6.

Still with me? :) Gotta figure out how to work in the aspects of the actual case with this version - some of the book being returned to the team is different from the original case. The cypher referred to can be found in any number of Google searches…or the "cover image" to this story…

We're almost to the end of the clues from the actual real life case that was unsolved. We'll have to find a way to solve it from there…

"I smell coffee!" Cam said happily as she nearly skipped to Angela's kitchen finding Hodgins sipping away at the java. Cam quickly deduced this was not Hodgin's first cup at the speed of his speech.

"Good morning Dr. Saroyan, would you like a cup of coffee, it's good, and we've got a lot of work to do today - in secret of course - but I am super stoked to get to work today. Not that I'm not excited every day but you know this case is sooo…"

"Dr. Hodgins!" Cam said halting the speedy speaker. "I have yet to have some coffee so let's slow down."

"Of course." Hodgins said pouring a cup for Cam who sipped it with delight.

"This is fantastic, what do you do to it?" Cam asked not caring if she had too much and turned into a raving lunatic like Hodgins, it was good.

"I think Sweets made it."

"Where is Dr. Sweets?" Cam asked looking around only to find a folded blanket and pair of sweats and tee on the couch.

"I don't know, I smelled coffee, came down and he was gone." Hodgins explained.

Cam looked at her phone in her pocket and noticed a text she hadn't heard thru her snoring - she would never forgive Arastoo for sharing that.

"Ah, Sweets sent me a text about five this morning, he was heading home to change and would see us at the Jeffersonian." Cam explained.

"I want to get a good look at that book." Hodgins said looking around for it. "Where did it go?"

Cam looked around too and had a haunting smile on her face, she knew Sweets took it with him, and she suspected it was because he didn't want anyone to know it had been there - he seemed determined to keep any harm specific to himself. This she would have to work on with him.

At the moment Sweets had no concern how much the water bill was going to be. He had been in the shower for a good amount of time, enough he knew that he had to keep upping the hot water which was apparently draining the tank. The steam and warmth cascading over his body was so relaxing he didn't care.

He had woke that morning one last time from a tumultuous slumber peppered with nightmares of harm coming to the team. He would sit awake for a moment and think of how to make sure nothing happened to anyone but exhaustion would recapture him and he would drift back off again. Finally the last one nightmare was too much as he caught Cam who had been shot after a car chase. He got up and made coffee but was uninterested to drink it. He knew he needed a change of clothes anyway so he caught a cab and slipped silently out the front door.

He found himself heading straight for the shower when he got home, entranced by the prospect of the warmth easing his pounding head and aching sides. First he texted Cam to let her know where he was - save for them placing an all-out APB on his location. He smiled at their concern but he wanted some distance from them as well - determined his own recent injuries not overflow to anyone else.

Looking at his shriveling fingers Sweets decided it was time to turn off the water, the cold seeping in way too fast for comfort. Drying and shaving and general bathroom activities drawing to a close, he found excitement at picking out something clean and dry to wear. Batman may have had a cape but Sweets found comfort and confidence in a smart suit. He looked at the label of his shirt as he put it on and thought of the smartly dressed dead man. He pondered the removal of the label, perception? Identity? Traceable? He brainstormed the possible reasons in his mind why they had been removed.

His thoughts were drawn away as he buttoned the shirt when his cell buzzed. Assuming it was Cam he unlocked his phone to check the text…Booth…uh oh… He read the text "how's your case going?" Sweets considered his answer to the out of town agent. "Open and shut." Sweets texted back and hurried to make that a true statement.

Sweets caught a cab back to the bar and picked up his car then headed to get a cup of coffee. He turned his nose up at the java that was not nearly as good as his own but the appeal to caffeine overrode his desire for a better cup which he finished as he arrived at the Jeffersonian.

"You have the book right?" Cam asked as soon as he stepped in the room.

Sweets held it up as soon as he walked in. Cam could tell Hodgins was about to ask why he took it but Cam gave him a look. If anything Cam figured Sweets had, literally, taken a beating to get it. The bruising on his chest was covered by his clothes but the split lip and bruise at his temple served as a reminder of Sweets after work activities the night before.

"Who do you think left it?" Angela asked while Arastoo worked on remains that just arrived for Dr. Brennan's case.

"I think it was Genevieve." Sweets answered.

"The mystery woman." Cam recalled.

"You said you thought you heard a woman's footsteps." Hodgins recalled from the night before.

"It seems like she's with these men but she slips away and leaves clues - like the note the night of their first, uh, visit." Sweets reminded them.

"What's her deal?" Hodgins asked trying to figure the mystery woman out.

"She's walking a thin line - or feeding false information." Cam thought aloud.

"Yeah but she's leaving useful clues and she's pushing for us to stay on the case." Angela reminded her.

"So why did we get another copy of the same book?" Cam asked opening it and noticing it looked slightly different. "Almost same book."

"Is it an English edition?" Hodgins asked looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah, but it's a different edition, the other one was a third edition. This one is a seventh." Cam said reading the front cover. Angela walked over to a computer as Cam said it, something had caught her attention.

In the meantime the others continued to look at the publication.

