"The He in the She"
[SCENE_BREAK]
(Open: Beach scene - two hippies fishing on a beach)
HIPPIE #2: Oh, I'm so toasted HIPPIE #1: Yeah, me, too.
HIPPIE #2: Hey.
HIPPIE #1: What?
HIPPIE #2: Early morning...Shouldn't it be foggy?
HIPPIE #1: Global warming.
HIPPIE #2: But it's all good.
HIPPIE #1: No, not really. I don't want to be negative, but it's not all good. Just ask a penguin, man. Global warming sucks.
HIPPIE #2: (noticing something in the water) What's that?
HIPPIE #1: Global warming is when some kind of carbon gasses get built up...
HIPPIE #2: No, what's that? (staring at object in water)
HIPPIE #1: Just trash.
HIPPIE #2: (goes to look closer) No, man. (starts to pull item from the water, sees that it's the hand of a skeleton) Oh!
(Cut to Sweet's office - Booth, Brennan, and Sweets are all sitting silently. Booth's phone vibrates)
BOOTH: Oh! Look at that - thank God, somebody got murdered.
BRENNAN: Okay, let's go. (Both rush out of the room.)
SWEETS: You're supposed to turn your phones completely off during our sessions, you know? Not just vibrate. It's a matter of respect.
(Cut to beach scene - Booth and Brennan are walking towards the beach. The scene is surrounded by police tape.)
BOOTH: Hi, guys. (two police officers hold up the yellow tape, allowing Booth and Brennan to pass under)
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: (Saroyan and Nigel-Murray walk up from the water line) Oh, hey. Dr. Brennan.
BRENNAN: Mr. Nigel-Murray, what are you doing here?
CAM: We decided to utilize some of your brighter grad students until we find a full-time forensic anthropologist, remember?
BRENNAN: Do you consider yourself one of my brighter grad students, Mr. Nigel-Murray?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Yes. And so do you, Dr. Brennan.
BOOTH: I am not calling this kid Mr. Nigel...anything.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Vincent. Or Vince. Or Vinnie, Vin, Vincenzo. Actually, uh, I had this girlfriend once who used to call me Vino Delectable because of how my, eh...
(Booth and Bones stare at him)
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: You don't...need to know that. Uh, what do you need me to do first?
BRENNAN: I need you to go back to the lab.
CAM: I thought perhaps you might want Vin...cent to shadow you, get a real sense of what you do.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Little known forensic fact: tongue prints are as distinctive as finger prints, so...I can be useful in the field.
BRENNAN: I need a forensic anthropologist in the lab so I can spend my time aiming Agent Booth in the right direction.
BOOTH: "Aiming Agent Booth"? What, like a hose?
BRENNAN: Well, here. Take my car. (hands her car keys to Mr. Nigel-Murray) I'll get a ride with Booth.
BRENNAN: How were these remains found?
BOOTH: Well, let me aim you in this direction, okay, Bones?
CAM: Two - let's call them hippies - found these remains this morning.
BOOTH: (chuckles and glances at the hippies) Deadheads.
CAM: Oh, I sold veggie burritos and followed Phish one whole summer. It was fantastic.
BRENNAN: I'm not able to ascertain s*x without a pelvic bone.
CAM: Well, if this scrap of cloth is a bathing suit, then probably female.
BRENNAN: Are you good at estimating time of death for submerged corpses?
CAM: Heavily degraded by crab and fish. Two to three weeks? That could be a breast implant.
BOOTH: Breasts - that's my department, okay? You give me a serial number, my guys will be able to track that down.
CAM: Why is there only half a skeleton?
BRENNAN: Because the spine has been severed.
BOOTH: So, severed spine equals foul play.
BRENNAN: No, not necessarily.
BOOTH: Then it was an accident.
BRENNAN: No, it was foul play.
BOOTH: I just said that.
BRENNAN: Mm, this hand has sustained trauma.
BOOTH: Shark attack.
BRENNAN: No. The fingers got smashed from what looks like multiple blows. That suggests foul play and...not by a shark.
CAM: We'll have Hodgins take a close look for particulates.
BOOTH: Okay, great. So what do we do next?
BRENNAN: Find the other half? (Everyone looks to the ocean)
(Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab, Forensics Platform - Cam and Mr. Nigel-Murray are examining the skeleton)
CAM: What do you see, Mr. Nigel-Murray?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Eye sockets.
CAM: Anything special about these sockets?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: There are no eyeballs in them?
CAM: We already have Agent Booth to make lame jokes. Let's stick to facts.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: The rods in the human eye are sensitive enough to detect the light emitted by a struck match from as much as a mile away on a clear night.
CAM: Okay, let's stick to relevant facts.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: These sockets have been ground down.
CAM: Okay, that could be useful. Especially if you have an explanation.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Plastic surgery. Oh, she had, uh, fake boobs, too.
CAM: "Sockets," "eyeballs," "boobs" - I wouldn't use these words when conferring with Dr. Brennan.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: I know. With her, it's all "supraorbital limbus" and "mammary implants." But you seemed a more colloquial sort.
