Broken Bones

Episode 45 "The Finger in the Nest" Part 1

-Venus POV-

Temp and I were in her car making our way over to Booth as we speak on the phone with Cam as I say, "He pulled the finger out of a bird's nest." Cam asks, "Did he completely freak out?" Temp answers, "Booth said Parker wanted to put it in his pocket and take it home." We then hear someone else speak, "When it comes to boys, that 'snip and snails and puppy dogs' tails' thing is pretty accurate." Cam asks, "You have a son?" "I have four." Temp adds, "Mr. Starret is my oldest grad student." I add, "He also has amazing advice and knowledge about many things." Tempt asks, "Can you get a fingerprint?" "Uh, not enough flesh." Starret then says, "There are scrapes on the bone and a jagged appearance here where it was severed." I then say, "Well, it was probably chewed off by a wild animal."

We then hear Hodgins, "The sticky stuff on the finger turns out to be sap from a flowering Japanese cherry. I know you from somewhere." It was silent for a second as Starret then says, "Right. I sold you a vintage '50s hot rod back in the mid- '90s. You were clean-shaven back then." "Because I was a kid." I then ask, "But you drove a hot rod, Hodgins?" "No, I did not. The lemon he sold me broke down after a week." Cam then says, "Body parts in park, mystery needs solving." Hodgins then says, "The nest was made by Corvus brachyrhynchos, the American crow. A crow will seldom stray more than 12 miles from its nest." Starret then says, "There's a spectacular copse of Japanese flowering cherry at the Jefferson Memorial." Hodgins asks, "How do you know?" "Career number two: parks supervisor." Cam then says, "The Jefferson Memorial is eight miles from where Parker found the finger." I nod says, "Amazing work, guys." I then hear Hodgins say, "I'd say 'King of the lab,' but... that just depresses me." It hangs up as I sigh sadly, "Me too." Temp looks over at me seeing my mood dropped, "Are you okay? You don't need to do this case. I know you're still in anguish over what happened... especially since you, Hodgins, and Zack where all so close and you and Zack did almost everything together." I smiled softly, "Yeah, I'll be okay. I just need time... that's all." She nods.

We have been at the Jefferson Memorial for a few hours as it had turned dark out already with Booth as Temp says, "When I was five years old, I went next door to visit our neighbor, Mrs. Walkey, and she was dead, sitting at the kitchen table. And I'm all right." I then add, "I remember seeing a body for the first time, I was in a foster home with some other kids... I was 7 at the time and I could say for sure that we weren't treated well. They would always starve us and it once lead to a point with one of the kids had actually starved to death... We were sent to different homes after that... I think I am okay..." The two looked at me for a second as Booth then says, "You both spend your life with skeletons... and you Blueberry have episodes of panic attacks on top of it." We looked at him as I shrug thinking that he was right as he continues, "It's just a matter of time. He's just a kid. He's gonna realize that he had a dead finger in his hand, he's gonna freak out." Temp then says, "You afraid you're gonna get in trouble with Rebecca?" "There's a chance that he might not say anything to her." I then say, "So, yes." He nods.

We then hear an Agent, "Agent Booth?" "Yeah." "We found something." We started heading over as Booth asks, "Okay. What have you got? Whoa." We go over to body as we see an opossum as instincts kicked in as I yelp and jump on Booth as stagger for a second looking at me as Temp says, "Oh... It's an opossum." The agent adds, "Eating a body. Should I shoot it?" "No. No, no, no. Opossums are scared of humans." Booth adds while pointing at me who is still holding onto him, "Well this human seems afraid of it." I looked at him not getting down, "It's a natural reaction... I may have been in the army... but there are still things that don't sit well with me." We watch as Temp hands her flashlight to the agent as she starts trying to scare off the opossum. "Here. Shoo, shoo, shoo! Shoo, shoo! Go, go, go, go!" Booth and I watch in disbelief as the opossum didn't look afraid at all just walking away as Temp continued. "Go, go, go. Shoo, shoo. Come one. Shoo, shoo. Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo." Booth then says, "Yeah. They're terrified." I slowly get down from Booth as I look at the body shining my light on it, "A number of body parts are missing. We'll have to grid the vicinity."