A Boy In a Bush

Fade in: Auditorium. From a podium on stage, Dr. Brennan is giving a lecture to a large group of anthropology students. Behind her shines a slide showing a variety of what look to be skull fragments.]

BRENNAN: As far back as 1938, the director of the F.B.I., J. Edgar Hoover, wrote to the then curator of the Jeffersonian Institution, Professor Daniel Payne, to aid in the evaluation of specimens who were thought to be irrefutably human. This was the result.

[She changes the slide, and a drawing of an ape appears. The students laugh.]

BRENNAN: Despite this early disagreement, the F.B.I. and the Jeffersonian have forged a mutually beneficial, if somewhat tense, relationship which survives to this day. Thank you.

[The students applaud and Goodman steps to the podium.]

GOODMAN: Thank you, Dr. Brennan. Are there any questions?

[A girl in the audience raises her hand.]

OS: GOODMAN: Yes?

[She stands.]

FEMALE STUDENT: How much money have you made from your book?

BRENNAN: I don't really know. I have an accountant and an agent-

GOODMAN (cutting her off): That's not really the kind of question we're looking for from an anthropology student.

[A boy in the hand is called on.]

OS: GOODMAN: Yes?

[He stands.]

MALE STUDENT: Did you get your agent before or after you wrote the book?

[Brennan moves toward the podium to answer, but Goodman speaks first.]

GOODMAN: People, Dr. Brennan is an accomplished forensic anthropologist who writes books on the side.

[In the audience, Booth stands from among the students.]

BOOTH: I have a question regarding role of the F.B.I. in your book: Who do you base the brilliant and insightful Special Agent Andy Lister on?

GOODMAN: Oh, for God's sake.

BOOTH: Because, you know, I'm pretty sure it was me.

BRENNAN: What are you doing here, Booth?

[Cut to: Outside the building, Brennan and Booth are walking side-by-side toward the parking lot.]

BOOTH: Local police got an anonymous call saying that there were human remains in a field behind a mall in the suburbs.

BRENNAN: I did an anthropological profile of the suburb as a grad student. The whole notion of a created community, a modern utopia with its own mores and rules... It's fascinating.

BOOTH: Fascinating to who?

BRENNAN: To "whom".

BOOTH: Whom. (He sees the shiny, silver sports car they've walked up to and laughs) You've got to be kidding.

BRENNAN: What? My publishers gave it to me.

BOOTH: Gave it to you?

BRENNAN: Book sales are pretty good. It's supposed to be a nice car.

BOOTH: Gave it to you?

BRENNAN: Yeah.

BOOTH: Well, why'd you park crooked?

BRENNAN: Well, the guy said to always park it like that.

BOOTH: He's wrong. It makes you look like an idiot.

BRENNAN: How about I drive for once?

BOOTH: No, I cannot show up at a crime scene in that.

BRENNAN: Why?

BOOTH: Because it would detract from the gravity of my F.B.I. presence. Especially if you parked crooked.

BRENNAN: Why is the F.B.I. involved in the search for human remains behind a suburban mall?

[Booth pulls a paper out of his jacket and hands it to her.]

BOOTH: Because this boy is missing.

[The paper is a missing person flier with a picture of a young boy on it.]

BRENNAN: Oh... A child.

BOOTH: Yeah.

[Cut to: The field behind Clayton Hills Mall. The parking lot is filled with vehicles, among them squad cars and a coroner's van. Booth, Brennan, and Zack are speaking with a police officer.]

POLICE OFFICER: Anonymous call came in a couple hours ago. No sign of him yet.

BOOTH: How do you know it wasn't a prank?

[The officer starts a recording of the call.]

GIRL (on cassette player): You have to come right away! There's, like, a dead kid here, all rotted away! It's in the field behind Clayton Hills Mall. You better come!

BOOTH: Well, that rings true.

BRENNAN: Why anonymous?

POLICE OFFICER: Kids come here to party, misbehave.

BRENNAN: Adolescents and preadolescents tend to seek out their own space to establish their own society, to counter parental influence.

POLICE OFFICER: You mind if I make an observation?

BRENNAN: No, of course not.

POLICE OFFICER: In your book, the cops come off as very one-dimensional. Why is that?

BRENNAN: You mean two-dimensional.

ZACK: One-dimensionality exists only in theory as a mathematical value.

POLICE OFFICER: Okay. Really looking forward to your next book.

[He exits.]

BRENNAN: Did you bring the thermal imager?

ZACK: I don't think we need it.

[Brennan gives him a look.]

ZACK: It makes me look like the Great Gazoo.

BRENNAN: I don't know what that means, but we definitely need it, Zack.

[He sighs and walks off.]

[Cut to: A bit later, in the field. Zack is wearing the thermal imager, which looks like a large orange and yellow helmet over his head. We see Booth and Brennan through his point of view, in yellows, greens, and reds based off of thermal heat.]

BOOTH: How's it going there, Darth? See anything on Saturn? (off of Brennan's look) Oh, please tell me you've seen at least one Star Wars movie.

BRENNAN: When I was seven, and leave Zack alone.

[Back to normal view.]

ZACK: Can we please hurry up? It's stuffy in here.

[They begin to walk.]

ZACK: I should be able to see any heat residue released from decomposing bodies.

[They happen upon a small area where there obviously used to be a fire. Some crates and various garbage surround it.]

OS: BOOTH: Party central.

BRENNAN: Because suburbs are so homogeneous, adolescents tend to rebel in predictable and uniform ways. Fire, illicit substances, wayward behavior.

BOOTH: Do you think that wayward behavior would include abducting a six-year-old child?

BRENNAN: It's pretty extreme. Adolescents are more likely to drink alcohol and listen to culturally inappropriate music at high volume.

ZACK: I'm picking something up.