CAM: Well, in that case, what about the backbone?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: A clean transection between the L1 and L2 vertebrae. Obviously, that would have been fatal if it had happened while the victim were still alive. (looks to computer screen showing victim's skull) This conk to the parietal bone would not have been fatal. And these abrasions are puzzling. (points to computer screen showing victim's ribs)
CAM: Postmortem scraping from the remains being washed up on a stony beach.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Uh...should I have known that?
CAM: Point is, you do now.
(Hodgins enters Platform)
HODGINS: The remains show traces of fresh water and pelagic sediment common to Chesapeake Bay. (glances at Mr. Nigel-Murray, then looks at Cam) Grad student?
CAM: He's done very well so far.
HODGINS: (looks back to Mr. Nigel-Murray) He'll disappoint.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Why?
HODGINS: (chuckles, then looks to a computer screen) I've discovered microscopic tooth shards from the Alosa sapidissima, also known as the American shad, on what flesh there is.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: In the 1700s the shad was especially valued as a delicacy.
HODGINS: Yeah. Fascinating. Based on currents, shad populations, and sheer guesswork... CAM: Don't tell him you're guessing.
HODGINS: ...the victim died in the same body of water in which she was found, probably within six miles.
CAM: I got a serial number off the breast implant. The FBI's tracking it down now.
HODGINS: Traces of copolymer on the vertebrae, nearly microscopic. I'm chasing that down.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: I...won't disappoint. I graduated with first-class honors from Leeds. Also, I have a retentive memory.
CAM: Ah...that would explain the, um...informative tangents.
HODGINS: Does Brennan put "Mister" in front of your name?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Yes.
HODGINS: It's her very subtle way of saying you're not a doctor. (walks off the Platform smiling)
CAM: (calls after Hodgins) Don't tell him that!
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Do you know what large-breasted women and fish remind me of?
CAM: Be very careful what you say next, Mr. Nigel-Murray.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Topless saleswomen are legal in Liverpool, England, but only in tropical fish stores.
CAM: Tangents, Mr. Nigel-Murray, tangents and diversions. Perhaps we could keep those to a minimum. The FBI's traced the breast implant to Baltimore plastic surgeon. He replaced a leaking implant for this woman. (shows Mr. Nigel-Murray a file with a picture of the victim)
(Cut to SUV - Booth and Brennan in the car, Brennan is holding the same file Cam had and is looking at a picture of the victim)
BRENNAN: So, her name is Patricia Ludmuller, RR#1, Maylor Island, Maryland.
BOOTH: Yeah, reported missing three weeks ago. Presumed drowned after she didn't come back from her morning swim.
BRENNAN: Very striking facial features.
BOOTH: Yeah, well, according to your Mr.... what's his name?
BRENNAN: Nigel-Murray?
BOOTH: Yeah. Those were mostly artificial, too.
BRENNAN: How many people live on Maylor Island?
BOOTH: I'd say about a couple thousand--that's one of those end-of-the-world places where the weirdoes flock.
BRENNAN: Why go to this much trouble to make yourself look beautiful and then move to the end of the world?
BOOTH: Well, the background check on her turned up suspiciously little. All right? There's no credit cards, no driver's license. Officially, she didn't exist before five years ago.
BRENNAN: Witness protection?
BOOTH: No. Marshals say she's not one of theirs. But, you know, sometimes they lie.
BRENNAN: If you really wanted to hide, you wouldn't make yourself look beautiful.
BOOTH: Well, if you want to hide, Bones, you'd change your looks as much as you can.
(Cut to Maylor Island - Brennan and Booth walking down a street)
BOOTH: Talk about low profile.
BRENNAN: It's very peaceful.
BOOTH: Yeah, well, these peaceful places, they usually have a seething underbelly.
BRENNAN: Really?
BOOTH: Well, I mean, what do I know? I'm from Philly, where the underbelly's on top. Just focus. Look--our victim's home. (points to victim's house)
(Cut to inside of Patricia Ludmuller's house - Booth and Brennan are looking around)
BRENNAN: This is a very spiritual person, catholic in her tastes.
BOOTH: Oh, what, you can tell she's Catholic?
BRENNAN: Not Catholic, catholic. Encompassing, universal. She has a lot of religious books, but they cover a wide range of dogmas and philosophies. She herself seems to be Protestant. There's crosses, no crucifixes.
BOOTH: (looking at a picture of Patricia with her congregation) She's a pastor. Yeah. Looks like one of those grassroots community churches.
BRENNAN: (looking at Patricia's open bible) She was preparing for a sermon.
BOOTH: A pastor with breast augmentation and veneers?
BRENNAN: So?
BOOTH: A spiritual leader shouldn't be so vain.
BRENNAN: The Pope sits on a throne; he wears robes worth thousands of dollars. Isn't that vanity?
BOOTH: Really? You're going after the Pope now?
BRENNAN: One pastor gets her teeth whitened, and the other drinks wine on Sunday mornings and tells everyone that it's been miraculously transformed into blood. Which of those is more outlandish?
(Booth pushes button Patricia's answering machine)
MACHINE: You have one new message.
JP: (on machine) It's JP again. I'm sorry. I-I miss you. I need to see you--it's important. I really need you, Patty. Please call. Please.
BOOTH: Sounds like a lost sheep in need of religious counseling.
