"The Secret In the Soil"
[SCENE_BREAK]
ACT ONE
(Opens: BOOTH, BRENNAN and SWEETS and in SWEET'S office in session.)
SWEETS: Okay, Dr. Brennan, Agent Booth. Together. A little closer. Okay, yeah, that's perfect. Beautiful. Now keeping your back straight, I want you each to lean forward.
BOOTH: No.
SWEETS: Excuse me?
BRENNAN: Come on, Booth. I'm sure this is just one of those meaningless exercises meant to illustrate the importance of supporting each other.
BOOTH: We agreed to see another therapist, not be action figures for a 12-year-old.
SWEETS: I'm 22, Agent Booth. I have a doctorate in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where my dissertation on the effects of job stress was published.
BOOTH: That's great. I'm sure your mother is really proud of you, Sweets.
SWEETS: Dr. Sweets, or Lance, you know, if you're more comfortable with informality, but I'd prefer, out of respect for each other and the process of psychotherapy, that we at least try to, uh...
BOOTH: Sign the forms so I can get out of this suit and I could have a Saturday night.
BRENNAN: I don't care how young you are. I've never believed in psychotherapy.
SWEETS Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan, this isn't a game. The FBI is considering severing your partnership.
BRENNAN: What?
BOOTH: Why?
SWEETS: Why? Dude, you arrested her father.
BRENNAN: He was just doing his job.
SWEETS: Yeah, but come on, he, like, he arrested your father. He's going to have to be a witness against him. Circumstances such as these tend to stir up a lot of scary feelings.
BOOTH: I don't have scary feelings. Maybe you need a little night-light at night to sleep.
SWEETS: Agent Booth, you've been trying to intimidate me since the moment you stepped in here. And you've succeeded.
BRENNAN: Don't...scare the boy, Booth.
SWEETS: Now, I need you both to, uh, fill out these questionnaires and get 'em back to me. Don't share your anwsers It'll help me evaluate whether Dr. Brennan's services should be signed to a new agent.
BOOH: That's not going to happen.
SWEETS: Like it or not, Agent Booth, I'm the therapist in charge of this case, so I suggest that we work in cooperation rather than conflict.
BRENNAN: I can cooperate. SWEE Good. Agent Booth?
BOOTH: I'm still going to call you Sweets.
SWEETS: Yep.
(Cut to: BOOTH and BRENNAN in the FBI SUV.)
BRENNAN: It's some kind of personality test.
BOOTH: I can't believe he gave us homework. You know, probably his. What kind of kid works on a Saturday night?
BRENNAN: Oh, that's my fault. I told him I wasn't available during the week.
BOOTH: Whoa, whoa, why'd you go and do that? You know, I had, I had seats right behind the dugout. (His phone rings.) Booth.
BRENNAN: Don't look on my paper.
BOOTH: Okay, yeah, got it. Well, there's only one thing more fun than therapy on a Saturday night and that's a dead body.
(Cut to: crime scene, with the usual cop cars, and forensic workers.)
BRENNAN: Look at all the cars. I thought the VA hospital was closed.
BOOTH: Well, it is, Bones, but I mean, come on. It's the weekend, right? An abandoned building surrounded by acres of secluded land. Use your imagination. Teenagers, hormones.
BRENNAN: You're saying they're here to fornicate.
BOOTH: Yes. Nice image, very, uh, biblical.
(They walk up to CAM.)
CAM: These two were on their way to a romantic encounter under the stars and literally tripped over the remains.
BOOTH: Oh, I'm guessing that killed the mood.
CAM: I've got patchy tissue. But this level of decomp pushes things into your territory. I haven't touched it yet.
BOOTH: Definitely not homeless...nice watch, good shoes, at least what's left of them.
BRENNAN: Male, middle-aged. Level of decomp would suggest he's been out here a few weeks, but...
BOOTH: I don't get it. Kids coming here every night and they're just noticing him now...
CAM: Dumped at the top of the hill?
BOOTH: And he rolled down.
CAM: Would explain the amount of fresh mud and leaves on the body.
BRENNAN: These bones are still greasy. Did you take an internal temperature?
CAM: With this degree of decomp, why would it matter?
BRENNAN: Maybe he hasn't been dead as long as he looks. The body is still radiating a lot of heat.
CAM: Wow, you're not kidding.
BOOTH: We used to use the local golf course. I remember taking Mary Ann Milano to the ninth hole... sand trap. She had long hair all the way...
CAM: You are so going to regret telling this story.
BOOTH: Okay, now what do you got?
BRENNAN: 127 degrees?
BOOTH: Wow, that's really not normal.
CAM: No, that's way past really not normal.
BOOTH: You're saying that before the body was dumped it was...
CAM: Cooked.
BOOTH: Cooked?
BRENNAN: Cooked.
ACT TWO
(Medico-Legal Lab - Platform. ZACH, BRENNAN, and HODGINS.)
HODGINS: Has it occurred to either of you that this might be another victim in the Widow's Son case?
ZACH: Based on what?
HODGINS: Because the victim was cooked like an entree. Same as that guy in Germany.
BRENNAN: There's no evidence here to suggest cannibalism...no bite marks.
HODGINS: No condiments.
ZACH: We have a bullet hole in the sternum, Dr. Brennan. What guy in Germany?
HODGINS: He ran a computer ad online, said he was looking for someone to eat.
BRENNAN: There's an excessive amount of mud and debris from the dump site. It makes it difficult to get a clear view of the injury.
HODGINS: Yeah, tell me about it. I have to separate and distinguish particulates and insects from the body's original location.
ZACH: People actually replied to the ad?
HODGINS: Oh, yeah. Guy ended up feasting on a computer engineer.
ZACH: That's extremely disturbing.
(CAM: enters.)
HODGINS: Well, hello, my exotic princess.
CAM: What a charmingly inappropriate greeting, Dr. Hodgins.
ZACH: I think he's talking to a bug.
CAM: Well, now I feel a bit... rejected.
HODGINS: Looks like something from the Nitidulidae family. Where did you come from, you gorgeous creature? Do you have any friends?
