Chapter 6

Scarpini's Construction, Tuesday at 12:30 pm

"So my assistant tells me you want to talk. What I can do for the FBI today?" Vinny asked.

"Reggie Sanderson's body was discovered in the desert on Saturday. We know he worked for you so we were wondering what kind of worker Reggie was," Booth smiled politely knowing that they were in front of one of Phoenix's biggest crime bosses. Suspicions and accusations but no convictions for Vinny, someone else always managed to take the fall. Witnesses had a way of disappearing and prosecutors had been threatened.

"You found Reggie? Wow. He's been gone for a couple of years," Vinny avoided Booth's question.

"Three years actually," Brennan corrected.

"Three? Has it been that long? Wow. You know Reggie was a good guy. I could always count on him making sure the cement looked nice. These new kids I've hired just don't get the craftsmanship end of it," Scarpini replied.

"Do you know if Reggie happened to owe anybody money? Did he ever ask for an advance on his paycheck?" Booth tried to shift the focus of the conversation back to the victim.

"He did once. Said his mom needed surgery and the insurance only covered part of it. So I gave him a couple of paychecks in advance to make sure he could still pay the other bills. His mom has had a lot of leg problems after that horrible car crash she was in about five years back. They had to cut her out of the car, poor lady," Vinny explained.

"How much did you give him?" The G-man wanted to know.

"Five grand," Vinny answered simply.

"Five grand? Did he still owe you money when he disappeared?" Booth asked.

"He didn't owe me any money. It was an advance on his paycheck," Scarpini reminded him.

"Do you remember anything about the day Reggie disappeared?" Booth wondered.

"Only that I read about his disappearance the next day in the paper. I had just gotten back from a business trip and my assistant pointed it out when I got into the office that morning," Vinny smiled.

"Thank you for your time. We'll be in touch," Booth smiled back and they headed out to the SUV.

"Funny how Mrs. Sanderson forgot to mention the five thousand dollar loan Reggie got from his boss," her partner said as he fired the vehicle up and then directed it to the road.

"Maybe she didn't know it was a loan. You heard Vinny it was an advance on his paycheck," Brennan turned to him in her seat.

"A guy like that doesn't give you five thousand dollars out of the kindness of his heart. There was either something he wanted Reggie to do in return or he wanted his money back, with interest," Booth explained.

"Ok so what's next?" The forensic anthropologist wondered.

"We need Agent Blachura to do a little research on Vinny's company and see where exactly they poured cement," he told her.

"Ah because you think someone might have ended up like Cement Head," Brennan now understood his reasoning.

"Exactly," Booth nodded.

Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab, Tuesday at 3:00 pm (Eastern Time)

Simon stood staring at the X-rays of Reggie Sanderson's knees inside the bone storage room. The scrapings on the bones were unusual and he had yet to figure out what kind of tool had been used. Knowing that the victim had worked in construction had helped narrow down the tools that could have been used but there were still a lot to sift through.

"I think I may have something for you," Angela said as she entered the room. The intern had been so lost in thought that he jumped a little.

"You ok?" She asked.

"Yes, I just had my mind off in another place. Now what were you saying?" Simon wanted to know.

"I may have an answer for what animal bit our victim," the forensic artist explained.

"Excellent. Let's go to your office," he smiled and let her lead the way.

"So why call us in here? I'm still trying to identify how old our prickly plant friend was," Hodgins complained.

"Because I may have broken the case open," Angela gave him a wink and the entomologist showed a renewed interest.

"The bit marks on the femur had Simon puzzled so I ran a comparison between the bite marks and domesticated dogs," she explained as she used her controller to pull up the image on the Angelator.

"Simon said there was no tissue embedded in the wounds which made me wonder if the bite occurred after our victim had been dead and mostly decayed," the forensic artist continued.

"Like a dog dug up our vic and used his femur as a chew toy?" Cam wondered.

"Exactly. Watch," hitting a series of buttons, she brought up a replay of how the incident had possibly occurred. Reggie Sanderson's skeleton had a red line to indicate the angle of the bite and the angle at which a dog would have to strike.

"Look at the angle of the bites and the possibility of our victim having been standing at the time," Angela continued.

"They don't match. In fact it'd be near impossible," Simon said.

"Exactly. Now if he were laying down," she told the group. The image changed in front of them and the angle lines shifted.

"So he was lying down when he was bitten," Cam nodded as the lines matched.

"It indicates that the dog that bit the femur was in fact a German Shepard not a coyote," Angela pointed out.

"I'd better call Dr. Brennan," Simon told them.

To Be Continued…