[From his POV, we see mostly green as he walks through grass, but then a patch of yellow, signifying some heat, appears.]

[Back to normal view, Zack takes the imager off of his head.]

ZACK: Oh my God.

BOOTH: What? Why'd you stop?

ZACK: You can turn on your flashlight. Aim it over there.

[He pulls back some high grass and we see the mostly decomposed body of a young child.]

[Fade out.]

[TITLE CREDITS]

[Fade in: The Jeffersonian Medico-Legal Lab. The child's body is laid out on a table on the raised center platform.]

BRENNAN: Before proceeding with maceration, any general observations? Zack?

ZACK: Epiphyseal fusion puts the age at approximately six to ten years, though the stature suggest younger.

BRENNAN: Good. I concur. Cause of death?

ZACK: Blunt trauma to the chest.

[Brennan walks over to Angela, concerned.]

BRENNAN: Are you all right?

ANGELA: He's so small. That's all. Go on with your work. I'm okay.

[Brennan returns to the table.]

HODGINS: The remains were significantly degraded by insect and animal activity, mostly dog and rodent. Despite the condition of the body, he's been dead between only thirty-six to forty-eight hours.

BRENNAN (gesturing towards the victim's clothes): These were found a few yards from the body. Notice that they are in perfect condition. What does that tell you?

ZACK: The victim wasn't wearing them when he was killed.

BRENNAN: Which suggests he was sexually assaulted.

[Angela approaches the table and hands a sheet of paper to Brennan.]

ANGELA: I'm done.

[Brennan takes the sketch and walks to a computer screen, where the missing flier is displayed, to compare.]

BRENNAN: I think we have a match. The clothing matches. It's Charles Gregory Sanders.

[Cut to: The Sanders house.]

OS: BOOTH: On behalf of the F.B.I., we're extremely sorry for the loss of your son.

[Cut to: Inside. Booth is talking with Charles' mother, Margaret Sanders, and one of the Sanders' neighbors, Ellie Nelson.]

BOOTH: And I have a few questions, I mean, only if you're up to it.

[Margaret nods.]

BOOTH: You have two other sons?

MARGARET: Foster sons. Though I try not to make the distinction.

ELLIE: Shawn and David Cook. They are brothers. I live right next door.

BOOTH: Charlie was your own?

MARGARET (voice breaking): Yes. Charlie was mine.

BOOTH: What about Mr. Sanders?

MARGARET: We divorced shortly before Charlie was even born. He works overseas.

ELLIE: He doesn't even send child support.

BOOTH: You mind if I ask how you afford this nice neighborhood?

MARGARET: Child Services wouldn't allow a single mother to foster if she worked. I live off the proceeds of a generous trust fund my parents set up long ago.

BOOTH: And the day that Charlie disappeared - all three boys went to the park?

ELLIE: It's two blocks away. It's a very safe neighborhood. They walk farther to school.

MARGARET: We all keep an eye out for each other around here. People are good neighbors, take an interest.

[A door opens in the background.]

OS: SKYLER: Mom?

MARGARET: In here, Skyler.

[Skyler Nelson enters with Shawn and David Cook.]

ELLIE: This is my son, Skyler.

SKYLER: Dad told me to bring the boys back. We gotta go on a job.

DAVID: There's nothing to do here.

SHAWN: Our video game's broke.

MARGARET: Shawn, David, this is Agent Booth. He's gonna find out what happened to Charlie.

DAVID: How're you gonna figure it out?

BOOTH: Oh, I'm in the F.B.I. We always figure it out. Boys, I mean, if it's alright with your mother, maybe I could help you out with your video game.

[Margaret nods, and the boys head off with Booth following behind them.]

[Cut to: Brennan's office. All the squints are gathered there.]

GOODMAN: These are invitations to a banquet.

[He hands an envelope to Brennan.]

BRENNAN: You called a special meeting to invite us to a party?

GOODMAN: Don't this of it as an invitation, consider it a summons. It's for donors.

[He moves to Hodgins, who stands.]

HODGINS: Meet and greet, press the flesh, butt kiss...

GOODMAN: I don't like it any more than you do, but these people fund our research, and all they want in return is to rub elbows with a scientist every once in awhile.

[He walks toward Angela.]

HODGINS: I can't make it.

BRENNAN: Yeah, me neither.

ANGELA: I have a date that night.

GOODMAN (handing her an invitation): You don't even know when it is.

[Zack raises his hand.]

GOODMAN (passing him an envelope as well): Yes, Mr. Addy?

ZACK: What kind of food will there be?

GOODMAN: When I said you should think of this invitation as a summons, I understated. It's a subpoena. A grand-jury subpoena. Ignore it at your own peril.

BRENNAN: You're not gonna fire us if we don't go.

GOODMAN: No, not fire you, but I can move your parking spot to Lot M. Enjoy the shuttle ride.

ZACK: The shuttle smells like feet.

BRENNAN: I know when I'm beat. I'm in.

ANGELA: What the hell, it's a party.

ZACK: Do I have to wear a tie?

GOODMAN: Formal wear. I've arranged for a limo to pick us up here.

HODGINS: Not me. I'm not afraid of parking or feet.

ZACK: Wait, you drive me to work. You can't just think of yourself.

GOODMAN: Repercussions and consequences, Dr. Hodgins. I'm your boss, and you will go to this banquet.

[Hodgins snaps a rubberband that's around his wrist as Goodman exits, and Angela takes notice.]

[Cut to: The Sanders house. Booth is helping the kids with their video game.]

DAVID (as Booth puts a controller back together): Do you know what you're doing?

BOOTH: Yeah. I can fix anything.

DAVID: Cool.

BOOTH: You guys, uh, you guys have girlfriends?

DAVID: I do.

SHAWN: Her name's Leila.

BOOTH: Leila. Leila.

DAVID: I thought you were gonna ask us questions about Charlie.

