Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

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

Chapter Sixteen

Four hours later, Rhett called Scarlett, he said, "Miguel drew me a likeness then we were able to match her up with missing persons. Just waiting on dental records to confirm, but I would be surprised if we were wrong. Her name is Maggie Schilling. She was nineteen."

"Let me gather up the information. I will call you back. Give me thirty minutes."

Forty-five minutes later, Scarlett called Rhett on his cellphone. After he answered, she said, "Maggie Schilling went missing eleven months ago. There was a million dollars ransom. Negotiations dragged on for a couple of weeks, then suddenly all contact stopped. The assumption at the time was that the kidnappers killed her. What have you got?"

"There is no visual physical trauma, I am working on determining what the cause of death was. There are stress fractures on both wrists, but that wouldn't kill her. I have some people running chemical analysis and toxicity screens on the effluent in the refrigerator."

"Great. Call me when you know something."

"Sure. Sure."

The next morning as Rhett walked into his lab, it took all Emily's self-control not to look at the clock. The only thing that stopped her was that working as Dr. Butler's assistant was the best position in the anthropology/ forensic field.

Rhett said, "What did the x-rays show?"

"Low bone density and the parathyroid hormone levels were also low. There is a medical condition called hyperparathyroidism. Symptoms include muscle weakness and brittle bones."

"Very good, Ms. Addy."

Jack walked into the lab. He said, "Is this a good time to discuss human goop?" Without waiting for a reply, Jack went on, "Chemical analysis of the liver and kidney tissues reveals significant evidence of the narcotic hydromorphone."

"Hydromorphone?"

"Also known as hospital heroin."

"In what kind of concentration."

"Given her probable size and weight, it's fatal."

"I need to know if that concentration was accrued over time or in one big dose. Also see if you can find out if it was administered orally or intravenously."

Scarlett delivered the bad news to Maggie's parents. She said, "We found your daughter's body. We believe she was murdered. I am trying to find the murderer or murderers. My colleague, Dr. Butler, is trying to find cause of death."

"Can we see the body?"

"No. No, parent should see that. We will return the remains so you can bury her."

Mr. Schilling said, "Thank you for that."

Mrs. Schilling said, "I tried to tell myself she had run away so I believe she was still alive, but deep in my heart I knew she was dead."

Mr. Schilling said, "We started having problems with her in high school. Suddenly, we were the enemy. She did drugs. I don't know when or how much. We sent her to rehab, but she didn't want to stop using drugs. We sent her to therapy, but that didn't seem to help."

"Do you know which drugs she was taking?"

"Some of them. Alcohol, Ecstasy, Marijuana."

"What about the narcotic hydromorphone?"

"I've never heard of it. Audrey?"

"Doesn't sound familiar."

"She had a thyroid condition. Was anything prescribed for that?"

Audrey said, "I don't know. During the last year, she was hardly speaking to us. Her endocrinologist might know. Let me give you his name and address."

"Thank you."

As Scarlett left the Schillings, she called Rhett. When he answered she said, "Time for a field trip, but we aren't going out into the field. We are going to visit a doctor. I need your brain."

"Come get me and my brain. How long do you think you will be?"

"Google maps says twelve minutes."

"I will meet you down by the entrance."

After Rhett hung up, he said to Emily, "Keep working. Agent O'Hara and I are going to have to check something out."

As Rhett and Scarlett walked into Dr. Barragan's private office, she said, "Thank you for taking the time to see us on such short notice. I am Agent Scarlett O'Hara, and he is Dr. Rhett Butler."

Rhett said, "PhD not medical."

Dr. Barragan smiled. He said, "My receptionist says you want to talk about Maggie Schilling. Since she is dead, I can talk to you about her without breaking privilege. Maggie had hyperparathyroidism. She didn't respond to medication, so we were considering surgery."

Rhett said, "Did you prescribe pain killers like hydromorphone?"

"There is no pain associated with the condition, but Maggie certainly did want some opiates. She bribed my office manager into giving her samples."

Scarlett said, "We are going to have to speak with your office manager.

"She no longer works here. I fired her. Her giving Maggie the drug was the last straw. She was frequently late and had a bad attitude while she was here."

"I understand. Can you give me her home address?"

"Yes, give me a minute to find it." Rhett and Scarlett watched Dr. Barragan get up and go to a file cabinet. He opened the file cabinet and took out a file. He said, "Here it is. Her name is Mary Costello, and her address is 3490 Chimney Lane. Here in DC."

"Thanks, Dr. Barragan, for your time."

Scarlett and Rhett arrived at Mary Costello's home. She welcomed them into her home. She said, "I didn't give Maggie those samples. She snatched them herself. Barragan blamed me so he'd have an excuse to fire me."

Rhett said, "Why did he want to fire you?"

"Because he's a horn dog and I didn't want to play."

"How would you describe your relationship with Maggie?"

"I tried to help the kid. Her parents wanted nothing to do with her. She had no friends. I took her in. I tried to be her friend. Both of us tried to help her."

Ross Costello said, "She was lonely, so we showed her a good time."

With that statement all the bells and whistles were going off in Scarlett's head. They killed Maggie. Now to get the proof. She walked around the room and into the kitchen area. There was a new refrigerator. It probably was no more than a year old. Scarlett leaned against it and there was a stain on the rug underneath it. Scarlett would bet her pension that there was, as Hodgins would say human slime, absorbed into that rug.

