The Face with Two Skeletons

By: Tropicwhale

Disclaimer: Mine? Who's been saying that wonderful lie? oh...ignore them, they lie like rugs. Bones and all things associated with the show belong to other people...dammit.

Author Talk: Yeah. Like I was going to leave you on that horrible cliff hanger. I'm not that evil.

Chapter Twenty Three

Zack froze at the sight of the gun, flashing back to that night when Bradley died. "Hey now. Let's not do anything rash." Angela said. Oscarmann pulled back the safety on the gun. Zack could feel his heartrate increase and his breathing become fast and shallow. The next thing that Zack knew he was being pulled to the side by Angela and there was a gun shot. The next few moments were a blur of confusion. When Zack raised his head Pack Rat had Oscarmann on the floor, his gun was sprawled across the floor way out of arm-reach and the police woman was using the sheriff's hand-held to radio for back-up. Angela was asking Zack if he was okay and there was a ringing in his ears. Zack recognized the numbness that he felt as shock.

Ten minutes later Oscarmann was being taken away in the back of a police car and Angela was phoning Brennan and Booth to get down to Alabama ASAP. Pack Rat was giving Zack some of her special Southern Comfort hot chocolate which was really good but it wasn't until his second cup did Zack realize that perhaps "Southern Comfort" was less about Alabamian hospitality and more about alcohol if the buzzing in his head was any indication. He stopped drinking it. He didn't drink alcohol. His brain was fuzzy enough for his liking.

About three hours later found Zack, Angela, and Pack Rat sitting in Houston County police headquarters giving statements. Someone had run a check on "Sheriff Hector Riley's" face and come up with an escaped convict from four years ago by the name of Hector Oscarmann for killing his son. Olivia Oscarmann had also disappeared and it was assumed that she had helped her husband escape. Their whereabouts were unknown…at least until Zack had recognized Oscarmann in the evidence locker. Zack was recounting to a uniformed police officer how he knew Oscarmann which led to the officer doing that bigoted sensitivity that the police in Michigan had showed Zack the days following Bradley's murder. Zack answered everything as truthfully and robotically as he could as it would impede their investigation if he allowed his emotions about this event to cloud his judgment and memory of what happened. Then, Booth and Brennan stepped into the police station. Booth flashed his badge and without so much as a glance at Zack went over to Angela to figure out what had happened. Zack took a deep breath and reminded himself that he was being questioned and that Booth interrupting them to check on Zack would be insulting to the officer questioning Zack, suspicious because he shouldn't care that much about Zack, and that Zack, himself, really couldn't remember much after that gun was pulled on him so Booth asking him anything would be next to useless. Even reinforced with that logic Zack couldn't seem to shake the feeling of rejection and despair at Booth's flawless professionalism. He forced himself to focus on the interview.

Booth on the other hand went right from questioning Angela to see Oscarmann, still wearing his sheriff's uniform, in his cell. Booth had the now derisively arrogant man to the interrogation room for further questioning. Angela had handed him the portrait of the woman's skeleton but Booth wanted her and Brennan beside him when he interrogated the escaped convict. Unlike the interrogation room at the FBI headquarters the one of Huston County was probably once a storage closet and had a CCTV camera set up in one corner that was connected to the adjacent room to a television so that others could watch the examination. Booth tapped the table and looked at Oscarmann who had his arms crossed and was scowling at the fed. "So, do you recognize this woman?" Booth tapped the sketch that Angela pushed toward the criminal.

"No." Oscarmann didn't even look at the paper; choosing instead to glare down Booth who was unaffected. Booth raised his eyebrows.

"Are you sure? Because your body language states that you don't really want to even consider looking at her. Maybe she was your daughter? What? She was a stripper so you shot her, dropped her in some swamp, dredged her up again then sent her to the University of Alabama at Birmingham under forged papers."

"She's not my daughter. Olivia and I only ever had Bradley and look how that turned out."

"You killed him." Brennan stated.

"I walked in on him and that little sodomite because I thought I heard sounds of a struggle." Booth knew the sound of a rehearsed story when he heard it.

"By 'that little sodomite' you mean Zack?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah. Bradley was a good straight boy. Played sports and everything until that Addy started tutoring him. I lost my son. The things that were going on in that room that night isn't natural. It isn't right. Not by God and not by me. I did what I had to do." Angela stood.

"I'm sorry. I can't stay here and listen to this." She started to leave but Booth grabbed her arm.

"Sit, Angela. We're almost through." Angela sat down but it was clear she was uncomfortable by the proximity to Oscarmann as if the bigotry could wear off on her by proximity. "So you did what you had to do." Booth repeated. "Is that why you convinced your wife to help you escape and come back down to Sweet Home Alabama? Change your identities, forge documentation of your police training as Hector Riley, start a whole new life without the stain of your son's homosexuality all over it."

"That's right."

"And it was working out for you."

"Yes." Booth nodded.

"Who's the girl?"

"Don't know."

"Where's your wife?" Oscarmann shifted. "Don't you know?" Booth could play tough hard-ass as well as the next guy.

"She went missing about six months ago." Oscarmann admitted.

"Why didn't you report her missing? The wife of a sheriff would have had top priority in a small community like this." Brennan stated.

"Ain't it obvious, Bones? An Amber Alert would have gone out plastering his and Olivia's face all over the news nationwide, including in Michigan where they are wanted fugitives." Booth never lost eye contact with the fake sheriff. "So Oscarmann here just pretended like she was sick or something; downplayed the whole disappearance until her cleaned bones showed up on his porch in a box....or something like that. Maybe his desk at work in the police station?" Oscarmann shifted uncomfortably. "But Hector Oscarmann here was smart. He knew how to forge signatures and papers so he sent it off to the university thinking that was the end of that. In a few months he would admit that Olivia left him for another man and it was his pride to hide it from everyone. The perfect cover for a missing wife…question is…how much is he willing to admit to? Did he murder her? Maybe she didn't want to live on the run anymore. Maybe she wanted a divorce. Maybe-" Oscarmann cut off Booth's speculation by pulling the portrait to him.

"That can't be Olivia…she's too thin. My wife was about ninety pounds overweight." Angela pulled the sketch back toward her and filled out the face more.

"Like this?" she pushed the paper back to Oscarmann. He looked down and sighed heavily.

"Yeah. That's Olivia. Anyone in the station would able to recognize her." He turned away as Booth stood and walked over to Oscarmann.

"Hector Oscarmann, I am placing you under arrest for suspicion of the murder of Olivia Oscarmann, the federal crime of forgery, escaping from prison and crossing state lines, impersonating an officer of the law in the county of Houston, Alabama, and the attempted murder of Dr. Zack Addy. There's probably more but I think that's a good enough starter list, don't you?" Booth pulled Oscarmann to his feet and cuffed him. "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights?"

"Yes."

"I'm taking you back to Washington DC to be questioned because, frankly…this crossed so many state lines I rather just group it all together in one place. What do you think, Dr. Brennan?"

"That would be logical."

"I'll go get Zack." Angela said and stood. "Let's go home."

Author After Talk: That better? :)