The Skull in the Desert

"The Skull in the Desert" Episode 1x17 Written By: Jeff Rake Directed by: Donna Deitch Transcribed by: m

Disclaimer: The characters, plotlines, quotes, etc. included here are owned by Hart Hanson, all rights reserved. This transcript is not authorized or endorsed by Hart Hanson or Fox.

TEASER

(Medico Legal Lab - Forensics Platform. Zack and Brennan examine remains, Hodgins uses his computer)

ZACK: The victim was stabbed upward of 30 times. Every rib is marked. Vertebrae sternal, vertebrae costal.

BRENNAN: What kind of weapon?

HODGINS (looking at pictures on his computer of Angela's vacation): Who vacations in the desert? It's like lunching at the dump.

ZACK (distracted by the pictures of Angela on Hodgins's computer monitor): Uh, pointed, with no cutting edge. Like a giant ice pick.

(Hodgins changes pictures on his monitor to one of Angela in a bikini)

HODGINS (Grinning at the picture): Whoa. Angela.

BRENNAN (Focused on the remains): Or a sharpened screwdriver.

HODGINS: We warned her about the sun, right? We told her to cover up, avoid melanoma?

ZACK (seeing the new picture Hodgin's has switched to: Angela kissing a man in front of a rocky hill): Who's the guy?

HODGINS: Her boyfriend Kirk.

ZACK: Angela has a boyfriend?

BRENNAN: Every year for three weeks, Angela has a boyfriend and a vacation, HODGINS: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Playing house in a post-boho rustic artist's cabin in the desert with her overpaid pseudo-celebrity photographer boyfriend-that is not a vacation.

BRENNAN (Bent over the remains): Eight months to a year dead, correct?

HODGINS (Distracted): Yeah, yeah. Pupae casings, maggots, blah, blah, blah. Eight months of a year.

(Hodgins opens a videoconference with Angela on his computer)

HODGINS: Angela, we're betting. Are you using Crisco or butter for sunscreen?

ANGELA (Looking troubled): Hey, Brennan, could I talk to you in private, please?

(Cut to: Brennan's office. Brennan is on the telephone with Angela. The scene will shift between Brennan's office and Angela's desert retreat.)

ANGELA: You're gonna think I'm crazy.

BRENNAN: What's up? Boyfriend trouble?

ANGLEA: No, I, I'd just send it to you, but the sheriff won't let me.

BRENNAN: Send what?

ANGELA: Somebody left a human skull in a box on the sheriff's porch. He says it was probably a Navajo who respects the dead, but doesn't want to get pulled into the whole white justice system. The thing is is that Kirk went out into the desert five days ago on a photo shoot, and he hasn't come back. Nobody can find him or his guide.

BRENNAN: You think the skull's Kirk's?

ANGELA: No, no. Kirk's always going out into the desert for days at a time.

BRENNAN: You're really sending me mixed messages, Ange.

ANGELA: Yeah, well, I'm freaking out, I guess. I'm sorry. Look, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have called. Pretend I didn't call. I'll just, I'll talk to you when Kirk gets back. Sorry.

(Angela hangs up. Brennan looks dumbfounded.)

(Cut to: Medico Legal Lab. Brennan and Dr. Goodman are walking and meet Zack and Hodgins, leaving the forensics platform. Brennan heads for the exit with a packed bag.)

GOODMAN: You're taking a vacation in the desert with no notice?

HODGINS: I don't get the attraction. I really don't. Snakes, scorpions- BRENNAN (Over Hodgins): It should only be for a few days.

HODGINS: Buzzards and snakes.

GOODMAN: What about the stabbing victim?

BRENNAN: Zack identified the weapon and the victim. Our job is done.

(Brennan passes through the sliding glass doors, leaving the three men in her wake.)

(Cut to: A desert road - in Angela's jeep.)

ANGELA: I mean, it's not like I actually think that the skull is Kirk's. But, I mean, if you could just look at it and just tell me it isn't, then I could stop worrying about him being dead and just be mad at him for being a flaky artist.

(Brennan turns on the radio and is greeted with static.)

ANGELA: You won't get anything out here. We're about a hundred miles past where Jesus lost his sandals.

BRENNAN: I assume that's a way of saying we're extremely isolated?

ANGELA: Yeah. That's why we come out here every year. It's like you stand still, and the whole universe just comes at you.

BRENNAN: At 110 degrees.

ANGELA: You know, Kirk was out with a good guide. Our friend Dahni. I mean, he said he'd be back. He said we'd go out for nachos and beer. And this is a man who's serious about his beer.

(Cut to: The Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Ben Dawes is reluctant to include Brennan in the investigation)

SHERIFF DAWES (on the telephone): I got the Navajo police looking between Dano Ona Canyon and the Otero Bluffs.

ANGELA (Frustrated, interrupting the Sheriff's phone call): Hey, Ben. Dr. Brennan is a forensic anthropologist with the Jeffersonian Institution.

BRENNAN: I spend most of my time helping the F.B.I. conduct murder investigations.

SHERIFF DAWES: Angie, I kinda got my hands full getting searchers out to look for Dahni and Kirk.

SHERIFF DAWES (into the telephone): The state police said they would lend us a chopper, but only if we narrow down a search area.

(Sheriff Dawes hangs up the phone)

SHERIFF DAWES (Sighing): They gotta be running low on water. I don't give them more than a couple of days.

ANGELA: Ben, if you could just show Dr. Brennan the skull.

BRENNAN: Or point me toward the morgue.

(Sheriff Dawes bends to retrieve a box from under his desk. He places it on his desktop and removes a plastic bag from inside, and places it on top of the box for Brennan to see.)

SHERIFF DAWES: Welcome to the Merville County Morgue.

(Brennan and Angela exchange glances as Brennan adjusts her gloves and reaches to open the bag and remove the skull.)

BRENNAN: Prominent brow ridge indicates the victim is male.

BRENNAN (Gestures at the desk to Sheriff Dawes): You mind?

SHERIFF DAWES (He moves to hand her his breakfast): Be my guest.

ANGELA: No, no. She wants the plate, Ben. Not the muffin.

(Sheriff Dawes flick the food off the dish and hands Brennan the plate. Brennan uses it to rest the skull on while she analyzes it.)

