(Bones/X-Files) Scream for Murder for xover_exchange
Title: Scream for Murder
Author: teenagewitch
Fandoms: Bones/X-Files
Characters: Bones, Booth, Angela, Hodgins, Sweets, Cam, and Wendall; Scully and Mulder
Pairings: Implied Angela/Hodgins
Rating: G
Word count: 6,000
Spoilers: None
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Bones and X-Files belong to their respective creators.
Summary: Unusual murder inspires a terrific pairing of Booth and Mulder as they try to uncover who murdered two people.
It was a cold morning and once again Booth had dragged Bones out to find a Christmas tree. As usual Bones was complaining about the Christmas season.
“I just don’t see why you need me to pick a Christmas tree for Parker.”
“It’s Christmas, Bones and it’s fun. I really think by now I would have somehow gotten you to appreciate the season more. Plus you promised Parker you’d be there this year.”
“I know, I know.”
Just then, her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She answered, “Hello, Angela.”
Booth pointed at a tree at his right, and Bones shook her head at it. Sighing, he moved into the next aisle as Bones tried to figure out what Angela was talking about. “Angela I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What do you mean we have a new body? OK I am on my way.” She hung up the phone and went to find Booth.
He was exchanging money with the tree sales person and turned with a smile, “Look Bones, I think I found the best one on the lot.”
“Well, technically the best one on the lot was the sixth one we looked at if you are going for most aesthetically pleasing and least likely to lose all the needles before the holiday but if you are sure, lets go. They dropped off a body at the Jeffersonian and I have to go look at it.”
“A body? Did they say who it was or who dropped it off?” Booth questioned her.
“No and asking me pointless questions will not get us there faster.”
Booth made arrangements to have the tree delivered and they were off.
The lab was oddly busy when they arrived and Cam was standing over a body next to a woman Bones had never seen.
“Bones, this is the body.” Can started with a basic description, “Male, mid-twenties, cause of death unknown, and at the rate of decomp, I would say he was dead about two weeks, maybe more. I will send the evidence down to Hodgins to see what he can find when he gets here.”
Booth interrupted, “Who’s the new girl? Got an intern Cam?”
Cam laughed, “No, this is Special Agent Dana Scully, she teaches at the academy. She’s a medical examiner for the FBI as well.”
“Nice to meet you, how did you hear about the team here?” Booth was curious.
“Actually I helped Dana on a few cases during her days as a fulltime agent for the FBI. She ran into a couple of very interesting cases. We were having coffee and I thought she would enjoy seeing the lab.” Can replied with a slight eyebrow raising at Booth.
“Well interesting is one way to put it.” Scully said as she leaned back on the railing. “I would say that unusual would be more accurate.”
“Is Mulder planning on joining us on this or is he busy?” Cam asked as she bent over the body trying to figure out what killed the young woman.
“Wait, is your dog joining us?” Hodgins asked as he came up the stairs.
“You named your dog Mulder?” Scully asked with a laugh.
“No it was a joke I made when I was considering getting a dog, so where is he anyways? Usually you can’t keep him away from anything this odd.”
“He is flying in from a consulting case in Scotland. They thought they might have a cabalist roaming in the woods. Unfortunately they were correct, and Mulder helped catch him. It was a ritualistic killing from what I hear,” Scully answered. She was watching Bones with interest.
“Mulder…is that Fox Mulder? The guy that is spookier than most spooks?” Hodgins asked as he came up the stairs. “I heard he did the Infamous X-files. Not that the government would ever acknowledge the existence of such a program.” A laugh came from above them.
“Dana, meet Hodgins, he’s our resident conspiracy theorist.” Angela came down the stairs and gave Dana a hug.
“Wait, do you all know each other and didn’t tell me?” Booth asked.
“Booth, you don’t know most of the people I know. Seriously, your ego needs shrinking sometimes,” Angela replied. She was annoyed at being at work so early. “So where did our John Doe come from?”
“Actually I am not sure, I was hoping that Booth and Dr Brennan would have an idea.”
“No clue. I was not assigned any murders this morning.” Booth looked at Bones.
“Well we have one now. Angela, facial recognition. Hodgins, the blanket underneath him will need to be analyzed. Where’s Wendall?” Bones looked around in annoyance.
“Right here Doctor Brennan. I got the X-rays done of the entire skeleton and sent trace evidence to the lab for analysis. It’s on your desk Doctor Hodgins.”
“Correct procedure. What is the cause of death?” Bones pulled on her gloves and began to examine one of the bones.
“I would say he fell to his death, but I cannot account for almost every single bone being broken. Not to mention all of his ribs were disconnected from his rib cage and some of them didn’t want to fit back together. At this point, I cannot give a definitive answer to cause of death.”
“Very well, let’s see the X-rays.” Bones stared at the screen and looked back at Agent Scully. "Every bone is fractured. Do you have a theory as to cause of death Agent Scully?"
“I would need more examination but I would say that he could have fallen off a building and had serious trauma.”
“Interesting theory, however as you well know, there would be more trauma if the victim had fallen to his death.”
"Well I can run his face through facial recognition and DMV records, see if I can find anything." Angela walked away with Hodgins watching her.
"Hodgins, do you have anything to add?" Cam interrupted his look, and raised her eyebrows at him.
“Not at this time, I will go run the tests you want and get back to you.”
"Find me when you’re done." Bones turned back to the body. "Well I need an autopsy and that’s Cams thing so let me know when you are done." Bones walked off with her head already on other things.
"You are correct Cam, she’s abrupt and fascinating at the same time," Scully said as she watched her walk away.
"Okay. I am going back to the office, call me when you get an ID. I can run it through missing persons. I want to find who dumped a body in the Jeffersonian. That’s a new one, even for me," Booth announced to the now empty lab.
*************************************
Angela was humming along to The Cure as Hodgens walked in on her. "Interesting music choice Ange, I found something that might help you identify our unknown victim."
"Okay, what?"
"Look in the new community that was just build south of here, about an hour. They put in a new golf course and I wonder if they might have put finer sand in to make it easier to get the ball out. He might be a resident or a sales agent."
"Have you told Bones yet?"
"No, she not in her office, and in this place, its like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Angela’s machine beeped at her. “I think I found our John Doe. His name is Chris Finders. We should call Booth."
"I am on it. I will let you know what he finds."
"Sounds good." Hodge walked out as Cam came in.
"Has anyone seen Doctor Brennan?"
"Nope I haven't seen her in a while. I am off to try to find where this sand is from." He disappeared from sight as Angela turned around.
"Did you identify the John Doe yet?" Cam asked.
"Yep it just popped, His name is Chris. Hodgins said he would call Booth and let him get started on finding him."
"Sounds reasonable, there’s no clear cause of death besides every bone broken in his body. In fact I am quite baffled. None of the broken bones left fragments or tore any of the internal organs. It’s like he just broke. Can you do a 3D representation of the body, I would like to get a closer look at the way some of the bones broke just to get a better idea of it. I am sure Dr Brennan will want it as well as soon as I find her."
"Good luck with that, she can be hard to find when she’s hiding from Booth."
Suspicious, she said," I know I am going to regret asking this but why is Doctor Brennan hiding from Booth?"
"Something about Booth trying to get her to buy a Christmas Tree, I could have told him it’s a pointless endeavor, she hates holidays, doesn't celebrate them at all."