BOOTH: Yeah, so which one of you puny mortals wants to challenge me first?

SHAWN: Oh, me!

[They start playing, and Shawn eyes Booth a bit suspiciously.]

[Cut to: The Jeffersonian, Zack's office.]

BRENNAN: You about to clean the bones?

ZACK: Yes. I'm warming up the boiler now.

BRENNAN: Something wrong?

ZACK: These are the smallest remains I've ever worked on.

BRENNAN: That's a valid observation, Zack, but it's not helpful to the investigation.

ZACK: Sorry, Dr. Brennan.

BRENNAN: I was at Waco, Branch Davidian compound. I helped identify children who had been killed in the fire. Seventeen of them.

ZACK: So, you're saying I'll get used to it?

BRENNAN: No, I'm saying you'll never get used to it. We're primates. Social creatures. It's coded into our DNA to protect our young. Even from each other.

ZACK: So, I'm always going to feel terrible?

BRENNAN: What helps me is to pull back emotionally. Just... put your heart in a box.

ZACK: I am not good with metaphor, Dr. Brennan.

BRENNAN: Focus on the details.

ZACK: Details. Yeah, I can do that.

[They walk over to where the bones are laid out on a table.]

ZACK: No trauma to the skull. No compound fractures. Charlie was not beaten to death or dismembered.

BRENNAN: It helps not to refer to the victim by name.

ZACK: Greenstick fractures on ribs four, five, six, and seven. And the sternum is snapped transversally from the tip to the xiphoid.

BRENNAN: Okay, what does that indicate?

ZACK: The victim's chest was struck by a heavy, blunt object.

BRENNAN: Are you completely certain we've learned everything we can from the body at this stage of decomposition?

ZACK: I've been over everything at least three times.

BRENNAN: Smell the mouth.

[He does so.]

BRENNAN: Anything behind the typical smells of decomposition?

ZACK: Some kind of chemical. Chloroform. Something used to render the boy unconscious.

BRENNAN: Take samples from the mouth, jaw, sinuses, and... what's left of the esophagus. Kids make it harder, Zack.

[She exits, and he looks down at the body for a moment.]

[Cut to: Outside the Sanders house, Booth exits with Shawn, David, and Margaret.]

BOOTH: All right, look, you beat me bad.

DAVID: No wonder you don't have a girlfriend.

MARGARET: David!

BOOTH: It's okay, Mrs. Sanders. It's alright. No, I do have a girlfriend.

SHAWN: Is she pretty?

BOOTH: Nah, she's butt ugly. Got a glass eye, snaggly back teeth. So, was Leila with you the day that Charlie disappeared?

DAVID: Uh, yeah, actually. We stopped and played some video games at the arcade.

BOOTH: That must've been before you and Charlie went to the park.

MARGARET: You didn't go to the mall that day, David.

[She looks at David, who looks away.]

MARGARET: Shawn?

DAVID: Don't ask Shawn, mom.

BOOTH: You met Leila at the mall, didn't you? You left Charlie with Shawn at the park.

DAVID: Well, just for a few minutes, and then they came back to the mall.

MARGARET: David!

DAVID: Shawn let go of his hand for a second, Charlie was gone like that!

[Across the street, Skyler and his father load up a truck to go off on an extermination job.]

DAVID: And then we came straight home.

BOOTH: Charlie wasn't taken from the park, he was snatched from the mall. We've been looking in the wrong place.

OS: MR. NELSON: Come on, son. Let's go.

[Cut to: Jeffersonian lab. Hodgins places the victim's jawbone into a plastic box and replaces the lid. Angela approaches.]

ANGELA: What's with the rubber band?

HODGINS: Methyl oxide vapor in this chamber will bind to whatever compound Charlie breathed in before he was killed.

[Angela reaches over and snaps the rubber band.]

HODGINS: Ouch!

ANGELA: It's an anger management technique, right?

HODGINS: The key there is management, which is what I'm doing. Managing my anger.

[The box fills with vapor.]

HODGINS: There'll be a color change. Red for pnictogens and chalcogens, and blue for halogens.

ANGELA: I get that you're a little off-kilter. Mad at the government, conspiracy of dunces, all that. Maybe even furious that you've had to mount a little boy's jawbone inside a box to find out what killed him. What I don't get is why going to a banquet makes you angry.

[The vapor starts to clear, and the bone glows blue in areas.]

HODGINS: Halogens it is. I'm gonna scrape off the particles and see if the mass spectrometer can identify what type of halogen.

ANGELA: Anger is only fear, turned inwards.

[She moves to leave, but stops to snap the rubber band against his wrist one more time. He flinches, and she exits.]

[Cut to: Angela's office. Brennan, Angela, and Booth are looking at her computer monitor.]

ANGELA: There are twenty surveillance cameras taking stills every two seconds throughout the mall, including access corridors and parking lots. I concentrated on the ones aimed at the public concourse.

BOOTH: Okay, ten thousand people a day go through that mall. How are we gonna find one small kid?

BRENNAN: Angela designed a mass recognition program to apply body types to skeletal remains.

ANGELA: Endomorph, ectomorph, mesomorph, that sort of thing. I modified it to scan two dimensional images. In this case, we're looking for body masses roughly congruent with Charlie, Shawn, and David.

[She points at the screen.]

ANGELA: There's David.

BOOTH: You're actually one of them.

ANGELA: One of who?

BOOTH: A squint. I mean, you look normal and you act normal, but you're actually one of them.

ANGELA: This whole mass recognition program was Brennan's idea. I'm completely normal. Really.

BOOTH: Yeah, maybe before you got this job. But now... BRENNAN (pointing at the screen): I see Charlie.

BOOTH: Oh. That's him, all right.

ANGELA (whispering): Oh, God.

BRENNAN: Ange? Are you okay?