HODGINS: Boy, he melted like ice cream on a hot summer day.
CAM: So when do I get my turn with him?
BRENNAN: Oh, we should be finished within...20 minutes.
CAM: Excellent.
HODGINS: Wow. I'm finding a large concentration of bristletails and harvester ants dead by the victim's feet. That is odd.
CAM: The guy was cooked, Hodgins. Odd is kind of a relative term.
(Cut to: BRENNAN in her office, BOOTH walks in.)
BOOTH: Hey. Angela called. She wanted me to...Hey, is that the test from Dr. Sweets?
BRENNAN: Yes.
BOOTH: Well, what'd you put for number seven? Because I put 12 to 15 times a day, and now I'm thinking I really misunderstood the question.
BRENNAN: We're not supposed to discuss our answers.
BOOTH: Come on, Bones, the teacher's not in the room, let me see.
BRENNAN: Is this how you got through school, Booth?
BOOTH: No. Well, maybe algebra, but...
(ANGELA enters.)
Hey, Booth, I got your I.D. Franklin Curtis, age 54. His wife Margie reported him missing yesterday.
BOOTH: Whoa...Augusta county. He was rich.
ANGELA: Yeah. Founder of the Natural Sun organic supermarket chain.
BRENNAN: There's one near my apartment. Excellent selection of local produce.
BOOTH: Totally overpriced. A carrot is a carrot.
ANGELA: Hey, it's worth it. Organic, there's no pesticides. It's from sustainable farms. Every time that I buy something there, I feel so virtuous.
BOOTH: Guy started off with a single roadside produce stand, which he grew into a nationwide supermarket chain.
BRENNAN: An organic capitalist.
BOOTH: Ambition like that is bound to create a few enemies.
(HODGINS enters.)
HODGINS: I tested fabric samples from the victim's pants They were covered with chloropicrin.
BOOTH: Why the pinchy face, Bones?
BRENNAN: Franklin Curtis built his whole career on organic produce and chloropicrin...
HODGINS: Is a pesticide.
(Cut to: HARDING home with MARGIE CURTIS, her daughter KAT, BOOTH and BRENNAN.)
MARGIE: I was at a yoga retreat with my daughter. When Frank didn't answer the phone, I got worried.
(KAT enters.)
KAT: Here, Mom. Ignatia Amara. It's a homeopathic remedy for grief.
MARGIE: When we came home, there was a cup of herbal tea on the counter as if he'd just...stepped out for a moment.
BOOTH: I noticed the fields as we drove in. You still operate the farm?
KAT: No matter how big the business got, Dad always wanted to remember how it all started.
BRENNAN: Your farm, it's...certified organic, correct? No pesticides besides natural predators?
MARGIE: Of course.
BOOTH: Your husband, was he having any personal problems, recent arguments?
MARGIE: No, everybody loved Frank.
KAT: Mom.
MARGIE: Your dad was a wonderful man.
KAT: My dad was kind of obsessed. He'd pressure conventional farmers to go organic.
MARGIE: "Pressure" makes it sound so...He was an extremely generous man. He offered to support them financially, while they made the transition.
BRENNAN: What if a farmer didn't want to switch?
KAT: Dad would turn things over to his lawyers. They'd find some legal loophole. Property taxes, zoning, who knows? Eventually Dad would just buy them out.
BOOTH: And he'd force people off their land. I see. Any farmers he was trying to convert?
(Cut to: outside, BOOTH and BRENNAN are walking up to ANDREW HARDING on part of his land.)
BOOTH: Yeah, Mr. Harding?
HARDING: Something I can help you with?
BOOTH: Yeah, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth. This here is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan. I'd like to ask you a few questions about Franklin Curtis.
HARDING: You can tell that son of a bitch that the only crop that will ever grow in this land is tobacco. I don't give a crap how many suits he sends over here.
BRENNAN: He, he didn't send us,Mr. Harding. Franklin Curtis is dead.
HARDING: Well, I wish I could muster up some remorse.
BOOTH: Wow, No love lost between the two of you, I see.
HARDING: The man was trying to kick me off of my own land. My family has been on this farm for over 150 years. Tobacco built this country, yet these self-righteous eco-hippies have the nerve to look down their nose at us.
BOOTH: Did you see Frank last Thursday?
HARDING: N-Not that I can recall.
BOOTH: Really? Because Virginia Pesticide Control Board reports that you registered an application of chloropicrin to your field last Thursday, the same day Frank disappeared. (Pulls out a sheet of paper.)
HARDING: So? It's a fumigant insecticide. It's perfectly legal.
BRENNAN: It was all over Frank's clothing.
BOOTH: All... over. (Waves sheet as he says it.)
HARDING: Okay, he did come over. He said he was giving me one last chance before he started playing dirty.I was spraying the fields. I may have accidentally aimed the chem hose at him.
BOOTH: Accidentally.
HARDING: Look, I swear I wasn't trying to hurt him. I just wanted him off my property. You understand? Who the hell was he to take my land from me?
(Cut to: BOOTH and BRENNAN in the FBI SUV.)
BOOTH: I'm just saying the guy had a point. If pesticides are so bad for us, then how come people live longer now than they did before they used pesticides?
BRENNAN: You're over-simplifying an enormously complex issue..
BOOTH: Meaning you don't have a good answer.
BRENNAN: The arguments in favor of organic farming aren't just about food safety.They're about prevention of soil erosion, protection of water quality, carbon emissions from shipping, not to mention...
BOOTH: Whatever, you know what, you're not going to see me paying four dollars for a tomato.
BRENNAN: You know, a researcher at the University of Florida proved that alligators who swim in pesticide contaminated waters have smaller genitalia than their clean-water counterparts.
BOOTH: No way.
BRENNAN: Way.
(Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab, with CAM)
CAM: See? Right there. There's some kind of pattern on what's left of the skin tissue. I'm hoping a more artistic eye than mine can make sense of it.
ANGELA: Regular circular shapes, cross-hatching, I'd say button marks. Like buttons from the victim's shirt were pressed into his flesh while he decomposed.