"One day I would like to figure out how the two of you became friends." With that said, Cam walked out the door nearly bumping into Wendall. "Do you have something to report?"
"Nope, just bringing Angela her lunch." Cam nodded and walked away.
*************************************
Booth had found Bones sitting in her office eating lunch. "Hiding from me?"
"No, why would I hide from you?" Bones was baffled.
"No reason, they found out the identity of the John Doe, I thought you might want to come along to her apartment to see what we could find."
"Did Cam finish her autopsy?"
"Yes and she said cause of death is still unknown, Wendall says that they are going over the body with Angela’s new program."
"Alright." She stood up and brushed the crumbs off her jacket. "Let’s go."
Bones and Booth made their way across the parking lot to his car when he noticed someone leaning against it.
"Who’s that?" Bones asked.
"I have no idea but I am going to find out." He strode across the parking lot in determined strides until he reached the car.
"You do know that touch a FBI agents car is illegal and I can haul you in for it," he threatened, his hand resting on the hood.
The man didn't look impressed. "I am looking for Agent Scully, have you seen her?"
"And who are you?" Bones asked..
"I am Fox Mulder, her husband."
"Oh, she’s in with Cam. You should be able to ask for her from the front desk. I am not sure you would be allowed in the lab without proper protocols but you can try. If you will excuse us, we need to go." Bones told him.
"Of course." Mulder walked towards the building. Booth looked back at him.
"I wonder who he is," he pondered.
"Booth, let it go. I doubt he’s pertinent to the case."
"Doesn't mean I don't want to know."
"Figure it out later, we have a murder to solve and I have an exhibit to finish cataloging, the Jeffersonian doesn't just solve murders."
"Got it, Bones."
Booth and Bones pulled up the security gates outside the luxury apartment the victim lived in. "Pretty nice, what did he do for a living?" Bones asked.
"He sold expensive houses. He worked for a builder that does custom homes, apparently there’s quite a bit of money in it because I couldn't afford to live here."
"Would you want to?" Bones asked curiously.
"I suppose not but it sure looks nice."
The security guard leaned out the tower window. "What can I do for you fine folks?"
Taking out his badge, Booth answered, "FBI agent here. I am investigating a murder and I need to know where Chris Finders lived and where I can find a property manager to let me in."
"I can let you in as soon as I call them, he lived in Building 3 Apartment A. Give me a moment and I will meet you there."
"Of course." Booth drove through the gate and parked in front of a building with cheerful yellow flowers in pretty flowerpots sitting in front.
"Well, now we wait for the security guard to show up and hope he doesn't take too long."
Just then Bones’s phone beeped. "It’s Hodgins."
"Put him on speaker."
"Hodgins, you’re on speaker."
"Okay, here’s what I need, I need you to take a soil sample from the victim’s home and also any sand they might have. Also, if you could grab some sand from the new golf course they are building, its about 5 miles south of you."
"Not a problem. Anything else?"
"Nope. Later." Hodgins hung up.
Just then the security guard tapped on Booth’s window and they got out.
"I am real sorry to hear about Mr. Finder, he was a nice man, all things considered."
"What do you mean?"
"He had some trouble lately with an old girlfriend showing up, I had to escort her off the property twice."
“Do you have a name for the trouble-making girlfriend?”
"I can look it up." He took the key out of his gray pants pocket and unlocked the front door. "All of the apartments are two-floored. Bedroom’s upstairs, offices downstairs. Just press 12 on the phone and it will ring the guard house when you want to leave."
"Thank you." Booth said.
"This is quite the place, I can see why he liked it," Bones remarked. The apartment had high ceilings; the windows faced a view of a man-made lake and across the lake sat a gold course. The walls were painted a pale green with gold undertones and the kitchen sported brand new name-brand appliances. Everywhere was the color blue from bright blue pillows on the white couch to the teal curtains.
"He was really into blue." commented Booth.
"Yet the walls don't match. It doesn't look like he was killed here."
"The crime scene techs will have to come check just in case." They walked through the office into a large walled off patio area. The patio was covered in plants.
"I think we found Hodgins’ dirt."
"Looks like it."
Bones took soil samples from each potted plant as Booth grabbed the plant food sprayer on the table.
"We should get back to the lab and see if Cam has found out anything more." Just then a knock on the front door startled both of them.
Booth drew his gun and motioned Bones to behind him. He called out. "Who is it?"
"Kelly from next door, is Chris home?"
Bones opened the door to a pretty brunette in a tennis outfit standing in front of her. "You’re not Chris."
"No I am not, Chris is dead, I am investigating her murder, who are you again?" Bones asked.
"He’s dead? Are you sure its him?"
"Pretty sure, I am agent Booth from the FBI, and this is my partner Doctor Brennan. Why don't you come in and sit down."
The young woman nodded and sat on the couch. "I am Kelly Peterson, I live next door. Chris and I work together. We were supposed to play tennis together. When he didn't show up I came here."
"Does he usually miss appointments?"
"Sometimes, it depends on how busy his schedule is."
"When was the last time you saw Chris?"
"Three days ago, right after he sold a house to some rich guy, we went out and celebrated at a club downtown."
"I will need the name of that club."
"Did he leave with anyone?" Bones asked.
"No, the limo dropped us both off here and I went to bed. I assumed he went to work early because when I got up, his car was gone."
"What time did you get up?"
"About ten, I work from 12-8 pm at the sales office. Chris works at the corporate office twice a week so that’s where I thought she was."
"Does Chris golf or go have any reason to go out to the golf course?"
"No, he hates golf. Thought it was a stupid game that only rich people play."
"Okay, thank you for your time," Booth handed her his card, "Call me if you remember anything else."
*************************************
Booth and Bones arrived at the lab to find Cam sitting in the balcony with both Agent Scully and Agent Mulder.
“Well we didn’t find much other than that the victim has an unnatural obsession with plants.” Bones announced as she sat in one of the chairs.
“The bones are waiting for you, I left Wendall examining them. Hodgins took some samples for trace.”
Hodgins joined them, "The body was covered in your garden-variety dead body insects except for one and I am running it through the system to identify it as we speak. He also had three types of soil on his shoes and none of them match any local dirt that I know of. I am almost positive that he was last walking barefoot in beach sand, and not the cheap kind either. The kind you find on a renovated beach. I can give you more specifics when I am done processing it."
“I sent the dirt samples from the house and the golf course to your lab. You should compare them to see they match. We might have a crime scene.”
“Also, you’re going to have to redo your time of death Cam, the neighbor saw him three days ago alive. They apparently went clubbing. Work verified that he was there the next morning as well.”
“That makes no sense, his body is very decomposed for less than three days since death. I can run some tissue samples and see what I can find.”
“I called in agent Mulder because I think he could help you Agent Booth,” Scully said.
“Help in what way?”
“I have a cold case that is very similar to this, I think it might be connected.” Mulder pulled a file out of his briefcase and handed it to him. “It looks like it might be the same killer. Scully said the bodies looked almost identical.”
Booth nodded and glanced through the file. “The details are similar. Where was the other crime scene?”
“In a housing development. The victim had recently sold the house to a couple and was cleaning up after a successful closing.”
“Sounds almost the same. The victim had sold a house as well. Any connection to this victim that you know of?”