"We do have a name on the inside front cover though." Cam said making out the faint lines. "Alfred Boxall. I think there's an address but I can't hardly see it."

Hodgins scanned over it and soon the markings appeared. "1717 Park Lane, DC."

"Is there a section missing in the back of this one?" Sweets asked and Cam flipped to it.

"No." She said almost sad it wasn't until she noticed something that caused her to slip the paper back and forth in the light. "Dr. Hodgins, can you scan this as well, bring it up under ultra violet light?"

Hodgins did as requested and soon an image appeared on the computer screen before them. "Whoa! Talk about conspiracies."

On the screen appeared a legible version of the impressions Cam saw on the pages, most likely formed by a paper sitting over the page being written down, the pressure from the pen leaving them behind.

"Someone wanted these to be found." Cam said.

"Why do you say that?" Hodgins asked.

Sweets answered for her. "Because otherwise they would have wrote it using the back of the book as a place to write it on, not the more impressionable inside back page - knowing we would go to look on the back page for clues."

The image on the screen was this, faint markings of five lines of capital letters with the second line struck out.

WRGOABABD

MLIAOI

WTBIMPANETP

MLIABOAIAQC

ITTMTSAMSTGAB

"Okay so it's code." Cam said looking at it.

"Yeah but to what?" Sweets said reading it over and over.

"The strike out must be significant with its similarity to the fourth line possibly indicating a mistake and thus, possible proof the letters are code." Hodgins mused. "Perhaps I can run this thru some software." He added while typing on the keys.

"Well that's interesting." Angela said finding what she was looking for pulling them momentarily away from Hodgins latest mind blowing case factor.

"What's that Angela?" Cam asked not sure if she entirely wanted more clues.

"This book didn't have a seventh edition." She informed them. "They stopped publishing after the fifth."

"Where's that address at?" Sweets asked.

"It could be old." Angela said pulling it up on the screen. "Oh wow, that's like two blocks from where the body was found."

Sweets looked to Cam with a raised eyebrow. "Let's go." She confirmed and they headed to the door. Cam offered to drive which was fine with Sweets since his hand was still sore from the day before. He was pretty sure the fingernails were going to fall off. He was also glad that so far Cam had forgotten about the x-rays.

"When we get back," Cam said starting the car. "We do those x-rays."

Sweets rolled his eyes as he fumbled with the car's seatbelt. Cam quickly snapped it in place and began to talk before he could feel emasculated and have to say thank you.

"You think this address is old or new?" Cam asked putting the car in reverse and backed out of the parking space.

"Nothing seems to be in this book if it wasn't important." Sweets said watching everything around him.

"What are you looking for Dr. Sweets? Surely my driving isn't that terrible." Cam said jokingly.

"For the people who prefer we drop this case."

Cam's humor vanished. "Oh yeah - them." Cam was now keeping an eye out too.

Soon the duo pulled up at a small residence nestled in a posh and old part of town. The pair went to the door and knocked on it. Within a minute a woman came to the door who seemed startled they were there. She was beautiful in a very classical film noir style. Cam figured the woman was nervous purely because of the fact there were agents at her door. Sweets noticed her collectiveness but a slight tremor to her hand, his suspicions were raised as his attention was drawn to her voice as Cam spoke with her.

Sweets hearing had been honed at young age - that of a young boy hiding from his foster father's foul moods. It left him with a keen ability to recognize voices and the lies within them. This voice was familiar.

"Genevieve?" Sweets asked. The woman slammed the door shut giving Sweets just enough time to remove his just recovered fingers from the door jam. The pair quickly worked to open the locked door when they saw a car race in reverse down the driveway nearly causing a collision with the oncoming car. The pause in her driving gave Sweets & Cam enough time to race to the car and be in pursuit of their only real lead in the case.

Sweets quickly realized he was in the passenger seat, where he usually found himself. He looked over to Cam who looked to be enjoying the high speed chase a bit too much. Sweets ignored the grin on Cam's Speed Racer face and tried to call in the silver bullet they were chasing. Sweets jumped in his seat when he saw the red light they just blew thru, Cam's grin widened. Sweets came to realize he was most likely going to get a red light camera ticket for Cam's driving. He hoped the bureau would cover it but he doubted that the penny pinchers would but it might be worth it if they caught the mystery woman.

"So why does this woman give you a book with her address written in the damn front cover?" Cam asked. "I thought she was all secretive."

"The way she was surprised when she got there she must not have known it was there." Sweets surmised. "Otherwise I doubt we would be on this sightseeing tour."

The pursuit continued and Sweets was growing concerned. "Why haven't any back up showed up yet? I called this in like ten minutes ago."

A concerning thought came to both their minds, the threat to stay off the case. Their thoughts were interrupted however when a large black SUV barreled into the intersection ahead of them slamming into the silver compact car. Cam slammed on the breaks avoiding a collision of their own. Once the pair looked up Sweets could see the SUV continuing down the road. He tried to make out the plate but it was moving too fast.

"What the hell was that?" Cam said looking at it flee the scene. "A tank?"

