The Woman in the Garden

The Woman in the Garden" Episode 1x13 Written By: Laura Wolner Directed by: Sanford Bookstaver Transcribed by: Elo

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.

[A street where a man is being arrested after being pulled over by the police. The intersection of the street has been tapped off and people are watching behind the tape. Investigators are taking photos of the red car and looking around.]

POLICE #1: (to the man he's cuffing) If you had any kind of weapon like a gun or a knife or something like that, you'd let me know, right, buddy?

POLICE #2: Make it easier on yourself.

POLICE #3: (approaching) Guys, fed are on the way. (Sirens going off)

Booth and Brennan arrive in their SUV. They get out and walk onto the crime scene.

BRENNAN: Why'd they call in the FBI to Little Salvador?

BOOTH: Well, the car's got Virginia plates, crossed the state line. Then there's a suspected gang member. Then there's RICO to deal with. What, Bones, do you really wanna know?

BRENNAN: No, I was just using it as an excuse to make conversation and reestablish our connection.

BOOTH: (puzzled) What?

BRENNAN: I read a book about improving work relationships. It's not fair to expect you to tell me everything.

BOOTH: I appreciate the effort Bones.

Shots of Little Salvador with the street vendors and Pupusa restaurants (yummy!) and agents talking to people looking on.

BRENNAN: It's like they recreated their country here, right down to being terrified of the police.

BOOTH: A lot of these people, they're undocumented. They get nervous around law enforcement. (Approaching the suspect and policemen, holding out his badge.) What do we got?

POLICE: He ran the stop sign. I pulled him over, he tried to run.

BOOTH: (laying his hands on the suspects back reveals a tattoo on his back.) Oh, look at this, huh? A Mara Muerte tattoo. It's one of the most feared gangs in the area. No wonder he was chauffeuring a dead body around, huh? Couldn't just join the Boys Club, pal? (getting into his face)

BRENNAN: (to the policeman) And I'm here because...

POLICE: (leading her to the trunk of the car) Routine inspection of the vehicle...I found this.

BOOTH: (reveals decomposed body in the trunk) Oh.

BRENNAN: (putting on gloves to examine) Vertical brow ridge suggests female. Recently dug up, looks like. (pointing to the suspect) Could you hold his hands up, please? (Booth goes over to take a look) We should analyze the dirt on his hands and compare it to the dirt on the shovel and the remains.

BOOTH: (to the suspect) Where was she buried? (Suspect ignores him)

BRENNAN: (in Spanish) Where was she buried? Why did you dig her up? (suspect continues to ignore them).

BOOTH: Great, how he's ignoring us in two languages.

BRENNAN: Where's the nearest cemetery?

POLICE: The closest one I know about is Holy Rood, but that's a good ten miles from here.

The people looking on, watching what is happening.

BRENNAN: (in Spanish, to the people looking on) Excuse me ... Can you help us? We're wondering if there's a cemetery nearby? (The onlookers look put off and walk away, not willing to help.)

BOOTH: Maybe your Spanish is a little rusty?

BRENNAN: They come from a place where getting involved gets you killed.

Gun shots go off as a black car rolls by shooting at them. Everyone ducks for cover.

MAN: Get down! Get down!

The suspect starts to make a break for it MAN: Shots fired! Shots fired!

Booth starts to chase after him. Various shots of Booth chasing after the suspect through alleys.

BOOTH: HEY!

Suspect climbs over a fence.

BOOTH: Don't make me shoot you!

Booth tries to grab his foot to stop him from getting over the fence, but he gets over and runs away. Brennan arrives in the ally as Booth is upset that the suspect got away.

CREDITS

At the Jeffersonian Lab, Brennan, Angela and Zack are on the platform examining the remains from the trunk. Hodgins is examining other evidence.

ZACK: (going through his notes) Uh, decomp, insect activity, volatile fatty acid levels in the soil due to putrefaction suggest she was buried for approximately six months.

HODGINS: (examining the evidence) Typically, gravediggers are necrophiliacs looking for a little action.

ANGELA: Um, ew.

ZACK: Dental exam shows shoveled incisors and striated enamel.

BRENNAN: Indicating?

ZACK: Malnutrition. Which is consistent with anthropometrics suggesting the victim is from Central America.

BRENNAN: The body was found in a Salvadoran neighbourhood.

HODGINS: In Pikeville, Tennessee, a guy dug up the graves of all these people because he wanted to make sure their bodies were still there. They weren't.

BRENNAN: (to Angela) Make a sketch of the face. I'm not sure we'll find a match, she might have been undocumented. (Picking up tray with a rosary on it) Goodman is an expert in religious iconography, maybe he'll be able to determine where this rosary was made. (Angela takes it.)

ZACK: Depression fracture on her occipital bone straddling the left lamdoidal suture. Looks like one hard hit congruent with, say, a baseball bat.

BRENNAN: She was religious; she should've had a casket, a proper burial with her name on a headstone. We are going to find out who she is, and we are going to give her that.

FBI building. In the interrogation room, Booth is talking with Miguel Villeda, an unruly type with tattoos all over him.

BOOTH: Miguel Villeda, warlord of the Vanganza Rojas street gang. According to this, you...you are one fierce, fierce guy.

MIGUEL: Well, it didn't stop your guys from picking me up.

BOOTH: They tell you why?

MIGUEL: Someone took a shot at some Mara Muerte espuma.

BOOTH: Not a shot, hmmmm? A couple dozen shots. A drive-by. Hardly anyone is stupid enough to shoot at those guys anymore. Your name came up.