BRENNAN: Cranial shape and nasal features suggest Caucasian.

ANGELA: Died in the last several days.

SHERIFF DAWES: Critters been at it pretty good.

BRENNAN: Pattern of basilar suture fusion puts age 30 to 35.

ANGELA: Well, it doesn't look like Kirk.

SHERIFF DAWES: It doesn't look like anyone, Angie.

(Brennan takes a scraping from the skull and sniffs it.)

BRENNAN: Putrescine. Early stages of decomp.

ANGELA (Uncomfortable): Cause of death?

SHERIFF DAWES: A man gets caught unawares out in the desert, he could be dead in a few hours.

(Brennan examines the skull with a magnifying glass.)

BRENNAN: Uh oh.

ANGELA: What?

BRENNAN: The base of the skull here detached from the spinal cord. See these little bevel marks? Para-mortem contact gunshot. It wasn't the desert who caught this man unawares. It was someone with a gun.

ACT I

(Cut to: Angela's Bungalow - Angela and Brennan discussing the skull.)

ANGELA: You can't say that it's Kirk.

BRENNAN: I know.

ANGELA: You want some tea?

BRENNAN: I'd rather have a beer.

(Angela nods slightly and goes to Brennan's drink. Brennan notices some photos on the coffee table, including one of a Navajo woman.)

BRENNAN: This woman modeling in these pictures, is this Dahni?

ANGELA: Yeah. Dahni Webber. It's Kirk's guide in the desert.

BRENNAN: She's beautiful.

ANGELA: Dahni's lived here her whole life. You know, Ben says that she knows the desert better than anybody. Look, there's no way that she gets lost or she runs out of water. There's just no way.

(Brennan moves to touch Angela's shoulder.)

ANGELA (Shrinking away): No.

BRENNAN: What?

ANGELA: Brennan, if you hug me and you be all caring it's because you think Kirk is dead or because he was sleeping with Dahni.

BRENNAN: No, it's because...I'm sorry that my friend is upset because someone she loves is missing.

ANGELA (Sighing): All right. I can buy that.

(They hug.)

ANGELA: If you don't mind, um, I'm just gonna head to bed.

BRENNAN: Good night.

(Cut to: Brennan's office. Booth is standing at her desk. His cell phone rings.)

BOOTH (Answering his phone): Okay. Booth.

BRENNAN: How far are you from Dulles?

BOOTH: As far as your office is from Dulles.

BRENNAN: Why are you in my office?

BOOTH: I need your findings on the Richmond case. Listen, Zack, he won't tell me where they are unless you give him permission.

BRENNAN: There's a 9:15 flight to Denver. Then there's an 11:35 flight to Santa Fe. You'll have to run to make the connection.

BOOTH: Forget it.

BRENNAN: Booth, please. Angela's boyfriend is missing, maybe dead. It-it took all of my charm- BOOTH (Over Brennan): All of your charm? Oh, boy.

BRENNAN (Unfazed): Just to get the sheriff to let me look at the skull. When I asked him to let me send the skull to the Jeffersonian he told me that I am not a cop and that I don't have any jurisdiction.

BOOTH: Which is true. Okay, what, what do you want me to do?

BRENNAN: I want you to get federal on his ass.

BOOTH (Smiling): Oh.

(Booth flips shut the phone)

(Cut to: Angela's Bungalow, the next morning. Angela walks into the living room, where Brennan sleeps on a fold-out couch. Booth arrives with donuts and coffee.)

(Booth chuckles from outside the glass doors. Angela opens the door for him.)

BOOTH: Hey.

ANGELA: Hey.

(They hug.)

BOOTH: You know, people in the desert, don't have actual addresses. What's up with that?

BRENNAN (Waking up.): Booth, you made it.

BOOTH: Yeah, I'm touring the hottest places in the universe. Next stop-

(Booth flings a bag onto Brennan's bed)

BOOTH: There you go-Hell.

BRENNAN (Holding the duffel bag, annoyed): I'm not really awake yet.

(Brennan throws the bag out of bed.)

BOOTH (Walking toward Brennan with coffee cups in his hands): Last night before I left, I used my F.B.I. powers to force the sheriff to send the skull back to the Jeffersonian. Talked to him this morning. You know, he seems a little resentful.

BRENNAN (Reaching for her watch on the end table as Booth puts down a coffee cup): What time is it?

BOOTH: Let's go. Drink that on the way.

BRENNAN: On the way where?

BOOTH: You know, to go check out the model, guide, whatever's place.

ANGELA (Nodding): Dahni. Can I come with you?

BOOTH: No, no, we can ask tougher questions if you're not there.

(Angela nods, disappointed)

BRENNAN: Wait outside while I get dressed.

BOOTH: No, uh uh. The suns's been up for an hour out there. It's already the surface of Mercury. I can stand here, close my eyes, eat my doughnuts. Best I can do. Okay.

(Booth covers his eyes with one hand to demonstrate, then removes it to bite into a donut with his eyes closed.)

(Brennan looks to Angela, her irritation obvious.)

(Cut to: Brennan and Booth exiting an SUV and walking toward a trailer.

BRENNAN: What tougher questions can we ask without Angela being here?

BOOTH: Well, you know, things like, did her boyfriend run off with the model, guide, whatever.

BRENNAN: Angela and I discussed this. She said it couldn't happen.

BOOTH: Okay, no offense to Angela, but she doesn't even really know this guy. She's only with him what, only three weeks out of the year?

BRENNAN: No offense to you, but you are a stodgy traditionalist when it comes to relationships, buddy.

BOOTH: Stodgy? Stodgy? Okay, okay, here's the deal-

BRENNAN: Yes, stodgy.

(They arrive at the door of the trailer.)

BOOTH: Here's the deal, Bones. We find out that the skull isn't Kirk. We go home. We let the locals handle it, okay?

BRENNAN: Of course.

(A man approaches quietly from behind Brennan and Booth. He has a rifle trained on them.)

BOOTH: You know what? You say "Of course." But then you get all caught up in it. And then-

(Brennan sees the man approaching them and taps Booth's shoulder.)

BOOTH (Turning): What? Oh.