CAM: Yes, that's exactly what they are.
ANGELA: Glad to help.
CAM: Here's the thing, though. Our victim's clothing doesn't have any buttons.
(Cut to: BOOTH and BRENNAN in the FBI SUV.)
BOOTH: Yeah, in this whole environmental footprint thing, right, I mean, why shouldn't I leave a footprint? I'm here, right? Hey, why should I have fewer rights than any other species? Hey, Bones, you know we're having a lively discussion here.
BRENNAN: Tobacco has to be cured.
BOOTH: Yeah, I know, and it kills you. We're on the same side with that one.
BRENNAN: Curing at tobacco farms is done in curing barns, using indirect fired burners.
BOOTH: Oh, so if Frank's body were in Harding's curing barn, that would explain how it got cooked.
(BRENNAN's phone rings.)
BRENNAN: Brennan.
BOOTH: That should be enough to get a warrant to search the farm.
BRENNAN: There's what?
CAM:, in the lab: Skin slippage. Our victim was pressed up against another body and during whatever heating process the two went through, the second corpse's tissue basically melted onto our victim.
BRENNAN: Thanks.
BOOTH: What, we got big news from the nerd posse?
BRENNAN: When we search the tobacco farm, we'll be looking for more than the murder site. We'll be looking for a second victim.
ACT THREE
(HARDING home, with LIZBETH, BOOTH, BRENNAN and various federnal and forensic personnel.)
LIZABETH: I'm making lemonade.
BOOTH: Lemonade!
LIZBETH: It's awful hot today.
HARDING: It's an intrusion, Elizabeth, not a garden party.
BOOTH: Agent Booth, ma'am.
LIZBETH. Elizabeth Harding. Pleasure to meet you.
BOOTH: Listen, we won't be any longer than we have to.
LIZBETH: Shame about Mr. Curtis.
HARDING: Uh, we don't have to talk to them, Elizabeth.
LIZBETH: Don't mind Mr. Grouchy.
BOOTH: Did you know Mr. Curtis personally?
LIZBETH: Oh, of course. Although, maybe not as personally HARDING: Elizabeth... LIZBETH:...as he might have liked.
BOOTH: How's that?
LIZBETH: Andy didn't tell you?
BOOTH: No.
LIZBETH: Oh, he get so jealous. No reason. Looks aren't everything. Mr. Curtis was a big flirt. Always making passes at me.
HARDING: It didn't seem relevant.
LIZBETH: And right under his poor wife's nose, too. Fool thought he could get me to convince Andy to sell the farm.
HARDING: Elizabeth!
LIZBETH: Oh, don't you start again. When I told Andy, I don't think I have ever seen him so mad. What a temper you have.
BOOTH: Thank you, Mrs. Harding. You have been very helpful.
LIZBETH: Tell Andy. He doesn't think I can do anything right. So how many lemonades?
BOOTH: Oh, how many lemonades? (Turns to ask various FBI guys in the garden, working.)
BOOTH: Make a pitcher. Great.
(Medico-Legal lab, ZACK, HODGINS.)
HODGINS: Put solar panels on my house. Compact fluorescents in every socket and still feel guilty when I use a paper napkin.
ZACK: I've been looking at low-impact housing. I saw a free-standing house that was 118 square feet. This entry to the sternum might not be a bullet hole.
HODGINS: Wait, wait, wait. 118 square feet? Dude, that's smaller than the janitor's closet.
ZACK: There's room for a bed, kitchen on one wall and a small bathroom. I don't really see why I would need more. Isn't the goal to reduce our impact on the environment?
HODGINS: Our lives aren't only about function. We are allowed to enjoy ourselves occasionally.
ZACK: That's why I work.
HODGINS: Yes, finally. Identified my mystery bug. Carpophilus nitidulidae. King of the lab! It's an agricultural pest, found on pineapple plants.
(Cut to: HARDING farm, with BOOTH, various FBI agents strewn about.)
WOMAN FBI AGENT: Agent Booth? There's nothing, the curing shed is clean.
BOOTH: Yeah, but the body was cooked, and there should be another body, too.
WOMAN FBI AGENT: Not here.
(Enter LIZBETH.)
LIZBETH: More lemonade?
WOMAN FBI AGENT:Yes, please.
BOOTH: (to WOMAN FBI AGENT) No, no, no, just go back inside and check. (to LIZBETH) I'll take half a glass. (Phone rings.) Booth.
(BRENNAN and ANGELA in BRENNAN'S office, talking to BOOTH on speaker phone.)
BRENNAN: He was around pineapple plants at the time of his death.
BOOTH: Pineapples?
ANGELA: Hodgins found insect activity that's only found on pineapple plants.
BRENNAN: But the closest place they're grown commercially is Florida.
BOOTH: You're saying that the body was moved from Florida?
BRENNAN: I don't have an explanation, I'm just giving you the facts.
ANGELA: I found this article about the environmental impact caused by transporting crops over long distances. It mentions this farmer in Virginia who was trying to grow tropical crops in a hot house.
BOOTH: Like pineapples?
ANGELA: Like pineapples.
BOOTH: (to ANGELA and BRENNAN) Thanks.(to LIZBETH, with lemonade) Thanks.
(Cut to LYNDON PAGE'S house, the kitchen, with BRENNAN and BOOTH.)
PAGE: Boy, sorry to hear about Frank. He was a good man. A big supporter of what I'm trying to do here.
BOOTH: All right, Mr. Page...
PAGE: Please, call me Lyndon. You ever eat a pineapple for the same day it was picked Agent Booth?
BOOTH: Actually, no, and...
PAGE: Let me make you each a smoothie.
BOOTH: That's okay.
BRENNAN: I'd love one.
BOOTH: Frank Curtis ever visit your hot house?
PAGE: Once, back when I first built it. He had some advice on how to maximize sun exposure.
BOOTH: What's he doing?
BRENNAN: He's powering the blender. The wheel rim is attached to a generator. This is rather ingenious.
PAGE: Stay fit and save energy.
BOOTH: I'm sure it'll catch on; so, you and Frank, you ever have any problems?
