A Naughty Patient
By Rondabunny
Hospital, 9 a.m.
Booth, Brennan and a nurse came into the room where Irene was lying in bed. Agent looked at the girl and burst out laughing. Teenager was wrapped in blanket like a mummy. Only her head and the left arm in plaster showed from the cocoon. She wasn't just lying there covered but four belts secured her movements. They fixed her body tightly to the bed. Wires from different medical devices registered the cardiac rhythm, blood pressure as well as an assistant respiratory tube was showing from girl's nostrils.
"Why did you swaddle her like a baby? Is she dangerous?" asked Booth trying to suppress his laughter.
"This girl jeers at me! I have to use all these devices to watch her condition. I put all the necessary tubes and the minute I get out all tubes are gone. I can't monitor her and I have five more patients to take care of!" said the nurse angrily.
"It's Iatrophobia. She is afraid of doctors, medical equipment especially needles. Has she fainted when you did the injection?" asked Brennan looking at X-rays.
"No, she was calm. I think she fakes whatever you said it is," told the nurse and left both partners with the patient.
"How are you?" asked Booth approaching the bed.
"Go to hell!" hissed the girl.
"You have to be more polite or I take a bar of soap and wash your mouth with it, maybe it'll help you to behave properly."
"Thanks, but I prefer tooth-paste. Tastes better," she snapped back.
Booth put his hands on hips not knowing what to do, to smack the girl or to burst out laughing again.
"She has the same fractures as the victim. Except, they broke her ribs on the right side," said Brennan raising her eyes from the X-ray picture.
"Who did this?"
"Don't know what you are talking about. I fell from a ladder… staircase I mean," Irene told in a soft voice.
"Yes, and you mother fell from a staircase too, but she wasn't so lucky and the rib plugged into her lung. The question is why she ended four blocks from her house. Got it?!" agent Booth explained the situation to the girl.
"It is impossible. The fractures were caused not by a staircase. Somebody beat her till she died. Fingers were smashed. We hadn't found any evidence that the victim was dragged. Hold on! Whoever did this, he wanted to make them speak. He caused them pain to get the information," Brennan looked at the girl.
"Wow. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but your deductive approach doesn't work here. You're not conning me, lady."
Booth sat on the side of the bed. "Fine. Let's make a deal. I take off the belts, maybe get you out of the hospital and you tell me the name of the bad guy. How about that?"
"You two don't understand where you get yourself into. I won't say a damn word," she told them and stared at the ceiling. She wanted to move her right arm or to turn away from them but she couldn't. Brennan came silently to the bed and unfastened the belts.
"What are you doing?" asked Booth watching his partner.
"She probably spent whole night in this position. It is not healthy for her blood flow," said Brennan helping the girl to sit in the bed.
Irene thanked her and immediately took respiratory tube out of her nose.
"Hey! See what you've done! Put that back, now!" said Booth loudly.
"It's ok. Don't touch anything else. Those won't do you any harm," Brennan took the respiratory tube and switched off the device. "Feeling better?"
"Yes, I hate things plugged into my nose."
"Yeah, me too," told Brennan to support the girl.
"Listen, those who did this to you and your mother have to endure the punishment or your mother died for nothing," Brennan said gently, eyes full of pain.
"Nice try. Maybe you ditch your job and join the theatre? Deep, sexy. voice, pleading eyes. You'll go over with a bang," Irene got on Brennan's nerves.
Brennan pissed off. "If you weren't a 13 year-old teenager with half of your bones broken I would have smacked you!" She stormed out of the room banging the door behind her.
"Is she always so sensitive?" asked the girl mockingly.
"No. But you have an extraordinary talent to drive people wild. Your silly chatter would vex a saint," said Booth leaving the place.
He joined Brennan. His partner was already sitting in the car waiting for him.
"Are you ok? Bones, she's just a kid."
"I treat children neutrally but this girl is disgusting and vulgar and …"
"Really smart," concluded Booth and pulled away from the curb.
FBI, Booth's office, 13:00
Booth was ready to leave but suddenly his phone rang.
"Yes… What? Was shot?.. When?.. Where is she?.." He took his jacket and left the office in a hurry.
Hospital 13:20
"How did that happen?" asked Booth the nurse.
"I brought her lunch. I came into the room and saw sheets lying in a mess and the pillow on the floor with holes in it as well as the blanket and the mattress," told the nurse wringing her hands.
Booth looked at the pillow and found two holes in it. Then he looked at the mattress with two bullets but no blood.
"Smart girl!" he said to himself. "Did anyone come to visit her?"
"Yes, a social worker from foster care."
"What time was it?"
"I… It was about 11 a.m. I don't know for sure."
"When did you check on the girl last time?" Booth continued questioning the pale nurse.
"I gave her painkillers right after you'd left. Doctor came and told to take off the tubes. I did so. It was 10:15."
"Can you describe the foster care representative?"