BRENNAN: Sounds more like a desperate boyfriend.
BOOTH: (looking at Patricia's telephone) Nothing here. It's just caller ID's blocked. (Booth's cell phone rings) Hold on. (on phone) Booth. Yeah? Where? (to Bones) Bones. Bones. They found a pelvis and legs in the water about eight miles from here in the Virginia side of the bay.
BRENNAN: They should take it to the lab.
BOOTH: (on phone) Okay, send it over to the lab, now.
(Cut to Medico-Legal Lab, autopsy room - Cam and Mr. Nigel-Murray are looking at the bottom half of the body)
CAM: There's more tissue on this half. And just because we have the top of a body and the bottom of a body doesn't mean it's all the same body.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: This half starts where the other half ends, at the L2 vertebra. Coincidence? I think not.
CAM: Based on the lack of hemorrhagic tissue, this victim was already dead when cut in half.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: He's in the water...drowning, maybe, or-or he was pushed from a boat. When he reaches for the boat, his fingers are smashed. He drowns, and then is cut in half later in some maritime mishap.
CAM: He?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Triangular pubis. No evidence of a ventral arc. The pelvic bone speaks--it says, "I be male."
CAM: The pelvic bone can say whatever it wants to say--this part here says female.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: What part's that?
CAM: It's called a v*g1n*.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Did you know that women blink twice as often as men?
CAM: Which might be useful information if the fish hadn't eaten our victim's eyelids.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Ah, relevance.
CAM: Well, I can do a DNA comparison to find out if these two sets of human remains come from the same victim.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: The measurements of the vertebrae match perfectly. I-I'm nearly positive that it's all one victim.
CAM: Who is...
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Male.
CAM: And female. We have one victim with two sexes.
(Cut to Booth's office - Booth, Brennan, and Sweets are sitting around)
SWEETS: A transgender?
BRENNAN: Post-op. She had female s*x organs.
SWEETS: So if she had sexual reassignment surgery, she would be a transsexual.
BOOTH: How do they do that?
BRENNAN: They split the pen1s, and then turn it inside out-- carefully, so as not to damage the nerves. And then they use the glans to create a nerve cluster dense enough to achieve orgasm.
BOOTH: Okay, new rule. No surgical details, all right?
SWEETS: Generally, transgendered people feel that they're the victim of a cosmic mistake. They're certain, from a young age, that they were born into the wrong body. Surgery and hormone treatments are a way to correct that biological mistake.
BRENNAN: Which is why Patricia Ludmuller's past only went back five years.
BOOTH: Are pastors allowed to think that God makes those kind of mistakes?
SWEETS: Do you think God makes that kind of mistake?
BOOTH: I think that God expects us to overcome certain things.
SWEETS: The term "trans" conveys a meaning of "beyond the cross." Moving further. There's a very spiritual component.
BOOTH: Let's say some hyper religious fundamentalist finds out that Sister Patricia used to be Father Paul...
SWEETS: And murders her. Okay, you mentioned that there was an intense message on Patricia Ludmuller's answering machine, right?
BRENNAN: Yes.
SWEETS: If, say, she had s*x with a man, and then informed him that she was transgender, isn't that a more likely motive for murder?
BRENNAN: Anthropologically speaking, a male's status in a society is closely connected with what he perceives to be his outward maleness.
BOOTH: Look, there's no way the guy on that answering machine knew that he...she... he... knew that she... he...was transgender.
BRENNAN: How do you know?
BOOTH: Well, because I know an "ain't too proud to beg" phone call when I hear one, all right? He had no idea that she wasn't a real woman.
SWEETS: That's very insightful.
BOOTH: Thank you. Insightful. See?
SWEETS: Except for the "real woman" slip.
BRENNAN: Have you made many of these "ain't too proud to beg" calls in the past?
BOOTH: What do you say we just stay focused here?
SWEETS: Okay, have you ruled out completely that Patricia Ludmuller's murder might be because of something that happened before he became a woman?
BOOTH: I put a request in to find out his previous identity before he was a woman. That's the best I could do. Okay, from now on, he is always a she. She was a he when she died, so she deserves the respect due to him or her...okay, person!
BRENNAN: Okay... I'm a genius, and I'm confused.
(Cut to Maylor Island beach - Congregation is meeting by the shore, Booth and Brennan join them.)
WADE: Pastor Patricia was our center. Like the best leaders, she drew us together without even trying.
BRENNAN: Did you release identity?
BOOTH: Their pastor went for a swim and never came back. All right? The body washed up.
BRENNAN: Intuitive leap. Right.
WADE: Let's pray together. Let's pray that whatever happened to Patricia out there alone came peacefully. That God embraced her as His daughter. That there was no pain, only God's great serenity.
CHUCK: A moment of silence for the pastor we loved so much.
BRENNAN: What are you doing?
BOOTH: I'm praying. Would you keep your voice down?
BRENNAN: Sorry. You're not a member.
BOOTH: It's not a gym, Bones.
BOOTH: Excuse me, Mr., uh...
WADE: Wade Schmidt. You're FBI?
BRENNAN: How did you know that Patricia Ludmuller was the victim found in the bay?
WADE: She's a member of our community, and she's gone--we feel her loss. We're right, aren't we?
