Chapter 6
She heard something. It sounded like footsteps. They got louder and she could tell that someone was coming closer. She knew she should be afraid, but fear was something she had learned to contain. She debated whether or not to yell out, but decided against it. Instead, she stayed absolutely still, gathering all of the evidence she could from just the sounds she could hear. Whoever was walking near her was definitely a male. Suddenly she became a little more frightened.
*****
Wednesday
9:19 AM
"Tell me we have something," Booth said as he swiped his badge through the security box and walked up onto the lab platform with Bones close behind. Hodgins look up from his microscope and stood up as Booth and Brennan approached.
"Your guys really screwed us on this one," Hodgins replied.
"How's that?" Booth asked.
"The FBI crime guys have made it virtually impossible for us to get anything from the evidence that was kept from the original case," Hodgins explained.
"What does that mean?" Booth asked again. He knew that getting information from Hodgins could be like pulling teeth. It was near impossible to get him to say anything in terms that Booth could understand.
"It means," Brennan piped in, "that the FBI compromised the evidence. Now you know why I always take charge at a crime scene. Compromising remains or evidence can seriously compromise the investigation and severely decrease the odds that the case will be solved."
"You don't just take charge at a crime scene," Booth retorted. "You're down right bossy."
"I am not bossy."
"Yes you are. You start yelling at the local police the moment we step foot at a crime scene. How many times do I have to tell you, Bones that you should stay on the local's good side?"
"I don't need to be on their good side. That's your job. And I don't yell, I talk sternly to them because they don't know what they're doing."
"That's a little harsh, don't you think? Just because you're a forensic anthropologist and a best selling author, doesn't mean..."
"Being a best selling author has nothing to do with this. If you don't want me to take charge at a crime scene, which would result in evidence being lost, then you can be the one to tell them how to best transport decomposing flesh and samples and..."
"Anyway..." Hodgins interrupted, walking over to the computer monitor that was attached to his work station. He turned the computer monitor on. The image on the screen showed what was under his microscope. To Booth it just looked like a bunch of blobs.
"What is it?" Booth asked.
"I've been focusing on the shoes that were found in Collin Brown's house..."
"Creepy," Brennan and Booth said at the same time.
"Why is that creepy?" Hodgins asked, looking from Booth to Brennan and then back at Booth again.
"It's not creepy," Brennan replied.
"Bones nicknamed the guy Creepy," Booth explained. "Anyway, can we get on with the evidence please?"
"Your FBI guys..."
"Don't say it like that," Booth said.
"What?"
"Don't say your FBI guys like they belong to me."
"You called me my girl as if I belonged to you, which clearly I don't, and that didn't seem to bother you," Brennan commented.
"My girl?" Hodgins asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's different," Booth explained. "And they're not my FBI guys."
"Your FBI. They're FBI. They're your guys," Hodgins stated.
"They're not..."
"Booth!" Brennan yelled. "Let Hodgins finish."
"Thank you," Hodgins said. "As I was saying, your FBI guys destroyed most of the particulates on the shoes."
"How did they do that?" Brennan questioned.
"Well, considering none of them were probably bug and slime guys and the technology was a decade older, it's not surprising that they didn't have the capabilities to do what I do."
"So you weren't able to pull anything?" Brennan asked.
"The small sample that I did pull is what you're looking at now."
"And...what is it?" Booth questioned, feeling like he had to ask that question a million times a day.
"It's dirt," Hodgins answered.
"You don't like the term dirt," Brennan stated.
"No, but this is pretty much your common garden variety type dirt. It consists mostly of worm castings..."
"Worm castings?" Booth asked.
"That's worm poop," Brennan answered.
"I know what worm castings are," Booth said.
"Then why did you ask?" Brennan wondered.
"Anything else that this dirt can tell us?" Booth asked.
"The guy walked in a garden before is pretty much all I can get from it. Unfortunately it could be any garden anywhere. There's some pollen from your typical garden family daisies and some particulates that comes from dandelions, but there's nothing significant about this dirt."
Brennan looked closely at the screen. "What's that?" She asked. She pointed to a small, white spot that Booth never would have seen if she hadn't pointed it out.
"That is most likely a type of fertilizer," Hodgins explained.
"Most likely?" Booth asked.
"That small speck you're seeing is three hundred times magnified. It's not a big enough sample to test. I'm sorry, man, but this dirt isn't going to get us anywhere.
"What about the other evidence in the box?" Booth asked.
"The shirt was wiped clean by your FBI guys and Angela is taking a look at the videos."
"Correction," Angela said as she joined them on the platform. She was holding a box full of the videos in her hand, which she practically slammed down on the edge of the table. "Angela is done taking a look at the videos."
"You went through them all that fast?" Hodgins asked.
"No. I barely got through one of them."
"What's the problem?" Brennan asked.
"They're graphic," Booth answered, looking apologetically at Angela. He knew first hand just how difficult those videos were to watch. He had spent countless hours watching them, looking for every detail. Every time he watched them, he could hardly make it through without vomiting.
"That's the understatement of the century," Angela commented. "I'm not watching any more of these."
"Ang..." Brennan began to say.
"It's alright, Angela," Booth said. "You don't have to watch them."
