12CHAPTER TWO
The next day they were stuck in the same place as the last one. Dr. Brennan hovering over the remains for the zillionth time her gloved hands lifting each intricate piece going over them to see if she had missed anything the first few times. Of course she hadn't, at least not to her knowledge, and she was back to square one.
Mister Nigel-Murray was providing limited assistance as he seemed to have clamped his mouth shut like some sort of mime, out of fear that someone would snap at him again if he slipped up and rattled off one of his many 'tidbits'. Temperance didn't have any time to speak to him about this, and she probably wouldn't have if she even had the time because social situations were not her forte, much like all of the squints that worked at the institute. She was their Queen Bee of awkwardness and they all seemed to follow suit.
"Mister Nigel-Murray..." Temperance began as her eyes were angled downward to the body and she gently flipped him onto his side. "The fingertips have been completely decimated and burned off to prevent identification. We've documented everything we can from the flesh, do you see anything else peculiar about the body?"
"There's striations on the lower lumbar spine.." Nigel noted as he stood next to his teacher. Having been given the permission to speak he actually dared to do it, but did his damndest to limit it to relevant points. A feat which was incredibly difficult for him. He furrowed his brow and without hesitation looked to Dr. Brennan. "Indicating that the man was hung up through a knot, possibly from the ceiling." The intern couldn't help but cringe at the thought, and of course Hodgins came into view just in time to bring the image back, like it was his duty.
"Hung up like clothes to dry. Like a pig in a slaughterhouse minus the hook." Hodgins' blue eyes brightened like a kid coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. He got a sick kick out of this twisted kind of thing and all of the dark comparisons he could bring up to sicken the interns. It was one of the few positive things in his life since him and Angela went their separate ways. Him to his mansion pining for her and her to her girlfriend... Roxie. Most men would find this incredibly hot, but not Hodgins. Angela confirmed a few weeks back that she could love men and women. She purposely chose Roxie over him, and that made him feel crappy, so now it was his job to make sure everyone else felt the same way.
"Jack!" Dr. Brennan warned, looking up suddenly. Her eyes could have burned holes through his flesh. "I'm trying to get work done and so is Mister Murray."
"I am." Nigel swallowed and made himself nod quickly reaching for his clipboard and pretending to scribble information down so he could avoid this fight. Temperance frightened him in a way because she was his boss but Hodgins just frightened him because the man obviously hated him for no reason. Rumor had it that he hated all interns though, ever since their regular Zack had something horrible happen that no one ever really spoke about.
Temperance picked up right where she left off, her eyes still on Hodgins with disbelief mixed in with annoyance (as she hated going days without solving a case, it made her question her IQ). "And we can't get any work done without the particulates from beneath the feet that I asked you for two days ago.!"
Dr. Hodgins quieted for a moment but he managed to mask his uneasiness with an uncomfortable, forced smile. "You're serious?" It was difficult to hide the disbelief in his face that Bones had actually asserted her power and furthermore yelled at him in front of the intern that he enjoyed picking on. He wasn't quite sure how to react. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Angela saved him.
"Sweetie, you have to understand that we're all spread a little thin." Angela reassured her best friend, but was purposely not looking at Hodgins, mostly because of the awkwardness mixed in with the fact that he was being such a jerk and everyone knew it. She blamed herself for his behavior really, but wasn't about to say that. Her guilt was the only reason she wasn't yelling at him and telling him to stop being such an 'ass' which is what she usually would have done.
"We've been stuck on this case and this one alone for four days with no breaks other than what other methods he was tortured in which I'm sure is very interesting for you but frankly gives nightmares for the rest of us." Angela continued honestly holding her clipboard close and using her other hand to adjust her large silver stone necklace. She was going sans lab coat today choosing instead to stay out of the scientists' way and wore a light blue spaghetti strap tank top covered by a darker blue vest. "Top that off with the F.B.I. sending in young kids... Very young... To do our jobs and it's enough to make anyone a bit snappish." It was then that she directed a superior gaze toward Hodgins. "Some more than others." This caused Hodgins to look down at his feet, temporarily out of function.
Angela let out another sigh as her best friend begrudgingly and stubbornly returned to her work. "I'm also pretty sure I walked in on our visitor playing Pong on her computer." Angela said in a low voice as if it were an aside and anyone could pick it up as they wished. And of course the angry Jack Hodgins was the first to take the bait.
"The only reason that girl is probably here is to suppress any information we have so that they can take the credit when we do finally crack this thing." Hodgins informed Niles, the intern and therefore his new rod of hate, as he hovered over the body across from the young British man."The F.B.I. just wants to cover their asses." Hodgins concluded flatly shaking his head with disgust and daring anyone to challenge him. Unfortunately someone much bigger had come through the door and stood behind him. Bones of course noticed but kept her mouth closed and continued her work.
"My ears are burning." Booth announced with a fake smile, hands in his suit coat pockets appearing very casual even though Jack Hodgins seemed intent on bashing him when he thought that the agent wasn't lurking. Choosing to cast aside Hodgins' opinion like the useless ranting that it was he looked to his partner. "Anything I need to know?"
Temperance reached for a pile of stapled papers and flipped through it. "The victim was shot, poked, prodded, hung, burned, and there were hints of Oxy Cotin and other drugs in his tox screen that we just got back today." She turned another page before sighing and setting it down on the table.