BRENNAN: Yes.
BOOTH: Is there a... a vice pastor? Somebody else we can talk to?
WADE: Not really. I take care of the finances. Chuck, over there, he acted as kind of an unofficial assistant to Patricia.
BRENNAN: What will happen to the church now?
WADE: To be honest, I'm not optimistic that we'll survive Patricia's loss.
BRENNAN: Why? You're a community of people with a common superstition. The shared illusion should be enough to bind you.
BOOTH: Bones.
WADE: Patricia would like you. She'd say, "That's the one that will keep us honest."
BRENNAN: See? She would have liked me.
BOOTH: She keeps everyone honest--this one.
WADE: Hey, Chuck, you got a moment? These people are from the FBI.
CHUCK: I thought Patricia drowned.
BRENNAN: We don't know the cause of death yet.
CHUCK: She went for a swim on a foggy morning. She got cut in half by a yacht propeller or a destroyer returning to Norfolk, okay?
WADE: Chuck.
BRENNAN: We don't know how the body was disarticulated.
CHUCK: What the hell do you know?
BOOTH: We know what we don't know, Mr. Kennedy. That's why we're asking questions.
CHUCK: Yeah, we do have a few felons in our congregation-- former addicts. Not to mention the less serious sins-lying, vanity, sloth, greed. I, myself, had a meth problem. Would you like to arrest me?
BOOTH: Is that a confession, Chuck?
CHUCK: Yeah. Yeah, I'm confessing to a past. I have a past, like everybody else. I bet even you do. Of course, God absolved me of my past. How about you? (leaves)
BOOTH: See you around WADE: He's taking it hard. The way Chuck sees it, Patricia introduced him to God, and God saved his life. Gave him focus, made him part of a community.
BOOTH: Do you have a congregant called JP?
WADE: Yes.
BOOTH: Could you point him out to us, please?
(Wade indicates a man standing on the shore, looking at the ocean)
(Cut to interrogation room - Booth and JP are sitting at a table. Angela is just outside the room, wearing a headset so she can talk to Booth. Both Angela and Booth have photos of Patricia.)
JP: It's still hard to believe the pastor's gone.
BOOTH: I understand she was one hell of a swimmer.
ANGELA: Hey, Booth, I'm looking at these pictures you gave me, and body language and facial expressions tell some very interesting stories.
BOOTH: Why don't you give me your insights?
JP: She swam every single day. Yeah. But you don't need me for that insight. Ask anybody.
ANGELA: He holds himself separate from the congregation. What do you think that means?
BOOTH: How long have you been a member of the Inclusion Church?
JP: Well, I joined about six months ago.
ANGELA: He's a latecomer to the church, huh? That's a good one.
BOOTH: (TO Angela) Thank you. (to JP) For sharing that.
JP: Why would anybody lie about when they joined a church?
BOOTH: So what brought you to the church?
JP: I had a drinking problem, which gave me problems with the law, which gave me marital problems.
BOOTH: You served two years less a day for assault.
JP: When I got out of jail, I wanted my wife back. I wanted my life back.
ANGELA: It doesn't look like things are going so great with the wife.
BOOTH: Are you living with your wife again?
JP: I got a ways to go before Rita trusts me whole hog, you know? Plus, she's not that excited about the religious aspect. Why is the FBI interested in a pastor drowning?
BOOTH: Well, there's more than one way for a person to drown. Did you always call her "pastor"?
JP: What else would I call her?
(Booth plays answering machine tape) JP: Hey, it's JP again. I'm sorry. I... I miss you. I need to see you. It's important. I really need you, Patty. Please call. Please.
JP: You got it all wrong. That call is not what you're thinking. I was calling the pastor about Rita.
BOOTH: Really?
ANGELA: Hold on a minute. Look at the last photo. He knew.
BOOTH: (to Angela) You can't tell that from a photo.
JP: I beg your pardon?
ANGELA: I can. He knew that she used to be a man.
BOOTH: (to Angela) It doesn't show in the photographs. (to JP) You know what I'm saying?
JP: About what Patricia was before?
ANGELA: I told you he knew.
BOOTH: What was your reaction when you found out that Pastor Patricia wasn't a real woman?
JP: Don't say Patty wasn't a real woman. It makes you sound ignorant.
BOOTH: The pastor came between you and your wife, but she was living a lie. You lost your manhood and your religion all in one go. Or what? Did prison just widen your tastes?
ANGELA: You're just pretending to be a jerk to get a rise out of this guy, right?
JP: I didn't want to develop feelings for Patricia, but I did, and that didn't change when she told me who she used to be.
BOOTH: Who did she used to be?
JP: What do you want, a name? I don't know. I never asked. Can't you look it up on some legal name change form? If you'd have ever met Patty, you'd know what I know. What God knows. What she knew. She was not a man.
ANGELA: Yeah. I'm with him on this one.
(Medico-Legal Lab, autopsy room - Brennan, Cam, and Mr. Nigel-Murray have Patricia's skeleton on the table and are examining test results on a computer)
CAM: Bone marrow and liver remnants contain high concentrations of ethanol estradyal etherone acetate and spironolactone, which is an anti-androgen.
