Parker, Booth's son, discovers a corpse's finger in a bird's nest, causing the team to launch an investigation to try to find the rest of the body. After finding the corpse, the team discovers that the death was caused by a dog, leading them to an illegal dog fighting ring and a search for the killer dog and its owner. Cesar Millan makes a guest appearance. Meanwhile, Hodgins struggles to come to terms with recent events and as such, finds himself having feelings of hate against his colleagues.
"The Finger in the Nest" [SCENE_BREAK] TEASER (Open: Special Agent Seeley Booth and his son, Parker, are walking through a park, talking. Booth has a football in his hands.) BOOTH: You know what the most beautiful thing in the world is? PARKER: Mom says a sunset. BOOTH: Okay, well, one of the most beautiful man-made things. PARKER: Mom says the Mona Lisa. BOOTH: Okay, look, all due respect to your mom, buddy, but a perfectly thrown spiral is way better than any of that stuff, okay, so let me show you how you do this. You put your hand up here like that, spread your fingers wide. PARKER: My hand's too small. BOOTH: It'll grow, alright? Okay, hand there to steady the ball. Lift it up to your ear. (Parker lifts the football up near his chin.) BOOTH: No, your ear, not your chin, silly. Alright. PARKER: What's it saying? BOOTH: It's saying, "Throw your old man a deep pass for a touchdown!" Hey! (Booth runs out to catch the football then runs back to tackle Parker.) BOOTH: What? What you got? Whoo! (They both go down and Parker looks up into the tree they're playing beneath.) PARKER: Hey, there's a bird's nest. BOOTH: Where? PARKER: There. BOOTH: Cool, huh? Hey, you want me to lift you up so you can see inside? PARKER: How about I knock it down with a perfect spiral? BOOTH: No, no, no... don't do that, you don't want to do that. That's somebody's home, okay, buddy? Something could be alive in there, okay? (Parker nods understanding.) BOOTH: So you want me to boost you up so you can see? PARKER: Sure. BOOTH: Alright, you ready? PARKER: Yeah. BOOTH: One, two, three and up. (Booth lifts Parker so he can see into the nest.) BOOTH: What do you see up there? PARKER: Higher, a little higher. BOOTH: Higher? Okay. (Parker looks into the nest.) PARKER: I see something. BOOTH: Well, if it's an egg, don't touch it because if the mommy bird comes back... PARKER: It's not an egg. BOOTH: What is it? (Parker lifts something out of the nest and looks at it.) PARKER: It's somebody's finger. (Cut to: Dr. Temperance Brennan driving in her car talking on her cell phone to Dr. Camille Saroyan who is in the Medico- Legal Lab platform, with Brennan on speakerphone, she's there with a new grad student, Mr. Scott Starret.) BRENNAN: He pulled the finger out of a bird's nest. CAM: Did he completely freak out? BRENNAN: Booth said Parker wanted to put it in his pocket and take it home. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab platform.) STARRET: When it comes to boys, that "snips and snails and puppy dog's tails" thing is pretty accurate. CAM: You have a son? STARRET: I have four. BRENNAN: (heard over the speakerphone) Mr. Starret is my oldest grad student. (Cut to: Brennan driving.) BRENNAN: Can you get a fingerprint? CAM: (heard over the speakerphone) Uh, not enough flesh. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab platform.) STARRET: There are scrapes on the bone and a jagged appearance here where it was severed. BRENNAN: (heard over the speakerphone) Well, it was probably chewed off by a wild animal. (Dr. Jack Hodgins enters the platform.) HODGINS: The sticky stuff on the finger turns out to be sap from a flowering Japanese Cherry. (Hodgins looks at Mr. Starret strangely, and then shakes a finger at him.) HODGINS: I know you from somewhere. (Mr. Starret looks Hodgins over and nods agreement.) STARRET: Right. I sold you a vintage '50s hot rod back in the mid-90s. You were clean shaven back then. HODGINS: Because I was a kid. BRENNAN: (heard over the speakerphone) But you drove a hot rod, Hodgins? HODGINS: No, I did