MIGUEL (smiling) It wasn't my people. So are you gonna charge me with something or let me go?

BOOTH: (flipping through file) Extortion, drugs, assault, attempted murder, hmm? (drops file on table) I could hold you for a while if you wanna play that game.

MIGUEL: What's your problem man?

BOOTH: What's my problem? (getting upset) My problem is that somebody shot at me...shot at me and my partner. Plus, a bad guy got away. So I'm a little cranky about the whole thing.

MIGUEL: (leaning in) Mmmm. Mira carvacho. I don't really scare that way. You know, the whole in-your-face staring thing.

BOOTH: No?

MIGUEL: (smiling) No.

BOOTH: Give me a chance man, I'm just getting started.

MIGUEL: Mmmm. So somebody shot at you, huh?

BOOTH: That's right.

MIGUEL: Think about it. When was the last time you heard of a drive-by where no one got hit?

BOOTH: Innocent bystanders mostly. It's not like you always hit what you aim at.

MIGUEL: (pointing to his head) Think just for a couple of seconds about why the guy never got hit. (Booth thinks, gets a look) Ah, yeah. You see? You got it now?

BOOTH: You're saying that Mara Muerte did a drive-by on their own guy?

MIGUEL: (nods head) A drive-by happens, yeah, and you all hit the deck. (fingers demonstrating running on table) And the gangbanger makes a run for it.

Platform of the lab where the bones are laid out. Brennan is examining them as Booth walks up onto the platform.

BOOTH: K, I have it on good authority that the guys who shot at our killer were doing it so he'd have a chance to escape.

BRENNAN: (holding a bone) The victim was pregnant when she was hit over the head. (places bone back down.)

BOOTH: Pregnant?

BRENNAN: Yeah, five weeks along. Get your hands off there. (pointing at Booth's hands on the table.)

HODGINS: (from a workstation adjacent to the platform) I ran samples from the body, shovels and burlap through the gas chromatograph and it all came back full of organic compounds. Plant detritus, root remnants, fertilizer.

BOOTH: Sounds like stuff you'd find in a cemetery.

HODGINS: Well, I also found this. (Holds up a dish) Fernaldia pandurata, otherwise known as loroco buds.

BRENNAN: Loroco is an edible flowering plant, it's native to El Salvador. It's grown in vegetable gardens, not cemeteries.

BOOTH: She was buried in a vegetable garden?

BRENNAN: Mmmm.

BOOTH: Ok, can you recognize this loco plant?

BRENNAN: Loroco. I've eaten it, but I wouldn't recognize the plant.

HODGINS: It's quite distinctive. I'm also analyzing the dirt and particulates on the shoe you got off the suspect. At first glance it matches the vegetation we've already found but with a couple extras I'm still checking out.

BOOTH: (clapping hands) Ok, Hodgins, suit up, you're coming with us. We're going to the barrio.

HODGINS: Field work. (excited) Cool! Do I get a gun?

BRENNAN: You can't arm Hodgins and not me.

BOOTH: What is with you people and the guns, huh?

Inside of the car, Booth and Brennan are in the front, Hodgins in the back.

HODGINS: (looking out on the street, with idle people just hanging around) Look at this. The government bankrupts itself giving tax breaks to the rich so that there's no money left to help these people with job training, educational resources, health care.

BOOTH: (not amused) Just look for a garden with the plant.

HODGINS: (to Brennan) Those who do manage to land a job are working for minimum wage that hasn't seen a hike in eight years.

BRENNAN: That's for those who are here legally. The undocumented do a lot worse.

BOOTH: What is this, NPR radio? Huh? What, are you two running for office?

HOGINS: Look, over there.

San Cristobel Community Garden, all three are looking around.

HODGINS: Loroco plant. (Walks over to it.) That's the same approximate maturity that would've yielded the buds we found.

(Brennan looks over to a patch of grass, puts her bag down and examines the soil.)

BRENNAN: Adipocere (picking up soil). Forms on the body in response to moisture on the ground.

HODGINS: Trogid beetles. They got a think for decomposing flesh. I found a couple on the burlap.

BOOTH: (using his pen to pick something up.) The rest of the rosary.

BRENNAN: (pointing at another spot) There's another freshly-overturned pile of dirt over here. (examines the soil there) More adipocere.

BOOTH: Not from the same body?

BRENNAN: Another body was buried here, but it's gone now.

BOOTH: Double homicide.

At the lab, Zack and Brennan are cutting into the skull. Booth walks in.

BOOTH: I spoke to the city development office. Garden is scheduled to be excavated next week for construction. My guess is we interrupted a gangbanger moving the body of two murder victims.

BRENNAN: (behind a face mask) A gangbanger who buries his victim with a rosary?

BOOTH: What, did you find any gunshot wounds?

ZACK: (behind mask too) No, just head trauma.

BOOTH: You really like this part, don't you?

BRENNAN: I like answers, yes.

Brennan placing a section of the skull under a microscope to examine.

BRENNAN: Localized staining on the endocranial surface, indicating...

ZACK: Subdural hematoma. The head wound caused internal bleeding, but death was not instantaneous.

BRENNAN: (looking at screen) She may have been conscious for some time after the assault.

ZACK: But there's no sign of bone remodeling. She died soon after the assault. (Brennan flips over the skull section) There's patterning on the ectocranial surface. Whatever weapon was used, it left a mark.

In another part of the lab, Booth and Brennan are walking and talking.

BOOTH: Our gang unit's gonna bring in the leader of Mara Muerte, see if we can identify the gangbanger that got away.