ANGELA: It's just... these are probably the last pictures of this little... guy alive. Why is he alone? Why isn't anybody with him? (pause) Sorry. Max resolution is X-40 by 480 pixels per square inch.

BOOTH: No, wait, he's not alone. Someone's calling him over. Can't you just zoom in?

[On the screen, we see Charlie walk over to a person, who's obscured by a banner.]

ANGELA: The fewer pixels that make up an image, the more the picture degrades once we zoom in on it. Did that sound too squinty?

BRENNAN: Any way to enhance it?

ANGELA: Well, I wouldn't bet a date with Colin Farrell on it.

BRENNAN: I know him. He's funny.

ANGELA: Funny is Will Ferrell, sweetie. Hot is Colin Farrell.

BOOTH: Now look, wait. The kid was definitely moving toward someone. He wasn't struggling. He wasn't trying to get away. You know, I want to add the neighborhood kid Skyler Nelson to the list of possible suspects.

ANGELA: I have one other angle, but our bad guy is still obstructed in it.

[They all look at the screen.]

BOOTH: Who the hell are you?

[Dissolve to: Jeffersonian hallway. Angela's sitting on a bench. Brennan approaches.]

BRENNAN: Are you thinking of leaving the Jeffersonian?

ANGELA: I'm not really this person.

[Brennan sits down.]

BRENNAN: What person?

ANGELA: I'm not like you. I'm not driven by the need for justice and all that. I'm a good-time girl.

BRENNAN: We have good times.

ANGELA: Cracking jokes over murdered skeletons is not good times.

BRENNAN: I know it's harder on you than it is for the rest of us.

ANGELA: No it's not. (pause) Why?

BRENNAN: Because you look at their faces. We look at everything else. It's more clinical for us. For you - it's personal. When we see a murdered child-

ANGELA: Honey I... I'm, no offense, I'm really not up for one of your 'it takes a village' anthropology lessons. This is the longest I've ever had a job. That's because of you.

BRENNAN: If this is about hours, or time to do your own art, then-

ANGELA: Just let me work on it, okay? I'm an artist. I used to draw naked guys. Now I draw dead guys.

BRENNAN: Just don't decide anything without talking to me.

ANGELA: Of course I won't.

[She leans back and sighs. Brennan leans back as well.]

[Cut to: Jeffersonian lab. Booth and Brennan walk down the corridor.]

BRENNAN: I'm afraid Angela might quit.

BOOTH: I'm amazed she stuck it out this long.

BRENNAN: Why?

BOOTH: Oh, because she's human.

[Brennan gives him look.]

BOOTH: I'm sorry, Bones, it's just that, you know, uh... Angela didn't get the same training that the rest of you got on, uh, planet Vulcan.

BRENNAN: I don't know what that means.

[They enter a room where the skeleton is laid out and Zack is waiting.]

BOOTH: She's more sensitive.

ZACK: Who's more sensitive?

BRENNAN: Angela.

BOOTH: She likes puppies and kitties and ducklings, and, you know, Jell-O shots and, you know, dancing on bars.

[He makes some music and dances a little.]

BRENNAN: I know that. She's my best friend. And Angela's not the only person in the world who likes baby animals.

ZACK: I never got the big attraction.

BOOTH: I rest my case. She's more sensitive.

ZACK: We cross-referenced the length and density of Charlie's leg bones with other children his age. The victim, I mean.

[Booth stares at the skeleton for a moment, and is obviously emotionally affected by it. Zack notices.]

ZACK: The thing to do is concentrate on the details.

[There's a pause.]

BOOTH: Let's do that.

[He clears his throat.]

BRENNAN: We found some abnormalities. They're bowed, and abnormally short.

ZACK: Also, the victim's show freezing of the joints at the hip and knee.

BOOTH: Are you saying Charlie was crippled?

BRENNAN: The victim was disabled, yes.

BOOTH: His mother never mentioned that.

ZACK: The ribs are broken in two places, which is not typical of blunt-force trauma.

BRENNAN: How do you explain that?

ZACK: I'd attribute it to his medical condition and the corresponding brittleness of his bones.

BRENNAN: I agree. What is that condition?

ZACK: It looks like scoliosis - a bend in the spine.

[Brennan walks over to the x-rays on the wall.]

BRENNAN: I think it's more than that, Zack. There are multiple calcified lesions on the posterior thoracic vertebrae. That, plus Charlie's short stature, and the asymmetric length of his legs... Margaret Sanders may not be Charlie's biological mother.

BOOTH: What?

BRENNAN (to Zack): Test the bones for X-linked hypophosphatemia and Coffin-Lowry Syndrome.

[They start to move away, but Booth stops them.]

BOOTH: Whoa, whoa. Okay, hold on. Simmer down, just back up to the part where she's not his mother.

ZACK: Dr. Brennan is having me check for hereditary genetic defects which are always passed from mother to child.

BRENNAN: If Charlie had one, then Margaret Sanders is not his mother.

[Cut to: Interrogation room. Booth and Brennan are questioning Margaret Sanders.]

MARGARET: How can you say that?

BRENNAN: Charlie suffered from a hereditary genetic disorder called hypophosphatemia.

BOOTH: Charlie's real mother would have the same disease.

BRENNAN: You do not.

MARGARET: Never say I wasn't Charlie's real mother, because I was.

BOOTH: Biological mother, then. Mrs. Sanders, you are not Charlie's biological mother. You want to explain that to us?

MARGARET: I can't have children. That's why my husband left me. So I took in foster kids.

BRENNAN: Like Shawn and David Cook.

MARGARET: And Charlie. Though is name was Nathan. I got him as a baby down in Pittsburgh. Ten days old. His mother was arrested on drug charges, and Child Services brought him to me. Three weeks I had him. Then the charges were dropped.

BOOTH: You kept him?