not. The lemon he sold me broke down after a week. CAM: Body parts in park, mystery needs solving. HODGINS: (turns toward a computer and begins typing) The nest was made by a corvus brachyrhynchos. The American crow. (Cut to: Image of a black crow on a computer screen.) HODGINS: A crow will seldom stray more than twelve miles from its nest. STARRET: There's a spectacular copse of Japanese flowering Cherry at the Jefferson Memorial. HODGINS: How do you know? STARRET: Career number two: Parks supervisor. CAM: The Jefferson Memorial is eight miles from where Parker found the finger. BRENNAN: Good work, guys. (Hangs up her phone) HODGINS: I'd say "King of the Lab" but... that just depresses me. (Hodgins exits and Starret looks confusedly at Cam. She shakes her head.) CAM: Don't ask. (Cut to: Booth's office at the FBI building. Parker is sitting in Booth's chair at his desk and Booth and Dr. Lance Sweets are standing outside the office watching him.) SWEETS: A human finger? BOOTH: Yeah, a human finger, alright? Look, is my son going to be suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress, you know like suppressed feelings, memories, all that hooey? SWEETS: Well, a child's brain can't process death as an end. You know, that's why we tell children that their deceased loved ones are looking down on us from heaven. BOOTH: Which they are. SWEETS: Yeah, it's an excellent coping technique. You know, grandma isn't worm food, she's simply moved on to a better place. BOOTH: Which she did. SWEETS: Yeah. Parker looks good to me. (Cut to: Parker playing with a baseball and glove.) BOOTH: So, you talk to him? SWEETS: "Hi, Parker, I'm Dr. Sweets. I'm a psychologist and I'm here to talk to you about the human finger that you found." BOOTH: That's great. Could you do that? SWEETS: No. That could introduce issues that don't currently exist. Just call me if he displays any symptoms of distress. BOOTH: Okay, any symptoms of distress. Like um, killing cats? SWEETS: Yeah, sure. (Cut to: Booth and Brennan, Booth is sitting in the SUV while Brennan leans against it. Lights are flashing around them, obviously at a crime scene near the Jefferson Memorial.) BRENNAN: 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 alright. BOOTH: You spend your life with skeletons. 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. BRENNAN: Are you afraid you're going to get into trouble with Rebecca? BOOTH: There's a chance that he might not say anything to her. BRENNAN: So, yes. FBI AGENT: Agent Booth? BOOTH: Yeah? FBI AGENT: We found something. (Booth gets out of the car and shuts the door.) (Cut to: Booth and Brennan with flashlights walk into a copse of trees.) BOOTH: Okay, what have you got? (Cut to: An opossum chewing on a corpse.) BOOTH: Whoa! BRENNAN: Aww, it's an opossum. BOOTH: Eating a body. Should I shoot it? BRENNAN: No. No, no, no. Opossums are scared of humans. Here! (Walks toward the opossum, tucking her flashlight under her arm, and starts clapping her hands.) Shoo, shoo, shoo. Shoo, shoo. Go, go, go, go. Go, go, go. Shoo, shoo. C'mon, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo. (Opossum walking slowly off.) BOOTH: Yeah, they're terrified. (Brennan returns to the corpse and looks down at it.) BRENNAN: A number of body parts are missing. We'll have to grid the vicinity. BOOTH: Okay, we'll re-calibrate the search, and we'll call this ground zero. BRENNAN: Fanny pack, PDA clip. BOOTH: Well, if you can identify this person, I can subpoena the PDA's contents. BRENNAN: Partial skull. BOOTH: (Shines his flashlight around the area and lands on the opossum.) Oh, look at that. The possum's dead. (Eyes brighten with an idea.) I got it! The victim was poisoned, the possum ate the victim, got poisoned and died. That's it. BRENNAN: (walks over to the opossum while explaining to Booth) A stressed-out opossum can go into a false sleep, lasting up to four hours. (Picks up the opossum by the tail, and it starts moving shortly after.) BOOTH: Oh. So the possum was faking it? BRENNAN: Uh-huh. (Puts the opossum down and it walks