan is studying Viking remains from the period for the Royal Academy in London. If you're interested, I'm sure I could get you in to her lab to see them."
"I'm intrigued." Alex lit up.
"Excuse me…" Amanda followed them from behind as Goodman walked them back through the main hall and toward the off-limits area in the west wing. "But is this the same Dr. Brennan who writes all those forensic crime novels? I love her work."
"One and the same…" Goodman walked a long hall past rooms of artifacts and closed off storage areas. "Temperance is one of the most foremost forensic anthropologists in her field, and you're in luck. She's often assisting the FBI on cases during which time her lab is off limits to the public, but right now, she's between cases and I'm sure she'd be willing to share her insights with you."
"As long as I'm not bothering her." Alex responded.
"For a potential investor and fellow history enthusiast…" Goodman took his security badge out to scan a door. "She will make the time." The door buzzed and unlocked itself. Goodman entered another hallway and turned left toward a glass partition that opened as he walked toward it. Inside was a huge hangar-sized room with a center-raised platform surrounded by machines and special lighting equipment. Gear was suspended on long poles over a metal table in the center. Jeffersonian staff and personnel barely seen in the walk-through now filled the busy room. Magnifying glasses concealed Dr. Brennan's face as she carefully studied and analyzed the partially mummified and preserved remains of a Viking brigand found in the collapsed ramparts of a Welsh castle in Powys. Off to the side, FBI Agent Seeley Booth was engaging Brennan in conversation as Jack Hodges reported on soil and fiber analysis. Dr. Camille Saroyan, the resident forensic pathologist, was coming down the steps as Goodman entered with his guests.
"Dr. Goodman…" She stopped and forced a smile. "What did we do to afford this rare appearance?"
"Just another effort to meet and greet another potential investor and budding fan of history." Goodman greeted her with respect as a colleague. "Camille, allow me to introduce Monica Frost and her assistant, Miss Baldwin."
Booth's head suddenly looked over after hearing those names.
"This is not a good time." Dr. Brennan removed her glasses to reveal her bold and open blue-gray eyes. "We were just about to start unwrapping our specimen for clues to discover why he was found where he was."
"Dr. Brennan…" Goodman came up to meet her at the table. "Miss Frost has a interest in this field, and as you know, potential investors are more apt to make donations when they interested in our work here." Alex had stepped up to the table and had pulled her hair back over one ear as she lightly bowed over the remains. Amanda had stayed a few feet back, somewhat offended or repulsed by the decayed remained of the ancient warrior. He was skeletal with his gaunt face pulled tight against his face, and his eyes petrified to thin slits. His mouth had frozen open in a silent scream; his nose somewhat flattened by agent, but his hair was long and preserved. His leather and iron helmet was sitting next to his head.
"Late Fifth to Early Sixth Century…." Alex looked over him. "Norman bearing, he was fifty-eight years old when he died…."
"We haven't pinpointed his age yet." Brennan responded. "But we do believe he was between forty and sixty when he died." She showed Alex the table on relics from the burial site. "Most of the relics with him are actually Celtic Brythonic in origin, but we don't think he died with them. We believe he was taken hostage in battle, but we don't know why he was buried so far west."
"Our best theory…" Jack Hodges spoke up. "…was that his body might have been used in rituals before it was finally buried."
"No…" Alex looked up. "He was shipwrecked off the Isle of Wight in a storm and accepted into Brythonic culture. They buried him in his original attire to honor him."
"That's too big an assumption to make…" Temperance was baffled by Alex's claim. "There's nothing here to suggest any of that."
"Where are you getting your info?" Camille asked.
"From him…"
Amanda suddenly looked up from checking her cell phone messages. Alex was about to go into one of her psychic tangents again. Jack forced a small smile, Dr. Saroyan reacted a bit stunned, and Brennan and Booth exchanged looks. Even Dr. Goodman forced back a short scoffing cough.
"Are you trying to tell us you're psychic or something?" Booth asked.
"The spirit doesn't just vanish when we die…" Alex spoke with a honeyed voice. "Sometimes it hovers around…"
"You do know there's no such thing as ghosts…" Brennan stated general belief.
"Science says that energy doesn't vanish…" Alex answered. "It just changes form."
Brennan and Saroyan looked toward Goodman.
"Did you find cause of death?" Alex looked up. "He said his left ear was bothering him when he died."
"Well, this was fascinating…" Goodman responded. He was not expecting this turn of events. "Miss, Frost, would you…"
"I'm sorry…" Alex looked up. "I was just trying to be helpful. I forget some people are just not open to new experiences." She postured a bit with a slight tilt of her head and her long dark hair falling down her back.
"No, you weren't a bother…" Camille was first to be diplomatic. "It's just that…" She looked at Temperance growing annoyed. "Kind of took us by surprise…"
"Artifacts." Goodman spoke up to change the subject. "We have some of the most fascinating relics from South London in storage. Miss Frost, if you would like to see them?"
"I would." Alex looked over then raised her hand to Dr. Brennan. "I enjoyed meeting you."
"It's been interesting…" Temperance made the effort to be cordial then turned and took her odometer off the metal stand near her. Turning to depart, Alex ingratiated herself with Dr. Saroyan and Dr. Hodges before leaving with Dr. Goodman. Her assistant followed behind her as Brennan checked the left ear of the remains. Lightly pulling its long blonde hair aside, she looked into the collapsed and dried ear canal and recognized a very old ear infection that would have left a normal man screaming in agony. It was likely caused from being struck to the ear in battle.
"How did she know?" She whispered to herself under breath.
"Bones, can we talk?" Booth kneeled by her ear.
"Now?"
"Yeah…"
"Okay…" She turned to Vincent Nigel Murray, her assistant, standing by and gave him instructions to explore the remains of the injury then followed behind Booth walking off the platform. Goodman and his company was just half a minute away by now as Brennan removed her plastic gloves and tossed them into the wastebasket. Booth turned at the bottom of the steps and mulled around at the bottom.
"What do you think of our Little Miss Heiress?" He turned to Temperance.
"I think she got lucky." Brennan answered. "I mean… she assumes we haven't checked the ears yet and then…"
"Not about that…" Booth looked perturbed. "You know how I often get this feeling about certain people."
"Your guts…" Brennan referred to it.
"Yeah…" Booth looked back the way Goodman had left with the heiress and the assistant and back to Temperance. "Ever since I read the FBI report about her I've had this weird feeling about her. I don't think she's who she says she is."
"You think she's an imposter?"
"I don't know…" Booth couldn't nail down his feelings on the girl. "It's just that… something's off about her." He paused to read the attractive anthropologist's response. "Do you recall the Whelan case where Angela did that facial reconstruction stuff and discovered that their son was adopted?"
"Yes…"
"If I get some photos of the Frost family…" Booth started. "I'd like her to compare the family characteristics with this girl. I mean… she might have the Frost family records and a DNA test, but something tells me our results may say something else."