BRENNAN: Why would a gang leader cooperate?

BOOTH: I'm gonna ask him very, very nicely, Bones.

BRENNAN: You know that book I'm reading, about getting along with your coworkers? It says that sarcasm is never helpful. I could lend it to you if you want.

HODGINS: (approaching them) I found Spodoptera, Ornithogalae and Tetranychus urticae on the suspect's show and on the victim. (passes file to Brennan) I also found Notonectidae and Corixidae. It's aquatic fauna typically only found in and around ponds and streams.

BRENNAN: There are no ponds or streams at the burial site.

HODGINS: Yeah, and here's the kicker. There was also evidence of genetic material from a Franklinia alatamaha on his shoe.

BOOTH: (skeptical) You're kidding. I'm in shock. Frankie Alabama, you don't say?

BRENNAN: Did you hear what I said about sarcasm?

HODGINS: It's a rare flowering plant that hasn't been seen in the wild since 1800. The only known specimen in this area outside a specialized botanical garden was given to Senator Alan Corman as a gift. (hands file to Booth) Oh, I love going after senators.

BOOTH: Whoa, just simmer down there. We're gonna check out the botanical garden first.

HODGINS: Fine. It's at the White House.

BRENNAN: Yeah! (smiling and laughing with Hodgins, giving him a high-five.)

BOOTH: Ok, you guys should do that even less than normal people.

HODGINS: Make sure to keep your eyes open for backswimmers and water boatmen while you are there. Remember the Notonectidae can be different colours, you know, so...

BOOTH: (interrupting) That's a nice try, ok? You're coming with us.

HODGINS: (holding up hand) I call shotgun.

Inside Booth's car. Brennan is riding shotgun, not Hodgins, who is in the back.

HODGINS: I called shotgun. What does it mean to a society when the niceties are no longer observed?

BOOTH: (not amused) Ok, look, we got two bodies, alright? One unaccounted for. We've been shot at, and now we know that there's a gang member walking around a US senator's place. Any theories? (Brennan and Hodgins book shake their heads.) Oh, come on guys. Let's think of it as a puzzle, and there's a missing piece.

BRENNAN: I like puzzles, I find them relaxing. I just finished "The Anatomy Lesson", Rembrandt.

BOOTH: You're kidding, right?

BRENNAN: No. What do you find relaxing?

BOOTH: I restore vintage cars.

HODGINS: I know what I find relaxing.

BOOTH: Everybody finds what you find relaxing relaxing.

HODGINS: Senator Corman is a big supporter of business leaders in Central America. That means supporting repressive regimes that use death squads to silence any opposition from the working people which are the same people who flee to the States.

BOOTH: Ok, that's great. That's good. Let's focus. That's good, cause now we have a link between Corman and the Salvadorans.

BRENNAN: Wait, now you think the senator murdered two people?

BOOTH: I just think we got another piece of the puzzle, that's all.

Senator Corman's house in Chevy Chase, MD. There are gardeners working outside as they talk to the Senator and his wife on the lawn.

MRS. CORMAN: Because of my husband's official work in El Salvador, we've found a bond with the country and the people.

CORMAN: In fact, we have several Salvadoran immigrants working here at the house. I've actually sponsored quite a few for citizenship.

HODGINS: Citizenship screening would keep out members of death squads.

BOOTH: (coughs) Hodgins.

CORMAN: Just because I'm antisocialist doesn't make me pro death squad.

BOOTH: Dr. Brennan has found evidence that a gang member has been on your property recently.

MRS. CORMAN: We employ twenty staff members, give or take.

CORMAN: All of our staff members are either legal aliens or citizens. Our house manager's in charge of hiring them and managing them.

BOOTH: Do you recognize this man? (shows sketch of the suspect)

CORMAN: No, I assume he did something worse than trespass on my property?

BOOTH: House manager, is he from El Salvador?

MRS. CORMAN: Yes.

CORMAN: Agent, you didn't answer my question.

BOOTH: We're investigating a death, Senator Corman. You understand why I can't talk about it.

BRENNAN: Perhaps we could show this picture to your house manager?

CORMAN: Of course.

They start to walk over the grounds.

HODGINS: Franklinia alatamaha. It's beautiful. (pointing at it)

MRS. CORMAN: Yes, we're the only people cultivating it privately.

BRENNAN: Senator, do you have a pond on the property?

CORMAN: Yes, on the other side of the shrubs. It's small.

BRENNAN: Could Dr. Hodgins take a look at it?

CORMAN: Of course, be my guest. (Hodgins goes off.) Logan, come say hello. We have guests (to a man talking to the gardeners.) Our son, he's studying landscape architecture at Georgetown. Likes to supervise the men sometimes. (to Logan) Logan, this is Special Agent Booth from the FBI and his associate, Dr. Brennan.

LOGAN: What's the FBI doing here?

CORMAN: They would like to ask Hector some questions.

LOGAN: Yeah. (turns) Hey, Hector? Ven, hablarmos para tu?

HECTOR: (giving directions before coming over towards them) Yes, sir?

BOOTH: Hector, I'm Special Agent Booth, you recognize this guy? (shows him sketch)

HECTOR: (looks) No, I don't think so.

LOGAN: (looking as well) That could be Jose. He works here sometimes as a gardener.

HECTOR: Really? I don't think so. (hands sketch back)

BRENNAN: Jose who?

LOGAN: Jose Vargas.

MRS. CORMAN: Logan, Agent Booth said he was in a gang.

LOGAN: (disbelief) A gang? No, no way. Jose's a nice guy. You know, wife and kid.