MARGARET: No. I gave him back. But it nearly killed me. I stayed in touch. I bought him things - formula, stroller. I wanted to make sure he was all right.

BOOTH: Nathan what, Mrs. Sanders?

MARGARET: Nathan Downey. His mother was a drug addict named Janine. Christmas Day I found her dead on her kitchen floor, a needle stuck in her arm. And I could hear Charlie, crying upstairs. So I went up.

BRENNAN: And you took him home.

MARGARET: I looked him in the eyes, and I promised him I would never leave him alone again. And he stopped crying. I expected every day for Child Services to come looking.

BRENNAN: He would've ended up back in the system anyway.

MARGARET (breaking down, crying): I meant to keep him safe... and love him. And now he's dead.

[Cut to: Booth's office. Booth enters, Brennan right behind.]

BOOTH: I had to arrest her.

BRENNAN: The story checked out. The overdose.

BOOTH: She confessed to kidnapping.

BRENNAN: Margaret Sanders did nothing more than respond to the anthropological imperative. She saw an orphan, and reacted.

BOOTH: This is not a National Geographic study, okay? This is the suburbs.

BRENNAN: Why would she kill the boy? She obviously loved him.

BOOTH: There are situations, right? The kid gets sick, he doesn't turn out to be what you wanted. I bet that you could give me a dozen examples of societies that have killed their own young.

BRENNAN: What about Shawn and David Cook? Where do they go now?

BOOTH: Back into the system.

BRENNAN: Do you have any idea how bad the foster care system is?

BOOTH: Do you? What do you want to do, hmm? Do you want to kidnap them, the way that she kidnapped Charlie?

BRENNAN: I want you to let them go home to Margaret Sanders.

BOOTH: It's not gonna happen.

[Brennan leaves.]

[Cut to: Angela's office. Angela and Zack are bent over the computer.]

ZACK: Try redigitizing and resizing.

ANGELA: I did. The extrapolation protocol got confused by the spread. Hey, you know Hodgins better than anybody else. So why is he so bent out of shape about this banquet?

ZACK: What makes you say that?

ANGELA: Because every time someone mentions it, he starts snapping that rubber band around his wrist.

ZACK: I mean, what makes you think I know Hodgins better than anyone else?

ANGELA: You're roommates.

ZACK: I live above his garage.

ANGELA: But you see a lot of each other.

ZACK: Not really.

ANGELA: He drives you to work.

ZACK: I've never been up to the main house.

ANGELA: The main house?

ZACK: It's at the opposite end of the driveway on the other side of the tennis courts across from pond.

[Booth enters.]

BOOTH: Okay, anything on the identity of Charlie's abductor?

ANGELA: I can't clear up this image any more than it is. Tell Booth what you told me about living in Hodgins' garage.

ZACK: There's a bedroom, living room, kitchen, another bedroom, a den, two bathrooms-

BOOTH: Great. Quite a garage. Can we focus on the case?

ANGELA: How many cars does he have in that garage?

ZACK: Including the antique ones, about twelve. And a boat.

ANGELA: Zack has never seen the main house because the tennis courts and the pond block the view.

BOOTH: Well, he must be one of those Hodgins.

ZACK: Who are 'those' Hodginses?

BOOTH: You know, the Cantilever Group Hodgins?

ANGELA: Oh my God.

ZACK: The same Cantilever Group that generates more G.N.P. than Europe?

ANGELA: Get this. They are the single biggest donors to the Jeffersonian Institution.

[Booth laughs.]

BOOTH: That makes Hodgins your boss.

ANGELA: What do you guys even talk about when he drives you to work?

ZACK: I mostly sleep. Hodgins mostly yells at the radio.

[On the computer screen, the abductor leads the child out of a glass door.]

BOOTH: Okay, if you can't see the guy's face, maybe you can grab a reflection.

ZACK: That's a workable idea.

BOOTH: Well, I'd say thanks, you know, if you didn't say it like it was some kind of a miracle.

[Cut to: Brennan's office. She's typing, looking very determined.

[Hodgins enters.]

HODGINS: Chem lab mass spectrometer identifies the particulates in Charlie Sanders' mouth as fluoride.

[He looks at Brennan.]

HODGINS: I recognize that look.

BRENNAN: What?

[He looks at the rolling board of notes.]

HODGINS: You're writing another book. When you write, you get this stunned look on your face like you stuck a fork in a toaster. Am I in this one too?

BRENNAN: You weren't in the last one. Fluoride? At what concentration?

HODGINS: It's too high for toothpaste.

BRENNAN: Put together a list of -

[She sees he's not listening and reading the notes. She pushes the board away from him a little.]

BRENNAN: Put together a list of anything that could conceivably contain fluoride at those levels.

HODGINS: All right. Do you have time for this?

BRENNAN: They gave me a car.

HODGINS: Nice. Who?

BRENNAN: My publisher. Now I feel like I have to earn it by writing another book.

HODGINS: Fight coercion in all its forms. You don't write the book, I don't go to the banquet. Solidarity.

[He leaves, Booth enters.]

BOOTH: Angela has a face for the abductor.

[She exits quickly. Booth sneaks a peek at the board of notes before following.]

[Cut to: Angela's office. Booth, Brennan, and Angela are crowded around the computer.]

ANGELA: I looked on both cameras. This one offered up more reflective surfaces.

BOOTH: Right at the door.

ANGELA: Check this out.

BOOTH: The abductor's face.

ANGELA: By polarizing the image, the computer can interpret the spaces between the white and the dark gaps and fill in the missing pieces.

BOOTH: Wait. That doesn't look like an adult.

ANGELA: When I repolarize the image...

[The blurry picture becomes clear.]

BOOTH: Shawn Cook.

BRENNAN: The victim's foster brother.