(Booth raises his hands)

ALEX JOSEPH: What do you want?

BOOTH: F.B.I. We're looking for Dahni Webber.

BRENNAN: Who're you?

ALEX JOSEPH: I'm the guy holding the big gun.

BOOTH: Yeah, on the federal agent, which I've been very nice about so far.

BRENNAN: Let's rush him. He can't shoot us both.

BOOTH: How about I just show him my badge so we both survive, all right?

(Booth holds up his badge)

BOOTH: See?

ALEX JOSEPH (Squinting to read the badge from his short distance away): Name's Alex Joseph. This is me and Dahni's place.

BOOTH: Where's Dahni Webber?

ALEX JOSEPH (Lowering the gun): Missing. In the desert for almost a week. I've been looking for her.

BRENNAN: You point your gun at everyone who comes by?

ALEX JOSEPH: Maybe I'm nervous.

BOOTH: Anything in particular you might be nervous about? Maybe something Dahni got caught up in?

ALEX JOSEPH: Nothing I can think of.

BRENNAN: Can we look in the trailer?

ALEX JOSEPH: Not without a warrant.

BOOTH: You have a problem with law enforcement?

(Alex Joseph walks to the trailer)

ALEX JOSEPH: You could say that, I guess.

(He flings open the door to the trailer and goes inside, leaving Brennan and Booth in the sun)

BRENNAN: Model runs off with a handsome photographer. Jealous boyfriend with a gun finds them in the desert.

BOOTH: He's definitely twitchy about somethin'.

BRENNAN: What if he's escaping out the back door?

BOOTH: You don't spend a lot of time in trailers, do you? No...

(Alex Joseph emerges from the trailer, shoves a picture at Booth and slams shut the trailer door.)

BOOTH (Glancing at the picture): Whoa.

BRENNAN: What?

(Booth holds out the picture for Brennan. It's a photo of Dahni Webber and Sheriff Dawes sitting next to each other in a restaurant. The Sheriff's arm is around Dahni's shoulder.)

BRENNAN: That's Sheriff Dawes.

BOOTH: Yeah, he definitely has a problem with law enforcement.

(Brennan and Booth look awed by this revelation.)

(Cut to: Medico Legal Lab - Forensics Platform. Hodgins is listening to headphones, examining something under a microscope. Zack enters.)

ZACK: Dr. Brennan doesn't like us to listen to music while we're working.

HODGINS: Dr. Brennan is not here.

ZACK: She thinks the work deserves our full concentration. I need the skull now.

HODGINS: Well, I'm still finding particulates. And since you're only Dr. Brennan's assistant without her, you don't carry all that much weight around here.

ZACK: I'm telling Dr. Goodman.

(Zack leaves. Hodgins grins and turns back to the microscope.)

(Cut to: The Sheriff's Office. Brennan and Booth confront Sheriff Dawes.)

BRENNAN (Sliding the photo across the sheriff's desk): Why didn't you mention your relationship to Dahni Webber?

BOOTH: Dahni Webber drop you for the photographer, the Indian guy, or both?

SHERIFF DAWES: Moron. Dahni's my sister. Half-sister. Mostly, I raised her. You can check with Angie.

BOOTH: Okay, we got that one wrong. I pretty much don't like the look of your sister's boyfriend, Alex Joseph.

SHERIFF DAWES: Assault, narcotics. He bootlegs for the reservation. Yeah. Dahni could do better.

BOOTH: Any chance that Dahni got caught up in something ugly because of him?

SHERIFF DAWES: Until I find out otherwise, I'm assuming that Dahni and Kirk are lost in the desert.

BOOTH: Alex Joseph, is he bad enough to hurt 'em if he finds them out in the desert together?

SHERIFF DAWES: It's on my list of nightmares, yeah.

(Brennan's cell phone rings.)

BRENNAN (Into the phone): Brennan.

HODGINS: DNA results are in. The skull is definitely Kirk Persinger.

BRENNAN: Poor Angela.

HODGINS: Also, the hair tests off the charts for lophophora williamsii derived mescaline.

BRENNAN: What's that?

ZACK: Peyote.

BRENNAN: Anything on the cranial scoring?

ZACK: I haven't really had a good crack at the skull yet. Hodgins hogged it. The markings trace to several desert-dwelling species. It seems a full-grown male coyote did the most work on it, but one with a malformed jaw. Very unusual bite formations.

BRENNAN: Okay, ask Dr. Goodman to find a naturalist.

(Brennan clicks off the phone.)

BOOTH: Kirk Persinger?

BRENNAN: Yes. They found traces of peyote.

BOOTH: Drug-related. Shot to the spine, execution-style. So, Sheriff, do you still think this is a simple missing persons case?

(Sheriff Dawes look at the photo of himself and Dahni)

BRENNAN (to Booth): I have to tell Angela.

BOOTH: Listen, Sheriff, I'm sorry for the concern you must be feeling for your sister.

SHERIFF DAWES: Yeah.

(Cut to: A desert road - in Booth's SUV.)

BOOTH: I will call the F.B.I. office in Albuquerque and I will officially take over the investigation.

BRENNAN: I wouldn't do that.

BOOTH: Why?

BRENNAN: Desert dwellers are very insular. Mongolians, Bedouins of the Sahara, the Himloa of Kanana. Good hosts, but extremely distrustful of outsiders.

BOOTH: Bones, this is the United State of America. It's not Outer Mongolia.

BRENNAN: The only reason Sheriff Dawes talks to us at all is because we know Angela. Alex Joseph held a gun on us.

BOOTH: I admit I've met friendlier people.

BRENNAN: If a bunch of outsiders come in from Albuquerque, led by an outsider from D.C. I promise you, the people here will close ranks and shut up until we go away. Then they'll take care of it in their own way.

BOOTH: Okay, who are you, Dr. Phil?

BRENNAN: Who's Dr. Phil? Some kind of expert?

BOOTH: He likes to think so. Okay, look. I'll take what you say under advisement. In the meantime, we need to go find out who supplied Kirk with his peyote.

BRENNAN: Well, how are we gonna do that?

BOOTH: Talk to his girlfriend.