HODGINS: (emerging from the trees) I found both backswimmers and water boatmen.

All of them head over to the pond, where Brennan veers off to examine a patch of grass.

BRENNAN: (to Hector, in Spanish) Did you recently do some planting over there?

HECTOR: (replies in Spanish)

BOOTH: What is it?

BRENNAN: (in Spanish) Can I borrow a trowel.

HECTOR: Gladly (gets one and passes it to her.)

BRENNAN: Gracias.

Brennan digs around while everyone watches intently, revealing a body.

BRENNAN: Looks like we found the second body.

Platform at the lab. Brennan, Zack and Hodgins are working on the new body.

HODGINS: Puparia casing of tineid moths puts the time of death of this one at about a year, six months before the girl.

ZACK: Heart shaped pelvic inlet, long projections of bone into the rib cartilage suggest we have a male over sixty.

BRENNAN: Anthropometrics suggests Hispanic origins.

GOODMAN: (walking onto the platform) We've reassembled the rosary found on the young woman. The carving of fire in the centerpiece is an archetypal symbol found at an area of El Salvador since the Chaparrastique volcano erupted in 1787.

BRENNAN: So this might indicate where the female victim's from?

GOODMAN: Yeah, a village called Milagro de la Paz in the southeast of the country.

BRENNAN: I was there three years ago identifying victims of the death squads.

ANGELA: (approaching with a sketchbook) I finished the sketch of the woman. She was pregnant, starting over in a new country, so I gave her a smile, made her look hopeful.

BRENNAN: (looking at sketch) Thanks Angela. Alright, let's clean the bones so we can find a cause of death.

ZACK: (looking at the bones in the pelvis region) I think I just found it. (places magnify lens over it.)

BRENNAN: It's a bullet. Looks like steel core, copper jacket.

HODGINS: Military issue. Those are the kinds of weapons gangs like.

BRENNAN: They escape from the death squads and wind up being killed by the same weapon that they were running from.

Shot of SUV driving.

BOOTH: (voice over) I got Jose's address from Logan. Let's check it out.

Apartment 4B, Booth and Brennan enter an empty apartment and look around.

BOOTH: (entering the apartment) Thanks. FBI, make your presence known.

BRENNAN: (looking at photos on a table) Look, he has a family, a baby. (calling out) Is anybody here? You don't have to be afraid. (repeats it in Spanish)

BOOTH: Of course they're gonna be afraid Bones, I have a gun.

BRENNAN: (looking at another photo, of an older couple in front of a church) Milagro de la Paz, that's where the victims are from.

BOOTH: (holding a bottle of milk left on top of the TV) They had to have been here a few minutes ago, the bottle's still warm.

BRENNAN: They're still here.

BOOTH: How do you know?

BRENNAN: (looking around) They're prepared for this kind of thing. (walking into another room) Hiding from death squads, people learn to build false walls.

BOOTH: Closet. (tries to stop Brennan) Ok, hold on Bones. Let's just pretend that I'm the cop for a second, ok? Just... (walks into the closest and knocks around)

Booth finds a latch and opens a trap door type thing, pulling out his gun. Inside hiding is a woman clutching her baby, trying to prevent him from crying. Cut to the woman and baby now sitting on the bed, being interrogated by Booth and Brennan.

WOMAN: (in Spanish saying she doesn't know anything.)

BRENNAN: (in Spanish asking her where Jose is.)

BOOTH: What did you say?

BRENNAN: That we just wanna talk to Jose. That they'll all be safe, and they have nothing to worry about.

BOOTH: (approaching the woman, in a more direct voice) Do you wanna be deported? Do you wanna see your baby again? Because if he was born here, he doesn't have to go back with you. We can keep him.

BRENNAN: Booth, stop. She's frightened enough.

BOOTH: Bones, we have a double murder on our hands.

BRENNAN: But she didn't do it.

BOOTH: Just tell her what I said, ok? Tell her we're calling immigration. Tell her we'll get to Jose.

BRENNAN: No! She's lived with terror and intimidation her whole life. I'm not gonna add to it.

BOOTH: Alright, you know what, you're acting like I'm gonna hurt her or something. I was just trying to get a little information.

BRENNAN: (pleading) I am asking you as a favour not to make me do this...to scare her. Please? (looks are exchanged)

At the lab. Zack, Brennan and Angela are examining the remains some more.

ZACK: (looking at screen) This is interesting.

ANGELA: Interesting or horrible? Because sometimes, it's the same thing with you.

ZACK: This hole in the sternum, it's definitely not a gunshot wound.

BRENNAN: It's a sternal foramen.

ZACK: I found the same exact thing on the female victim's sternum. It seemed like a meaningless anomaly.

BRENNAN: It's a hereditary condition. The two victims were related.

ZACK: (Hodgins walks in) Based on their ages, father and daughter.

ANGELA: So father and daughter buried next to each other, right? Then dug up. But then the father is reburied, why?

HODGINS: The gangbanger was probably taking the daughter to be reburied when the coops pulled him over.

BRENNAN: This is the stuff that Booth is good at...the murky ways of the human heart.

ZACK: Yeah.

BRENNAN: All that.

ZACK: We work the hard evidence.

HODGINS: We've used up all the evidence.

BRENNAN: (exasperated) OK. Let's just...you know what? Let's pretend we're Booth, ok?

HODGINS: (getting into it) Oooh! Let, let, let me try! Ooh. (makes a motion like Booth with something in his hand, Angela smiles. Does his best Booth impersonation) The daughter got pregnant from the killer in El Salvador, then came here. He catches up to him, they fight.

