Almost Forever

Chapter 40

Their efficient use of time put them more than an hour over schedule so that when Booth and Brennan finally arrived at the rural farm in Del Ray, Virginia, they found both of their teams already hard at work, and sunlight just beginning to lighten the sky. Other than a few knowing smiles that were quickly hidden away, no one commented on their lateness. Brennan stepped into the coveralls Cam had left out for her and snapped on latex gloves as she crouched down beside what was left of the body.

"Where is the left femur?"

"I sent some of Booth's folks to look for it," Cam answered. "Most likely carried away by one of the local predators. We had to chase a few off when we got here. Carnivores have already eaten significant portions of the soft tissue."

Booth made a disgusted face as he pulled notecards out of his suit coat and began to write. He was careful to stay downwind of the corpse. "Is that what happened to his eyes?"

"The eyes are usually the first to go," Hodgins replied, delicately picking up a squiggling white larvae with acrylic tweezers and adding it to the small number of similar bugs in a clear plastic jar. "They're the juiciest bits."

Booth shook his head. "Thanks for that mental image. Now why don't you tell me something useful, like how long he's been here."

"I'd say roughly four to five days, based on insect activity. I can be more specific once I get these babies back to the lab." The last of his sentence was distorted by a huge yawn. After a smaller, second yawn, Hodgins apologized. "Sorry. We spent most of the night at the hospital again, thinking Angie was in labor. Turned out to be another false alarm."

"Braxton Hicks contractions are quite common at the end of pregnancy," Brennan said, as she worked over the body. "They can easily be mistaken for the genuine pains of early labor."

Hodgins turned his face into his shoulder and yawned for a third time in less than a minute. "All I know is, if she doesn't have this baby pretty soon, she's threatening to buy a trampoline and bounce it out."

"The victim is male," Brennan announced abruptly, leaving the topic of Angela's advanced pregnancy behind. She widened the mouth of the skull to examine the teeth. "Late twenties." She looked up at Booth from where she knelt beside the body, squinting as the sun popped fully over the horizon. "Are you still certain of his identity?"

"It's definitely Leishenger. The last time I saw him he still had his eyes but, yeah, it's him."

"Sir?" An agent approached with a phone at her ear and pointed with the other hand. "The victim's house is about 100 hundred yards to the west, over that hill. They've found something you should see."

"Thanks." He glanced at Brennan. "You good here?"

"Yes. We'll take the remains back to the Jeffersonian and contact you when we have something to report."

"Okay." He touched her shoulder briefly in a private goodbye, then led the other agent to the SUV.

Shaw headed the team pouring over the contents of the wood-framed farmhouse. When Booth arrived, she directed him to a table in the kitchen where a small armory of guns, rifles, and ammunition was laid out, all neatly tagged and labeled by the FBI agents on-site.

"All legally registered," Shaw reported crisply. "At least from what we've been able to cross-check with state and federal databases so far. This, however . . ." She bent over to pick up a large, hard-sided rifle case and thumbed open the lock mechanism to show the interior. It was empty.

"Barrett .338 sniper rifle," Booth said quietly. A muscle jumped in his clenched jaw. "He took Leishenger's weapon."

Shaw frowned at the empty black case. "But why take the rifle and leave this behind?"

"Because he wants me to know he has it." An undercurrent of menace laced the dark reply. Without warning, Booth slammed the case shut and turned around to face the agents who had gathered close when he arrived. "Listen up. I want half of you to stay here. Catalogue everything you find - if there's as much as a receipt from fast food place lying around, I want to know where, when, and what time it was issued. Follow up on everything in person, with photos. I want to know every detail of Leishenger's movements in the past week.

"The rest of you," he snapped, "head back to the office now. Go over that potential target list we developed and find out where they are now. Add in any recent mistrials, parolees and not-guilty verdicts. If you find anyone who looks like a person of interest for Broadsky, then get someone knocking on their door."

Booth's face was grim as he looked each of his agents in the eye.

"Jacob Broadsky has a weapon that's accurate from a mile out. We're not going to give him the chance to use it."