PAGE: No, never. Probably helped that I didn't have a wife for him to flirt with.
BOOTH: Seems Frank had a habit of hitting on other people's wives.
PAGE: All great men have their foibles. Go ahead and check out the hot house. I'll bring these out soon as they're done.
(Cut to: hot house with BRENNAN and BOOTH.)
BOOTH: Frank Curtis's wife stood to gain the most from her husband's death. If she found out he was cheating...
BRENNAN: But you said her alibi is solid.
BOOTH: That doesn't mean we can't, you know, double check. I bet Sweets was picked that on all through school.
BRENNAN: And that's relevant now, why?
BOOTH: You're kidding me, right? Scrawny kid like that sees me coming, a former jock, and he's thinking to himself, "Time for a little payback," you know? Make him fill out all those stupid forms. Threatens to take my partner away from me.
BRENNAN: These tubs are too small to fit anything. We're not going to find the second victim here.
BOOTH: Yeah, you know what, you're right. So what do you say we go check... Bones, was that you?
BRENNAN: Was what me?
BOOTH: That smell.
BRENNAN: I don't know what you're talking about.
BOOTH: Come on. Why don't girls just admit it? It's a natural bodily function. You're a scientist.
BRENNAN: Booth, I don't...That had to be you.
BOOTH:: It wasn't me!
BRENNAN: "He who smelt it, dealt it."
BOOTH: How do you even know that phrase?
(PAGE enters.)
PAGE: Phew, sorry about that smell. Guess I left the vents open. (Hands them their smoothies.) Community composting facility is about a mile away, but when the winds blow westerly, it smells like it's around the corner.
BRENNAN: Do you take agricultural wastes to the composting facility?
PAGE: Sure, almost every organic farmer in the county does. It's a great program. You give them your waste and in return, they give you certified organic compost at a fraction of the cost.
(BRENNAN hands back the cups to PAGE.)
BOOTH: Whoa, I wasn't done with that.
BRENNAN: I have an idea. Thank you very much, Lyndon. Your smoothies are excellent.
BOOTH: Hey, hey, hey, do you have any "to go" cups?
PAGE: The road to the apocalypse is paved with disposable food containers, my friend.
(Cut to Medico-Legal lab, with HODGINS, and BOOTH and BRENNAN on the phone in the FBI SUV.)
HODGINS: Compost, of course. The identifying organisms would have started dying as soon as the body was removed from the heat.
BRENNAN: But how high do the temperatures get?
HODGINS: Inside a large compost heap, as high as 170 degrees.
BOOTH: That's hot enough to cook a body.
BRENNAN: And if Lyndon contributes his waste to the pile, that could explain why the pineapple beetle was there.
HODGINS: Hey, you guys going to check out a large compost pile?
BOOTH: (quietly) It's wrong how excited he sounds. Wrong.
(Cut to: compost yard, with numerous trucks and equipment. BOOTH, BRENNAN, and GAVIN LEE.)
LEE: We've got five people on staff full time. But there's 43 farmers with keys to the gates. You all right?
BOOTH: Yeah...oh, just the smell.
LEE: We've probably got a couple masks in the office, you two want me to go...
BRENNAN: I'm fine. Agent Booth tends to be squeamish.
BOOTH: Look, I'm fine, okay? So you were saying 43 farmers?
LEE: They're welcome to dump their own waste, otherwise we schedule a pickup with our truck when it's--
TIM: Hey, Gavin.
LEE: Oh, Tim Peck, Clay Ainsley, couple of our local farmers. This is Agent Booth, Dr. Brennan. They're here about Frank.
(CHARLIE ROGAN enters.)
CHARLIE: Truck stopped running again, Gavin. I think it needs a new fuel filter.
LEE: I just replaced it two weeks ago.
CLAY: Yeah, when I switched to bio-diesel, I went through at least four fuel filters. It's a conversion, loosens up the deposits.
BOOTH: You work here?
CHARLIE: Yes sir. Charlie Rogan.
BOOTH: Did you know Frank Curtis?
CHARLIE: Very well. I only just heard what happened to him. I dated his daughter all through high school. Gavin introduced us. If there's anything I can do...Mr. Curtis was a great man.
CLAY: (scoffs)
BOOTH: Oh, you disagree?
CLAY: Frank Curtis was in it for the money, not the cause.
TIM: Then why did he donate his entire estate to environmental groups? We're talking millions. Even our corp could see some.
CLAY: You ever been to his house? 4,000 square feet, brand-new everything. Left his air conditioner on all the time. Yeah, fat lot that man cared about the environment.
TIM: Don't mind him. The smell out here always puts him in a foul mood.
BOOTH: Alright, look, I'm going to need names and addresses of every employee... (groans) And a list of participating farmers.
BRENNAN: And the facility has to be closed until all of the compost is searched.
BOOTH: We can get a warrant if you want.
LEE: I do.
(Cut to SWEETS' office with SWEETS, BOOTH and BRENNAN.)
SWEETS: Two independent people often find themselves...Agent Booth, are you listening?
(BOOTH has his knew up against the table flipping his phone for any possible messages.)
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: The judge will call when the warrant is issued, Booth, pay attention.
BOOTH: What, I'm in the middle of an investigation. I get distracted.
BRENNAN: So it's not my investigation, too?
BOOTH: It's too early in the morning for this.
SWEETS: No, no, no, this is good, let's talk about conflict. When you guys argue, how do you come to a resolution?
BRENNAN: We don't argue.
SWEETS: Come on, remember, zone of truth, right here.
BOOTH: Fine. We might bicker a little bit, but that's not arguing.
BRENNAN: Bicker? I don't bicker.
BOOTH: No? What about the whole environmentalism thing?
BRENNAN: That was a discussion.
BOOTH: You pretty much told me my pen1s was going to shrink if I didn't eat organic food.
BRENNAN: That's not bickering, that's being a good friend.
BOOTH: My pen1s is just fine, thank you.
SWEETS: Now we're getting somewhere. All right, I think we're in that truth zone.