ANGELA: (laughing) He joins a gang and then kills her.

HODGINS: The father comes after him seeking revenge and the killer kills him. Oh!

BRENNAN: No, no. The father's death preceded the daughter's by at least six months.

ZACK: (looking up from the bones) I found something. I can't get this bullet out of the pelvic bone. (pulls magnify glass for better look.)

BRENNAN: (looks) Oh, wow.

ZACK: The bone started healing around the bullet. See the remodeling?

BRENNAN: This wound healed years ago, he didn't die by being shot.

HODGINS: Tough old b*st*rd.

ANGELA: How was he murdered?

BRENNAN: He wasn't murdered.

ZACK: Metastatic carcinoma.

BRENNAN: Probably originating in the prostate.

ANGELA: So, he survives being shot, but then he dies of cancer?

HODGINS: Mega tough old b*st*rd.

ANGELA: Yeah.

Booth's office @ the FBI, Brennan enters.

BRENNAN: (knocking) Anything?

BOOTH: Yeah. Immigration has the wife, she got a lawyer from the Salvadoran League or something or other. And she's not giving us anything about Jose.

BRENNAN: You mad at me?

BOOTH: Nope. But you know, I could've gotten something back there if you hadn't gotten all mushy on me.

BRENNAN: I was uncomfortable with...(stops, and restarts.) You always say I'm not a cop. You're what, especially in a situation like that.

BOOTH: Nah, it's ok. We're not gonna need her anyway.

BRENNAN: Really? Why?

BOOTH: Because I had the gang unit put a lean on Roberto Ortez, he's the head of Mara Muerte.

BRENNAN: The gang that Jose belongs to?

BOOTH: Yeah, I convinced Ortez to bring Jose in for questioning.

BRENNAN: But why would he do that?

BOOTH: Ortez's sister's in the can on possession charges. I promised him I could make that go away.

BRENNAN: Can you?

BOOTH: I don't know, it's a local beef, I'm federal. But, hey, you know...I'm a cop, and thank God for bad sisters, huh?

Street outside. A car pulls up and shoves Jose out of the backseat. He looks obviously beaten and there's a note attached to him saying 'Special delivery for Agent Seeley Booth FBI'

Hospital room where Jose is being treated. The doctor is talking to Booth and Brennan.

DOCTOR: He has a collapsed lung, several broken ribs, one arm is broken the other shoulder's dislocated.

BOOTH: But we can talk to him?

DOCTOR: You can try.

BOOTH: Hey, thanks.

Doctor leaves, and Booth and Brennan gets closer to Jose's bed.

BOOTH: Wow. (whistles) Your own guys...they do this to you? Geez, I wish I had my own gang.

JOSE: I don't belong to no gang, I'm a gardener.

BOOTH: Oh, a gardener with a Mara Muerte tattoo on his neck who can now understand English and who likes to plant dead bodies. (Brennan is looking at his hospital charts)

JOSE: Maybe that stuff's private. (Brennan looks up from the files, as if she's discovered something.)

BOOTH: Hey, you know what? You're an illegal immigrant. You're a gang member, you're under arrest for transporting a dead body in a stolen car and you're under suspicion for murder. I'm gonna call ICE and have you and your wife deported back to El Salvador.

JOSE: I got a son.

BOOTH: Forget it, we keep the son.

JOSE: That's my son. That's my only son. You got kids?

BOOTH: No.

BRENNAN: What, yes you do.

BOOTH: Difference is, I'm a fit father. I'm not going around murdering guys and little girls, burying them, digging them up.

BRENNAN: (looking at Jose's x-ray, that shows the same markings on his sternum) Booth, I don't think he murdered those people.

BOOTH: (disbelieving) You can tell if he murdered someone by looking at his x-rays?

BRENNAN: He has the same genetic condition the two victims had. A sternal foramen. They were probably his sister and his father.

BOOTH: (to Jose) That true? Hey, you know what, buddy? You wanna be on my good side because I wasn't joking about keeping your kid.

JOSE: Yes, it's my sister. It was my father.

BRENNAN: Your father died of natural causes, fine, but your sister was murdered.

BOOTH: You know what? Forget it. The gang is the only family Jose cares about. You know, enjoy your trip back home, and have fun explaining to your wife why she doesn't have a baby in her arms.

BRENNAN: (to Jose) Give us something. Help us to do the right thing for your sister.

JOSE: I cannot.

BRENNAN: Just anything. At least you could tell us their names.

JOSE: You want their names, huh? Duarte was our family name. Maria was my sister, our father was named Augustine. That's all I can tell you.

FBI interrogation room where Booth and Brennan are interrogating Ortez.

ORTEZ: Jose's sister hated him.

BOOTH: Hated him, why?

ORTEZ: She didn't approve of his associations.

BRENNAN: You mean associations like the leader of one of the most murderous street gangs in the country?

BOOTH: Look, if she hated Jose so much, why was he moving her body?

ORTEZ: Her burial site was threatened. He wanted to move her to a better place, and his father. Real family guy, you know? (to Brennan) I'm not the leader of the whole gang. Just the DC chapter. (Brennan doesn't look amused)

BOOTH: You shot at us so Jose could have a chance to get away?

ORTEZ: The Mara Muerte takes care of its own, even a throwaway like Jose.

BRENNAN: Can I ask you something?

ORTEZ: Go ahead.

BRENNAN: Jose's all beaten up, so he won't tell us anything. But you, you don't even ask for a lawyer, but you hardly stop talking.

BOOTH: (warningly) Bones...

