Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Fourteen

Scarlett had a grueling interview with David Ross, the victim's godfather, and former boss. She told him, "The pubic hair found on April proves you were very intimate with her. The coroner stated she had consensual sex that night. You can be charged with statutory rape."

Ross's lawyer said, "But not by you. Statutory rape is not a federal crime. You are fishing and you are trying to get my client to admit to murder."

"Just tell me what happened."

Ross said, "I will tell you a hypothetical story, but I will not admit to anything."

"Go ahead."

"A man meets a young woman, and they have consensual sex. The man finds out it is the girls first time. She declares her undying love. He tells her he loves his wife. She freaks out and leaves the car and runs away. The man cannot find her. He looks and looks. After a couple of hours, he goes home and hopes for the best. Her car is still there when he leaves. He doesn't say anything to anyone because he is afraid of the damage it will do to his life."

Scarlett sighed. She said, "Go to the restroom. Take off your underwear, put them in this evidence bag, and bring them to me. Then go home. You are a fool, but I don't think you are a murderer."

The phone rang in the lab and Emily answered it. After she hung up, she said, "I am going to sign Agent O'Hara in. I will be right back."

As Emily and Scarlett walked into the lab, Scarlett said, "I found the guy who April had sex with the night she was killed. It was her boss and her godfather."

Emily said, "What a sicko."

"Indeed. I have a pair of used underwear from that man. Can you make a comparison?"

Rhett said, "Not unless the hair bulb is attached, hair cannot be conclusively matched.'

Hodgins said, "But he doesn't know that."

Scarlett said, "Indeed, Hodgins, but I kicked him lose. I think he was just a fool who had sex with an underage girl. I can pick him up tomorrow if I want to question him some more."

Rhett said, "I have proof that the victim was not murdered where she was found. We found pollen in her hair and something else. We are analyzing it."

After Rhett explained everything to Scarlett she said, "Why would the killer take the chance of moving the body? He could easily have been seen."

"I have no facts to explain why."

"Of course, you don't I was simply thinking out loud."

"Of course."

Ashley said, "Scarlett, if you tell the judge, you have changed your mind about Mr. Epps' guilt that might sway him to stay the execution."

"But I haven't, Ashley."

Rhett said, "Agent O'Hara, may I speak with you privately?"

"Yes."

Once Rhett and Scarlett were in the other room, he said, "Do you believe in the death penalty?"

"Yes."

"So, do I but with that belief we must make sure we have no doubts. I have a doubt or two. Let's go visit the judge and see if we can gain a couple of more days so we both are sure."

"Okay."

Ashley, Rhett, and Scarlett rode to Judge Morton's home in his BMW. She said, "This is nice."

"I had to get a bigger vehicle to haul all my equipment around now that I am working out in the field."

Scarlett flashed him a smile. Ashley knew at that moment his extra marital affair with Scarlett was over. It was just as well. His life would be a lot less complicated now.

Rhett decided that Scarlett was not involved with Dr. Hodgins. He had decided that if she was, she would have addressed him by his first name. He decided she was barely involved with Ashley.

It was one in the morning when the trio entered the judge's home. The prosecutor, Larry Carlyle, was already there.

When the judge asked Scarlett if she had doubts, she said, "Judge Morton, I want to apologize personally for disturbing your sleep."

Judge Morton smiled and said, "Well played. So, noted. Your doubts?"

"All the way out here I kept asking myself are my doubts enough to stay the execution. No, they aren't. I will always have doubts when we are putting a person to death, but I can say with a reasonable certainty that Howard Epps killed that woman."

Judge Morton said, "Request denied to stay the execution."

Ashley said, "Judge Morton, you can't dismiss this request so easily."

"Mr. Wilkes, I let you exhume that poor woman's body and you have not brought me anything new. The law is clear. What we believe doesn't matter. What we can prove does. I am going back to bed. Show yourselves out."

Once Rhett, Ashley, and Scarlett were back in the BMW, Ashley said, "Scarlett, I can't believe how you emasculated me back there."

"I didn't emasculate you, Ashley. I just didn't charge after your windmill with you. I could not tell Judge Morton that he should stay the execution because of my doubts. My doubts are not that great. I thought about what you said, Dr. Butler. We aren't going to find anything more if we had two weeks or two years."

Rhett said, "You pondered it and came to a decision you can live with. Very well."

"Yes, very well."

There was no more conversation the rest of the way to the Jeffersonian Building. When they got there Ashley got out of the BMW and headed towards his car, he said, "I will go tell Epps that there will be no stay."

Scarlett said, "Alright."

Rhett said, "I'm going to look at the skull again. Agent O'Hara, come on up. I'm sure the particulates have been analyzed."

Rhett had to sign Scarlett into the building once again. As they were walking down the stairs, he said, "I am going to get you your own badge. This is a waste of time to have to keep signing you in and out."

"Thanks, Dr. Butler."

When Rhett and Scarlett entered the lab, Jack said, "Those particulates were slivers of steel."

Emily said, "Probably from the tire iron."

Rhett said, "Wait a minute. Let us get settled before you start firing information at us. For your information, Judge Morton did not stay the execution." He took a deep breath and sat down, he said, "Tell us what you have found out."

After Emily and Jack had updated Rhett and Scarlett, Rhett looked at the screen of the computer Jack was working at. He said, "Is that blood?"

"It is silt. I am breaking it down. It contains traces of two chemicals anthracene and fluoranthene. I also found some pollen. It is from Spartin Alterniflora. Commonly known as Smooth Cord Grass."