[Cut to: Interrogation room. Shawn Cook draws pictures in some spilled water on the table. Booth is questioning him as a child advocate sits nearby. Brennan and a juvenile prosecutor watch from outside.]

BOOTH: Where were you taking Charlie, Shawn?

SHAWN: I brought him to the mall to see David.

BOOTH: I know you brought him to the mall. But we got a picture of you... leading him out of the mall.

[He slides a printed image of the picture from Angela's computer screen in front of Shawn.]

BRENNAN: Have you seen much of this kind of thing?

PROSECUTOR: I'm a juvenile prosecutor. I wish I could say kids killing kids was rare.

BOOTH: Where were you taking him, Shawn?

SHAWN: When can I talk to Margaret?

BOOTH: After you answer my questions.

BRENNAN: Can he do that? Lie to a kid?

PROSECUTOR: We're after a child killer, Dr. Brennan. If the child advocate in there doesn't complain, I sure as hell won't.

BRENNAN: Well, what's the point of having a child advocate if he doesn't advocate for the child?

PROSECUTOR: I get the impression that you're a little confused as to what side you're on, Dr. Brennan.

BOOTH (lifting the hem of his shirt): Shawn, you know what that is?

SHAWN: A scar?

[Booth tucks his shirt back in.]

BOOTH: Yeah. Got it when I was playing soldier with my brother Jared.

SHAWN: Did it hurt?

BOOTH: Yeah, it hurt. But it was an accident. You got any scars?

[Shawn rolls up his sleeve show a few small, round marks on his arm.]

SHAWN: My dad did it with a cigarette.

BOOTH: He shouldn't have done that.

[Shawn slides his sleeve back down.]

SHAWN: Margaret didn't do anything like that. I love Margaret.

BOOTH: What I need to know is if Charlie had some kind of an accident.

[Shawn doesn't answer.]

BOOTH: Shawn?

ADVOCATE: Maybe we can just take a break.

BOOTH: Shawn?

PROSECUTOR: He's not being aggressive enough.

BRENNAN: Foster kids are powerless. They're treated like garbage. You're in a position to do something about it, and all you have to say is 'He's not being aggressive enough'?

PROSECUTOR: Dr. Brennan, you know this boy may very well have beaten a child to death with a rock?

[The prosecutor exits.]

[Cut to: Lab platform. Hodgins is working, and Angela walks up to him.]

ANGELA: How long have we known each other?

HODGINS: Do people really ever know each other?

ANGELA: How come you never invited me over to your house?

HODGINS: Oh, I didn't pick up that kind of vibe off you.

ANGELA: I thought we were close. All of us. What else don't I know? Is Zack from another planet?

HODGINS: Oh, come on. That one's obvious.

ANGELA: You're rich. You single-handedly own the Cantilever Group. Don't deny, I know.

HODGINS: Who else knows?

ANGELA: Zack, Booth.

HODGINS: Don't tell Brennan.

ANGELA: Why don't you want us to know that you're actually our boss?

HODGINS (harshly): I don't want to be anybody's boss. I never did. Please respect that.

[Angela leaves, and Brennan enters.]

BRENNAN: What's up with Angela?

HODGINS: It's... job pressure.

[There's a pause.]

HODGINS: Fluoride at lower concentrations is used in toothpaste, instant tea, and is added to our drinking water. Which, I might add, can cause a range of conditions, brain damage-

BRENNAN: Which has nothing to do with the case at hand.

[Hodgins pauses a moment before continuing.]

HODGINS: The concentrations found on our victim might come from wood preservatives, paint thinners, car wax, or various other industrial products.

[He hands Brennan a list, and she stick it on her clipboard.]

BRENNAN: Okay. Did Angela say anything about quitting her job?

HODGINS: No. But we hardly know anything about each other.

[Brennan exits.]

[Cut to: The room where the skeleton is laid out. Brennan is writing notes as Booth enters.]

BOOTH: Bones, I thought you'd like to know that Shawn and David are in emergency care. Pulled some strings, you know, to make sure they- they get to stay together.

BRENNAN: That's good, thanks.

BOOTH: It's the best I could do.

BRENNAN: Yeah, I understand.

BOOTH: No, you say you understand, but you don't. Not really. I mean, if you don't like the rule, you ignore it, right?

[He steps forward and leans on the table.]

BOOTH: I can't have that. And if you want to do this-

BRENNAN: Do what?

BOOTH: Work on cases, you know, with me. Outside the lab. If you wanna do that, I need to know that you will respect the law.

BRENNAN (voice breaking): Tell you what, if I can't respect the law, I can at least respect you.

BOOTH (a little surprised): Well- Yeah, that'll work, too. I mean it kind of comes out of nowhere, but-

[Brennan notices the pencil he broke when he leaned on the table. It now sits in three pieces.]

BRENNAN: Look what you did.

BOOTH: It's a pencil. I'll get you a new one.

BRENNAN: The victim was killed by trauma to the chest, but the ribs are broken in two places, not just one.

BOOTH: Uh, because of the, uh, brittle bones. Because of his disease.

BRENNAN: Well, that was my assumption, but there's another explanation.

[She moves to leave, but he blocks her.]

BOOTH: Yeah, whoa. What's the other explanation?

BRENNAN: Compression.

[She leaves, and he follows.]

BOOTH: Like Charlie Sanders was crushed to death?

BRENNAN: Yes. Greenstick fractures. Vertebral and sternal.

[She holds up the broken pencil.]

BRENNAN: See?

BOOTH: Hey, Shawn Cook outweighed Charlie Sanders by, what, thirty pounds? How could he have crushed him to death?

[They come across Angela as they enter the lab.]

BRENNAN: Angela, we need to run some scenarios through the Angelator.

[She walks off, and Booth and Angela move to follow. Hodgins enters from behind.]

HODGINS: Angela, Booth!

[They stop.]