(Cut to: Angela's Bungalow. Angela is sitting, stunned, on the couch with Brennan next to her. Booth is across the room.)

BRENNAN: I'm so sorry, Angela. We both are.

ANGELA: I knew it was Kirk. That's why I called you. We have to find out what happened to Dahni.

BOOTH: Angela, I'm going to have to ask you a couple of difficult questions. Okay?

(Angela nods.)

BOOTH: What-what can you tell me about Kirk's drug use?

ANGELA: Kirk didn't do drugs.

BRENNAN: Well, Hodgins found peyote in his hair.

ANGELA: I though-I thought that you meant "drug" drugs. The peyote wasn't recreational. Kirk took part in some Native Indian rites.

BOOTH: While high on drugs?

(Angela sighs.)

BOOTH: Did you do peyote with Kirk?

ANGELA: The peyote has nothing to do with anything.

BOOTH: Angela, you may have come into contact with Kirk's killer without even realizing it. What was his connection?

ANGELA (Shrugging): He's Kirk's friend.

BOOTH: I need the name.

ANGELA: Wayne. Wayne Kellogg. He's an important local artist.

(Brennan grabs Angela's hand. Angela rests her head on Brennan's shoulder.)

(Cut to: Wayne Kellogg's home. Brennan, Booth and Kellogg walk from his backyard into the house.)

KELLOGG: I don't deny having participated in the peyote ritual on several occasions. Utterly spiritual experience.

BRENNAN: You're not Indian.

KELLOGG: Not by birth, no. But as you can see from my artwork, I have a deep spiritual connection to the Navajo.

BRENNAN: You sell a lot of your work?

KELLOGG: I sell very well overseas, enough to keep this place and a beach house in Los Angeles. Why?

BRENNAN: Why not buy Navajo art created by actual Navajos?

BOOTH: Peyote is only legal if you're a member of the Native American Church, which means you and Kirk bought it illegally. Buying illegal drugs involves drug dealers. I mean, you can follow my train of thought here, can't you?

KELLOGG: Look, I realize Kirk's missing.

BOOTH: Kirk's not missing.

BRENNAN: He's dead.

KELLOGG: What about Dahni?

BOOTH: Dahni Webber remains unaccounted for.

KELLOGG: God, this is terrible.

BOOTH: I need the name of your drug connection.

KELLOG: No. I'm sorry. These people trust me. I understand the difficulty in finding the peyote plants miles out in the desert. Secret places passed on from generation to generation.

BRENNAN (pointing out of the window to the driveway): Mr. Kellogg, is that your vehicle?

KELLOGG: Yes, why?

BRENNAN: Alex Joseph borrowed that Humvee.

BOOTH: Wait, Alex Joseph didn't go out to the desert to look for Dahni Webber. He went out to look for peyote.

WAYNE KELLOGG: I never said that.

(Cut to: A desert road - in Booth's SUV.)

(Cut to: Outside of Alex Joseph's trailer.)

(Booth knocks on the trailer door. There's no answer.)

BOOTH: Mr. Joseph? It's the F.B.I. again. I'd like to ask you a few more questions.

(The sound of coughing can be heard from behind the trailer)

BRENNAN: Booth? Booth?

(They walk to the other side of the trailer to find Alex Joseph sprawled on the ground. He's been beaten up.)

ACT II

(Cut to: The Sheriff's Office - Brennan, Booth and the Sheriff discuss recent events.)

BOOTH: Oh, come on Sheriff. Come on. Even out here, you know how the drug world works, huh? Kirk is found dead. Joseph is beaten to a pulp. It's all connected.

SHERIFF DAWES: My first priority is to find Dahni.

BRENNAN: We find Kirk's murderer, we probably find Dahni.

BOOTH: Maybe Dahni is the murderer.

(The sheriff glares at him sharply.)

BOOTH: What? I gotta ask.

SHERIFF DAWES: Dahni never hurt anybody in her life, except maybe herself.

BOOTH: You know, another thing I have to consider, maybe Dahni, you know, calls up her brother the sheriff and says, you know, "This photographer raped me. What do I do now?"

SHERIFF DAWES: What you're proving right now...you don't know anything about the people that live around here.

BOOTH: Mmhmm. Joseph met us with a rifle, maybe because he was afraid it was you coming around the corner of that house.

SHERIFF DAWES: Alex Joseph is unconscious. You maybe can talk to him when he wakes up. Me, I'm goin' to help the search parties find my sister.

(Cut to: The Jeffersonian. Dr. Goodman and Professor Inez reports to Brennan and Booth, in Angela's Bungalow, via laptop.)

PROFESSOR INEZ: Thanks to Fish and Wildlife, most of the coyote packs in this region have at least one member wearing a G.P.S. collar.

BOOTH: You can find one coyote with a wonky jaw in the desert?

PROFESSOR INEZ (Scanning through photos of coyotes from the desert region): What we do here is process information from rangers, amateur naturalists, conservationists, even school groups. The desert coyote pack's range is not huge. Perhaps ten square miles. The pack is typically three to eight animals led by the alpha mating pair. Wow.

BOOTH: What "wow?"

GOODMAN: Professor Inez has found your coyote, but he's way out in the desert.

PROFESSOR INEZ: Three pups, three females, two males, including the leader with the wonky jaw.

BOOTH: With eight coyotes going at a cadaver well, you know, we're talking needle in a haystack, finding the remains.

PROFESSOR INEZ: Mamas and the pups feed together. So, I'd expect rib cage and smaller bones to be in a concentrated area. But the males move away from each other with the larger pieces. No more than a half a mile.

(Cut to: Angela's Bungalow. Angela and Brennan have a heart-to-heart.)

ANGELA: Three weeks a year. I mean, fifteen weeks in total. You think that's crazy.

BRENNAN: No. It's not typical, that's for sure. And if he was yours, 100% yours for three weeks a year, that's, that's more than I've ever had.

ANGELA: Kirk's photographs show the world is a more beautiful place than it is. A better place. He made me feel like it was my real home, that I belonged there with him. He's the guy I compare all other guys to. Now he's gone and I feel like I can't even breathe, sweetie. I can't even take a breath. You think it's possible that Dahni's still out there? Could she still be alive?