"But that's the only piece of evidence we have that could..." Brennan began to say as Booth took her by the elbow and began to whisk her away. "Booth, what are you..." He led her over to her office. When they were both inside, he closed the door. "What was that for?"
"You can't make Angela watch those videos."
"Angela is the best at finding anomalies from photos and videos and..."
"I know that."
Booth perched himself on the edge of Brennan's couch and crossed his arms.
"Then why isn't she watching them? If analyzing videos was my specialty, I would..."
"You read what Creepy did to those women in the file."
"Yes."
"Now imagine watching that on video."
"I imagine it would be quite unpleasant, but..."
"Angela isn't like you, Bones."
"I'm aware of that. Our facial bones alone are incredibly different in size and shape..."
"That's not what I meant. She can't watch something terrible happening and compartmentalize it. You can. So asking her to watch videos in which women get tortured is almost as bad as Angela being tortured herself."
"I would never want that to happen."
"I know that, Bones. I'll have some guys at the FBI take a look at the videos again although I don't think we'll get much. We got everything we could from them when we were trying to catch Creepy the first time."
"But this isn't an official FBI investigation anymore. Won't you get in trouble using FBI resources?"
"As of 12:00 today, this will become an official FBI investigation again."
"Why?"
"Because the man we have down in the books as being the murderer is being set free. The case is now reopened. Of course, without any evidence, we're not going to have much luck in solving it," Booth said.
"We'll find something."
"Where? The shoes didn't give us anything. Neither did his clothes. The videos will probably turn up nothing."
"What about his house?"
"Bones, the man has been in prison for over a decade. He doesn't have a house. He sold it to pay his legal fees."
"Considering his lawyer just made him a free man, I'd say that was a wise decision."
"Bones."
"What? I'm simply saying that..."
"I know what you're saying. Look, maybe we can go back to his former address and see if we can sweet talk the new owners to let us have a look around. Maybe he left something behind."
"Sweet talk? That doesn't make sense."
"Just...get your coat, Bones."
*****
10:30 AM
Booth pulled into the crowded parking lot. He turned off the car and looked at the giant shopping mall that was in front of them. Bones glanced over at the mall and then back at Booth. She could see the frustration in his eyes. They had been working together for so long that even Bones, the woman who was incapable of reading other people, could read Booth most of the time.
"So much for that idea," Booth said.
Brennan turned her attention to the small laptop on her lap. She plugged in some information and a picture of the mall they were sitting in front of popped up.
"They tore down all the homes in this area six years ago to build the shopping mall. Collin Brown's house was among them."
"I guess we won't be getting any evidence from his house, then."
"No, but what about...what about a family member or a close friend or anyone else that we can talk to?"
"The guy was a loner. Although he has above average intelligence, he could never hold a job, never got married. His parents died when he was a kid. He was shipped from family member to family member, but no one wanted him. His closest relative was an uncle who lived in the woods in Maryland, but he died a few years ago. His other relatives had nothing to do with him."
"Don't you think they should be contacted since he's getting out of prison?"
"FBI's already on that. We've got our eyes on a few cousins and distant relatives, but none of them seem too eager to welcome him back into the family."
"What about the Uncle's place? The one who died?"
"We took a look at it. Didn't find anything. Uncle claimed he hadn't seen Collin Brown in years. We didn't find any evidence that he wasn't telling the truth."
"Who owns the house now?"
Booth shrugged. "I'm sure we can find out, but it's not going to lead us anywhere, Bones. We searched the place when the case first opened. What we need is something substantial. Some hard evidence. We need DNA or fibers or..."
"Bones."
"Why are you saying your own name?" Booth asked, confused.
"I'm not. I'm saying we need bones."
"I'm not following."
"We need to exhume his victims."
"That will take a warrant."
"Then call Caroline and have her find a judge to sign one."
"It's not that easy, Bones."
"Why? You said they're reopening the case. Tell them we need to gather more evidence to catch the real killer."
"Caroline's not going to do it without getting something in return."
Booth took out his cell phone and dialed Caroline's number.
"I'm not kissing you again," Bones said.
"What?"
"Last time Caroline wanted something, she wanted us to kiss…with steamboats."
"Yeah, trust me. I remember the steamboats." Both concentrated back on his phone as Caroline answered. "Caroline, it's Booth. I need a favor." Booth explained the circumstances, pausing several times for Caroline's responses. Brennan listened intently as Booth all but pleaded with Caroline. After several minutes, Booth finally hung up the phone.
"What did Caroline say?" Bones asked.
"She's going to try her best, but there's no guarantee."
"How can a judge say no when the case is reopened?"
"Judges can always say no. But, Caroline has a judge who owes her a favor. There's only one problem."
"What's that?"
"If Caroline gets the favor and we exhume the bodies and don't find anything, we're going to owe Caroline big."
"Bigger than steamboats?"
"Much bigger."
"What do we do until then?"
"We wait."
"You hate waiting," Brennan stated.
"Then we'll eat."
Author's Note: Again, I know this chapter was very dialogue heavy, but that's what I love so that's what you get. I have to admit that I'm finding Bones fanfiction to be somewhat difficult because the show is so science-heavy and I am definitely not a science person. But, I'm doing my best. I promise things will start getting more dramatic/angsty soon. Thank you for reading and please don't forget to review!