"I… I'm not sure. He wore dark glasses, grey suit. No, I caught a glimpse of him. Foster care called. They let us know beforehand that a social worker would come to fill in forms. The girl was an orphan," said the nurse in a shaken voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that…" she started sobbing.
"Thank you. You may go."
Agent Booth left the hospital and headed to squints to take his partner and go search for the girl.
"Bones, this girl knows classics. She covered pillows with her blanket making it in a shape of her slim form and ran away the very moment she had been left alone," said Booth proudly like it was not his witness running away but his good friend surviving from a heart-attack.
"What about her clothes. She couldn't leave the hospital in hospital attire."
"Right, Bones. I've already checked. She stole clothes from a boy next door. His whole left side is plastered. Car accident. He couldn't prevent her from stealing," Booth smirked.
Brennan looked at Booth and uttered: "Booth, you like her!"
"I?" he shook his head.
"Admit it! You like the girl!"
"What do you mean under "you like her" that I love her?" asked her partner in disbelief that somebody, especially Brennan, can think in such a filthy way.
"No, I mean, it's a syndrome when a victim feels that his or her offender is right and tries to help. I forgot the name of the syndrome."
"Gee, Bones. She's a 13 year-old child. She is not an offender. She's a witness of this case. I don't feel anything for her. I've just haven't seen such bright children breeding in slums, that's all," he told her turning the corner and stepping on the school-yard.
The school building wasn't the one you've seen in your dreams. It was two storied building, asphalted yard covered with litter, at walls were displayed different pictures of graffiti art. You can see here teens of different nationalities: the African-Americans, the Chinese, the Latin-Americans, Indians nearly every ethnic minority living in the country. It was the school in the slums. This was the main characteristic of it.
Booth and Brennan questioned the principal and teachers but found nothing except that the girl was brilliant in the classroom and had A-average. Then they went to ask her classmates. Kids ran about the classroom, chatted, cursed, hoot. Booth tried to catch their attention but nobody listened. Brennan saw a glass with water on the table. She silently took it and threw against the opposite wall. The glass broke into pieces and everybody turned Brennan. Silence fell.
"Great. Now boys and girls take your seats and we'll talk about this girl," he showed the picture to the crowd.
"Brains… Yes, it's her. Brains…" kids whispered one to another.
A bold boy came from the crowd. "It's Brains. You're cops right? What did she do?"
"Her name is Irene Weiss, she is missing. Does anybody know where she might be?" asked Booth.
"Ask her mother. Maybe she sold her to get a fix-up?" The crowd giggled wickedly.
"Her mother is dead," said Brennan looking in their faces.
"Oh, man. The girl is a freak it's all I know. She jumped one level and now she's in our group for less than two weeks. She is nobody here and no one can tell you anything about that softhead."
"Maybe her head is not that soft if you call her Brains," stated Booth defending his witness.
"She'll die, 'cause she don't obey the law of the streets, man. This I can tell for sure."
The bell rang. Booth and Brennan left the school and got into the car.
"To do well in such a school is easy," said Dr. Brennan
Booth turned on the engine. "Yes, could you do it living with the drug-addict, working after school and doing all the household duties by yourself not mentioning constant scolding and stress," asked Booth getting on the road.
Brennan thought about her partner's remark. "Hmmmm."
"Admit it, Bones, you're a strong woman. Yes, you parents left you, but you were 15. It was a shock for you to be left alone, because somebody always cared about you. This girl was treated like garbage from the very childhood. She could have become a drug-addict like her mother or a slut or whatever, but she didn't…" Booth didn't know how to continue this conversation. Brennan sat silent for a while.
"You're right… She ruins all the scientific examples of the environmental selection. I can rely only on the physiological genetics theory, which states that the genetic information passes on from one generation to another, which means…" stated Brennan learnedly.
"Ok, Bones. You can rationalize whatever you want but if you're a squint maybe you can say where another squint might be," uttered Booth.
"I'm not a mind-reader," told Brennan and looked at the window.
The Jeffersonian, Cam's office 18:00
Booth passed from corner to corner: "We looked everywhere, we asked her employer, teachers, classmates, neighbors, friends. But she hadn't any. She hasn't any money to leave the state. She has no friend and relatives. She has three broken ribs not counting the left arm. The police were informed and there are no results as if she vanished into a thin air!"
Cam looked at Booth in concern. "You're too agitated. Calm down."
Suddenly the phone on Cam's table rang. She picked up the receiver. "Dr. Saroyan… Yes, I'll tell her… Where are you? Wait…." She heard the sound of two shots in the receiver and the line was disconnected.
She looked at Booth fear playing in her eyes. "It was Irene. She said, she found the information those guys needed. I've heard two shots and the line went dead."
"Did she give any clue, address? Anything?" Booth asked calmly
"No, nothing. She wanted to speak to Brennan. I'm sorry, Booth."
"It's all right…" Booth turned away and left the office.
To be continued…