“No but I haven’t had time to look into it, either,” Mulder replied.
“I can have Angela take a look at it.” Bones took the file and started up the stairs towards her lab.
“Did you find anything out of place at the crime scene? Something that didn’t seem to fit where you found it?” Mulder asked.
“The crime team just came back, so we haven’t had time to analyze the contents of the apartment yet, but if I knew what I was looking for I would have Angela start with that.” Bones replied.
“See if they found a glass seashell necklace in the bedroom. Should be small, maybe around 2-3 inches in diameter.”
“A glass seashell necklace?” Bones looked puzzled. “Anything else?”
“No, that will be all.”
Just then, Booth’s phone buzzed. “Sweets found a next-of kin, they are coming in to identify the pictures Cam took and answer some questions.”
“I will join you then,” Mulder announced as Booth scowled.
“Fine, just don’t get in my way.”
*************************************
Booth hurried down to the morgue, Mulder in tow. “Anything else we should know about this other victim?” he asked Mulder.
“There’s not much to know. We spent some time looking into the details of his life, but he was basically just a dull, single real estate broker,” Mulder replied. “Only his death was interesting. When we finally located the crime scene, the eyewitness reports all mentioned hearing a high-pitched wail around the time of the murder but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. We called it the Banshee Murder.”
“Banshee?” Booth scoffed. “Well I don’t know how they solve cases in your branch of the FBI, but here we use actual science.”
Mulder stared at Booth coolly as if to study him further. “You’d be surprised what is and isn’t real,” he said ominously.
Booth looked like he wanted to say something witty in return, but they were already at the morgue and the next of kin was waiting impatiently. “Shelley, I presume?” He said to the woman.
“Yes, I’m Shelley Hanson, Chris’ sister. You think you know where my brother is?” She looked very concerned and slightly relieved at the same time.
“They didn’t tell you?” Booth asked.
“Tell me what?”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but he’s dead. We asked you here to see if you could identify the body.”
“Dead?” The color drained from her face. “How . . . how long ago?”
“We’re still sorting out all the details,” Booth said. “If you could step this way.”
“Of course,” Shelley replied. Booth ushered her into the room and the lab tech removed the cover from Chris’ face. Shelley let out a brief gasp and buried her face in Booth’s chest. “That’s him,” she muttered.
“I know this is hard for you, but any details we could get would help us find his killer,” Mulder stated.
“Killer?” She replied. “Then he . . . it wasn’t natural?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“It was probably that whore of a girlfriend he was seeing,” Shelley said, wiping the tears out if her eyes. “Olivia Jeffries. He went to Atlantic City with her about a week ago for a getaway. It must not have gone well because he called me from their hotel room and he was very upset. That was the last time I heard from him.”
“Olivia Jeffries?” Mulder asked. Shelley nodded. “I’ll go check out that name, see if we can find her current whereabouts. You can join me when you’re done here,” he said to Booth.
“Do you have a place to stay in the area, someone to talk to?” Booth asked Shelley, obviously anxious to follow Mulder.
“Yeah, I live not that far from here.”
“Great, I’ll have someone show you the way out,” he said. He gave her a consoling pat on the shoulder and turned to find where Mulder went off to.
“Wait up,” he called down the hallway. Mulder paused. “Did that name mean anything to you?”
“No, not at all. It was more the location. Atlantic City was where the last victim died.”
“They have beaches in Atlantic City, right?” Booth said, pulling out his phone and dialing a number. Mulder nodded. “Hey Hodgins, can you check the soil samples against sand that’s native to the beaches around Atlantic City?” he asked into the phone.
“Sure,” Hodgins’ voice said in reply. “Any particular reason?”
“Just a hunch.”
“You got it.”
Booth hung up. “I think we’re finally getting somewhere.” Just then, his phone rang again. It was an unlisted number.
“Hello,” Booth said.
“Hi, Mr. Booth,” the voice said. “This is the security guard from Chris Finder’s unit. The security cameras just caught sight of someone entering Chris’ house. They knew the security code, so there wasn’t an alarm, but I thought you might want to know.”
“Thanks, Mr. . . .”
“Jackson.”
“Thanks, Mr. Jackson,” Booth replied, “Call the local P.D., see if they can detail the person, we’ll be there right away.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Booth.”
Booth hung up and looked at Mulder. “Looks like we’re gonna get to spend more time together.”
“After you,” Mulder replied, a wry smile on his face.
*************************************
Booth and Mulder pulled up to the Chris’ house about 30 minutes later. There were 2 police cars outside but something was obviously off. The officers were nowhere in sight. Looking at the house, they could see that several of the windows had broken.
“That’s odd,” Booth said. He pulled out his gun and motioned for Mulder to do the same. They slowly approached the door to the house, which was slightly ajar. When they reached the door, they flung it open, pointing their guns into the opening. It was unnecessary; no one was waiting for them.
They looked down to see the broken bodies of the 2 police officers on the floor. Mulder reached down to feel the pulse on one of them. He was dead.
“There’s broken glass everywhere,” Booth remarked. “And there’s not a mark on the two officer’s bodies. What could have caused this kind of damage?”
“Some sort of sonic resonance, perhaps,” Mulder replied.
“Oh, don’t get started with that Banshee theory again.”
“You have something better in mind?”
Booth sighed, defeated. “No, I guess not.” Booth’s phone rang again. It was Bones calling, undoubtedly with details on the case. “It’s Booth,” he said.
“Booth its Bones,” she replied, as if he wouldn’t know it already. “Angela finished going over the crime scene photos. Turns out, they did find a small glass seashell necklace near the bed.”
“That so?” Booth replied, one eyebrow raised. He glanced at Mulder out of the corner of his eye, who seemed to already know what Bones was saying despite not being on the call.
“And that’s not all, Hogdins also finished checking the soil samples. One of the samples was definitely native to Atlantic City.”
“Good to know. I’m going to be sending 2 more bodies your way shortly. See if they suffered the same kind of damage.”
“Where are you? Are you safe?” Bones sounded slightly worried.
“We’re back at Chris’ place, and there’s no one here. Booth out.”
“Looks like these case are related. They found a seashell necklace in the photos,” Booth said to Mulder. Mulder just nodded. “Let’s go see if the killer was after that necklace.”
Booth and Mulder carefully stepped around the broken bodies so as not to disturb the scene and headed to the bedroom. The room was completely torn apart. Someone had definitely been through the room looking for something. A thorough search revealed that the necklace was indeed gone. “The killer was definitely here recently,” Booth said, shrugging.
Just then, the two heard the sound of glass crunching under foot back in the entryway. Silently, then moved back towards the entry, guns at the ready. “Mr. Booth, are you OK?” It was Mr. Jackson, the security guard.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Booth replied.
“You have a new partner?” Jackson asked, noting Mulder’s presence.
“I’m just consulting on the case,” Mulder replied. “Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI.”
“What happened here?”
“We were kind of hoping you could help with that,” Mulder continued. “Did you see or hear anything out of the ordinary before we got here?”
“Well I heard the police shouting at someone, and then I heard this really bizarre, high-pitched scream like some woman was in danger. But I didn’t see anything odd.”