BRENNAN: I don't know. There's no crime scene and we're not even sure where the rest of Kirk's remains are.

ANGELA: Well, I wanna help you look for her tomorrow.

BRENNAN: You sure?

ANGELA: Yeah: Dahni was our friend. I have to help find her. Please.

(Cut to: The desert. Searchers mill about, Angela and take a break.)

ANGELA: I love the desert. Or I used to.

BRENNAN: Nothing looks the way it should. Stuff that's far away looks near, stuff that's near looks far away.

ANGELA: Yeah, well, you can't trust you eyes out here. Not your eyes alone. You know, Kirk said that if you stood still long enough, that the desert would actually speak to you. Show you some kind of truth.

BRENNAN: That ever happen to you?

ANGELA: No. But, he really believed that.

(Cut to: The desert. Booth and Sheriff Dawes sitting on a rock next to Angela and Brennan.)

SHERIFF DAWES: Alex Joseph woke up.

BOOTH: Good.

SHERIFF DAWES: You think that whoever beat him up has something to do with Kirk Persinger's murder.

BOOTH: Yep.

SHERIFF DAWES: Nope.

BOOTH: How can you be so sure?

(Sheriff Dawes looks away.)

BOOTH: You were the one that beat him up?

SHERIFF DAWES: No.

BOOTH: Okay, well, uh, do you know who did?

SHERIFF DAWES (nodding to the Navajo members of the search team): These guys. Or guys just like 'em.

BOOTH: Why?

SHERIFF DAWES: Peyote ritual. These people take it seriously. It's their religion. A guy like Alex Joseph starts selling it to white guys like Kellogg and Kirk, they don't like it.

BOOTH: Aren't you gonna arrest any of 'em?

SHERIFF DAWES: No. But I might deputize a couple.

BOOTH: You know, Sheriff, I get how you people handle things out here. But, I mean, I gotta ask you, if they beat up an Indian for selling peyote, what the hell are they gonna do to Kirk for taking it?

SHERIFF DAWES: Nothin'. Kirk's a white man. The way they see it, he's my responsibility.

MAN (Searching offscreen, calling out): Hey! We got something over here! Sheriff Dawes!

MAN #2 (In the background): Neal, bring it deep over here.

(Brennan, Booth, and Sheriff Dawes walk toward the Navajo who yelled out.)

(Angela stands on a rock and looks away from the search party, across the desert to see an object glinting in the sunlight. She walks toward it. Brennan walks up to her as she arrives at the source of the shining object.)

BRENNAN (Pointing in the direction she came from): Ange, they found some bones over here. It might be Kirk.

ANGELA: It is Kirk. This is his camera.

BRENNAN: Are you sure?

(Brennan walks toward the camera, Angela stops her.)

ANGELA: No, no, no. Don't. Don't. There could be exposed film in there.

(She kneels at the camera and begins wrapping it in her scarf.)

ANGELA: It's crack. We can't let anymore light in. It'll damage the film.

BRENNAN: Maybe Kirk was right. This could be a good way for the desert to tell us what happened to him. A photograph of his murderer.

ACT III

(Cut to: The Sheriff's Office - Angela, Brennan, Booth and Sheriff Dawes walking in.)

SHERIFF DAWES: This camera is going straight to the state police crime lab.

BRENNAN: Angela is better at developing film than anyone in Santa Fe.

ANGELA: Plus, I can use Kirk's equipment. It's top of the line.

BOOTH: Yeah, and we won't have to wait for the results, Sheriff.

BRENNAN: With you sister maybe still alive out there in the desert, every hour counts.

SHERIFF DAWES: Can't do it.

ANGELA (Whispering): Booth.

BOOTH: You know, according to Homeland Security, Kellogg sold exactly $120,000 dollars worth of art overseas.

BRENNAN: What's that got to do with anything?

BOOTH: Well, it sure as hell doesn't buy him a beach house in Los Angeles, now does it? He lied. Let's go check him out.

BRENNAN: What will we be looking for?

(Brennan and Booth start to move out of the room.)

BOOTH: Oh, what we always look for. You know, something that doesn't fit. Something, you know. Somethin'.

(Booth closes the door to the Sheriff's office behind him.)

ANGELA: I can't believe that you think that I'm a suspect.

SHERIFF DAWES: Angie, not to speak ill of the dead, but, uh, a woman like you, you're worth more than three weeks a year, you understand?

ANGELA: You think I murdered Kirk because he didn't give me enough time?

SHERIFF DAWES: I'm just a lawman. People are people.

ANGELA: Ben, Kirk wasn't the one who put limits on our time together. He wanted me to marry him, and he deserved more and better. Please. Ben, I wanna help find Dahni. And there could be evidence on this film. Just let me do what I do better than anybody else.

(After a moment, Sheriff Dawes pushes the camera case toward Angela.)

ANGELA: Thank you.

(Angela takes the case off the counter and turns to leave.)

SHERIFF DAWES: Angie, maybe he deserved more, not my place to say, but he couldn't have done better. No man could.

(Angela smiles slightly and heads for the exit.)

(Cut to: Wayne Kellogg's home. Brennan and Booth question Kellog.)

KELLOGG: I haven't attained anything like the success Kirk has, but I do all right. Why?

BRENNAN: You have a beach house.

BOOTH: I applied for a warrant. Checked for your assets, your tax returns.

KELLOGG: I told you, I do well in Europe. Germany especially appreciated Native-themed work.

BRENNAN: Kirk Persinger's remains were found way out in the desert.

KELLOGG: What's that got to do with me?

BOOTH: Oh, because you have a vehicle that's capable of going out that far.

KELLOGG: A vehicle I often loan out.

BRENNAN (Examining something on one of Kellogg's shelves): What are these?

KELLOGG: Engraving plates. Please don't touch them. The oils on your skin will compromise the integrity. Why would I kill Kirk?

(Brennan secretly takes her camera out of her pocket to snap a photo of the engraving plates.)

BOOTH: Maybe because, you know, you had a little thing, you know, for Dahni. Or maybe because you were jealous of Kirk's artistic success.

BRENNAN: These aren't Native designs.

BOOTH: Bones, I'm working a line of inquiry here.