BOOTH: Stop with the whole truth zone thing, alright? Bones and I are trying to catch a guy who cooked a tree hugger. So just score the personality test so we can get back to crime fighting.
SWEETS: Yeah, that's good, Agent Booth. Now let the anger lead you to the fear. You can't be whole, you can't do your job to its fullest, unless you get in touch with that fear you feel. Now Dr. Brennan and I are going to close our eyes. Follow the anger, all right? Feel it? Feel it softening. You feel that?
(BOOTH and BRENNAN both snicker, as BOOTH gets his text.)
SWEETS: Very mature, guys.
BOOTH: Got to run, Sweets. Got the call. Let's boogie, Bones. And, um, look, next time, you really should tell me if there's going to be an essay on the test.
(Cut to: Medico-Legal lab, with ZACK examining the victim's bones as CAM: walks in.)
CAM: I just got off the phone with Hodgins. He's knee-deep in compost.
ZACK: He must be happy.
CAM: Happy as a pig in...what pigs like to be in.
ZACK: A sty?
CAM: You said you had things to show me?
ZACK: From the injuries, it appears there was a struggle. You can see the bruising and fresh hairline fractures on the femurs and left ulna.
CAM: Consistent with defensive wounds?
ZACK: That would be my assessment.
CAM: So, there was a fight before he was shot?
ZACK: He wasn't shot.
CAM: I thought you said it was a bullet hole.
ZACK: I was mistaken. It occasionally happens. The hole is actually a congenital abnormality. A sternal foramen.
CAM: So we're back to no known cause of death?
ZACK: Not quite. I found multiple puncture wounds with hinge fracturing on the scapula and posterior aspects of several ribs.
CAM: He was stabbed? By what?
ZACK: I'm working on it.
(Holds up two sharp objects.)
CAM: Okay then. Enjoy.
(Cut to: compost yard, with numerous trucks and equipment. BOOTH, BRENNAN, and HODGINS. Hodgins and BRENNAN are in the pile, searching for evidence.)
BOOTH: Oh, God, I'm never going to get over that smell.
HODGINS: This place is awesome. The thermophilic bacteria content is off of the charts.
BOOTH: No security cameras. Too high-tech for the granola crowd. That means we have about 100 suspects.
BRENNAN: Are you coming in?
BOOTH: No... you know what? That's your thing. And I'll just, uh, mess things up if I come up there.
HODGINS: I just heard a crunch. Definitely not plant life. I'd love to try this feeding fungi.
(Bends down to investigate, brushes off some compost to reveal a skeleton. )
BRENNAN: That's adipocere.
BOOTH: Is that good or bad?
BRENNAN: Good for us. Bad for the victim. Female, probably in her early 20s.
HODGINS: It would attribute to decomposition to the microbial activity of the compost pile...
BRENNAN: She's been dead about the same time as Curtis.
BOOTH: Even dead, Frank was lying with another woman?
[SCENE_BREAK]
ACT FOUR
(Cut to Medico-Legal lab -Platform with ZACK, CAM:, and HODGINS.)
ZACK: These three phalanges still have some tissue.
CAM: And fingernails. I may be able to get some scrapings, maybe even a print.
HODGINS: Calliphoridae didn't have a chance to oviposit. She must have been buried in the compost just hours after she died.
CAM: Can you pinpoint how long it would take for her to reach this level of decomp?
HODGINS: Well, given the carbon to nitrogen ratio of the compost I sampled, she's been in there since last Wednesday.
ZACK: Meaning she died the day before Frank?
CAM: Who catches two people cheating, but kills them a day apart?
(ANGELA enters.)
ANGELA: My sketch isn't matching any of the missing women on file.
HODGINS: Well, maybe no one's missed her yet.
ANGELA: Poor thing. Everybody should be missed.
HODGINS: Oh, you are such an angel.
(HODGINS leans in to kiss ANGELA.)
CAM: I will get a bucket of cold water, I swear.
ZACK: There's perimortem trauma to the skull. But it's not severe enough to cause death. I also found multiple broken ribs, and the sternum is severely fractured.
ANGELA: Somebody tried to crush her?
ZACK No, these injuries are consistent with inexpert use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
CAM: Somebody tried to save her.
(Cut to BOOTH in the Curtis home with MARGIE CURTIS.)
MARGIE: The woman you found... who was she?
BOOTH: Well, we were hoping you might know.
MARGIE: I told you, I was out of town. I have no idea.
BOOTH: But you were aware that your husband wasn't always faithful.
MARGIE: Yes, I was.
BOOTH: Yet you stayed with him. I get it. Big house, comfortable lifestyle.
MARGIE: I stayed with Frank because I loved him. I accepted his faults.
BOOTH: I'm sure you'll accept the life insurance money, too.
MARGIE: I'm not even thinking about money, Agent Booth. How can you even? My husband hasn't even been dead for a week.
BOOTH: I'm aware of that. Since you were so forgiving of your husband's infidelity, why didn't you mention that in our first conversation?
MARGIE: Kat. I couldn't do that to our daughter. She idolized Frank. I can't ruin that, especially now.
(KAT enters, with CHARLIE ROGAN.)
KAT: Mom.
BOOTH: Mrs. Curtis, I...I came over to tell you and Kat how sorry I am. Gavin said he'd try to stop over later. I didn't mean to interrupt.
KAT: No, Charlie, it's okay, stay. Mom, I knew since high school. Charlie knew, all my classmates knew.
MARGIE: Oh, God.
CHARLIE: Come on, Kat. Not now.
KAT: I pretended that I didn't. For you.
(Cut to: BRENNAN'S office, where she is on her couch reading and BOOTH walks in.)
BOOTH: Okay, so Margie said Frank kept an office in town. Turns out that office was an apartment.
BRENNAN: Where he took his women.
BOOTH: Yeah, okay, Bones, that's right. Come on, let's go to the apartment.
BRENNAN: You know I used that device on in one of my novels, and my editor thought it was trite.
BOOTH: Ha! Maybe it was Frank's take on being environmentally friendly, making a friendly environment. Get it?
BRENNAN: Apparently not.