BRENNAN: Hormone replacement therapy.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Very healthy bone mass. High percentages of calcium and vitamin D.
BRENNAN: Which indicates...
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: A health nut.
CAM: Tox screen shows Stamaril, Havrix Monodose and Engerix-B.
BRENNAN: Vaccinations?
CAM: Yellow fever, Hep A and Hep B.
BRENNAN: All necessary for traveling to the Far East.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Did you know that only 20% of Americans have passports? That's not irrelevant. Perhaps that's why there's no record of this guy...woman...having a s*x change. It could have happened in, you know, Thailand.
CAM: Very good, Mr. Nigel-Murray.
BRENNAN: Though conjecture is not really what we do here in the lab. So...But very good, Mr. Nigel-Murray.
[SCENE_BREAK]
(Cut to couch rest area - Mr. Nigel-Murray and Hodgins are sitting)
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Can I ask you something?
HODGINS: Is there any way to say no?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Whatever happened to whoever it was who used to work here before me?
HODINGS: He joined forces with a serial killer who was the last in a long line of cannibalistic murderers specializing in knocking off members of secret societies and building skeletons out of their body parts.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Wow, I hope that doesn't happen to me. So he's not coming back?
HODGINS: No. He's locked up for the rest of his life. But we all still like him.
ANGELA: (approaches) Excuse me.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Hello, hello, hello.
HODGINS: Are you familiar with the expression, "That's way too much car for you"?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: I believe that's one of ours, actually, sir. Yes.
ANGELA: Hey, I want to show you something.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: I want to show you something.
ANGELA: Vroom, vroom, kid. You're already in my rearview mirror.
Booth said the FBI couldn't find any record of an official name change, or anything showing who Patricia Ludmuller was before the s*x change operation.
HODINGS: It's possible she had her surgery done in the Far East.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
ANGELA: Anyway, what I did was (showing her drawings)...here she is as a woman.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Hmm, not bad. I mean, I mean the sketch... Okay.
ANGELA: (showing another drawing) Here I made her more masculine. I made the bony prominences more robust, increased the size of the mastoid processes and the nuchal crests.
HODGINS: Seldom seen bigger nuchal crests.
ANGELA: It doesn't look like anybody you recognize?
HODGINS: Should it?
ANGELA: I also added facial hair. (showing last drawing) Do you recognize him now?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: It's that guy.
HODGINS: "Oh, evil spirits come out."
ANGELA: That's exactly what I thought.
(Cut to an office - Cam, Angela, Hodgins, and Mr. Nigel-Murray watching a video of Patrick Stephenson)
PATRICK: (on video) Yes, God makes demands of us! This money belongs to God, not me! Who will join me in giving God what is rightfully His? He is asking you now, at this moment. What is your answer? What is your answer to God when He calls your name? Will you deny Him?
CAM: Pastor Patrick Stephenson.
HODGINS: Disappeared six years ago.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Oh, wow, I got it right. He disappeared from, uh, Vietnam or Thailand, one of those places.
ANGELA: Yeah, on a world tour. His followers said he was the first of many who'd be taken up in the Rapture.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: So that guy went from that to being a woman pastor in a cottage on Chesapeake Bay?
HODINGS: Some people would call that heaven.
CAM: Amazing job, Angela.
ANGELA: Yeah, well, check this out. (shows video of Patrick with his wife and son)
HODINGS: She had a wife and son before she gave up being a he.
(Cut to conference room - Brennan, Booth, and Cecilia Stephenson are talking)
CECILIA: The Thai federal police were certain that Patrick had been robbed and killed.
BOOTH: Yeah, well, uh, it's a lot to absorb.
BRENNAN: A sex-change operation in Bangkok, Thailand costs about $25,000.
CECILIA: You want me to believe that Patrick stole money and then had himself transformed into a woman?
BOOTH: It's a scenario.
CECILIA: Patrick was a religious man. He would never offend God in this blatant manner.
BRENNAN: The theft, you mean, because it's a sin?
CECILIA: A sex-change operation. We are made in God's image, Dr. Brennan. Who are we to alter that image?
BRENNAN: Obviously, you dye your hair, there's evidence of plastic surgery.
CECILIA: That's different.
BOOTH: Bones.
BRENNAN: How?
BOOTH: It's augmenting God's work, not undoing it completely. How about that, Bones?
BRENNAN: We have a DNA match between your husband and the deceased female found in the Chesapeake Bay. (to Booth) Do these people believe in DNA?
BOOTH: Look, it seems as though your husband sent a check made out to the church every month.
CECILIA: A hundred dollars a month? So Patrick was repaying us for the money he took?
BRENNAN: Actually, it's more accurate to say that Patricia was repaying you for the money that Patrick took.
BOOTH: During these intervening years, did your husband ever try to contact you?
CECILIA: No. I believed the Thai police when they declared Patrick dead.
BRENNAN: And your son?
CECILIA: Ryan would definitely have told me if he'd heard from his father.
BOOTH: Oh, we're gonna have to talk to him.
CECILIA: The last I heard, he was in California. After his father vanished, Ryan took over preaching the Word of God to our flock...for about a year. Then he had a crisis of faith and left. Ryan is still in the throes of that crisis. I have faith that in the fullness of time, God will lead Ryan back to us.