BRENNAN: All of your work is stolen from Native designs. These are floral. It doesn't fit.

KELLOGG: Not stolen. Inspired by. And that piece is commissioned. Another way I make money.

(Brennan sends the picture of the plates' design through her cell phone.)

(Brennan's phone rings. Brennan picks it up.)

BRENNAN: Hi, Angela.

ANGELA: Well, most of the film was wrecked, but I developed a few usable images.

BRENNAN: Well, that's great.

ANGELA: No, no, because Ben got me to make a couple of prints and then he bolted with them and all the negatives.

BRENNAN (to Booth): Sheriff Dawes took off with the negatives.

BOOTH: What'd she find off of 'em.

BRENNAN (Into the phone): Did you recognize anything?

ANGELA: Dahni, in the desert. And that's all. I have no idea what he got so excited about.

BRENNAN (To Booth.): Nothing that meant anything to Angela.

BOOTH: All right, we'll go take a look for ourselves. Talk to you again.

(Brennan and Booth leave Kellogg's home.)

(Cut to: The sheriff's office - Brennan, and Booth are there with Sheriff Dawes.)

SHERIFF DAWES (Looking Kirk's last photographs): I wanted to show these to Alex Joseph. I don't need your permission.

BOOTH: Well, why Joseph?

BRENNAN: Angela says there are only a few partial photos of your sister in the desert.

SHERIFF DAWES: That's right. The only person who knows the desert as good as Dahni is Joseph. This formation here, I'm not familiar with it.

(Sheriff Dawes hands Brennan a photo of Dahni standing in front of a large rock formation.)

BRENNAN: There's nothing like this anywhere near where we found Kirk's remains, or the camera.

BOOTH: Nah, he was killed somewhere else and moved.

SHERIFF DAWES: We find that outcropping, maybe we find the place where Kirk was killed and maybe we find my sister.

BRENNAN: Did Joseph recognize the rock?

SHERIFF DAWES: Yeah.

BOOTH: Where?

SHERIFF DAWES: It's easier I take you than explain.

BOOTH: Whoa, whoa. If Joseph is a murderer, he's just sending you on a wild goose chase.

SHERIFF DAWES: Well, then we know he's a murderer and all we've wasted is a tank of gas and a goose chase.

BRENNAN: How far out are we going?

SHERIFF DAWES: A ways.

(Cut to: Medico Legal Lab - Forensics Platform. Zack, Hodgins, and Dr. Goodman look at Kirk's remains.)

ZACK: One week in the desert and there's nothing but bone left.

HODGINS: Same guy?

ZACK: Looks like it.

HODGINS: Uh, I think it would be better if I went over the bones for particulates before you start your thing.

ZACK: I disagree. And you can't have them unless I release them to you.

HODGINS (To Dr. Goodman): You're gonna have to do the boss thing, boss.

ZACK: Sir, Dr. Brennan needs to know how this man died, which is my territory, more than when and where he died.

GOODMAN: Dr. Hodgins?

HODGINS: Even I can see he got shot in the back of the head. What Dr. Brennan needs is the murder scene.

ZACK: It's the desert. Insects and particulates aren't going to narrow it down anymore than that.

HODGINS: We won't know that until I look at the particulates.

(Zack and Hodgins turn to Dr. Goodman.)

GOODMAN: Dr. Hodgins will have access to the bones first, Mr. Addy.

(Goodman turns and leaves.)

ZACK: That's the wrong decision.

(Zack leaves. Hodgins grins slightly.)

(Cut to: The desert - in the Sheriff's 4x4. Sheriff Dawes drives Angela, Brennan and Booth toward the rock formation in the photo.)

BRENNAN: My lungs are gonna come out through my throat.

BOOTH: You know, where I come from when you say you're driving a ways, you know, it means 45 minutes.

ANGELA: Out here it means four hours.

BRENNAN: We've been driving five.

SHERIFF DAWES: I maybe should've said "quite a ways."

ANGELA: There it is.

(The Sheriff pulls the 4x4 to a stop and the team disembarks to see the huge rock formation)

BOOTH: Well? That it?

ANGELA: Yeah, I think so. Different time of day.

SHERIFF DAWES: You people look for the exact spot the pictures were taken. I'm gonna take another circle in the truck.

BRENNAN: You looking for your sister?

SHERIFF DAWES: Yeah.

(Sheriff Dawes walks away.)

ANGELA: You know, I think we wanna go south slightly, maybe southwest.

(The 4x4's engine revs offscreen)

BRENNAN: You can tell by the shadows?

ANGELA: Yeah, and the angle on the outcropping.

(The Sheriff pulls the 4x4 away from the goup.)

BOOTH: Where's he goin'?

BRENNAN: He's looking for his sister.

BOOTH: Either of you two bring any water?

(They check their bags and come up with small plastic bottles and wave them at Booth.)

BRENNAN: Why? You worried?

BOOTH: Yeah.

ANGELA: About what?

BRENNAN: Because we are way past where Jesus lost his sandals.

BOOTH: And I don't hear the truck anymore. Great.

ACT IV

(Cut to: Angela, Brennan, and Booth walking through the desert.)

BRENNAN (Holding her cell phone in the air): No cell phone service, no water. How long do you think we'll survive out here if the sheriff doesn't come back?

BOOTH: Three days max.

ANGELA: How far are we from the highway?

BOOTH: Five days minimum.

BRENNAN: I don't like that math.

ANGELA: Wait a second.

(Angela has spotted a broken down SUV amongst the high desert weeds.)

BOOTH: Kirk's?

ANGELA: It looks like it, yeah.

(Approaches the SUV and lifts the hood.)

BOOTH (Looking at the engine.) Yep, the distributor's smashed. All the wires are pulled out.

BRENNAN: It doesn't make sense that the sheriff brings us to the scene of the crime and then leaves us to die, does it?

BOOTH: One godforsaken part of the desert, is just as good as another godforsaken part of the desert. We don't even know if Sheriff Dawes actually called Alex Joseph. I mean, for all we know, he could have done all this himself.

BRENNAN: Could Dawes do that, Ange?

ANGELA: Well, I always thought Ben Dawes was a good man. It would take a lot to change my mind.