HODGINS: Zack has been informed that if he tells anyone who I am, I will kick him out on the street like a stray dog. Sadly, there is nothing I can threaten you two with.

ANGELA: Yeah, that's a shame.

HODGINS: What I want out of my life is to come in here and sift through slime and bugs. Unfortunately, my family is one of those who secretly run the world.

BOOTH: Paranoia and delusions of grandeur all in one package.

[Booth and Angela start to walk away.]

HODGINS: You call it paranoia, I call it the family business. Please could you just stop!

[They do, and turn back.]

HODGINS: The reason that I do not want to go to that banquet is that the other members of the ruling elite will make a big fuss about seeing me. My secret will be out and my life, this life that I love, will be ruined. I'm asking you, please, please just let me be Jack Hodgins who works in the lab.

[He exits.]

[Cut to: Angela's office. Brennan, Booth, and Angela are around the Angelator where an image of Charlie Sanders is showing.]

ANGELA: Charlie was three feet, four inches tall and weighed fifty-eight pounds.

BRENNAN: And Shawn?

ANGELA: Shawn Cook is 1.4 meters tall and weighs 31 kilograms.

BOOTH: His brother David was 5'8", 150 pounds.

ANGELA: 1.75 meters, 68 kilograms.

BRENNAN: At first, I thought the break to Charlie's sternum was caused by blunt trauma because it only ran along one fault line. But when Booth broke my pencil, I realized there's another way to cause the same type of injury. Compression.

ANGELA: Hodgins found no particulates that suggested crushing.

BRENNAN: Body weight. There has to be enough weight on the victim to stop the abdomen from moving so no air can get into the lungs.

[On the Angelator, a pair of legs appears on top of Charlie's horizontal form, and the bones of both people are shown through their bodies.]

BRENNAN: Prolonged pressure caused the sternum to snap in half and the ribs to break.

[On the Angelator, the pressure of the body on top of Charlie causes the ribs to snap. Angela is obviously emotionally affected by this visual and turns away slightly. Brennan looks over at her.]

ANGELA: Sorry, sorry. I entered real-world variables, taking into account Charlie's size and the amount of pressure...

[The visual runs through again, and Angela pauses for a short moment.]

ANGELA: ...that was required to break Charlie's sternum in the way that it was broken.

BOOTH: What did you end up with?

ANGELA: 86.2 kilograms.

BOOTH: What's that in American?

BRENNAN: 190 pounds.

BOOTH: Yeah.

ANGELA: Way too much for either of the Cook kids or Margaret Sanders.

BOOTH: I'd put the neighborhood kid Skyler at about 160 pounds.

BRENNAN: It can't be him either.

BOOTH: We should be looking for a full-grown man.

BRENNAN: You have to get Shawn to tell you where he took Charlie when they left the mall.

BOOTH: He won't talk to me.

BRENNAN: Let me do it.

BOOTH: Uh, no. You know, people are not your strong point, Bones. And besides, he's not going to care how many facts you put in front of him.

BRENNAN: Could you just go with me on this one, Booth? We're trying to catch a killer. Let me help.

BOOTH: When's the last time you even talked to a kid?

BRENNAN: I know what to say.

[Cut to: The interrogation room. Booth and the juvenile prosecutor from before are watching from outside as Brennan talks to Shawn as the child advocate observes.]

BRENNAN: Do you remember me, Shawn?

SHAWN: The museum lady. The one who's so smart.

BRENNAN: Yeah, I'm pretty smart.

PROSECUTOR: And very modest.

BOOTH: Oh, believe me, she is being modest.

BRENNAN: Smart enough to know that you didn't kill Charlie. You don't have to say anything, Shawn. Just listen. They give you a garbage bag to carry all your stuff, like they're telling you everything you own is garbage. And then you have to go to a new school in clothes that smell like garbage bags.

SHAWN: All the regular kids know you're a foster kid. How do you know what it's like?

BRENNAN: They bounce you from place to place, and it's never home. Sometimes the foster parents are nice.

SHAWN: Like Margaret?

BRENNAN: Yeah. And sometimes they separate you from your brother. It must have been nice with Margaret, staying with David.

SHAWN (starting to cry): We got bunk beds. At night, I knew David was there. Like he was guarding me. Margaret's nice.

BRENNAN: You'd do almost anything to stay with Margaret, right?

[Shawn nods.]

BRENNAN: The man you took Charlie to, the man who hurt him, he knows that. You didn't know that he'd hurt Charlie, but he did. And then he told you that Margaret would blame you, that she'd hate you. But this man is lying to you, Shawn. I can make sure that you go back to Margaret.

SHAWN: How? You work at a museum.

BRENNAN (looking pointedly through the one-way mirror at Booth): I have a friend at the FBI. If I ask him to, he will make sure that you and David get to live with Margaret again.

ADVOCATE: Dr. Brennan, you can't make promises like that.

BRENNAN: Yes, I can. He will do it. My friend will make it happen.

BOOTH: Oh, man.

BRENNAN: But you have to tell me who hurt Charlie.

BOOTH: I'm gonna need your help to keep the promises she made to that boy.

PROSECUTOR: Hey, I- I can't promise-

BOOTH: Mrs. Johnson, my people and your people are gonna have to make this happen.

SHAWN: What if Margaret doesn't want me anymore? Charlie was her real son.

BRENNAN: Charlie wasn't her biological son either. Charlie was just like you: someone that Margaret chose to love. I don't think we should let that man take you and David and Charlie away from Margaret, do you?

[Shawn shakes his head.]

BRENNAN: We should stop him. You and I should stop him.

[Shawn sits in silence, crying for a moment, before wrapping Brennan in a hug. He whispers something into her ear.]

BOOTH: She did it. She got his name.

[Cut to: The street outside the Sanders house. Booth pulls up as Skyler and his father are loading up their vehicle to go off on a job. Starsailor's 'Some of Us' plays in the background as Booth arrests Mr. Nelson.]