(Cut to the apartment of FRANK CURTIS. BRENNAN and BOOTH walk in the door as BOOTH complains about the latex gloves. Alas! Booth wears gloves like a squint instead of poking at thins with his pen! Success!)
BOOTH: You know, I really hate these gloves. No. No sign of forced entry.
BRENNAN: These sunglass frames are made of bamboo.
BOOTH: Oh, is that weird?
BRENNAN: Well, most frames are made of metal or plastic, sometimes vinyl.
BOOTH: Maybe they belong to the Eco Avenger.
BRENNAN: Who?
BOOTH: Frank. Toiletries in the bathroom, bra hanging over the shower rod. Definitely a woman living here.
BRENNAN: Dried blood on the coffee table.
BOOTH: Let's call forensics and have the place swept.
BRENNAN: Send everything to the...
BOOTH: To the Jeffersonian, yup. Got it. Including the whole... Yeah, the entire coffee table. Here...Here we go. Take-out receipt from, uh, two weeks ago. Hop Lee's Chinese Kitchen. Name on the credit card...Emma Billings.
BRENNAN: Booth?
BOOTH: Yeah.
BRENNAN: I think we found our second victim.
BOOTH: Emma Billings.
(Cut to: Medico-Legal lab. BRENNAN and ZACK are discussing the bones of the second victim.)
ZACK: She has an interior superior margin fracture to the C-5 vertebrae.
BRENNAN: What about the posterior half of the vertebral body? Any linked sagittal fractures?
ZACK: Yes.
BRENNAN: So...if she fell and hit her head on the coffee table at this angle, that could account for the broken vertebrae.
ZACK: It's a statistically rare possibility, but one that would have killed her instantly.
(CAM: enters.)
CAM: FBI sent over some info on our latest victim. She was a cashier at one of Franklin Curtis's Natural Sun Markets in New Jersey.
BRENNAN: How'd she end up in Virginia?
CAM: They think she was hiding. Earlier this year, she accused one of her coworkers of stalking her. Check him out.
BRENNAN: Wouldn't want him following me.
CAM: I know, right? Guy's name is Noel Liftan.He was fired. Emma filed a restraining order. Booth is trying to track him down. Any progress on time of death?
BRENNAN: It appears to have been accidental CAM: That'll explain CPR ZACK: But Frank were stabbed multiple times.
CAM: Right. Not so accidental.
(BRENNAN'S phone rings.)
BRENNAN: Hey, Booth.
CAM: What about the murder weapon used on Frank? Find anything yet?
ZACK: These puncture wounds...I still can't find any weapon this small and curved.
CAM: They're close together. He didn't seem to move much.
ZACK: Which is odd, because the wounds appear deep.
BRENNAN: Okay, call me after. Booth found Emma's stalker. He's been staying at a motel right across the street from where Emma was killed.
(Cut to FBI investigation room with BOOTH and NOEL LIFTIN.)
NOEL: Don't look at me like that. You can't arrest me for renting a motel room. I didn't break any laws. I followed her, okay? But the motel room is over 150 feet from Emma's apartment building. I measured.
BOOTH: Then I guess I got no reason to suspect you. I mean, you were just keeping an eye on her.
NOEL: I was.
BOOTH: Yeah.
NOEL: Frank Curtis.
BOOTH: Who?
NOEL: Frank Curtis.
BOOTH: Frank Curtis.
NOEL: You should talk to him. Okay. He treated Emma like he owned her. It was so messed up. Wow, the reflections on this table, the patterns are beautiful.
BOOTH: Noel. Focus. Frank Curtis.
NOEL: Oh, sure. Frank comes in for one of his regional visits. You know, and has the manager hire Emma. The next time he comes in, he can see that Emma's falling for me. So he has me fired and then tells Emma to take out a restraining order.
BOOTH: Oh and the the fact that you called her 20 times a dayand slept in her driveway, that had nothing to do with it?
NOEL: I guess you've never been in love.
BOOTH: Where were you last Wednesday and Thursday?
NOEL: Mostly I just stay in my motel room, you know, keep an eye on Emma's building. Only times I ever leave is to go out and sell my products.
BOOTH: Your products?
NOEL: Hemp oil-based body products. I make them myself.
BOOTH: There's a surprise. I guess you're telling me you don't have an alibi.
(Cut to: Medico-Legal lab - Platform with HODGINS: I reviewed the forensic samples from the apartment. Traces of triglycerides, diglycerides, and free fatty acids on both the carpeting and the furniture. It looks like some vegetable oil.
BRENNAN: Could it be hemp oil? Booth said the person stalking Emma Billings sells hemp-based body products.
Yeah, that's one possibility.
BRENNAN: Re-examine any clothing from Frank and Emma's bodies.See if you can find additional traces of the oil.
HODGINS: Okay.
(CAM enters.)
CAM: Dr. Brennan, I need you to see some thing.
(BRENNAN, CAM and ZACK walk to a screen to review evidence they've just found.)
ZACK: Fracturing to Emma's sternum I concealed a malformation that became apparent once I finished reconstruction. A sternal feramin.
BRENNAN: Emma Billings and Frank Curtis both shared a congenital abnormality.
CAM: When Zach told me his findings, I decided to run DNA tests on the tissue samples from both victims. Multiple matching RFLPs. Our victims were related. If our murderer thought he killed Emma and her lover, he was very wrong.
BRENNAN: He killed Emma and her father ACT FIVE
(Cut to: Medico-Legal lab with ZACK, BRENNAN, and ANGELA.)
ZACK: I've tested over 40 different knives, ice picks, leather awls. I couldn't find a murder weapon to match.
BRENNAN: Well, with decomp and postmortem trauma from being rolled down the hill it's very difficult, Zach.
ANGELA: Okay, this will help you visualize the pattern of the wounds.
ZACK: Usually I can determine the weapon. This is a very frustrating murderer.
ANGELA: I'm sure he'll apologize when we catch him. There are five puncture wounds to Frank's chest.
ZACK:The result of repeated stabs by an unknown and very frustrating object.