BRENNAN: Like being left to die in the desert?

BOOTH: These tracks here, they don't match the sheriff's vehicle. Too wide.

BRENNAN: Humvee maybe?

(Brennan moves away from the group having spotted something.)

BRENNAN: This is blood, I think.

(She points to a boulder smeared with red.)

BRENNAN (Pointing.): The victim was kneeling here.

(Angela looks ill.)

BOOTH: Bones.

BRENNAN: Sorry.

BRENNAN (Whispering to Booth, and walking): He was dragged this way. Then the blood trail ends.

BOOTH: He was thrown into the Humvee.

BRENNAN: We've gotta be 200 miles from where we found Kirk's bones. You think the murderer drove that far to drop the body.

(Booth starts running.)

BRENNAN: Where are you going? Booth? Hey-

(Brennan follows him.)

(Cut to: Another area of the desert: a landing strip.)

BOOTH (Pointing): The tracks stop right here.

BRENNAN: What "here?" There's not "here" here.

BOOTH: Landing strip, huh? I knew this was about drugs. Mexico's about 80 miles that way.

(Booth points down the landing strip.)

BOOTH: They just-

(A car horn beeps. Sheriff Dawes pulls up his truck. Angela is in the front passenger seat.

BOOTH: Oh! Yes!

BRENNAN: Only Angela could get a ride in the middle of nowhere.

(Angela and Sheriff Dawes exit the car.)

BOOTH: Any signs of your sister?

SHERIFF DAWES: She's been out there a week. She could still be alive if she had a few canteens of water.

BOOTH (Indicating the ground): Humvee tracks, Sheriff.

SHERIFF DAWES: Alex Joseph?

BRENNAN: Catches Kirk and Dahni out here- SHERIFF DAWES (Into his police radio): Sandy, this is Dawes, do you receive me?

SANDY: Loud and clear on the satellite, Sheriff. Where are you?

SHERIFF DAWES: Hell and gone. Listen, Sandy, I need a deputy down at the clinic to slap some cuffs on Alex Joseph.

SANDY: Alex Joseph took off, Sheriff. We got no idea where he went.

BOOTH: Kellogg's Humvee.

SHERIFF DAWES: Sandy, go collect Wayne Kellogg's Humvee and we'll see you in a few hours.

(Cut to: The sheriff's office. Sheriff's deputies are performing a Luminal test on Kellogg's Humvee. Brennan and Booth observe.)

BRENNAN: Any bloodstains should flare bluish-green when the luminal hits them.

(A deputy sprays the with no result.)

SHERIFF DAWES: Nothin'.

BOOTH: Well, we know that Kirk's body was put into the Humvee. Tire treads match.

SHERIFF DAWES: It's clean. Give Kellogg his truck back. Tell him sorry for the inconvenience.

BOOTH: Try the hood.

SHERIFF DAWES: You think they tied Kirk's bloody, dead body to the hood like an elk then drove him 200 miles before dumping him for coyotes? Even out here people might notice.

BOOTH (Beaming his flashlight onto the hood of the Humvee): Right there.

(The deputy sprays the luminal revealing a flash the outline of a body.)

BOOTH: Mmhmm.

SHERIFF DAWES: I'll be damned.

BOOTH: Got him.

(Brennan dials her cell phone.)

BRENNAN: Zack.

ZACK: Yes, Dr. Brennan?

BRENNAN: We need to know if Kirk's bones show more damage than can be explained by animal activity.

ZACK: Preliminary analysis indicates the pubic rami are fractured and the left hemi pelvis is severely displaced.

BRENNAN: Congruent with a fall?

ZACK: Yes, Dr. Brennan. Were the remains found at the base of a cliff?

BRENNAN (To Booth): He wasn't driven 200 miles. He was driven a couple hundred yards.

BOOTH: Load his body in the airplane then tossed it.

BRENNAN: Zack, I'm not happy with how long it took you to get back to me on this. We'll talk about it when I get back.

(Cut to: The Jeffersonian. Zack on the phone with Brennan, Hodgins will enter.)

ZACK: Sorry, Dr. Brennan.

HODGINS (From the doorway): You could've told her it wasn't your fault.

ZACK: I still have some work to do here.

(Cut to: The Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Dawes, Brennan and Booth are walking.)

SHERIFF DAWES: If they dumped Kirk's body from the plane then they could've done the dame to Dahni.

BOOTH: Well, Kirk was dead when they tossed him, right?

BRENNAN: Absolutely. And I saw no evidence of a second murder at the site.

SHERIFF DAWES: Which leaves me hoping that either my sister was kidnapped by drug dealers or dying somewhere in the desert.

BOOTH: Well, kidnapping is a federal offense. It's an F.B.I. matter-

(Brennan's cell phone rings.)

BOOTH (To Sheriff Dawes): I can help ya, if you want.

BRENNAN (Into her cell phone): Brennan.

GOODMAN: Dr. Brennan, those cellphone photos you sent me of engravings-

BRENNAN: Kellogg said it was a commissioned work.

GOODMAN: I think these are engraver's plates.

BRENNAN: For what?

GOODMAN: Currency. To be exact I believe these are dyes for the Venezuelan 500-bolivar bill.

BRENNAN: Dyes? Counterfeiter's dyes?

GOODMAN: Yes.

BOOTH: Did you say counterfeiters?

(Cut to: The Sheriff's Office. Wayne Kellogg and his attorney are there with Brennan, Booth and Sheriff Dawes)

BOOTH: Yeah, I got a warrant here to search your client's studio for engraving plates.

LARRY STANSFIELD: Well, as Mr. Kellogg's attorney, I can advise you you're certain to find some.

KELLOGG: I'm an engraver.

SHERIFF DAWES: Larry, did you tell Wayne about how when someone dies during the commission of a felony, everyone involved in that felony is charged with murder?

BOOTH: Counterfeiting is a felony.

(Stansfield and Kellogg exchange quick glances.)

LARRY STANSFIELD: My client will confess to the counterfeiting charges in return for immunity from the murder charge.

SHERIFF DAWES: Not good enough.

LARRY STANSFIELD: He will also provide the time and place of the next pickup out in the desert. You'll be able to arrest the actual murderers.