“A high-pitched scream, you say?” Booth replied. He glanced at Mulder, whose expression seemed to say “I told you so,” and looked back at the security guard. “Thank you for the information. If we hear anything else about this, we’ll let you know.”
Booth shook the security guard’s hand and he and Mulder headed back to his car. “I know what you’re thinking, but there has to be a logical explanation for all of this,” Booth said. Mulder remained expressionless. “It looks like it’s going to be a long night.”
“Why is that?” Mulder asked.
“Mulder, how long has it been since you’ve gone to Atlantic City?”
“Too long, I think.”
“Let’s get going.”
*************************************
A few hours later, the two were in Atlantic City. They headed towards the beach area, scouting for clues and hunting down witnesses that might have been there around the time of Chris’ death. Things seemed to be going nowhere. After a while, they stumbled across a small, secluded alcove in the sand that smelled like decaying flesh. It was hard to make out anything in the low-light conditions, so Booth produced a flashlight. It fell upon some white cloth and a decaying hand. It belonged to a woman.
“Looks like we might have found our crime scene,” Mulder said coolly.
“Oh come on, this body could have come from anywhere,” Booth replied.
“True, but the decomp is about the same as Chris Finders, and look at the way her limbs are lying - those bones are obviously broken.”
Booth was getting a little tired of Mulder being right, but he had to admit the guy was good, and didn’t let anything escape him. “Alright, we’ll take some photos and send them to Bones and Cam, then get a team down here. Why don’t you ask around and see if anyone noticed anything weird going on in this area in the last week.” Mulder nodded and left.
Booth picked up his phone and snapped a few photos. He dialed Bones’ number. After 3 rings, it picked up. He was almost surprised since it was about 3:00am, but not really. “Dr. Brennan here.”
“Bones, it’s Booth. I just sent you some photos of another victim. Do you think you could have Cam look at them and see if she can find a match?”
“Yes, also the bodies are identical to the first victim. Cam is running more tests to determine exact time of death.”
“Yeah, I thought as much.”
“Hey Booth, stay careful out there. Whatever is going around doing this is dangerous.”
“Yeah, you too. Booth out.” He hung up the phone and went to go find Mulder.
Mulder was busy talking to a few people from the nearby hotel. He finished the conversation and turned to talk to Booth. “This case just keeps getting more interesting,” Mulder said. “That was the hotel manager. He was able to confirm that Chris Finders stayed here with a woman a week ago. He also mentioned that another woman came looking for him not long after, but didn’t know what happened after that.”
Booth motioned for Mulder to continue. “And there was one other thing, a few of the late-night hotel staff heard a high-pitched wail on that same night.”
Booth just raised his eyebrows. “Don’t say it.” Mulder didn’t press the issue. “Things just aren’t adding up. Let’s head back to the Jeffersonian.”
*************************************
They arrived at the Jeffersonian shortly after dawn. Bones and Cam were still in the lab going over things, and didn’t seem a bit sleepy. Booth and Mulder stepped into the lab, a huge yawn emanating from Booth in the process.
“About time you two showed up,” Bones remarked. “We’ve identified your latest victim from the photos in Chris’ building. She was Olivia Jeffries, his ‘whore of a girlfriend.’”
“Interesting,” Booth replied.
“Also, no one’s seen her in a week, so it looks whoever killed her did it a week ago and she’s just been lying there ever since.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Booth said. “How could she have been dead for a week and Chris only a couple of days, and yet all the other details match up?” He was obviously puzzled.
“Well I’m sure it will all make sense at some point. Why don’t you and Mulder go get some rest, you look like a mess.”
Booth nodded at Bones. “Sounds like a plan.” Booth and Mulder turned to leave. When they got to Booth’s car, they noticed someone standing outside of it. It was Chris’ friend and neighbor, Kelley Peterson.
“Can I help you,” Booth asked.
“I’m glad I caught you,” Kelley replied. “I just thought of something that might help your case,” she continued.
Before she could say anything else, Booth’s phone rang. “Hold that thought,” he said. “Booth here,” he said into the phone. It was Bones calling him again.
“Booth, we just found out some new information and thought you’d want to know right away,” Bones said. “It turns out that while Chris did check out of his hotel in Atlantic City and his security code was used to access his office at work 3 days ago, no one actually saw him do either of those things. It was all done by phone.”
Something in Booth’s mind clicked and his stomach suddenly felt like a rock was in it. As he took in what Bones was telling him, he looked over at Mulder, who was quietly pointing to the object hanging from Kelley’s neck - it was a small glass seashell. “I gotta go,” Booth said. He hung up.
“That’s a lovely necklace you have there, Ms. Peterson,” Mulder said. “Wherever did you get it?”
Kelley’s eyes changed before she said anything. Both Booth and Mulder quiety reached for their guns while trying not to make any overt motions. “You don’t understand,” Kelley started. She knew she was caught. She started crying. “He loved me . . . He told me he loved me, but then he went off with . . . her! He told me he was going out of town for a business trip but something didn’t seem right. I followed him and that’s where I found them, in each other’s arms down at the beach. How could he have done such a thing?” Her sobbing made it hard to understand her.
“I don’t know what came over me or how it happened, I really don’t, but next thing I knew they were dead.”
“Let’s all just calm down and talk about this,” Booth interjected. “We can go inside, and maybe get you something to drink.”
It wasn’t working. Kelley was getting more and more upset. Her eyes kept getting darker and her hair was starting to raise. “I’m so, so, sorry. I’m really sorry.” she said. Her skin started to glow and it seemed like she was fading out of existence. In another moment, Kelley was gone and what appeared to be a female phantom stood before them.
The banshee opened its mouth and started to wail. With only a couple of seconds to react, Mulder pulled out his gun and shot the only spot on the banshee that wasn’t wailing - the glass seashell. It instantly exploded into a spray of a thousand tiny particles. The pitch of the wail changed and instead of expanding out towards them it seemed to pull into itself instead. The banshee writhed in pain for but a moment before winking out of existence. In its place, the dead, broken body of Kelley Peterson remained.
*************************************
A few hours later, Booth and Mulder went to a local bar to grab a drink and relax. As Booth began sipping on his scotch, Mulder started talking. “The seashell must have acted as some sort of amplifying and protection device for the creature,” he said. Booth just nodded and stared into his glass, which was now empty.
“She must’ve given copies of it to her lovers to protect them. She was probably going to collect it when you and Bones showed up.” Mulder paused a moment to drain his own glass. “The poor girl knew what she was doing, but didn’t know how to stop it.”
Booth eyed him warily. “You know, you’re kind of annoying, but you’re not half bad as a partner,” he said.
Mulder stared back at him, a wry smile beginning to form. “You too,” he said.
After that, both of them quietly ordered another round and drank it in silence. Outside, snow began to fall. In a few hours, families would be preparing Christmas Eve dinner and celebrating. Booth suddenly remembered the Christmas Tree he had forced Bones to buy earlier and wondered if she had even bothered to set it up yet. Probably not.
“Hey Mulder, do you like Christmas Trees?” Booth asked.
“As much as anyone, I suppose. Why?” Mulder asked.
“I was wondering if you could help me with another case,” he said, smiling.
Somehow Mulder knew he was talking about his friend Bones and not a crime scene. “Nothing would make me happier,” he replied. Booth put down some money for the drinks and the two set out together in the morning snow.
