Broken Bones

Episode 28 "The Boneless Bride in the River" Part 2

-Venus POV-

I meet Temp and Booth back at the lab as they got the bone that we needed. We are in the bone room as Temp says, "Definitely human. No sign of any cut marks." Booth then asks, "Well, is it Li Ling Fan?" I shake my head, "No you guys brought in a male." Cam then looks at Temp, "So, you got a part of the groom instead of a piece of the bride?" Booth then adds, "Bones stole it." "Not stole. Swapped." From an old Chinese lady's mantle." "I brought a bunch of the chimpanzee bones and pulled the old, uh, 'switchamacallit." I then say, "Switcheroo?" Cam then says, "Whatchamacallit." We chuckle as Booth says, "Two different things." Temp then says, "These anomalies- whoever this was, died of cancer. I'll get Zack to find the details, but this is definitely not Li Ling Fan." Booth then brings up an idea, "Maybe it's the groom." I nod as Cam says, "Make sense. Especially if this is a 'dead people bone marriage' thing."

We then hear a knock as someone says, "Uh, Temperance?" We all look at the entrance seeing it was Sully as he continues, "Hey, uh, you got a sec?"  We look at her as she excuses herself. When they were out of earshot, we all look at each other as I say, "What do you think is going on?" Cam then says, "I am not sure?... But it has to be something important." I nod as Booth says, "Maybe he is leaving." We look at him as he says, "What? It's Sully we are talking about here." We nod, "Yeah, you are probably right..." I look at the door, "I am going to go to Angie's office." Booth then asks, "Why?" Because if it is something serious between the two then she will probably go find Angie to get advice." They nod as I go over to Angie.

I get there as Zack was there as well as they were looking at the computer as Zack says, "Stage 3 Sarcoma, M1 metastasis." I then say to make my entrance, "Just like Temp says, cancer." They look at me as Zack says, "Yes. Most likely it spread from prostate or testicular cancer." Angie adds, "So it's definitely a guy." "If this is the groom, then he's Chinese, and according to Dr. Shi, most likely related in some way to the old lady who kept him in a pot." I nod, "Which should be enough to identify him through hospital records." Zack leaves as Angie says, "Already on it." Cam then comes in, "None of the harper's weapons show any sign of being used to dissect a human being. No protein residue, even under A.L.S." Angie then asks, "Is there any way to tell what kind of blade was used on the skin?" "Only that it was sharp and straight edged. But I did find evidence of toxicity damage to the kidney." "Wait. The victim was poisoned? I thought she was beaten to death." "Well, the bruising could've been a result of Fong's disease. Toxicology identified the toxin as root called lei gong teng. In small doses, it's an anti-inflammatory. In large, it has another name." I then answer, "It loosely translates as 'Walk seven steps and die." Cam nods, "I'll have Booth check out Chinese herbalists."

Cam leaves as a few seconds later we see Temp walking in hurriedly as Angie says, "You want me to bring you up to date?" "No. I want you both to tell me what to do." "About what?" I then ask, "Is this about Sully and you speaking in private earlier?" Temp nods, "Sully wants me to run off with him." I looked at her wide eyes as there was a small pull in my heart as Angie automatically says, "Go." Temp continues, "For a year." "Go." "He wants to run a charter boat around the Caribbean." "Go." "He says I should take a sabbatical." "Go. What is the downside? He's a great guy. This is a great idea." I looked at Temp with sad eyes as she looks at me for an opinion. I just smiled and say, "She is right Temp. It is something that you don't get to do every day." "I'll miss you guys." Angie then says, "Oh, we'll meet you in Barbados." I chuckle a bit as Angie continues, "Look, you have been working every day since I met you. It's time to let another part of yourself out into the sun... with a bare-chested man and a tropical breeze." We all chuckle a bit lightning the mood.

Zack then comes in with information, "William Chang- single, age 27. Died two years ago of metastasizing prostate cancer. Great nephew of Mei Zhang." He hands the file to us as Angie grabs it and we look at his photo as Angie says, "He looks nice." I then say, "Ranger will want to talk to his parents,  try to find out where they got the female bones, in case it's Li Ling Fan." We look at her as I sigh knowing that I shouldn't be selfish in wanting her to stay with me as I say, "Temp... go." She looks at me as I smile, "There'll still be murder and mayhem when you get back... and the apartment will still stay clean as ever." Temp looks at me with teary eyes as I place my hands on both side of her face and smile at her, "Hey, it will be fun. Plus every sister needs time for themselves from babysitting their little sister 24/7." We both laugh enjoying the moment.