"From the decomposition of the toxins it's clear that the victim was drugged to get under control and the affects wore off right as the torture began, probably a week and a half ago." Nigel interrupted getting very caught up in the excitement in having discovered such information after a long dry spell he continued on. "Did you know that in the Middle Ages the most hated of criminals were strapped to a Breaking Wheel which always killed it's victim through spokes, iron hammers, and stretching. After all of his or her bones were broken they were left on the wheel for the wild animals to pick at. Sometimes birds would even feed on the victim while they were still alive." He finished with a dopey, silly smile, clearly excited by announcing his cool little tidbit, but everyone else seemed less than pleased.
Temperance Brennan just stared with her mouth slightly agape, Booth looked horribly confused, and Angela looked about two shades paler and ready to throw up.
"Knew it was too good to be true." Hodgins sighed, shaking his head to which Mister Murray's shoulders slumped.
Brennan turned to look at her best friend dropping the subject. "Angela can I get a sketch done by four?"
Angela looked up as she made a simultaneous quick note on her clipboard. "Sure." Booth meanwhile snuck up toward the table to look at the body from a respectable distance. He didn't want to touch it. Though he had to admit as clean bones it was a bit better than when they were still... juicy.
"I thought he was shot." Agent Seeley Booth cringed, doing his best not to slink away in disgust at the thoughts of the torture wheel that took over his brain courtesy of Mister Nigel whatever.
"He was strangled, had holes poked in his back, burned, and then shot." Bones stated with a matter of fact shrug, turning her back on him in an attempt to take her gloves off and move to the next step.
"Ouch." Murmered Sweets whom had sucessfully snuck up behind Booth, also staring at the body with a similar look of worry and pain in his eyes.
"That's what torture is." Temperance continued, crossing her arms over her chest to look at the growing group. More so Agent Booth whose visits seemed to increase with every passing week. She had to convince herself that it was all for work purposes and not for some other reason, though she wasn't quite sure what that could be. Now gesturing toward the remains from where she stood. "Want to take a look?"
"Nah. I'm cool." Booth retorted quickly, shaking his head and actually taking a step back looking away toward the floor.
"That's something I'll never understand. You're a rather large, clearly well built man." Bones began as usual not realizing the awkward affect that her words could have on people.
"Thank you." Seeley acknowledged with a cocky grin, quite pleased with himself as his posture noticably straightened. Angela meanwhile shook her head and hid a laugh behind her clipboard.
"You're by every definition a nacho man." She continued only to have Booth lift his hand to quiet her.
"That's macho. A macho man Bones." Booth corrected, eying her as though she was an alien. No matter how many times Bones didn't understand a reference he always found himself in disbelief though he should have been used to it by this point.
"I don't get it." She shrugged her shoulders again and returned to her work. Everyone else seemed to follow her silent guidance and began to move toward their stations, except for Sweets who hung around to study there interaction as he always did. It was his job after all.
"You should be a little nicer to me." Booth frowned, his brown eyes on the anthropologist as he was the only one not to budge. He could be just as stubborn as Temperance when he wanted to. But she couldn't be totally unfeeling, Booth more than anyone knew that. Especially lately.
The woman could be caring, compassionate, and horribly attractive in a weird way. He just couldn't explain it. He could be modest but the fact was loads of beautiful women chased him on a daily basis, the FBI badge worked wonders like that, but some days he just would politely turn them down and spend time with his partner. He had never done that before, nor had he ever been the one in pursuit. But was he pursuing her or were they just good friends? This thought had plagued Seeley Booth for the past three years.
"Should and shouldn't are subjective." Temperance countered cooly with a sigh. She'd make a battle of intelligence out of anything, it was her defense as Sweets had pointed out numerous times. The baby Psychologist had pointed out that she always did this because she didn't want to be abandoned like her father had done when she was a child. Her father the bank robber and possible killer. Quite a family tree and yet, everyone stood by her. They were her friends. Growing up Temperance Brennan never had many friends, but now she seemed to have a bit more than a handful. At times she wasn't quite sure how to react.
"Don't worry Agent Booth." Lance Sweets reassured him, daring to rest his hand on the bigger man's shoulder. "It's her defense mechanism. She lashes out when she's uncomfortable." He gave the Agent a boyish smile only to get a serious glare to which he quickly removed his hand and folded them in front of himself. It seemed like Dr. Brennan wasn't the only one lashing out lately.
Suddenly there was a soft clattering and squeaking and they all turned just in time to see their newest 'co-worker' Krys Robin rolling a black chair across the floor. Her left knee was propped up on the cushion and she was pushing the chair backwards with her right leg as though it was a ride. Her lab coat, given to her by Cam, wasn't even being worn the traditional way, she had instead wrapped the arms around her neck fashioning it like a cape.
No one spoke and the young woman didn't address either of them and disappeared into the 'office' in which Cam had set up for her. Everyone turned back to the body in silence. Of course Sweets would be the one to break it.
"I'd say we're all fairly uncomfortable at the moment." And another long quiet followed before a ringing from Booth's pocket in a cell phone jingle broke it.
Reaching into his pocket Booth answered his phone keeping his responses limited to various grunts, yes', nos', and uh huh's until he finally hung up before looking to Temperance.
"We've got another body."
*Author Note: Hey guys! I just wanted to address people's concerns about Krys. Now I am doing my best not to make her a Mary Sue (I promise) and she most certainly won't be in every chapter. Right now the first few chapters are the introductions and whatnot so when the plot gets moving and the 'adventure' gets going you know all about the different characters and their relationships to one another.
I appreciate everyone submitting their reviews and if you like the story so far I'm really glad and excited. If not.. I apologize ..