-END-
Author: teenagewitch
Fandoms: Bones/X-Files
Characters: Bones, Booth, Angela, Hodgins, Sweets, Cam, and Wendall; Scully and Mulder
Pairings: Implied Angela/Hodgins
Rating: G
Word count: 6,000
Spoilers: None
Warnings: none
Disclaimer: Bones and X-Files belong to their respective creators.
Summary: Unusual murder inspires a terrific pairing of Booth and Mulder as they try to uncover who murdered two people.
It was a cold morning and once again Booth had dragged Bones out to find a Christmas tree. As usual Bones was complaining about the Christmas season.
“I just don’t see why you need me to pick a Christmas tree for Parker.”
“It’s Christmas, Bones and it’s fun. I really think by now I would have somehow gotten you to appreciate the season more. Plus you promised Parker you’d be there this year.”
“I know, I know.”
Just then, her phone started to vibrate in her pocket. She answered, “Hello, Angela.”
Booth pointed at a tree at his right, and Bones shook her head at it. Sighing, he moved into the next aisle as Bones tried to figure out what Angela was talking about. “Angela I don’t understand what you’re talking about. What do you mean we have a new body? OK I am on my way.” She hung up the phone and went to find Booth.
He was exchanging money with the tree sales person and turned with a smile, “Look Bones, I think I found the best one on the lot.”
“Well, technically the best one on the lot was the sixth one we looked at if you are going for most aesthetically pleasing and least likely to lose all the needles before the holiday but if you are sure, lets go. They dropped off a body at the Jeffersonian and I have to go look at it.”
“A body? Did they say who it was or who dropped it off?” Booth questioned her.
“No and asking me pointless questions will not get us there faster.”
Booth made arrangements to have the tree delivered and they were off.
The lab was oddly busy when they arrived and Cam was standing over a body next to a woman Bones had never seen.
“Bones, this is the body.” Can started with a basic description, “Male, mid-twenties, cause of death unknown, and at the rate of decomp, I would say he was dead about two weeks, maybe more. I will send the evidence down to Hodgins to see what he can find when he gets here.”
Booth interrupted, “Who’s the new girl? Got an intern Cam?”
Cam laughed, “No, this is Special Agent Dana Scully, she teaches at the academy. She’s a medical examiner for the FBI as well.”
“Nice to meet you, how did you hear about the team here?” Booth was curious.
“Actually I helped Dana on a few cases during her days as a fulltime agent for the FBI. She ran into a couple of very interesting cases. We were having coffee and I thought she would enjoy seeing the lab.” Can replied with a slight eyebrow raising at Booth.
“Well interesting is one way to put it.” Scully said as she leaned back on the railing. “I would say that unusual would be more accurate.”
“Is Mulder planning on joining us on this or is he busy?” Cam asked as she bent over the body trying to figure out what killed the young woman.
“Wait, is your dog joining us?” Hodgins asked as he came up the stairs.
“You named your dog Mulder?” Scully asked with a laugh.
“No it was a joke I made when I was considering getting a dog, so where is he anyways? Usually you can’t keep him away from anything this odd.”
“He is flying in from a consulting case in Scotland. They thought they might have a cabalist roaming in the woods. Unfortunately they were correct, and Mulder helped catch him. It was a ritualistic killing from what I hear,” Scully answered. She was watching Bones with interest.
“Mulder…is that Fox Mulder? The guy that is spookier than most spooks?” Hodgins asked as he came up the stairs. “I heard he did the Infamous X-files. Not that the government would ever acknowledge the existence of such a program.” A laugh came from above them.
“Dana, meet Hodgins, he’s our resident conspiracy theorist.” Angela came down the stairs and gave Dana a hug.
“Wait, do you all know each other and didn’t tell me?” Booth asked.
“Booth, you don’t know most of the people I know. Seriously, your ego needs shrinking sometimes,” Angela replied. She was annoyed at being at work so early. “So where did our John Doe come from?”
“Actually I am not sure, I was hoping that Booth and Dr Brennan would have an idea.”
“No clue. I was not assigned any murders this morning.” Booth looked at Bones.
“Well we have one now. Angela, facial recognition. Hodgins, the blanket underneath him will need to be analyzed. Where’s Wendall?” Bones looked around in annoyance.
“Right here Doctor Brennan. I got the X-rays done of the entire skeleton and sent trace evidence to the lab for analysis. It’s on your desk Doctor Hodgins.”
“Correct procedure. What is the cause of death?” Bones pulled on her gloves and began to examine one of the bones.
“I would say he fell to his death, but I cannot account for almost every single bone being broken. Not to mention all of his ribs were disconnected from his rib cage and some of them didn’t want to fit back together. At this point, I cannot give a definitive answer to cause of death.”
“Very well, let’s see the X-rays.” Bones stared at the screen and looked back at Agent Scully. "Every bone is fractured. Do you have a theory as to cause of death Agent Scully?"
“I would need more examination but I would say that he could have fallen off a building and had serious trauma.”
“Interesting theory, however as you well know, there would be more trauma if the victim had fallen to his death.”
"Well I can run his face through facial recognition and DMV records, see if I can find anything." Angela walked away with Hodgins watching her.
"Hodgins, do you have anything to add?" Cam interrupted his look, and raised her eyebrows at him.
“Not at this time, I will go run the tests you want and get back to you.”
"Find me when you’re done." Bones turned back to the body. "Well I need an autopsy and that’s Cams thing so let me know when you are done." Bones walked off with her head already on other things.
"You are correct Cam, she’s abrupt and fascinating at the same time," Scully said as she watched her walk away.
"Okay. I am going back to the office, call me when you get an ID. I can run it through missing persons. I want to find who dumped a body in the Jeffersonian. That’s a new one, even for me," Booth announced to the now empty lab.
*************************************
Angela was humming along to The Cure as Hodgens walked in on her. "Interesting music choice Ange, I found something that might help you identify our unknown victim."
"Okay, what?"
"Look in the new community that was just build south of here, about an hour. They put in a new golf course and I wonder if they might have put finer sand in to make it easier to get the ball out. He might be a resident or a sales agent."
"Have you told Bones yet?"
"No, she not in her office, and in this place, its like looking for a needle in a haystack."
Angela’s machine beeped at her. “I think I found our John Doe. His name is Chris Finders. We should call Booth."
"I am on it. I will let you know what he finds."
"Sounds good." Hodge walked out as Cam came in.
"Has anyone seen Doctor Brennan?"
"Nope I haven't seen her in a while. I am off to try to find where this sand is from." He disappeared from sight as Angela turned around.
"Did you identify the John Doe yet?" Cam asked.
"Yep it just popped, His name is Chris. Hodgins said he would call Booth and let him get started on finding him."
"Sounds reasonable, there’s no clear cause of death besides every bone broken in his body. In fact I am quite baffled. None of the broken bones left fragments or tore any of the internal organs. It’s like he just broke. Can you do a 3D representation of the body, I would like to get a closer look at the way some of the bones broke just to get a better idea of it. I am sure Dr Brennan will want it as well as soon as I find her."
"Good luck with that, she can be hard to find when she’s hiding from Booth."
Suspicious, she said," I know I am going to regret asking this but why is Doctor Brennan hiding from Booth?"