ORTEZ: I'm the boss, lady, ok? Jose's a sobrenado. That baboso is not as smart as me.

BRENNAN: You intimidate him into silence, but you can walk in here to the FBI, say whatever you want and walk away like you own the place?

ORTEZ: That's right.

BOOTH: Look, all I need to know is who would have the guts to kill his sister?

ORTES: Who cares, man?

BOOTH: Come on Ortez, the sister of the Mara Muerte...it's the most feared gang in the city.

ORTEZ: She wasn't my sister, man.

BRENNAN: It had to be somebody else in the gang, somebody more important than Jose.

ORTEZ: You know what, lady? You think too much. (in a threatening tone) Maybe you need a man like me to get your mind off of things. You know what I'm saying? I can be your adoring Salvadoran. (gives a kiss gesture, Brennan is upset at this and leaves the room.) Look, I don't know who killed Jose's sister. But I'll tell you what, because I like you so much, if I find out who did it, I'll kill him. (laughs)

Hallway of the FBI office. Brennan is waiting for the elevator as Ortez approaches to wait too.

ORTEZ: (approaching) You've been waiting for me? Push that button again, and we can go down together, junas.

BRENNAN: You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?

ORTEZ: Ok, I'll push it myself. (he moves toward the button, but Brennan turns and gets in between.)

BRENNAN: How do you handle someone who isn't afraid of you?

ORTEZ: Just get out of my way. (getting aggravated, as Booth approaches from behind) I said move your ass, man. (Ortez grabs hold of Brennan's arm.)

BOOTH: (alarmed, holding out his hand) I wouldn't ...oh.

Brennan slams her forearm into Ortez's nose area.

BOOTH: That's gonna hurt in the morning.

ORTEZ: (noise is bleeding) Bitch... (takes a swing at Brennan, but she ducks.)

He tries to punch Brennan, but she blocks them before kicking him and Ortez falls onto the ground. She steps over him into the arriving elevator.

BOOTH: Feel better?

BRENNAN: (smiling) Yeah. I really do. (elevator closes.)

Brennan's office @ the Jeffersonian. She's working at her desk as Angela enters.

ANGELA: You beat up a gang leader?

BRENNAN: Booth told you that?

ANGELA: You did. (sitting down) You got into a fight with a gangbanger.

BRENNAN: You're mad at me?

ANGELA: The guy's a killer, Brennan.

BRENNAN: Angela, relax. We were in the FBI building.

ANGELA: Look, I know you're all about self-reliance and fighting your own battles and standing up for yourself, but now, as your friend, and knowing how much you hate psychology here, you need therapy.

BRENNAN: I'm sorry I upset you. It's just that I've dealt with him before.

ANGELA: With who?

BRENNAN: People who get what they want through fear. Gangbangers, members of death squads...

ANGELA: I know it's psychology again, but you said "him", like one guy.

BRENNAN: I didn't mean Ortez specifically, I meant people like him. On my last trip to El Salvador...

ANGELA: Yeah, I remember, I tried to get you to go to Italy with me.

BRENNAN: (continuing) I was in a tent set up by one of the grave sites. I was working with the remains of a young girl, maybe 13. She'd been shot in the head and dumped into a well. This cop shows up and he might've been a solider...it's not easy to tell. I thought he was there to guard me, but he told me to stop. When I refused, he called in two others. They put a bag over my head and tossed me into a cell with a dirt floor and no windows.

ANGELA: (upset) For how long?

BRENNAN: Later I found out it was three days. But, I thought it was a week, maybe more. He came in every day and made me believe I was going to die. He said that he'd shoot me and toss me into a well and that no one would ever know who I was or what became of me. I promised myself if I ever had the chance, I'd get even. (Angela nods her head in understanding) That doesn't mean I need therapy.

HODGINS: (walking into the office) I identified the type of wood in the weapon that killed Maria. (Looks around at the two of them) Am I interrupting a female moment?

BRENNAN: (shakes head) No, what was the wood?

HODGINS: Quarter-sawn cumuru. Definitely not from a shovel handle.

ANGELA: What is made out of quarter-sawn cumuru?

HODGINS: Very expensive furniture.

BRENNAN: Senatorially expensive?

HODGINS: (smiling) Most definitely.

Senator Corman's home. Booth and Brennan are talking with the Senator, Mrs. Corman and Hector inside the house.

MRS. CORMAN: I don't recognize her, no. (looking at Angela's sketch of Maria.)

CORMAN: Neither do I, I'm afraid.

BOOTH: How about you, Hector?

BRENNAN: Her name was Maria.

HECTOR: She used to work as a maid here. She had papers.

BOOTH: Fake ones, probably supplied by our friendly neighbourhood gang.

CORMAN: Hector couldn't possibly be expected to identify forged papers.

BRENNAN: What happened to Maria?

HECTOR: One day, she didn't show up for work. That's all.

BOOTH: Did she interact with anyone here besides Jose?

HECTOR: (chuckling) I don't know about that kind of thing.

BOOTH: (narrowing in) What kind of thing, Hector?

HECTOR: I don't know anything.

CORMAN: What do you mean, Hector?

BOOTH: Was Maria involved with the senator?

CORMAN: (shocked) What? Of course not!

HECTOR: No. No, not the senator.

MRS. CORMAN: Well, tell the truth Hector, this is the FBI.

HECTOR: Logan. She was involved with Logan. (Shocked faces from the Cormans)

BRENNAN: What kind of "involved"?

Logan's room, where they are talking to him.

LOGAN: I'd rather not say.