off.) BOOTH: Wow. Yep, there it goes. BRENNAN: Uh, you should go get him. BOOTH: What do I look like, Ranger Rick? BRENNAN: He could have evidence in his digestive tract. BOOTH: C'mon, Bones. BRENNAN: Booth, evidence. BOOTH: Fine, I'll go get your possum. BRENNAN: Opossum. BOOTH: Possum. BRENNAN: Opossum. ACT ONE (Open on: Medico-Legal Lab platform. Mr. Starret and Cam are examining the remains found near the Jefferson Memorial.) STARRET: The sternal rib end indicates the victim was between 35 and 40 years old. The length of the long bones suggests he was between five-foot-eight and five-ten. CAM: He? STARRET: Bone density and skull indicators suggest male. CAM: Time of death... approximately four days ago. Lividity indicates that he died somewhere else and was then dumped. Deep puncture wounds to the trachea pierced the jugular. He bled to death. STARRET: I'll make an impression of the wounds, and see if we can't specify a murder weapon. CAM: First we look for particulates. (Cut to: Hodgins looking in a microscope, Sweets is standing nearby.) HODGINS: Bull pen1s. SWEETS: Beg your pardon? HODGINS: The fanny pack had dandruff-sized flakes of bull pen1s in it. (Sits back from the microscope and looks at Sweets) Why are you spying on me? SWEETS: Could it be because I'm the dupe of an organ of the shadowy forces that secretly run this country? HODGINS: You got the dupe part right. (Looks back into the microscope) Freeze dried bovine phallus. SWEETS: You know where to find me if you wish to discuss anything. HODGINS: Yeah, the problem isn't finding you-it's avoiding you. Hm. SWEETS: Okay. (Sweets exits.) (Cut to: Angela's office. Angela is at the computer while Starret and Cam look over her shoulders.) ANGELA: The skull was badly mangled, so I was only able to construct a partial. But I cross-checked physiological markers against the missing persons database and it yielded three possibilities. Okay. Robert Sanchez, 24... STARRET: Too young. ANGELA: Michael Minden, former basketball coach, thirty-nine. STARRET: Too tall. ANGELA: That leaves Dr. Seth Elliot, veterinarian, thirty-seven. CAM: Any objections to Dr. Elliot? STARRET: He falls into the parameters. Plus, dog trainers use freeze dried bull penises as rewards. He was a veterinarian. ANGELA: H-how do you know about the bull pen1s stuff? CAM: He's middle-aged and he's held every possible job. STARRET: Four boys, seven dogs, fourteen guinea pigs, one reticulated python... you get the point. ANGELA: I got it. (Cut to: Conference room at the FBI building. Booth and Brennan are questioning the ex-wife of the victim, Alice Elliot.) ALICE: Oh, God. I've always hated that fanny pack. That's blood on it, isn't it? What happened? BRENNAN: Mrs. Elliot, when did you last speak with your husband? ALICE: Ex-husband. On Thursday, we made arrangements for Seth to pick up Brando. We have joint custody. BOOTH: And Brando is... (A small dog pokes it's head out of a bag on Alice's lap) your cat. BRENNAN: That's a dog, Booth. BOOTH: I... Thank you. So, uh... Seth Elliot never picked up Fido. BRENNAN: Brando. BOOTH: The dog? ALICE: Seth's dead, isn't he? BOOTH: I'm afraid so. (Alice starts to cry and hugs the dog.) BRENNAN: May I hold your dog while you cry? (Alice hands over the dog and Brennan grins.) Oh, he's so compact. (The dog is making small yipping and growling noises.) ALICE: Brando adored Seth. So did I. BOOTH: Wow, not so many ex-wives speak so fondly of their former husbands. ALICE: I never wanted to divorce Seth. BRENNAN: Then why did you? ALICE: You know, Seth had a serious gambling problem. He would either lose our car payment, or he would come home with diamond earrings. And when he lost our house, filing for divorce was supposed to be a wakeup call. BOOTH: And he never woke up. ALICE: No. BOOTH: Listen, do you have the bookie's name? ALICE: No, ask Karen. BOOTH AND BRENNAN: (Together) Who's Karen? (Cut to: Dr. Elliot's office. Booth and Brennan are talking with Karen Landrew, Dr. Elliot's assistant.) KAREN: (Crying) I've been Dr. Elliot's