BOOTH: When Sheriff Dawes says "Not good enough," he means his sister, Larry.

LARRY STANSFIELD: My client doesn't know anything about Dahni Webber.

BRENNAN: What does he know?

KELLOGG: One week ago, I arranged to meet some associates at an airstrip in the desert to pass on some commissioned artwork.

BRENNAN: He means counterfeit plates.

KELLOGG: As the plane landed, my associates noticed two people spying on them from a vantage point above the airstrip. They became very agitated. They commandeered my vehicle and they drove up the hill. I got in my Humvee. Then I drove up there. But I didn't see anything.

BRENNAN: Like blood on the hood of your vehicle?

LARRY STANSFIELD (Standing): Well, the fact remains that agreeing to this deal is the only way that you're going to catch the actual murderers. You know where to find me.

(Sheriff Dawes stands to get closer to the standing Wayne Kellogg.)

SHERIFF DAWES: Wayne, I need to know if they loaded Dahni on that plane.

KELLOGG: I never saw Dahni.

(Sheriff Dawes grabs Kellogg by the collar and pushes him against the wall, holding him there)

BOOTH (Jumps from his seat and moves over to the sheriff): Sheriff!

SHERIFF DAWES: That's my sister. My sister!

LARRY STANSFIELD (Pats Sheriff Dawes on the shoulder): I am truly sorry about Dahni, Ben. Truly sorry. But I don't think Wayne knows anything.

(Sheriff Dawes lets go of Kellogg and backs away.)

BOOTH: Come on, Dawes. Easy. Come on.

(Kellogg and Larry Stansfield leave the sheriff's office.)

(Sheriff Dawes sits down, breathing heavily.)

SHERIFF DAWES: I guess we're gonna have to take that deal, right?

BOOTH: I was trained as an army ranger. That mean anything to you, Sheriff Dawes?

SHERIFF DAWES: Yeah.

BOOTH: I'd be more than happy to go back out to that crime scene and see if there's anything we haven't missed.

SHERIFF DAWES: Appreciate it.

(Cut to: The Jeffersonian. Dr. Goodman and Zack walk and talk.)

GOODMAN: If you expect to win arguments around here, you'll need at least one doctorate.

ZACK: I am Dr, Brennan's grad student.

GOODMAN: I'm aware.

ZACK: Once I get my doctorate, she will take on another grad student. My job here will go to that person.

GOODMAN: You have a first-rate mind, Mr. Addy. You can't assist Dr. Brennan forever.

(Zack looks crushed as he turns to walk away. Hodgins enters.)

HODGINS: I really hope this is necessary.

GOODMAN: He's comfortable here. He's enamored with Dr. Brennan and he's stopped working on his thesis. It's necessary.

HODGINS: It's just...I like the guy.

GOODMAN: So do I, which is why we must think of what's best for him. It's time for Mr. Addy to grow up.

(Cut to: The desert. Angela, Brennan, Booth, and Sheriff Dawes resume the search for Dahni.)

BOOTH: So you say Dahni knows the desert pretty well?

SHERIFF DAWES: That's right.

BRENNAN: If it were you here stranded, where would you go?

SHERIFF DAWES (Pointing): Highway's about a five-day walk that way.

(Sheriff Dawes points in another direction)

SHERIFF DAWES: Mexico's three days that way.

(He changes direction again)

SHERIFF DAWES: And that way's two days to a ranch. She might find some stock water, but I wouldn't count on it. And the terrain is rougher.

BOOTH: So it all depends on how much water she had.

ANGELA: Is there any way to know?

(Sheriff Dawes shakes his head)

BOOTH: All right, look. We'll all take a point off this compass, all right? Walk out in a straight line for 15 minutes, we look for tracks. Good?

(The group separates, each heading in a different direction.)

(Angela is emotional and stops walking, confronted by the wide expanse of the desert. She sees an apparition of Dahni walking past her into a rocky area.)

(Brennan approaches Angela, whose eyes are closed.)

BRENNAN: You all right?

ANGELA (Pointing in the direction the vision of Dahni went): Dahni went that way.

BRENNAN (Concerned.): Okay.

(Cut to: A rocky area of the desert. Sheriff Dawes, Booth and rescue personnel located Dahni amongst the rocks. The sheriff holds his sister and gives her water, relief and worry washed over his face.)

(Cut to: Angela's Bungalow. Angela looks at pictures of herself and Kirk. Brennan enters.)

BRENNAN: Ready to go home?

ANGELA: Yeah.

(Brennan sits on the couch next to Angela.)

BRENNAN: You're not coming back again, are you?

ANGELA: No. Never. He loved me.

BRENNAN: For three weeks a year.

ANGELA (Breaking.): No. He loved me all the time. I was the one who could only manage three weeks a year. I'm afraid that I-I'm just afraid that I don't have a generous heart. I'm afraid that I won't have the chance that I had with Kirk ever again.

BRENNAN: You will.

ANGELA: How can you be so sure?

BRENNAN: Because nothing in this universe happens just once, Angela. Nothing. Infinity goes in both directions. There is no unique event, no singular moment.

ANGELA (Shrugs and laughs.): I don't know what that means.

BRENNAN: It means you will get another chance.

ANGELA: You promise?

(Brennan lightly nods.)

ANGELA: From your heart?

BRENNAN: Better. From my head. And yes, Ange. I promise-

(They hug.)

BRENNAN: From my heart. You will get another chance.

(Booth enters.)

BOOTH: Well, Dawes and his deputies, they caught the counterfeiters. Dahni gave a statement saying that it was Kellogg who pulled the trigger on Kirk. Dahni knows that you saved her life. You pointed that helicopter in the right direction.

BRENNAN: Obviously, you subconsciously sifted through the rational facts of the case and processed the most likely scenario.

ANGELA (Nodding.): I'm sure that's it.

BOOTH: Yeah, what else could it be?

ANGELA: Well it's the only rational explanation.

BRENNAN: Are you guys making fun of me?

BOOTH: You know, let's go back home, where there's water, shelter, and living things. Come on!

(Brennan follows Booth out of the bungalow, leaving Angela to make her peace with her vacation home. She gives it a quick glance and follows Brennan, never to return again.)

END