The Writer at the Lincoln Memorial

The Twist in the Investigation

The next day, Laney's parents, Danny and Anna Thompson, arrived at FBI headquarters from Mississippi. "Mr. and Mrs. Thompson," said Booth, "my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan and I are very sorry for your loss." "Thank you," cried Anna. Danny asked, "Do you have any idea about who could've killed our daughter?" "Not yet," Bones replied. Danny and Anna sadly nodded. Anna pulled a phone out of her pocket and handed it to Booth. "What's this," questioned Booth. Anna replied, "It's Laney's phone. It was delivered in the mail to our house 10 days after Laney went missing." Back at the lab, as Meredith was doing further research on Laney, she learned that Laney was a Forensic Anthropologist. As Meredith read further, she found an article in The Natchez Democrat online about Laney's new groundbreaking scientific technique. The technique was used to identify murder weapons using plaster like crime scene units use to create cast impressions of any marks left on the bones of a victim. Meredith showed the article to Cam and Angela, who both agreed to let her try the technique on Laney's remains. Meredith mixed up the plaster and applied it to the 33 stab wounds on the bones. Once the plaster hardened and had made the casts, Meredith took photographs and entered them into the weapon identification system.

The murder weapon was identified as a Swiss Army knife and Meredith concluded that Laney's cause of death was exsanguination or bleeding out. Meanwhile at FBI headquarters, TARU or Technical Assistance Response Unit, went through Laney's phone records. The records showed that Laney used her phone on the morning of November 7th when she called her best friend, Leila Karter, at 8:10 AM. That was the last call on Laney's call log. "Hey," said Bones as she entered the bone room after she arrived back from Booth's office, "anything new?" Cam replied, "Mere found an article about a groundbreaking technique founded by Laney within The Natchez Democrat newspaper online. Mere then used that very technique and identified the murder weapon as a Swiss Army knife and the cause of death to be exsanguination." Bones said, "I think I've read that article. It's the one where Laney used plaster like crime scene units use in order to make casts of the marks left on the victim's bones, right?"

Meredith nodded. Bones said, "You are just full of surprises today." Meredith smiled and said, "Well, I've learned from the best there is. I love you so much, Mom." "I love you more, Sweetheart," gushed Bones. Cam and Angela smiled at the mother/daughter duo.

A further investigation of the stab wounds on Laney's remains showed that they were inflicted on the left side of Laney's body— meaning that the killer was right handed.

Meredith also believed that the killer likely either cut him or herself or Laney either bit or grabbed at the killer's hand— ripping the tip of the glove. Cam's email ringtone sounded— it was an email from the crime lab in Mississippi that said they didn't get any hits in their AFIS database. Angela suggested that they should do a fingerprint dragnet in both D.C and in Mississippi, for it seemed as if Laney's killer had never killed before.