"Something about Booth trying to get her to buy a Christmas Tree, I could have told him it’s a pointless endeavor, she hates holidays, doesn't celebrate them at all."
"One day I would like to figure out how the two of you became friends." With that said, Cam walked out the door nearly bumping into Wendall. "Do you have something to report?"
"Nope, just bringing Angela her lunch." Cam nodded and walked away.
*************************************
Booth had found Bones sitting in her office eating lunch. "Hiding from me?"
"No, why would I hide from you?" Bones was baffled.
"No reason, they found out the identity of the John Doe, I thought you might want to come along to her apartment to see what we could find."
"Did Cam finish her autopsy?"
"Yes and she said cause of death is still unknown, Wendall says that they are going over the body with Angela’s new program."
"Alright." She stood up and brushed the crumbs off her jacket. "Let’s go."
Bones and Booth made their way across the parking lot to his car when he noticed someone leaning against it.
"Who’s that?" Bones asked.
"I have no idea but I am going to find out." He strode across the parking lot in determined strides until he reached the car.
"You do know that touch a FBI agents car is illegal and I can haul you in for it," he threatened, his hand resting on the hood.
The man didn't look impressed. "I am looking for Agent Scully, have you seen her?"
"And who are you?" Bones asked..
"I am Fox Mulder, her husband."
"Oh, she’s in with Cam. You should be able to ask for her from the front desk. I am not sure you would be allowed in the lab without proper protocols but you can try. If you will excuse us, we need to go." Bones told him.
"Of course." Mulder walked towards the building. Booth looked back at him.
"I wonder who he is," he pondered.
"Booth, let it go. I doubt he’s pertinent to the case."
"Doesn't mean I don't want to know."
"Figure it out later, we have a murder to solve and I have an exhibit to finish cataloging, the Jeffersonian doesn't just solve murders."
"Got it, Bones."
Booth and Bones pulled up the security gates outside the luxury apartment the victim lived in. "Pretty nice, what did he do for a living?" Bones asked.
"He sold expensive houses. He worked for a builder that does custom homes, apparently there’s quite a bit of money in it because I couldn't afford to live here."
"Would you want to?" Bones asked curiously.
"I suppose not but it sure looks nice."
The security guard leaned out the tower window. "What can I do for you fine folks?"
Taking out his badge, Booth answered, "FBI agent here. I am investigating a murder and I need to know where Chris Finders lived and where I can find a property manager to let me in."
"I can let you in as soon as I call them, he lived in Building 3 Apartment A. Give me a moment and I will meet you there."
"Of course." Booth drove through the gate and parked in front of a building with cheerful yellow flowers in pretty flowerpots sitting in front.
"Well, now we wait for the security guard to show up and hope he doesn't take too long."
Just then Bones’s phone beeped. "It’s Hodgins."
"Put him on speaker."
"Hodgins, you’re on speaker."
"Okay, here’s what I need, I need you to take a soil sample from the victim’s home and also any sand they might have. Also, if you could grab some sand from the new golf course they are building, its about 5 miles south of you."
"Not a problem. Anything else?"
"Nope. Later." Hodgins hung up.
Just then the security guard tapped on Booth’s window and they got out.
"I am real sorry to hear about Mr. Finder, he was a nice man, all things considered."
"What do you mean?"
"He had some trouble lately with an old girlfriend showing up, I had to escort her off the property twice."
“Do you have a name for the trouble-making girlfriend?”
"I can look it up." He took the key out of his gray pants pocket and unlocked the front door. "All of the apartments are two-floored. Bedroom’s upstairs, offices downstairs. Just press 12 on the phone and it will ring the guard house when you want to leave."
"Thank you." Booth said.
"This is quite the place, I can see why he liked it," Bones remarked. The apartment had high ceilings; the windows faced a view of a man-made lake and across the lake sat a gold course. The walls were painted a pale green with gold undertones and the kitchen sported brand new name-brand appliances. Everywhere was the color blue from bright blue pillows on the white couch to the teal curtains.
"He was really into blue." commented Booth.
"Yet the walls don't match. It doesn't look like he was killed here."
"The crime scene techs will have to come check just in case." They walked through the office into a large walled off patio area. The patio was covered in plants.
"I think we found Hodgins’ dirt."
"Looks like it."
Bones took soil samples from each potted plant as Booth grabbed the plant food sprayer on the table.
"We should get back to the lab and see if Cam has found out anything more." Just then a knock on the front door startled both of them.
Booth drew his gun and motioned Bones to behind him. He called out. "Who is it?"
"Kelly from next door, is Chris home?"
Bones opened the door to a pretty brunette in a tennis outfit standing in front of her. "You’re not Chris."
"No I am not, Chris is dead, I am investigating her murder, who are you again?" Bones asked.
"He’s dead? Are you sure its him?"
"Pretty sure, I am agent Booth from the FBI, and this is my partner Doctor Brennan. Why don't you come in and sit down."
The young woman nodded and sat on the couch. "I am Kelly Peterson, I live next door. Chris and I work together. We were supposed to play tennis together. When he didn't show up I came here."
"Does he usually miss appointments?"
"Sometimes, it depends on how busy his schedule is."
"When was the last time you saw Chris?"
"Three days ago, right after he sold a house to some rich guy, we went out and celebrated at a club downtown."
"I will need the name of that club."
"Did he leave with anyone?" Bones asked.
"No, the limo dropped us both off here and I went to bed. I assumed he went to work early because when I got up, his car was gone."
"What time did you get up?"
"About ten, I work from 12-8 pm at the sales office. Chris works at the corporate office twice a week so that’s where I thought she was."
"Does Chris golf or go have any reason to go out to the golf course?"
"No, he hates golf. Thought it was a stupid game that only rich people play."
"Okay, thank you for your time," Booth handed her his card, "Call me if you remember anything else."
*************************************
Booth and Bones arrived at the lab to find Cam sitting in the balcony with both Agent Scully and Agent Mulder.
“Well we didn’t find much other than that the victim has an unnatural obsession with plants.” Bones announced as she sat in one of the chairs.
“The bones are waiting for you, I left Wendall examining them. Hodgins took some samples for trace.”
Hodgins joined them, "The body was covered in your garden-variety dead body insects except for one and I am running it through the system to identify it as we speak. He also had three types of soil on his shoes and none of them match any local dirt that I know of. I am almost positive that he was last walking barefoot in beach sand, and not the cheap kind either. The kind you find on a renovated beach. I can give you more specifics when I am done processing it."
“I sent the dirt samples from the house and the golf course to your lab. You should compare them to see they match. We might have a crime scene.”
“Also, you’re going to have to redo your time of death Cam, the neighbor saw him three days ago alive. They apparently went clubbing. Work verified that he was there the next morning as well.”
“That makes no sense, his body is very decomposed for less than three days since death. I can run some tissue samples and see what I can find.”
“I called in agent Mulder because I think he could help you Agent Booth,” Scully said.
“Help in what way?”
“I have a cold case that is very similar to this, I think it might be connected.” Mulder pulled a file out of his briefcase and handed it to him. “It looks like it might be the same killer. Scully said the bodies looked almost identical.”
Booth nodded and glanced through the file. “The details are similar. Where was the other crime scene?”
“In a housing development. The victim had recently sold the house to a couple and was cleaning up after a successful closing.”