Scarlett said, "What does pollen tell us about the murder?"

Rhett said, "The pollen was collected on the murder weapon. When she was hit in the head with the tire arm the Principal of Transference occurred. The oldest forensic principal. An oldie but a goodie." He looked at Scarlett and said, "It is quite simple. When a person enters an area, they leave something behind, when they leave an area, they take something with them. In this case, the perpetrator took pollen with him from the field where he killed the victim. We don't know what he left behind. It is fortunate he took the pollen with him because now we know where he has been."

Jack said, "Better yet. This pollen is only found along Chesapeake Bay."

Emily said, "The pollen and silt both show traces of complex chemicals."

Rhett said, "She was killed in a marsh near a chemical plant."

Scarlett said, "We need to find that marsh."

Emily said, "Let me plug it into the computer and we can find the closest match."

Scarlett looked at it on the screen. When Rhett and Ashley had gone to see the judge the first time, she had called Sam to tell him what she was doing. He had not been happy. She picked up her cell phone and woke her boss up. She said, "I think I know where there is evidence that will prove Epps murdered that girl. I need GPR and agents to help me look."

"You can call some people in. It will take some time to get people mobilized. It is the middle of the night. Volunteers only."

"Thanks Sam." Scarlett hung up the phone. She turned to Rhett and said, "I'm going to go get a GPR then go search in that marsh."

Rhett stood up and said, "Ms. Addy, try to narrow the search. Agent O'Hara, we will use the Jeffersonian's GPR. I am sure it is a lot more high-tech than the FBI's."

"Thanks."

Emily said, "Yes, sir."

Jack said, "With the data we have right now, look close to the Rock Wall Processing Plant."

Rhett said, "Got it."

As Rhett and Scarlett walked out of the building, he said, "I'm driving. You don't need anything from your Bronco."

"Okay."

Scarlett let Rhett drive out to the location. He had been right. She didn't need any of her equipment except her jumpsuit and her cheap shoes. On the way out there Rhett said, "GPR stands for Ground Penetrating Radar. It uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. The first patent was submitted by Gotthelf Leimbach and Heinrich Lowy in 1910, just six years after the first patent for radar itself. A patent for a system using radar pulses rather than a continuous wave was filed in 1926 by Dr. Huelsenbeck, which led to improved depth resolution. Its first widely known use in the field came in 1929 when it was used to measure the depth of a glacier."

"Where they Germans?"

"Yes….."

Until they got to the location, Rhett continued telling Scarlett all about GPRs. It was strangely calming to listen to him spout off about something so mundane as they were driving out to a location to hopefully find a murder weapon.

When Rhett and Scarlett got out to the location it was plain to see his GPR was light years ahead of what the Bureau had. When they rolled over the location of the tire arm it was clearly a short, cylinder object. Rhett had a shovel in the back of his BMW, and he dug up a tire arm. Fortunately, for the families while they had been looking for the tire arm, they had rolled over what they both had known was a grave. They rolled over a twenty-foot square area. They had found two graves altogether. They hadn't dug any of them up. They hadn't needed to. They both knew that Epps had gotten his stay of execution.

Rhett said, "It is at times like this that I truly hope there is a higher power."

"So, people like Epps will get what they deserve."

"Yes. Of course, I don't want to get what I deserve."

"Nor do I."

Scarlett called Sam. After he answered, she said, "I have proof that Epps killed that girl."

"What is it?"

"The tire arm and at least two more graves."

"Aw jeez. This is going to take a Task Force. Let me contact Wakefield. He is good at that sort of thing. He always manages to keep all the evidence straight."

"I will stay here until Bill gets here."

"Thanks."

"Let me call him and he can call some people in. It is no longer a volunteer situation."

"Right, Sam."

An hour later, as other agents were beginning to show up Rhett and Scarlett had graves marked, as well as the tire arm. It ended up being Howard Epps' dumping ground. He got his stay because he had to be tried for all his crimes before he could be put to death. He had needed someone brilliant enough to piece it all together. Through Ashley then through Scarlett he had gotten Dr. Butler to look at his case.

After Bill Wakefield showed up, Scarlett turned everything over to him as the Agent in Charge. She walked over to Rhett and said, "I have to make a phone call."

"I will just stand here and watch your oafs work."

Scarlett called Ashley. Once he answered, she said, "Did you share with Epps that you had a friend who worked with renown forensic scientist, Rhett Butler?"

"Yes, he said he didn't think there was much point in looking over the evidence again. They wouldn't see any more than the other yahoos had. I told him that I knew someone who knew Dr. Butler. You know he is quite famous."

"Yes, I know. He played you Ashley and thus you played us. We found Howard Epps dumping grounds. I have found two more graves. There will be more before everybody is found. I'm going home and get some sleep."

"Wait. This means Howard gets his stay of execution. Isn't it wonderful?!"

"No, Ashley, it is not wonderful. We just stop the execution of a serial killer. That is nothing to be excited about."

"Scarlett, we don't know for sure if those bodies are Howard's victims."

"Good Lord, Ashley. How can you be so dense? Don't call me again. Ever."

"Wait. Where are you? I will be right out there."

Scarlett gave him directions then said, "I'm not going to be here. I haven't gotten much sleep in the last two days. I'm going home. The FBI can recover these bodies or some forensic students. Lack of sleep leads to lack of judgement. Good night."

After Scarlett hung up, she said to herself, "Enjoy your life in your ivory tower, Ashley."