BOOTH: Before your husband...
CECILIA: Became a woman?
BOOTH: ...disappeared, did he have any reason to fear for his life?
CECILIA: A man named Arthur Ford was arrested for assaulting Patrick.
BOOTH: Why did he assault your husband?
CECILIA: He had a son. The boy donated his entire trust fund to the church. His father thought that we'd brainwashed him or some such nonsense.
BRENNAN: Did you give the money back?
CECILIA: The boy wasn't brainwashed, Dr. Brennan. The Lord touched him.
BOOTH: Exactly how much money did the Lord touch him for?
(Cut to SUV - Booth and Brennan are riding, Booth is on his cell phone)
BRENNAN: $5 million?
BOOTH: (on phone) Great, thank you. (to Brennan) $5 million is a ton of moolah, but Arthur Ford is not a good suspect.
BRENNAN: Why? What with the ton of moolah they practically stole from his son?
BOOTH: That phone call I just had, Arthur Ford died of pancreatic cancer three years ago.
BRENNAN: Oh.
BOOTH: Yeah,"Oh."
BRENNAN: Do you think she loved her husband?
BOOTH: Who?
BRENNAN: Mrs. Stephenson.
BOOTH: Oh, I don't know. She was plenty angry at him.
BRENNAN: For getting a sex-change operation?
BOOTH: No, no, no, before that. I mean, she only called him by his given name or referred to him as Ryan's father. Never, you know, "my husband."
BRENNAN: I call you "Booth," and I like you just fine.
BOOTH: Thank you, but we're not married. One angry father might be dead, but, uh, maybe there are more.
BRENNAN: Patrick Stephenson wasn't murdered, Patricia Ludmuller was.
BOOTH: You think the moment Patricia Ludmuller came to exist, Patrick Stephenson stopped?
BRENNAN: When the butterfly emerges, does the caterpillar cease to exist?
BOOTH: Okay, what are you, like some kind of kung fu master? Why don't we just figure out who killed this guy...gal, person, okay?
BRENNAN: Would you like me just as much if I were a man?
BOOTH: Oh, yeah, much better. I wouldn't have to be so polite and accommodating. How about you? Would you like me better if I was a woman?
BRENNAN: No, I would not.
BOOTH: Why?
BRENNAN: I'd be jealous that you might be prettier than I am.
BOOTH: I would be, too. I'd be hot. Smokin' hot.
(Cut to Sweets' office - Brennan, Booth, and Sweets are watching a video of Ryan Stephenson)
RYAN: (on video, wearing a white suit) They're not gay, they're not homosexual. They are abominations unto the Lord. They are sodomites.
BOOTH: This kid is Patrick Stephenson's son?
SWEETS: It would explain why Patrick Stephenson chose to disappear the way he did.
RYAN: (on video) Unashamed, they perform deeds that led them into the hands of an angry God.
SWEETS: Now this is a fairly well-known moment, even though it was never televised. Watch.
RYAN: (on video) It is this ignorance to the light of God that led to their doom. (shaken) I can't do this anymore. I can't. I preach against sins, sins I hate, but other sins such as greed...Greed. This is a palace, and I am a prince. I am not like my father...and I am not like my mother. I just want to do God's work, not perform on television...bilk you for your money. God bless us all. God forgive us all.
SWEETS: Ironically, he was just like his father.
BRENNAN: You think he switched sexes, too?
SWEETS: No, no, they both turned their backs on this kind of commercial worship. They both went out into the world looking for redemption. I assume you're gonna search out Ryan Stephenson?
BOOTH: I work at the FBI. That's what we do. It's a big country, and we'll try.
SWEETS: Well, concentrate your search in hospitals, halfway houses, uh, rehab centers, jails.
BRENNAN: You think things have gone that badly for him?
SWEETS: No, no, he's not an inmate or a patient. Ryan Stephenson is literally atoning for the sins of his father. He left the palace for the street. He's following the teachings of Jesus.
BOOTH: His mother says he's in California.
SWEETS: No, she's wrong. This kid, he's the prodigal son. I'll bet he's within 20 miles of that giant church he fled as a confused adolescent.
BOOTH: I'll take that bet.
SWEETS: All right, how much?
BOOTH: 20 bucks.
SWEETS: Deal.
BOOTH: Deal. 20 dollars.
BRENNAN: Thank you.
BOOTH: There you go.
BRENNAN: Thank you. If you're making the wager, how come I get the money?
SWEETS: You're the bank.
BOOTH: You're the bank, lady.
(Cut to Medico-Legal Lab, autopsy room - Cam, Hodgins, and Mr. Nigel-Murray are examining Patricia's skeleton on the table and tests on a computer screen)
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: This comminuted fracture on the pelvis is very similar to the blow to the skull. Both blows were inflicted while Patricia Ludmuller was still alive.
CAM: She was swimming, she was struck on the head, she drowned. Then how were her fingers damaged and how was she cut in half?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Wow, you ask extremely difficult questions.
HODGINS: The particulates found in both the skull wound and the pelvis are fiber-reinforced polymers and hydrocarbon secretion of coniferous trees.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Which is what, exactly?
HODGINS: Fiberglass and resin.