BRENNAN: Maria's dead, Logan.

LOGAN: Ma...Maria's dead? (looks shocked, sits down on bed) Yes, of course that changes things. (Brennan is looking at his bed frame, getting up on the bed to examine the posts.) Maria and I were...

BOOTH: What? Were lovers? (sees Brennan on the bed) Bones, what the hell are you doing?

BRENNAN: How long have you had this bed?

LOGAN: Uh, since I was, like, 15. Why?

BRENNAN: Do you know what kind of wood it is?

LOGAN: Curu...cumuru, something like that. Why?

BOOTH: Because Maria's skull was banged in by something made out of cumuru wood.

BRENNAN: (looking at the top of the bed post) There's dried blood and skin on this post.

FBI interrogation room where Booth is talking with Logan, who has his lawyer sitting next to him.

LOGAN: I caught Maria dancing once, in the hallway. She thought no one was watching, but I was watching. I'd noticed her before (looking at pictures of her on the table) She was, uh, very pretty. More than what these pictures tell you.

LAWYER: Logan, I will say again that I do not advice answering questions. You're not under arrest.

BOOTH: Perhaps you'd like to check with the senator and see if he'd rather I'd officially arrested Logan before asking these questions because, you know, I'm sure the press would love that. (Turns back to Logan) When did you start having a sexual relationship with Maria?

LOGAN: Perhaps six months ago.

BOOTH: You kept it a secret?

LOGAN: Maria was certain that if my parents found out, she'd be fired.

BOOTH: Were you aware she was in this country illegally?

LAWYER: I advice you, do not answer that question.

BOOTH: Were you aware that she was pregnant?

LOGAN: (looks up) M-Maria was pregnant? (Booth nods head)

LAWYER: Logan, there's no proof that you were the father.

LOGAN: No...shut up. Of course I'm the father. (breaking down) Oh, God.

FBI office hallway. Booth and Brennan are walking and talking towards the elevators.

BRENNAN: What about the father?

BOOTH: A powerful man with a lot to lose. But, I mean, why kill her? Why not have her deported in the middle of the night?

BRENNAN: That leaves Hector.

BOOTH: He's responsible for hiring the servants. I mean, one of 'em gets pregnant, he feels like it's his mess to clean up.

BRENNAN: (pushes the button for the elevator) We still can't figure out how Maria's skull was fractured by the bedpost.

BOOTH: Well, that's sort of your line of work, Bones, ok? So go have fun. (She enters the elevator.)

At the lab, Brennan is standing next to the Angelator as Angela is entering data into it.

ANGELA: Your top three suspects are Senator Corman, 6'1", Logan Corman, 5'10" and Hector Santiago, 5'6".

BRENNAN: And Maria was 5'1". (Figures of Maria and suspect appear.)

ANGELA: The bed is a California king with seven-foot posts.

BRENNAN: And assuming that they argued near the foot of the bed...

ANGELA: Given their relative heights, the angle of impact doesn't match. Her skull connects well below where you found the traces of blood.

BRENNAN: What if they were standing on the bed?

ANGELA: Well, it's high enough, but her head struck the outside of the post.

BRENNAN: How tall would her assailant have to be to fit the evidence? (Angela enters data, and the image of the assailant stretches to above the height of the bed post) That...that's tall.

ANGELA: 7'8". Somebody you'd notice around the house.

BRENNAN: Let's think outside of the box.

ANGELA: (chuckling) What do you mean? Like, go nonhuman?

BRENNAN: No. What else explains striking the bedpost in that manner?

ANGELA: I guess falling.

BRENNAN: Falling. Maria was a maid. Do you have a schematic version of the room? (Angela pulls it up) If she fell backwards...

ANGELA: But it doesn't explain the damage done to her skull.

BRENNAN: Ok, what force does explain the damage?

ANGELA: 206 pounds per square inch, which means she would've had to have fallen from a height of...it's no good. (The image of Maria on a ladder would have placed her above the ceiling of the room.)

BRENNAN: I know what happened. She was yanked off the ladder.

ANGELA: You mean somebody pulled her off?

BRENNAN: Yes, the missing 84 pounds per square inch can be explained by a hard yank from a full grown man. (scenario is recreated) I don't know if it's murder, but someone is definitely responsible for Maria's death.

Jose's hospital room. Booth and Brennan are trying to talk to him again.

BOOTH: This is not about the gang. The gang had nothing to do with her death.

BRENNAN: Maria was pulled off that ladder.

BOOTH: Who are you protecting?

JOSE: I got nothing to say.

BOOTH: What did the senator offer you, huh? Asylum for the whole family?

BRENNAN: I know what happened. Your father died of cancer around the same time your wife was pregnant. You wanted your child to be born an American citizen so you couldn't report your father's death for fear of being deported. You buried him yourself in the garden. And when your sister died, you buried her in the same place.

JOSE: As my father died, he said to me: "You take care of your sister."

BOOTH: You joined Mara Muerte so you could get fake papers, so she could work for the senator.

JOSE: (smiling wistfully, chuckling) Maria...Maria, man, she was so angry. She would...she'd get so angry. Sometimes, she just doesn't speak to me, you know?

BRENNAN: She didn't understand what you had to do for her and your family.

JOSE: It was the only way for me to keep my promise to my father. (tearing up) Look at me now, huh? All because I wanted to give my sister and my father a beautiful place to rest. It's near...it's near a pond. It's beautiful, huh? (shakes head) It's all for nothing. My family's ruined.

Corman house, where Brennan and Booth are talking with the Cormans in Logan's room.