BRENNAN: Perhaps not. What if Frank Curtis had broader shoulders? Angela, move the scapuli apart slowly. A little more.
ZACH: The wounds become equidistant.
BRENNAN: You're probably looking for an instrument with multiple sharp pointed objects projecting from it.
ZACK: A pitchfork.
ANGELA: How'd you get pitchfork?
ZACK: These three wounds mark the termination of a three-tine pitchfork's penetration.
BRENNAN: Makes sense.
ZACK: I'll go match the exact type and make.
HODGINS: I've got results from the clothes. You were right. Same vegetable oil on both Frank and Emma's clothing. But I found a high concentration of methanol and sodium hydroxide mixed in.
BRENNAN: So, the oil isn't from body products.
HODGINS: No, it's from bio-diesel fuel.
(Cut to: BRENNAN, BOOTH and ANGELA in the FBI SUV.)
ANGELA: So your suspect is going to give me a description of your suspect? I'm not following.
BOOTH: Yeah, the stoned hippie guy. He's all we have so far. I mean, he'll tell you what the guy looks like who went into Emma's place and then you draw.
ANGELA: I've never really found stoned guys that dependable. Except for cookies. They always have good cookies.
BRENNAN: You're grasping at straws, Booth. We should wait for more information.
BOOTH: It has to be somebody in the composting facility. Uh, they have pitchforks to turn the heaps, don't they?
BRENNAN: Pitchforks are used on every farm in the area.
BOOTH: But not bio-diesel, okay? The owner, Gavin, said he just replaced a fuel pump on his truck when he switched to bio-diesel.
BRENNAN: One of the other farmers also said that he just switched. And he has a key, he could've dumped the body the middle of the night BOOTH: I'm sorry, but whose side are you on? Uh, don't say the facts, because that just annoys me.
BRENNAN: You want us to base our actions on your gut again?
BOOTH Yes. You have your shiny machines, I have my gut.
ANGELA: Is it always like this when you two are together?
BRENNAN: Yes.; BOOTH: No. (Said simultaneously.)
ANGELA: It's kind of hot.
(Cut to: FBI investigation room with BRENNAN, BOOTH and ANGELA entering to NOEL, already in the room.)
BOOTH: What the hell is he doing?
BRENNAN: It's a Vedic chant.
BOOTH: All right, Noel, let's go, on your feet.
NOEL: A bass player taught it to me. I'm trying to calm myself, man. Emma's dead and I'm innocent. How many times do I have to tell you that?
BOOTH All right, you know, Noel. Just want to ask you some more questions, that's all.
NOEL: Who are the chicks?
BOOTH: Hey, be respectful, be a gentleman. Let's go, up, up, up... Come on. There you go. That's it, okay. This here is Dr. Brennan. Angela Montenegro, she's an artist.
NOEL: Cool.
BOOTH: Yeah, groovy.
BRENNAN: Did you see a truck parked outside Emma's apartment building last Wednesday?
NOEL: How would I know? I mean, it's not like I kept a log of everyone going in and out of the building.
BOOTH: Listen, Noel, you're the primary suspect in Emma's murder. So if you do not cooperate, you're looking at 20 solid years keeping tabs on your cell mate.
NOEL: All right, fine. I remember a truck, it had a cool logo from some organic composting place.
BRENNAN: We need to know who was driving the truck and if he went in to Emma's building.
NOEL: What, you think I have bionic vision or something?
BOOTH: No, but you got binoculars... they're in every starter stalker kit... so give Angela something to draw.
NOEL: I like artists.
ANGELA: I'll crush you like a bug, dude. Describe the guy.
NOEL: Uh, he's a young dude, maybe 26, about my height, average, kind of buff, Caucasian, uh, brown hair, he was wearing sunglasses. Kind of looked like they were made out of wood or something. Far out, huh? Wood. Hey, do you guys have medical marijuana in DC? Because I get anxiety attacks. BOOTH Give Angela something to draw.
NOEL: Um... he had a, uh, square jaw, um, straight nose, cute ears.
(Cut to: compost yard, with numerous trucks and equipment. BOOTH, BRENNAN, and GAVIN LEE. BRENNAN is spraying to check for blood as BOOTH interrogates LEE.)
LEE: Charlie Rogan got 'em from Frank Curtis. Why? What's going on?
BOOTH: Why did Frank give Charlie a pair of sunglasses?
LEE: No real reason-Frank wore 'em one day to pick up compost, Charlie admired 'em, so Frank gave 'em to him. He was like that.
BOOTH: Can you think of any reason why Charlie would want Frank dead?
LEE: Of course not--he's a good kid; he loved Frank.
(BRENNAN walks up with a pitchfork in hand.)
BRENNAN: This is the murder weapon.
BOOTH: There you go.
BRENNAN: Bag it.
BOOTH: It seems like Charlie and Frank had a thing for the same girl. Charlie gets jealous, he gets into a fight with the girl, kills her, and then he goes after Frank's story. As old as time, my compost friend.
(CHARLIE ROGAN walks up.)
CHARLIE: Need something, Gavin?
BOOTH: Yeah. Charles Rogan, you're under arrest for the murder of Frank Curtis and Emma Billings.
(BOOTH begins to cuff Charlie.)
CHARLIE: Oh, God, no. Th-This isn't what you think! Gavin, I didn't...I swear I didn't...
LEE: Don't. Don't say a word, Charlie.
CHARLIE: Gavin...
(BRENNAN answers her phone, with CAM: on the other line.)
BRENNAN: Cam, we've got the murder weapon used on Frank Curtis, plus evidence linking Charlie to the scene of Emma's murder.
CAM: Yeah, well, I hate to throw ants in your picnic, but I recovered DNA from beneath Emma's fingernails...Charlie Rogan didn't attack Emma Billings. Her assailant was female.
BOOTH: What is it?
BRENNAN: Charlie didn't kill Emma.
BOOTH: What? He was there.
CAM: But there's more. I noticed some odd similarities, so I compared Emma's own DNA to that of her attacker. There was a 25% commonality.
BRENNAN: Half sisters. It was Kat Curtis- she killed Emma.
