The gravel beneath their feet crunched loudly as Booth, Brennan and Sweets stepped up to the grand entrance of the Leroux residence, "No, Booth, it's pronounced 'Luh-roo' not 'Ler-rokes'. You'll offend them right off the racket if you pronounce their name incorrectly like that."

Booth threw her a charming smile and winked, letting her in on the fact that he was having a go at her, before knocking loudly on the carved timber and wrought iron feature door, "it's bat Bones, not racket. I'll offend them right off the bat."

She rolled her eyes good naturedly, "Yeah, well, tom-ay-to, tom-ah-to."

He grinned, pointing at her, "exactly!"

Sat in the sunroom, Sweets and Brennan observed silently as Booth questioned Erik, his parents and workers. At one point Booth discretely mentioned the scar above Erik's lip and Brennan was quick to jump in and explain, her hand held out, drawing attention to Erik's face, "It's a cleft lip scar, Booth. Obviously, during foetal development, parts of Erik's lips did not fuse properly… in his case it was quite severe as his scar indicates a bilateral cleft and his slight speech impediment suggests a severe cleft palate, also…"

She was cut off abruptly by Booth's reprimand, "Bones! Shush! A little discretion!"

Booth apologised profusely and Brennan quietened but Sweets observed… he'd noticed the way Erick's eyes darkened exponentially, and he'd seen how his nostrils flared with barely disguised rage… Sweets' spidey senses tingled.

However, any suspicion Sweets had for Erik dulled as the three of them walked back to Booth's SUV; when a bearded bodyguard named Mathew jumped Brennan, gun pointed; shaking at her head. Using her as a human shield, Matthew tearfully revealed unreleased information about the killings and confessed to the murder of all four women – all of them paid staff of the manor.

With a grunt he pushed Brennan into the gravel before turning his gun on Booth and Sweets…

Booth's voice was steady, "Drop the gun Matthew, or I'll shoot… drop the gun, Matthew! I will shoot!" but, with a tweak of the trigger, Mathew's bullet bit gravel at the feet of the psychologist and Booth responded instantly… Matthew fell to the ground in a bloody heap, his torso shot through-and-through at close range.

…

When his phone rings, Booth pauses at the top of the stairs and juggles his phone and gun, he lifts the phone to one ear, plugging the other to muffle the loud music, "Make it quick, I'm busy!"

Sweets' rushed voice fills his ear, "Agent Booth, it's Lance, listen, I just got a call from Dr Saroyan, she tried to ring Dr Brennan but apparently she's not answering. Anyway, Mathew had a cleft lip scar also… we didn't notice it because of the beard but, yeah, cleft lip and cleft palate. Obviously Dr Saroyan compared the DNA pulled from the sperm found on Joy Ellen and, Booth, it wasn't Mathew but it was around about a 50% match. I'd bet my X-Box that Mathew was Erik's father… a relative DNA match, together with the cleft palate condition will most definitely be more than enough for a warrant for a sample of Erik's DNA.

Sweets paused for a breath, "Then it got me thinking, Booth, the way Matthew reacted when he confessed - he was emotional and repentant. But, ya see, a cold blooded killer such as the Streetwalker Strangler fills the profile of a sociopath, at the very least a narcissist – incapable of feeling remorse or guilt unless they are threatened themselves! Then I remembered Erik's reaction to Dr Brennan's explanation of his cleft lip and, Booth, dude, he was unabashedly raged.

"It's likely, in my professional opinion that Erik, a body dysmorphic sociopath, killed these women in a heated rage, probably after they brought attention to his scar or speech impediment. His Dad, Matthew, mortified and in over his head, proceeds to cover up his son's killings and, to take the spotlight off of his son, he acts as a martyr and sacrifices his life for his son's misgivings… suicide by execution."

Booth's face pales and a cold sweat prickles at his temples, "So, Brennan outright insulted a serial killer today… where does that leave her?"

Sweets brow furrowed in a grave expression, "In great danger, Booth… in great danger."

Booth barks out an order to call Caroline for a warrant, snaps his phone shut and, finally, finding the remote, turns the music down. Slinking into the room he shares with Brennan, a wintry cold escapes from beneath the billowing curtains spilling over the open windows… it's late fall… Brennan and he never open their windows in fall let alone almost winter.

He steps further into his room, the pungent smell of ammonia burning his nostrils; his ears register the steady hum of the ensuite shower…

As he creeps stealthily into the steam-heavy space of their shared ensuite, Booth's breath catches and his heart stalls when he looks through the misty shower screen… he can't see much – just a glimpse… but just a glimpse had his world spinning… just a glimpse of the lower half his wife's leg, extended flat over the blood-red covered floor of their shower had the bile rising into his mouth.

...

So, what do you think? Are you worried?