CAM: Okay, she was struck by a boat, the keel of a boat. Now we're getting somewhere. Anything on the metacarpals?
HODGINS: You mean, could I tell what hit her fingers? No. It was either something that didn't leave traces or the water rubbed away all the evidence.
CAM: We'll show these images to Dr. Brennan.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Why?
HODGINS: She'll see something you missed.
(Cut to FBI Building, interrogation room. Ryan Stephenson, wearing black clothing and tattoos, is sitting at a table. Booth and Sweets are standing outside the room, looking through the mirror.)
SWEETS: So that's Ryan Stephenson?
BOOTH: Yep. Found him in a detox center in Silver Spring.
SWEETS: A patient?
BOOTH: Nope, counselor. You called it.
SWEETS: You owe me 20 bucks.
BOOTH: Get it from Bones.
RYAN: (Booth is now sitting at the table with Ryan) Are you sure it was my father?
BOOTH: Yes, I'm positive.
RYAN: They told me Dad died in Thailand.
BOOTH: Well, he, uh...well, she seemed to have found peace up there on the island. (shows Ryan a picture of Patricia outside her church)
RYAN: Named his church "Inclusion"?
BOOTH: Yeah.
RYAN: He welcomed drug addicts, prostitutes, homosexuals.
BOOTH: According to her congregation, who loved her, your father welcomed everyone. What? You afraid your father's gonna burn in hell?
RYAN: No. No, I just wish I had the chance to know the new him...her. I'm a suspect? You thought perhaps I found out my father was a fraud who had a s*x change and that God asked me to kill him?
BOOTH: Did God tell you to kill your dad?
RYAN: I've changed. Do you believe in redemption?
BOOTH: Yes, I do.
RYAN: One of God's challenges to us is to see past the surface. (rips off the written-on paper cover of his bible, showing a white one just like Patricia's) To the deeper, essential nature which lies right beneath.
BOOTH: You believe our bodies are like dustcovers?
RYAN: That's exactly what I think, Agent Booth. Rip them off and see what's underneath. You see, all this time I thought my father was killed or...had abandoned me, and that's just not what happened. He didn't want to shake my faith. He was protecting me from the truth. He...he didn't want me to have to choose between him and God, and I love my father for that. I just hope God can forgive me for making him feel that way. Do you think I could have my father's Bible?
(Reaches towards Patricia's bible)
BOOTH: I'm afraid it's still evidence. But, hey, we figure out who killed your father, we'll make sure you get that.
RYAN: Thank you.
BOOTH: You ever consider returning to the ministry, Ryan?
(Cut to Medico-Legal lab, forensics platform. Cam, Mr. Nigel-Murray, Brennan, and Hodgins are standing around Patricia's skeleton.)
CAM: Okay, so we know Patricia Ludmuller was run over by a boat.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: The boat struck her in two places--the skull and the pelvic bone.
HODGINS: We found traces of enamel paint and stain filler, specifically Silver Neptune Mahogany and Lead Red Primer.
CAM: It was a foggy day, she was out there swimming alone. This death could have been accidental.
HODGINS: Or hit-and-run.
BRENNAN: No. It was murder.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Only one percent of deaths are murders.
BRENNAN: Hodgins, you found pieces of splintered wood from the keel, both in the skull and the pelvic bone.
HODGINS: Yeah, from a wooden-keeled, shallow-hulled speedboat.
BRENNAN: The splinters are embedded in the skull from this direction. (indicates on skeleton)
SARYOAN: Struck from behind.
BRENNAN: And in the pelvic bone from this direction, at a 90-degree angle.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: The boat hit her skull from behind, while she was facedown in the water. The second blow hit her from the side, and she was on her back in the water.
CAM: She was struck once, then the boat turned around to make sure she was dead. Then hurt, disoriented, she reached up to clasp the gunwale?
HODGINS: Someone smashed her fingers, forcing her to let go.
CAM: Then she floated on her back.
BRENNAN: The boat left, then turned around and...struck her again.(on phone) Booth? We know exactly how Patricia Ludmuller was murdered.
(Cut to hall outside autopsy room. Mr. Nigel-Murray walks up to Cam as she exits room.)
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Excuse me, Dr. Saroyan.
CAM: Yes, Vincent.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Is there a way to quit working here without losing Dr. Brennan as my grad supervisor?
CAM: I see. You'd like to quit this internship without losing your academic standing.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Yeah.
CAM: Can I ask why?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: It's absolutely impossible to kiss your own elbow.
CAM: And how is that relevant?
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: It isn't, Dr. Saroyan, but, um...I'm someone who loves knowledge, and all of you are very narrowly focused. It's a good focus, I know, catching murderers, but, um, all in all, I'd rather be like me than like you, so if you can help me out...
CAM: I'll take care of it with Dr. Brennan. We'll move on to another intern.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Did you know that over 98% of people will respond with "Thank you" if you say, "You're welcome"?
CAM: You're welcome.
MR. NIGEL-MURRAY: Thank you.
CAM: Vino Delectable.
(Cut to SUV, Booth and Brennan are riding)
BRENNAN: Based on size, wood grain and shape of the keel, Hodgins and Angela narrowed our search down to two models.