(Cut to: FBI interrogation room with BRENNAN, BOOTH and KAT CURTIS.)
KAT: My father promised he'd stop fooling around. My mother was so humiliated.
BRENNAN: So you went to Emma.
KAT: I had the key. I was waiting for her. I scared her, I guess.
BOOTH: And you fought.
KAT: She fell. I never meant to hurt her. I just, I wanted my dad to end things. It just looked like she bumped her head.
BRENNAN: But she was dead.
(Cut to: FBI interrogation room with BRENNAN, BOOTH and CHARLIE ROGAN.)
CHARLIE: Kat called. We were still friends. I knew she'd never hurt anyone. It was an accident.
BOOTH: So you told Cat you'd get rid of Emma's body while her and her mother went out of town.
BRENNAN: But you leave your sunglasses.
CHARLIE: It's not like I'd done this before.
BRENNAN: And Frank sees them the next time he goes to visit Emma.
CHARLIE: He came at me, man, one night at work. Frank went nuts. Wanted to know why I was at his place, where Emma was.
BOOTH: He had a pitchfork.
CHARLIE: I was turning the compost when he was yelling at me.
BOOTH: He knew what would happen to you and Kat if you found out.
CHARLIE: He came at me. I didn't even know I'd done it. It was like someone else jabbed him with it.
BRENNAN: But the body, Charlie, why'd you move Frank's body?
(Cut to: FBI interrogation room with BRENNAN, BOOTH and KAT CURTIS.)
KAT: For my mom, for the insurance.
BOOTH: Of course, no payout without a body.
(Cut to: FBI interrogation room with BRENNAN, BOOTH and CHARLIE ROGAN.)
CHARLIE: So I tossed him where we knew he'd be found.
(Cut to: FBI interrogation room with BRENNAN, BOOTH and KAT CURTIS.)
KAT: Dad left everything to nonprofits. That insurance money was all my mom would have.
BRENNAN: You did it for your mother?
KAT: I never meant for any of this to happen. I never meant to hurt anyone, I just...I wanted my mom to be happy.
BRENNAN: Kat...your father wasn't having an affair with Emma. He'd had a relationship with her mother a long time ago. Emma Billings was his daughter. She was your half sister.
KAT: What? Oh, my God. Oh, my God, no. Oh, my God, no!
(Cut to: SWEETS' OFFICE with SWEETS, BRENNAN and BOOTH.)
SWEETS: So, case finished?
BRENNAN: Yes.
SWEETS: Congratulations.
BOOTH: Yeah.
SWEETS: You don't seem too happy.
BOOTH: Well, because sometimes, if you win, you end up with somebody else's pain and screwed-up life. You work for the FBI, you should know that.
SWEETS: Must be a challenge for you to access those feelings.
BRENNAN: Okay, stop. You don't know Booth. You don't know me, you have a limited view of us based on superficial data you've accumulated on a standardized questionnaire, and a subjective analysis from talking to us that is not at all scientific, so back off.
SWEETS: Just trying to help.
BRENNAN: By questioning his humanity?
BOOTH: Okay, Bones, now you're going a little bit overboard. He's just a kid. Right? I mean, the worst thing that's probably ever happened to him was he lost at Mortal Kombat.
SWEETS:Are you normally this protective of him, Dr. Brennan?
BRENNAN: We are partners. Our lives depend on being protective of each other.
SWEETS: And you feel the same way, Agent Booth?
BOOTH: Sweets, I can only hope that one day you know what a real partnership is.
SWEETS: You two are very close, that was evident in your superficial, standardized questionnaire and my unscientific observations. BOOTH Yeah?
SWEETS: You complement each other.
BOOTH: No, she never compliments me. Did you compliment me in the questionnaire?
BRENNAN: "Complement," not "compliment." "Ple." He means that we complete each other, as a team.
BOOTH: Yeah, right.
SWEETS: Now, we've got a lot to work on over the next few months.
BRENNAN: Meaning we get to stay together?
SWEETS: Yes.
BOOTH: I'm sensing a "but."
SWEETS: However, BRENNAN: It's the same as "but."
SWEETS: I have observed some underlying issues that need to be addressed.
BOOTH: Issues?
SWEETS: Yes. There's clearly a very deep emotional attachment between you two.
BOOTH: We're just partners.
SWEETS: And why do you think I would have thought otherwise?
BOOTH: 'Cause you're 12.
BRENNAN: Don't read into anything that Booth said. We're professionals. There's a line that doesn't even need to be there.
BOOTH: Not at all, I mean, if there were no more murders, I would probably not even, you know, see her.
BRENNAN: That's very true.
BOOTH: Might have coffee.
BRENNAN: Probably not.
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: What?
BOOTH: You wouldn't even have coffee with me?
BRENNAN: Well, in your scenario, we wouldn't even know each other because there are no murders.
BOOTH: Were. I said "no more murders."
BRENNAN: Then fine. I mean, we could have a coffee. So that's clear, then? I mean, we'd have coffee and that's our relationship? Coffee.
BOOTH: Yeah, let's move on.
END.
Plan: A: a decomposed body; Q: What are Booth and Brennan called to investigate? A: an organic supermarket chain; Q: What was the founder of the body found on the grounds of an organic composting site the founder of? A: its unusually high temperature; Q: What was the body of the founder of an organic supermarket chain indicated to have been incinerated by? A: a double homicide; Q: What do Booth and Brennan discover when they find the flesh of another body? A: the first victim's daughter; Q: Who was the second victim? A: the FBI; Q: Who forces Booth and Brennan to undergo psychiatric counseling? A: Dr. Lance Sweets; Q: Who does the FBI force Booth and Brennan to see for psychiatric counseling? Summary: Booth and Brennan are called to investigate a decomposed body found on the grounds of an organic composting site. The body, belonging to the founder of an organic supermarket chain, was indicated by its unusually high temperature to have been incinerated. The team discovers a double homicide when flesh from another body is found, which turns out to have belonged to the first victim's daughter. Meanwhile, the FBI forces Booth and Brennan to undergo psychiatric counseling with Dr. Lance Sweets .