BOOTH: Edward Nelson, you are under arrest for the sexual assault and murder of Charlie Sanders. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you free of charge...

[Cut to: Angela's office, the song still playing. She sets the missing poster and her sketch of Charlie side-by-side, and sighs.]

[Cut to: Lab platform. The song continues as Hodgins takes the jaw bone he had tested and puts it on a tray Zack holds. He looks away as Zack exits.]

[Cut to: The Sanders house, music still playing. Booth leads Edward Nelson to the FBI vehicle in handcuffs as Brennan watching Mrs. Nelson talk to her son. Both Booth and Brennan watching as Skyler hugs his crying mother. Their eyes meet before Booth exits.]

[Cut to: The Jeffersonian. Zack, with a shaking hand, places the jawbone in a coffin with the rest of Charlie's skeleton and shuts the lid. Two men in suits somberly take the casket out of the room as Zack watches, emotional.]

[Cut to: FBI building. Booth enters with Margaret Sanders.]

MARGARET: Boys.

[David and Shawn rush up and hug her.]

DAVID and SHAWN: Mom!

[Booth and Brennan lock eyes over the hugging family.]

OS: SHAWN: Are we gonna be a family again?

OS: MARGARET: Oh, you betcha.

[Cut to: Brennan's office. The song fades out. Booth enters.]

BOOTH: We have him cold. The insecticide he was using on the termites matches the fluoride concentration perfectly. Skyler's dad admitted everything.

BRENNAN: Don't tell me, he said crushing Charlie to death was a mistake.

BOOTH: He never abused Shawn Cook, he just used him to get near Charlie. It played out just like you said. He had Charlie out in that field. Some teenage kids, they come by, so he knelt on Charlie to keep him from crying out. Shawn got scared and ran back to his brother.

BRENNAN: Charlie was small and weak. His sternum collapsed. You think he abused any other kids.

BOOTH: Yeah, probably his own son.

BRENNAN: You report that to Child Services?

BOOTH: Mm-hmm. Try to get the kid some help.

[He pauses.]

BOOTH: Look, I'm sorry.

BRENNAN: For what?

BOOTH: You have personal experience in the system.

[Brennan pauses for a moment.]

BRENNAN: I was a foster child until my grandfather got me out.

BOOTH: Yeah, when you said 'They take you away from your brother,' I kind of had the feeling you weren't talking about David Cook.

BRENNAN: Booth, I'll tell you all about it one day, but tonight I have to get dressed for a party.

BOOTH: Oh. Okay, Bones.

[He moves to leave.]

BRENNAN: By the way, there's a huge ding in my passenger-side door because you told me not to park it at an angle.

BOOTH (laughing): What?

BRENNAN: Okay, that's just mean. You're mean.

BOOTH (still laughing as he exits): Sorry.

[Cut to: Lab. Goodman enters, where Angela, Zack, and Hodgins are already standing. With the exception of the latter, they are all dressed in formal attire.]

GOODMAN: That is not a tuxedo, Dr. Hodgins.

HODGINS: I am not going, Dr. Goodman.

GOODMAN: You are going.

[He sticks a nametag in Hodgins' lab coat pocket.]

GOODMAN: When we arrive, the donor's will all be wearing nametags.

[He hands a nametag to Zack.]

ZACK: What do we talk about?

GOODMAN: Your work, of course.

[He moves to Angela.]

ANGELA: Zack's work consists of removing flesh from corpses. Hodgins dissects bugs that have been eating people's eyeballs.

HODGINS: Leave me out of it. I'm not going.

GOODMAN: And how do you see your job?

ANGELA: I draw death masks.

GOODMAN: Is that really how you see it?

ANGELA: Don't you?

GOODMAN: You are the best of us, Miss Montenegro. You discern humanity in the wreck of a ruined human body. You give victims back their faces, their identities. You remind us all of why we're here in the first place. Because we treasure human life.

[She pauses for a moment before stepping forward and wrapping Dr. Goodman in a hug.]

GOODMAN: Oh, for God's sake.

[Brennan enters in a formal dress.]

BRENNAN: What happened?

ZACK: Apparently all Angela needed was to hear her job description in a deep, African-American tone.

GOODMAN (scolding): Mr. Addy.

[Booth enters.]

BOOTH: Dr. Goodman, we need Hodgins in the lab tonight.

[He hands an evidence bag of dirt to Hodgins.]

BOOTH: FBI needs this analyzed by morning.

HODGINS: Uh, I'll get right on it.

GOODMAN: Wait a minute, what case file is this?

BRENNAN: Am I supposed to know about it?

ANGELA: Booth mentioned it to me earlier today.

BRENNAN: That's good enough for me.

GOODMAN (conceding): Fine. You're off the hook, Dr. Hodgins. Let's not keep the limo waiting.

[He leaves, and Angela and Zack exit with him.]

HODGINS (to Booth): Thanks.

[Hodgins exits as well, and Starsailor's 'Some of Us' starts playing again.]

BOOTH: You look nice. Better than nice, you look, uh... very... BRENNAN: Thanks.

BOOTH: Bones, how did you know I was gonna keep your promise?

BRENNAN: What promise?

BOOTH: To get Shawn and David back with Margaret Sanders.

BRENNAN: Maybe I was lying. To catch the bad guy. I learned that trick from you. The end justifies the means.

[Booth moves to leave.]

BRENNAN: Booth.

[He stops, turns back.]

BRENNAN: I knew you'd back me up. I knew you wouldn't make me a liar.

BOOTH: Hmm. How did you know?

BRENNAN: Because you want to go to heaven.

BOOTH: But you don't believe in heaven.

BRENNAN: But you do.

[They smile at each other, and part ways.]

[Fade to black.]