Scarlett said, "Don't go anywhere. I have to call in for a warrant and some crime scene techs."

An hour later there were two technicians collecting evidence. Scarlett walked over to Rhett and said, "I'm no expert but the marks on the Costellos' floor look like a perfect match to the refrigerator we found Maggie in."

Rhett said, "It appears they turned their basement into a fun room of sorts."

"Fun room! That is not what I would call it."

"The Costellos were seeking sexual gratification through the manipulation of power. Probably the oldest fetish is that of master and slave."

"I believe that what people do in their bedrooms is their business as long as everyone is over eighteen and nobody is there against their will."

"I agree with you Agent O'Hara." Rhett turned and saw a technician carrying a box out of the house. On top of the items were some pink fur covered handcuffs. He said, "Stop. Stop."

Rhett walked over to the technician and with a pencil lifted the handcuffs out of the box. He said, "These could explain the stress fractures. Her bones were brittle from the disease. Struggling would cause the cracks we saw."

Rhett was watching from the observation room. There was a lot of conversation, finally Mary's lawyer said, "Maggie Schilling was legally an adult. We don't deny she was in the house, even cuffed. We assert there was a perfectly legal sexual relationship, which by its nature, got rough. But Maggie was a willing participant. You have no evidence my clients killed her. You might be able to make a charge of unlawful disposal of a body, but that's it. Certainly not murder. If you don't have anything, but those cuffs my clients will be out of here in twenty-four hours."

Mary slyly said to Scarlett, "The way you are coming at me, it makes me wonder if you have some latent homosexual feelings."

Scarlett laughed and said, "Mary, men and women have been coming on to me since I was thirteen. I am very aware and comfortable with my sexual orientation. I have no homosexual feelings, latent or otherwise, but maybe some latent domination feelings. Especially if you were the slave, but I can assure you, Mary, you would get no pleasure from the interaction sexual or otherwise. I'm done with you for now. I will be back with slam dunk evidence. Goodbye."

With that Scarlett left the interrogation room. She found Rhett in the viewing room and said, "Let's go."

On the way back to the lab, all Scarlett said was, "You have to get me something to lock her up forever with."

"I will try."

"You either do or do not. There is no try."

Rhett said, "That's good."

Scarlett smiled. She would take credit for Yoda's words. Buttercup would never know any difference. He was never going to watch Star Wars. Any of them.

Scarlett dropped Rhett back off at the lab and who should be waiting for him, but Belle Watling. When Rhett saw her, he said, "I meant to call you, but I have been so busy with this case." The truth was that Belle Watling had never entered his head. He was focused on solving the case and getting evidence to put Mary and Ross Costello behind bars for ever. He knew that when he was focused on something that was all he thought about. He said, "How did the interview go?"

"I am the new head of the Anthropology Department at Georgetown University."

"Great. You can stay with me until you get settled."

"Thanks, Rhett. Tell me about your case."

"I have started working with the FBI trying to solve their unusual cases."

"How long?"

"About six months. A girl was found in a refrigerator…."

When Rhett was finished explaining everything, Belle said, "I'm not sure if her wrist were cracked because she was struggling or because she has brittle bones."

"I can prove that she was wearing those fur covered handcuffs."

"Fine, but you can't prove she was involuntarily restrained."

"Come down to my lab and I will prove it."

"Alright, but I only have fifteen minutes before I have to leave for another meeting."

"With the University?"

"No, some other people. If you can prove it, I will take you to dinner, if not you will take me to dinner at an extremely expensive restaurant."

"You're on."

When Belle and Rhett got to the lab, he said to Emily, "Pull up the frontal and lateral view of the victim's lower fibulas." As soon as the x-rays were up, he said, "I found marks on the medial malleoli, both left and right. Her legs were bound. Mirror erosion patterns from the bones rubbing together over time."

Emily said, "If this were the result of sex games, the legs wouldn't be bound together."

Rhett and Belle looked at Emily, she said, "Just saying."

Belle said, "I'm not convinced. She had brittle bones from her thyroid condition. The damage could have happened in a truly short time."

Rhett said, "We found evidence of inflammation on her right humerus and ilium. The bone abnormalities indicate she was lying in one position for a long time. The only reasonable explanation is long-term bondage."

"Decreased bone-density could have caused the inflammation. This isn't definitive. I hear there's a nice little French place near here I'd like to try."

"I still have five minutes. Come with me to the holographic lab."

After Belle and Rhett were in the lab, he set up the hologram. After seeing it she said, "My lab at Tennessee is still working with polaroids."

"So, what do you think?"

"Very impressive. Especially to the nonprofessional."

"You want science? The estimated time of captivity was three weeks." After a minute, Rhett continued, "Here are your affected areas. Now, during an advanced time simulation. The bones in question deteriorate."

"Can I see your findings?"

Rhett handed Belle the findings. After looking them over, she said, "This appears to be indisputable."

"The narcotic found in her system was not the result of recreational drug abuse. The inflammation would have been very painful, and the pain would have increased over time. They kept upping the dose of hydromorphone until they gave her too much and she died. There is no doubt. Those people bound and killed that girl."

"I hate saying these words. You are right, Rhett. I will meet you at the French restaurant by six."

"Alright."

"I must run. See you then."

"That's fine. I must put together the evidence packet for Agent O'Hara to deliver to the U.S. attorney."