BOOTH: It's a Lee Shore Island and a Bow Wave Runabout. Okay? So...How'd she end up split in two?
BRENNAN: You mean, how did a man become a woman?
BOOTH: No, Bones, her spine was severed.
BRENNAN: Oh, the polymer Hodgins found was probably fishing line, so she...sinks, decomposes and the fishing line severs the spinal column.
BOOTH: Oh, some fisherman thinks a big one got away. You think it means anything? She lived her life split in two, then in death, split in two again.
BRENNAN: No. I don't think it means anything.
BOOTH: I didn't think you would.
(Cut to Maylor Island marina - law enforcement officers and Hodings are examining all the boats, the congregation is watching the activity, and Booth and Brennan are walking down to the boats)
(music) There's a black river...It passes by my window...Ooh, late at night POLICE OFFICER: Hey, Dr. Hodgins, over here. Over here.
HODGINS: What have you got?
CONGREGATION: (quiet muttering) You think maybe it's him? That's JP's?
BOOTH: Why is the church group in a tizzy?
CHUCK: That's JP's boat.
BOOTH: (walking with Brennan, JP, and JP's wife, Rita, to the boat) Wow, JP, this here is one fine vessel. Isn't it, Bones?
BRENNAN: Yes.
BOOTH: Look at that, huh? Flush mount, single lever control box. Check this out, Bones, huh? He's got a wiring harness under there. Bench seats with marine vinyl seat cushions. This is just classic. (to JP) How long have you had this for?
JP: Years. I only started restoring it after I joined the church. The pastor said it'd be a good project for me.
BRENNAN: Did you take it out the day Patricia Ludmuller disappeared?
JP: No.
HODGINS: (examining boat) This is definitely the boat that struck Patricia Ludmuller.
JP: What?
HODGINS: Twice.
BOOTH: Couldn't deal with the rejection, JP?
BRENNAN: Our psychological expert says that many men freak out when they find out the woman they've been sleeping with used to be a man.
JP: We never slept together. I wanted to. I wanted her. She wanted me. But she refused. I'm still married.
HODGINS: That why you ran her down? (examining side of boat) This is where you smashed her hand.
JP: No! Will you stop saying these things?
BRENNAN: She must have been in a lot of pain when she grabbed the side of the boat.
HODGINS: I'm sure we'll find what he used to smash her fingers right here in the boat. (looks at fire extinguisher) My guess is this.
BOOTH: (trying to sit in driver's seat) Bones, these seats--they aren't adjustable. How tall do you think JP is?
BRENNAN: 190 to 195 centimeters.
BOOTH: Just give me a simple height.
BRENNAN: Six three or four?
BOOTH: How about his wife?
BRENNAN: Oh, perhaps 100 and... 5'2".
BOOTH: That's all I need. Thanks. JP, you didn't restore this boat for yourself, did you?
JP: Pastor Patricia said I should do something for someone else. Someone I love.
RITA: Then you should have built it for her. I waited for you to get out of prison, and I waited for you to get sober. And I waited for you to get tired of this stupid church. And all you did was fall in love with another woman.
JP: I never slept with her, Rita.
RITA: I don't believe that. I'll never believe that.
BOOTH: Rita Gratton, I'm placing you under arrest...for the murder of Patricia Ludmuller.
(Cut to Inclusion Church - Ryan is standing in front of Congregation, Booth and Brennan are in the audience)
RYAN: I think I should begin my first sermon to you as kind of an introduction. My name is Ryan Stephenson. I'm a child of man. I'm a child of woman. But more importantly, I'm a child of God, and as I look around I see others like me. We don't look alike. None of us look alike. On the outside, we are gay and straight, black and white, fat and thin, man and woman, saint and sinner. Should I keep going, or do you guys catch my drift? But inside...inside we are all the same.
BRENNAN: That is completely incorrect.
BOOTH: Not now, Bones.
BRENNAN: Our skeletons are wildly different or I wouldn't have a job.
BOOTH: Just listen.
RYAN: I am sorry that I didn't get to know my father--Patricia. But I hope I will find him...her...that redeemed human being...both in her old Bible (holds Patricia's bible) and, more importantly, in you, the people who she loved.
BOOTH: Redemption through transformation, I get it. What do you believe in Bones?
BRENNAN: Always swimming with a buddy.
BOOTH: What?
BRENNAN: You gather your wisdom, I gather mine.
BOOTH: Okay.
Plan: A: skeletal remains; Q: What is found in the Chesapeake Bay? A: the case; Q: What are Brennan and Booth on? A: only the upper torso; Q: What part of the victim's body was found? A: the remnants; Q: What is left of the victim's breast implants? A: Maryland; Q: Where did the victim live before moving to the small town? A: a pastor; Q: What was the victim's occupation? A: her existence; Q: What do Brennan and Booth have no record of? A: the small town; Q: Where did the victim move to five years prior? Summary: When skeletal remains are found in the Chesapeake Bay, Brennan and Booth are on the case to investigate. With only the upper torso of the victim intact, the team has little to work from besides the remnants of the victim's breast implants. Brennan and Booth are led to a small church community in Maryland where the victim was a pastor, but they have no record of her existence prior to moving to the small town five years prior.