3.
Booth waits impatiently for Sweets to show up at a crime scene. He is so late that the rest of the squints pack everything up and head back to the lab when Sweets finally gets there. Once he shows up however, he acts uninterested in the case. Booth is left wondering if he should have given Sweets a chance to lead this case.
Booth checked the rear view mirror at intervals to make sure that Sweets was still following behind him. He wondered what had gotten into the young doctor and why he was acting so strangely. Booth also wondered why so often Sweets continued to check his own rear view mirror. He assumed it was a mere reaction to Booth doing the same thing and dismissed anything more by the time they arrived at the Jeffersonian.
"Sweets?" Booth said to the psychologist who was busy scanning the parking lot. "You coming?"
"Yes, yes of course." Sweets said picking up his pace but keeping several feet between himself and Booth. Booth noticed because Sweets was one of those guys who always walked plenty close to you, perhaps seeking an emotional connection thru a physical space. Booth sighed inwardly as he realized he now sounded like the psychologist himself.
"Hey Bones." Booth said approaching the platform and swiping his card. "Find anything?"
"Yes, oh, good afternoon Dr. Sweets I did not see you there." Brennan half said it to get Sweets attention to the remains on the tables instead of looking around the lab. She thought Sweets was quite smart and didn't want to see him fail so immediately on this case.
"Yes of course." Sweets answered again in a near robotic tone. "There are new findings?"
"Yes, we have two victims, both have devoid of any visible signs of identification." Brennan explained over the two skeletons on the cold tables before them. As Sweets fingers brushed against the metal he looked up, seemingly reminded of the reality.
Brennan continued. "Angela is running a missing persons listing but finding a lot of matches to two Caucasian males in their mid-thirties and mid-twenties may not yield a high number of results."
"You said the cause of death was broken necks?" Sweets asked and Booth was glad to see him finally partaking in the case discussion.
"Yes, I believe you are familiar with the human anatomy?" Brennan said handing him the x-rays. Booth wondered why he never got handed x-rays but he remembered he had told Brennan years ago to stop. Sweets studied the x-rays closely and Booth realized it was close enough to be more than 'just nice' - he was looking for something.
"Was the force that broke the neck by an object or strangulation?" Sweets asked though from his tone Sweets seemed to be hoping for a third option.
"Small particles were found at the scene." Hodgins interrupted. "I ran them and discovered they are a northern white ash. Specifically it comes from lumber in Pennsylvania and New York state."
"So it's a tree?" Booth asked. "Like a tree limb but we were in Virginia."
"Right but this has been treated." Hodgins interrupted. "The best lumber comes from these states to make baseball bats."
"I thought they were made from hickory?" Cam asked joining them on the platform.
"They used to be but hickory was too heavy. Modern bats are made from maple or northern white ash." Hodgins explained.
"So someone took a bat to the back of our guys necks." Booth surmised.
"Could it have been suicide?" Sweets asked. "One hits the one and then the other?"
"Quite impossible." Brennan interjected quickly. "They blow would have caused immediate death."
"Why are you so determined it's not murder?" Booth asked Sweets outright.
"I just think we should consider all options." Sweets said looking at the x-rays again, an obvious distraction from conversation.
"We don't have much more but we will call you when we find something." Brennan said trying to stave off a mounting tension between the two men.
"Fine." Booth said. "We'll head back to the office and do some digging of our own."
Booth left with Sweets following a second later.
"My Sweets mind must be on something." Cam observed. "He never walks away without saying goodbye."
Booth hadn't waited for Sweets when he left the parking lot, he sped off quickly without waiting for the younger man this time. He was pissed and he needed a little space to consider his thoughts and why the young doctor was so insistent on being so uninvolved. After he got to FBI headquarters, Booth took a moment to calm himself and sort his thoughts before heading to Sweets office. Once he got there, he found he was alone. He left the same time as me, where the hell did he go? Booth wondered to himself as he waited and continued to wait another thirty minutes. Each time Booth got up from the couch to leave he thought Sweets might walk in and he'd have to walk back down here. As he was about to drift off, the door opened.