“Sounds almost the same. The victim had sold a house as well. Any connection to this victim that you know of?”
“No but I haven’t had time to look into it, either,” Mulder replied.
“I can have Angela take a look at it.” Bones took the file and started up the stairs towards her lab.
“Did you find anything out of place at the crime scene? Something that didn’t seem to fit where you found it?” Mulder asked.
“The crime team just came back, so we haven’t had time to analyze the contents of the apartment yet, but if I knew what I was looking for I would have Angela start with that.” Bones replied.
“See if they found a glass seashell necklace in the bedroom. Should be small, maybe around 2-3 inches in diameter.”
“A glass seashell necklace?” Bones looked puzzled. “Anything else?”
“No, that will be all.”
Just then, Booth’s phone buzzed. “Sweets found a next-of kin, they are coming in to identify the pictures Cam took and answer some questions.”
“I will join you then,” Mulder announced as Booth scowled.
“Fine, just don’t get in my way.”
*************************************
Booth hurried down to the morgue, Mulder in tow. “Anything else we should know about this other victim?” he asked Mulder.
“There’s not much to know. We spent some time looking into the details of his life, but he was basically just a dull, single real estate broker,” Mulder replied. “Only his death was interesting. When we finally located the crime scene, the eyewitness reports all mentioned hearing a high-pitched wail around the time of the murder but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. We called it the Banshee Murder.”
“Banshee?” Booth scoffed. “Well I don’t know how they solve cases in your branch of the FBI, but here we use actual science.”
Mulder stared at Booth coolly as if to study him further. “You’d be surprised what is and isn’t real,” he said ominously.
Booth looked like he wanted to say something witty in return, but they were already at the morgue and the next of kin was waiting impatiently. “Shelley, I presume?” He said to the woman.
“Yes, I’m Shelley Hanson, Chris’ sister. You think you know where my brother is?” She looked very concerned and slightly relieved at the same time.
“They didn’t tell you?” Booth asked.
“Tell me what?”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but he’s dead. We asked you here to see if you could identify the body.”
“Dead?” The color drained from her face. “How . . . how long ago?”
“We’re still sorting out all the details,” Booth said. “If you could step this way.”
“Of course,” Shelley replied. Booth ushered her into the room and the lab tech removed the cover from Chris’ face. Shelley let out a brief gasp and buried her face in Booth’s chest. “That’s him,” she muttered.
“I know this is hard for you, but any details we could get would help us find his killer,” Mulder stated.
“Killer?” She replied. “Then he . . . it wasn’t natural?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“It was probably that whore of a girlfriend he was seeing,” Shelley said, wiping the tears out if her eyes. “Olivia Jeffries. He went to Atlantic City with her about a week ago for a getaway. It must not have gone well because he called me from their hotel room and he was very upset. That was the last time I heard from him.”
“Olivia Jeffries?” Mulder asked. Shelley nodded. “I’ll go check out that name, see if we can find her current whereabouts. You can join me when you’re done here,” he said to Booth.
“Do you have a place to stay in the area, someone to talk to?” Booth asked Shelley, obviously anxious to follow Mulder.
“Yeah, I live not that far from here.”
“Great, I’ll have someone show you the way out,” he said. He gave her a consoling pat on the shoulder and turned to find where Mulder went off to.
“Wait up,” he called down the hallway. Mulder paused. “Did that name mean anything to you?”
“No, not at all. It was more the location. Atlantic City was where the last victim died.”
“They have beaches in Atlantic City, right?” Booth said, pulling out his phone and dialing a number. Mulder nodded. “Hey Hodgins, can you check the soil samples against sand that’s native to the beaches around Atlantic City?” he asked into the phone.
“Sure,” Hodgins’ voice said in reply. “Any particular reason?”
“Just a hunch.”
“You got it.”
Booth hung up. “I think we’re finally getting somewhere.” Just then, his phone rang again. It was an unlisted number.
“Hello,” Booth said.
“Hi, Mr. Booth,” the voice said. “This is the security guard from Chris Finder’s unit. The security cameras just caught sight of someone entering Chris’ house. They knew the security code, so there wasn’t an alarm, but I thought you might want to know.”
“Thanks, Mr. . . .”
“Jackson.”
“Thanks, Mr. Jackson,” Booth replied, “Call the local P.D., see if they can detail the person, we’ll be there right away.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Booth.”
Booth hung up and looked at Mulder. “Looks like we’re gonna get to spend more time together.”
“After you,” Mulder replied, a wry smile on his face.
*************************************
Booth and Mulder pulled up to the Chris’ house about 30 minutes later. There were 2 police cars outside but something was obviously off. The officers were nowhere in sight. Looking at the house, they could see that several of the windows had broken.
“That’s odd,” Booth said. He pulled out his gun and motioned for Mulder to do the same. They slowly approached the door to the house, which was slightly ajar. When they reached the door, they flung it open, pointing their guns into the opening. It was unnecessary; no one was waiting for them.
They looked down to see the broken bodies of the 2 police officers on the floor. Mulder reached down to feel the pulse on one of them. He was dead.
“There’s broken glass everywhere,” Booth remarked. “And there’s not a mark on the two officer’s bodies. What could have caused this kind of damage?”
“Some sort of sonic resonance, perhaps,” Mulder replied.
“Oh, don’t get started with that Banshee theory again.”
“You have something better in mind?”
Booth sighed, defeated. “No, I guess not.” Booth’s phone rang again. It was Bones calling, undoubtedly with details on the case. “It’s Booth,” he said.
“Booth its Bones,” she replied, as if he wouldn’t know it already. “Angela finished going over the crime scene photos. Turns out, they did find a small glass seashell necklace near the bed.”
“That so?” Booth replied, one eyebrow raised. He glanced at Mulder out of the corner of his eye, who seemed to already know what Bones was saying despite not being on the call.
“And that’s not all, Hogdins also finished checking the soil samples. One of the samples was definitely native to Atlantic City.”
“Good to know. I’m going to be sending 2 more bodies your way shortly. See if they suffered the same kind of damage.”
“Where are you? Are you safe?” Bones sounded slightly worried.
“We’re back at Chris’ place, and there’s no one here. Booth out.”
“Looks like these case are related. They found a seashell necklace in the photos,” Booth said to Mulder. Mulder just nodded. “Let’s go see if the killer was after that necklace.”
Booth and Mulder carefully stepped around the broken bodies so as not to disturb the scene and headed to the bedroom. The room was completely torn apart. Someone had definitely been through the room looking for something. A thorough search revealed that the necklace was indeed gone. “The killer was definitely here recently,” Booth said, shrugging.
Just then, the two heard the sound of glass crunching under foot back in the entryway. Silently, then moved back towards the entry, guns at the ready. “Mr. Booth, are you OK?” It was Mr. Jackson, the security guard.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Booth replied.
“You have a new partner?” Jackson asked, noting Mulder’s presence.
“I’m just consulting on the case,” Mulder replied. “Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI.”
“What happened here?”
“We were kind of hoping you could help with that,” Mulder continued. “Did you see or hear anything out of the ordinary before we got here?”
“Well I heard the police shouting at someone, and then I heard this really bizarre, high-pitched scream like some woman was in danger. But I didn’t see anything odd.”