BRENNAN: She didn't fall.

CORMAN: No, she was pushed.

BRENNAN: No, Senator, actually, she was pulled probably off that ladder. (Hector walks in with the ladder, coming next to the bed.)

MRS. CORMAN: Pulled? Pulled by who?

BOOTH: Perhaps by your son or the senator.

CORMAN: Oh, my God! I do not pull maids off of ladders.

BOOTH: Hhmm. Will you please open that up?

MRS. CORMAN: And why would they do something like that?

BOOTH: Because Maria was pregnant by your son.

MRS. CORMAN: (shocked) What?

CORMAN: Even if that were true, that is not how we would handle the situation.

BRENNAN: (scoffs) Yeah, you'd have her deported in the middle of the night.

CORMAN: It would be handled, and not by pulling her off a ladder.

BRENNAN: (climbing up on the ladder) Senator, would you mind reaching up?

CORMAN: What is that gonna prove?

BOOTH: You refusing, sir?

BRENNAN: I'm trained in kinesiology, the study of human movement.

CORMAN: Oh, and you're gonna be able to tell who pulled her off the ladder?

BRENNAN: Absolutely, yes.

MRS. CORMAN: Oh, for God's sake, Alan, just do it. Just do it.

CORMAN: (approaching the ladder) Fine. (Pulls Brennan's arm) Well? Was it me?

BRENNAN: Hector?

HECTOR: Si?

BRENNAN: Would you please pull me down off this ladder?

HECTOR: No, no I won't.

CORMAN: Hector, just do as she asks. (Hector hesitates)

MRS. CORMAN: Hector?

BOOTH: How did it happen, Hector? You told her to stay out of Logan's room, didn't you? You didn't approve. You knew what was going on.

CORMAN: Hector?

BRENNAN: If it wasn't you, just pull me down. (Hector shakes head)

BOOTH: Maria defied you. She went to Logan's room, you got angry. You pulled her off the ladder.

BRENNAN: (getting down from the ladder) It was an accident.

HECTOR: (looks around, reluctantly) Yeah, it was an accident. (Cormans look shocked)

BRENNAN: I can't believe that worked.

BOOTH: Psychology Bones, it's a very powerful force.

HECTOR: I have her $500 and I drove her home. I thought she was gonna go to a doctor.

BOOTH: She was afraid she'd loser her job and get deported.

MRS. CORMAN: You should've told us.

HECTOR: You don't wanna know. You don't wanna know about any of this. I know my job, I know what you want.

BOOTH: Hector Alvarado, I'm placing you under arrest for the suspicion of manslaughter (walks behind him to cuff him.)

FBI office, another Agent approaches Booth in the hallway.

AGENT: Booth?

BOOTH: Yeah?

AGENT: Message from the Gang Task Force Unit. (looks down at paper) Mara Muerte has put a hit out on your lady scientist.

BOOTH: (looks at file) Oh, man.

AGENT: You got a response?

BOOTH: Yeah, just tell 'em...tell 'em I got the message and tell 'em thanks.

AGENT: Sure. (Booth sits down on a bench, looking troubled.)

At a cemetery, there is a small gathering for Maria and Augustine's funeral. Among those attending are Jose, his wife, baby and Logan. Brennan and Angela are present too.

PRIEST: (speaks in Spanish welcoming everyone and beginning the ceremony.)

ANGELA: (to Brennan) This is nice of you, not many people would pay for a funeral like this.

BRENNAN: (looking around) Where's Booth? He said he'd come.

Street where Ortez is walking. Booth is watching him from his car as Ortez turns into an alley. Booth follows him and pushes him from behind into an empty doorway.

ORTEZ: Are you crazy? This is my neighbourhood.

BOOTH: (getting into his face) You put a hit out on my partner?

ORTEZ: She's not FBI.

BOOTH: (punches him in the face and grabs him by the throat as he points his gun right at his throat.) I never said anything about FBI. She's my partner, ese. (Menacing) And if anything happens to her, I will find you and I will kill you. I won't think twice. Come here, look in my eyes. (Pushes barrel of his gun into his mouth, and cocks it) Look at my face. If anything happens to her, I will kill you. This is between you and me, and nobody sees, nobody knows. You got nothing to prove, understand? You understand?

ORTEZ: (grunting) Yeah.

BOOTH: Yeah, I thought so. Ok, now if you don't mind, I'll leave first because I have somewhere I have to be.

Pulls his gun back and turns to leave, but before he does, he turns back to Ortez and aims his gun right on his forehead, giving one final look before leaving.

Back at the funeral, which has now ended. Jose and his family approach Brennan and Angela.

JOSE: (to Brennan) I will pay you back for this funeral.

BRENNAN: Don't worry about it.

JOSE: It's my family, it's my duty.

ANGELA: Aren't you leaving for El Salvador tonight?

JOSE: Well, my child is an American. He's...he's not gonna grow up the way that Rosa and I did.

ROSA: (speaks Spanish)

JOSE: She says that we're gonna bring him back.

BRENNAN: I understand. One way or another, your son will have a better life than you did.

ROSA: Gracias.

JOSE: Gracias.

They both turned to leave as Booth runs up to them.

BOOTH: Am I in trouble?

ANGELA: You're late for a funeral, of course you're in trouble.

BOOTH: Sorry. (Brennan gives him a dirty look) I apologize, I...everything ok here?

BRENNAN: Where were you?

BOOTH: I had something to do.

BRENNAN: More important than a funeral?

BOOTH: I thought so at the time.

(The three of them leave the cemetery.)

End.