"It was certainly built to do damage." Sweets looked back to the damaged car ahead of them. "Genevieve!" He shouted as he and Cam were lulled from their shock and to the car ahead of them.

They rushed to the sedan to see the woman in the driver's seat whose head was lolling around from the impact in a confused state. However before Cam could even check on her vitals the whirl of an ambulance siren filled the air. Cam & Sweets looked to each other with the same question, how to police fail to show up in a pursuit but the ambulance arrives seconds after a crash? Sweets took out his cell and snapped several pictures of the woman and acted like he was stepping away to give the paramedics room. The paramedics also pushed Cam away who was then trying to help. In the diversion Sweets took additional pictures of the plate of the car.

At the moment he put his phone in his pocket the police showed up - not interested in the least who the two of them were and informed them they must leave the scene as their car was blocking the ambulance's route to leave. Cam knew this was not protocol for the witnesses to the hit and run be ushered away so quickly.

"Here ma'am call this number and we will collect your statements later." The officer said handing over his business card. Cam noticed a few of the other vehicle's drivers talking to the other officers and felt that something was wrong.

"Fine, well, where are you taking her?" Cam asked watching the woman be placed on the stretcher and loaded into the ambulance.

"County ma'am." The officer told her and pushed her and Sweets towards the car. Cam looked to Sweets to see if he thought the whole thing was as strange as she but his expression was one she hadn't seen before.

"Yeah Cam, we have the officer's information, let's talk to him later." He told her as he glanced around one last time.

"Okay, let's go." Cam said still thinking it was strange but she figured it was Sweets case anyway.

She got behind the driver's seat and backed the car up and headed down the road. She noticed that Sweets was unusually quiet but his lips moved slightly as though repeating something over and over. Once they were a couple of blocks away he took his phone out and began to text.

"Sweets what's going on?" She asked irritated. He held up his hand to finish typing what he was trying to remember.

"Those weren't cops. And those weren't witnesses." He said hitting send to several messages.

"What?" Cam said about to slam on the breaks and go back.

"Cam, keep driving." Sweets reminded her sternly.

Cam trusted Sweets and continued to drive.

"Sweets, please start explaining quickly."

"Since when did cops start carrying AF-12's?" Sweets asked.

"They don't…oh…." Cam said realizing. "I didn't pay attention to the cop's gun."

"Yeah, they all had them. I think those witnesses were also pointed towards that scene. Their timing was a bit too convenient."

"So wait, what about that woman? We just let them take her away." Cam said concerned.

"I know." Sweets said obviously troubled with the decision he had made. "When I saw what was most likely happening I knew they would turn and shoot us, I had to get us out of there." Sweets could only think of the dream the night before where Cam had gotten shot, something he wasn't going to let happen this afternoon.

"We set her up for that." Cam said feeling guilty.

"I know, but she was in it deep already. And I don't think they will hurt her. If they wanted her dead they would have killed her at that scene, they wanted her quiet." Sweets said explaining his decision.

"You made the right decision." Cam assured Sweets who wasn't so sure.

"Let's get back to the Jeffersonian, figure out who this woman is and who those cops are."

Cam & Sweets got back to the Jeffersonian in time to hear what Angela, Hodgins & Arastoo had found based on the texts Sweets sent them. Cam & Sweets stood ready to hear what everyone had to say, by their expressions it was going to be a lot.

"Okay," Cam said holding up her hands to call in some order to this, "who's first?"

"Me!" Angela said hand up. "I ran the plate that Sweets sent me."

"That's what you were mouthing in the car."

Sweets nodded, "I didn't want to forget."

"Yeah well it's a police car alright, stolen." Angela reported.

"I contacted country general, no one's been admitted there from an accident." Hodgins added.

"And I checked, no police reports called out to that intersection." Angela reported. "Also, that red light camera that got you, nothing."

Cam's expression was blank. "I know I ran that light! I saw it snap!" She looked to Sweets. "Sorry."

"Yeah, erased or something." Angela said.

"What about this card?" Cam said handing over the officer's card. Angela dialed the phone number where a pizza place answered.

Cam rubbed her head, a little more relieved now that Sweets had gotten them away from the scene, these people meant business.

"I have something." Arastoo said raising his hand having patiently waited. "I believe it's quite important."

Arastoo laid out two photos on the table, one of the victim and one of the woman in the car that Sweets photographed.

"If you notice here, this is a side shot of the victim." Arastoo said pointing to the ear. "I you will notice the upper hollow, cymba, is larger than the lower hollow, cavum. This ear type is possessed by only 1–2% of the Caucasian population."

"That should help identify the unknown man right?" Hodgins asked.

"Yes but if you will notice the photo Dr. Sweets took of the side of the woman's face." Arastoo pointed to the identical ear.

"What's the chances of that?" Angela asked.

"The condition is hereditary." Arastoo explained.

Cam gasped. "She's his daughter."

"Are you sure?" Hodgins questioned.

Arastoo continued with his evidence. "Both of these two also have another condition, hypodontia. The chance that this is a coincidence has been estimated as between 1 in 10,000,000 and 1 in 20,000,000."

"It's his daughter." Sweets said convinced.