Sweets jumped when he saw Booth sitting on the couch. Booth noticed Sweets looked slightly disheveled.
"What did you take a nap on your way back?" Booth knew it was harsh question but he was upset that Sweets was paying so little attention to his first assignment, so much so that he wasn't even sure if Sweets realized it was even his sole assignment.
"No, I uh, stopped for, uh, an errand." Sweets said walking slowly into the room. "What can I help you with Agent Booth?"
"What's with you Sweets? We've got a case and you're hardly paying attention and don't seem interested in this case. If you want off this case tell me and I'll reassign it to myself as lead." Booth nearly shouted.
"No!" Sweets said quickly turning around and taking a moment before saying much more. "No, you're right, I haven't been very focused. I apologize."
"I don't need apologies Sweets." Booth said though he realized it was kind of nice to have Sweets apologize. "I need for you to focus on this, look this could do a lot for your career if you really want to be involved in cases at the next level."
"I do, you're right I do." Sweets said sitting down rather slowly.
"What long car ride again?" Booth asked. Sweets quickly sat up as though covering for his slow movements.
"No, yeah, no, uh slept crooked last night." Sweets said.
"Look Sweets it just seemed like you wanted this case to be accidental or a suicide. It's clearly murder and if you want to stay on this case you have to get your head in the game." Booth warned.
"You're right Booth. I do, I do need to get my head in the game." Sweets said and shifted in his seat. "Look, how about I go over all these notes and see what I come up with. Maybe let me know if you hear anything more from the Jeffersonian?"
Booth could tell that Sweets wanted some space alone to work and get him out of his hair. He would have thought it was odd except he knew that was how Sweets worked, except this time he was slightly more nervy than others.
"Sure Sweets." Booth said heading towards the door. "But you're the lead, they'll be calling you."
Booth headed back to his office and began his usual investigation work. He tried to keep his mind set to how it would do it in assisting another agent, an act that would be hard if it hadn't been his decision to support Sweets in a lead role. He was completely thrown off however with Sweets behavior and wondered if it was leading a case that was doing it. Maybe Sweets wasn't ready he wondered.
"Carl Sager." Sweets said walking in the room with a file folder he handed to Booth. "He was the younger of the two men."
"No identity on the older of the two?" Booth asked while flipping thru the folder to see a photo of Sager with flesh and a face.
"No, nothing yet." Sweets said but Booth felt a tickle on his neck, the one that said it what he just heard was a lie. He assumed it was overuse of starch because surely there was no conspiracy between what Bones and Sweets discussed on the case.
"Dr. Brennan was able to identify the younger man based on a hip replacement surgery. There was a serial number on one of the replacement bones." Sweets went on to explain.
"Why on a guy so young?" Booth asked.
"The guy was a dare devil." Sweets explained. "Well, he decided to become one recently I should say. It wasn't going well so far when he had his hip replaced. Angela found a corresponding video of him doing it. Amazing what people will post online."
"So he was promoting himself?"
"Sort of, according to his blog that Angela ran me thru, his wife died of cancer, if left him on edge with grief. He tried this whole thrill seeking thing with a manager and all. After the first accident he gave it up." Sweets explained.
"Could the older guy be the manager?" Booth asked looking at the photo of the younger man who was attractive and fit. He could only imagine losing a wife so young and so painfully and reserved judgment for the man's choices, as dumb as they were.
"No, they checked, the manager is alive and well, on with new clients." Sweets said.
"Any idea on who this other guy is?" Booth asked.
Sweets shook his head as he looked at his lap. "Time will tell." He said finally.
"Alright, well I guess it's late." Booth said looking at his watch. "We can pick this up tomorrow morning if you don't have anything more."
"Sounds good to me." Sweets said getting up.
"Hey Sweets..." Booth said getting up but he realized the young man was already gone from his office.