“A high-pitched scream, you say?” Booth replied. He glanced at Mulder, whose expression seemed to say “I told you so,” and looked back at the security guard. “Thank you for the information. If we hear anything else about this, we’ll let you know.”
Booth shook the security guard’s hand and he and Mulder headed back to his car. “I know what you’re thinking, but there has to be a logical explanation for all of this,” Booth said. Mulder remained expressionless. “It looks like it’s going to be a long night.”
“Why is that?” Mulder asked.
“Mulder, how long has it been since you’ve gone to Atlantic City?”
“Too long, I think.”
“Let’s get going.”
*************************************
A few hours later, the two were in Atlantic City. They headed towards the beach area, scouting for clues and hunting down witnesses that might have been there around the time of Chris’ death. Things seemed to be going nowhere. After a while, they stumbled across a small, secluded alcove in the sand that smelled like decaying flesh. It was hard to make out anything in the low-light conditions, so Booth produced a flashlight. It fell upon some white cloth and a decaying hand. It belonged to a woman.
“Looks like we might have found our crime scene,” Mulder said coolly.
“Oh come on, this body could have come from anywhere,” Booth replied.
“True, but the decomp is about the same as Chris Finders, and look at the way her limbs are lying - those bones are obviously broken.”
Booth was getting a little tired of Mulder being right, but he had to admit the guy was good, and didn’t let anything escape him. “Alright, we’ll take some photos and send them to Bones and Cam, then get a team down here. Why don’t you ask around and see if anyone noticed anything weird going on in this area in the last week.” Mulder nodded and left.
Booth picked up his phone and snapped a few photos. He dialed Bones’ number. After 3 rings, it picked up. He was almost surprised since it was about 3:00am, but not really. “Dr. Brennan here.”
“Bones, it’s Booth. I just sent you some photos of another victim. Do you think you could have Cam look at them and see if she can find a match?”
“Yes, also the bodies are identical to the first victim. Cam is running more tests to determine exact time of death.”
“Yeah, I thought as much.”
“Hey Booth, stay careful out there. Whatever is going around doing this is dangerous.”
“Yeah, you too. Booth out.” He hung up the phone and went to go find Mulder.
Mulder was busy talking to a few people from the nearby hotel. He finished the conversation and turned to talk to Booth. “This case just keeps getting more interesting,” Mulder said. “That was the hotel manager. He was able to confirm that Chris Finders stayed here with a woman a week ago. He also mentioned that another woman came looking for him not long after, but didn’t know what happened after that.”
Booth motioned for Mulder to continue. “And there was one other thing, a few of the late-night hotel staff heard a high-pitched wail on that same night.”
Booth just raised his eyebrows. “Don’t say it.” Mulder didn’t press the issue. “Things just aren’t adding up. Let’s head back to the Jeffersonian.”
*************************************
They arrived at the Jeffersonian shortly after dawn. Bones and Cam were still in the lab going over things, and didn’t seem a bit sleepy. Booth and Mulder stepped into the lab, a huge yawn emanating from Booth in the process.
“About time you two showed up,” Bones remarked. “We’ve identified your latest victim from the photos in Chris’ building. She was Olivia Jeffries, his ‘whore of a girlfriend.’”
“Interesting,” Booth replied.
“Also, no one’s seen her in a week, so it looks whoever killed her did it a week ago and she’s just been lying there ever since.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Booth said. “How could she have been dead for a week and Chris only a couple of days, and yet all the other details match up?” He was obviously puzzled.
“Well I’m sure it will all make sense at some point. Why don’t you and Mulder go get some rest, you look like a mess.”
Booth nodded at Bones. “Sounds like a plan.” Booth and Mulder turned to leave. When they got to Booth’s car, they noticed someone standing outside of it. It was Chris’ friend and neighbor, Kelley Peterson.
“Can I help you,” Booth asked.
“I’m glad I caught you,” Kelley replied. “I just thought of something that might help your case,” she continued.
Before she could say anything else, Booth’s phone rang. “Hold that thought,” he said. “Booth here,” he said into the phone. It was Bones calling him again.
“Booth, we just found out some new information and thought you’d want to know right away,” Bones said. “It turns out that while Chris did check out of his hotel in Atlantic City and his security code was used to access his office at work 3 days ago, no one actually saw him do either of those things. It was all done by phone.”
Something in Booth’s mind clicked and his stomach suddenly felt like a rock was in it. As he took in what Bones was telling him, he looked over at Mulder, who was quietly pointing to the object hanging from Kelley’s neck - it was a small glass seashell. “I gotta go,” Booth said. He hung up.
“That’s a lovely necklace you have there, Ms. Peterson,” Mulder said. “Wherever did you get it?”
Kelley’s eyes changed before she said anything. Both Booth and Mulder quiety reached for their guns while trying not to make any overt motions. “You don’t understand,” Kelley started. She knew she was caught. She started crying. “He loved me . . . He told me he loved me, but then he went off with . . . her! He told me he was going out of town for a business trip but something didn’t seem right. I followed him and that’s where I found them, in each other’s arms down at the beach. How could he have done such a thing?” Her sobbing made it hard to understand her.
“I don’t know what came over me or how it happened, I really don’t, but next thing I knew they were dead.”
“Let’s all just calm down and talk about this,” Booth interjected. “We can go inside, and maybe get you something to drink.”
It wasn’t working. Kelley was getting more and more upset. Her eyes kept getting darker and her hair was starting to raise. “I’m so, so, sorry. I’m really sorry.” she said. Her skin started to glow and it seemed like she was fading out of existence. In another moment, Kelley was gone and what appeared to be a female phantom stood before them.
The banshee opened its mouth and started to wail. With only a couple of seconds to react, Mulder pulled out his gun and shot the only spot on the banshee that wasn’t wailing - the glass seashell. It instantly exploded into a spray of a thousand tiny particles. The pitch of the wail changed and instead of expanding out towards them it seemed to pull into itself instead. The banshee writhed in pain for but a moment before winking out of existence. In its place, the dead, broken body of Kelley Peterson remained.
*************************************
A few hours later, Booth and Mulder went to a local bar to grab a drink and relax. As Booth began sipping on his scotch, Mulder started talking. “The seashell must have acted as some sort of amplifying and protection device for the creature,” he said. Booth just nodded and stared into his glass, which was now empty.
“She must’ve given copies of it to her lovers to protect them. She was probably going to collect it when you and Bones showed up.” Mulder paused a moment to drain his own glass. “The poor girl knew what she was doing, but didn’t know how to stop it.”
Booth eyed him warily. “You know, you’re kind of annoying, but you’re not half bad as a partner,” he said.
Mulder stared back at him, a wry smile beginning to form. “You too,” he said.
After that, both of them quietly ordered another round and drank it in silence. Outside, snow began to fall. In a few hours, families would be preparing Christmas Eve dinner and celebrating. Booth suddenly remembered the Christmas Tree he had forced Bones to buy earlier and wondered if she had even bothered to set it up yet. Probably not.
“Hey Mulder, do you like Christmas Trees?” Booth asked.
“As much as anyone, I suppose. Why?” Mulder asked.
“I was wondering if you could help me with another case,” he said, smiling.
Somehow Mulder knew he was talking about his friend Bones and not a crime scene. “Nothing would make me happier,” he replied. Booth put down some money for the drinks and the two set out together in the morning snow.
-END-