assistant, receptionist, whatever, for like eight months. Murder? BRENNAN: His remains were found in the Jefferson Memorial park. KAREN: Oh my God, poor Seth. I don't know what'll happen to this place now. BRENNAN: Was it doing well? KAREN: We made barely enough to pay the rent, cover his salary, mine and... and the kid who sweeps up. BRENNAN: So no, not very well. KAREN: Seth didn't tell me everything, but I could sense he was under a lot of pressure. He tossed and turned all night. BOOTH: So you slept together? KAREN: He's divorced, I'm single. There's nothing enervating about it. BRENNAN: Oh, for future reference, that word doesn't mean what you think. BOOTH: Look, are you aware that Dr. Elliot had a gambling problem? KAREN: That was Seth's one fault. BOOTH: We'd like to talk to his bookie, if you know where he is. KAREN: I don't think that's how Seth gambled. BRENNAN: How did he gamble? KAREN: Online poker, mostly. BOOTH: Can you think of anything else? KAREN: Well, just after I started here, Seth caught a guy stealing drugs. He-He wrestled him to the ground, called the cops. Everyone said Seth was a hero. BRENNAN: What kind of drugs? KAREN: Ketamine. It's an animal tranquilizer. An-and the guy went to prison. Do you think he killed Seth for revenge? BOOTH: You know, thank you for your help. We're really sorry for your loss. Come on, Bones. KAREN: Without Seth, I'm paralyzed. I don't know how I'll find the energy to go on. BRENNAN: Now that is what "enervating" means. BOOTH: Bones. BRENNAN: What? (They exit.) (Cut to: Booth and Brennan driving. Brennan has a laptop open on her lap, Booth is driving.) BRENNAN: Okay. Tucker Payne. He was found guilty of stealing drugs from Dr. Elliot's vet clinic. Sentenced to two years and he was paroled one month ago. BOOTH: I'll have the drug thief's parole officer bring him in for questioning. Okay? (Brennan's phone rings and she answers it.) BRENNAN: Brennan. (Scene cuts back and forth between the Medico-Legal lab where Cam, Starret and Hodgins are and the car where Booth and Brennan are.) CAM: Dr. Brennan, Hodgins found saliva. BRENNAN: (Heard over the speakerphone) Where? CAM: On the victim. BRENNAN: But why was Hodgins looking for saliva? HODGINS: I wasn't looking for saliva. I found it. (Hodgins heard over the speakerphone.) Giant difference. BOOTH: Whoa, easy pal, watch your tone. BRENNAN: I don't care about tone, I just care about results. (Cam holding up a finger to quiet Hodgins while she speaks.) CAM: Dr. Hodgins was looking for particulates on the mandible and vertebrate that might lead to a murder weapon when he found saliva. HODGINS: There was enough saliva in the wounds to run a DNA profile. BOOTH: Well, it had to be the possum, right? STARRET: Uh, the puncture wounds indicate something larger. BOOTH: Hey, who's that? HODGINS: (Heard over the speakerphone.) A fraudulent used car salesman. CAM: Booth, meet Mr. Starret. HODGINS: (Heard over the speakerphone.) I ran the standard eight nuclear markers for canids... BOOTH: Canids? What's that, like some kind of bug? STARRET: Not a bug, Agent Booth. HODGINS: Canis lupus familiaris. See how annoying that interrupting know-it-all used car salesman thing can be? BOOTH: I'm sorry, w-what is a can-ass familiar-ass... BRENNAN: Domestic dog. CAM: Seth Elliot was killed by a dog with filed teeth. ACT TWO (Cut to: Conference room in the FBI building. Booth interrogating Tucker Payne who is accompanied by his pit bull, Schatzi.) BOOTH: Tucker Felix Payne. You really must hate your parents for naming you that. TUCKER: It's a good name. Felix means "lucky." BOOTH: Assault, possession of various restricted weapons, various drug offenses. You don't seem so lucky. TUCKER: You should see the stuff they didn't get me on. BOOTH: Was it good luck that got you taken down by a veterinarian? TUCKER: I was so high I could have been taken down by a florist. BOOTH: Yeah, the vet is dead. You get paroled, vet turns up murdered. You see where I'm going with this? Make your dog bark? TUCKER: You told me to bring Schatzi so you could hear him bark? BOOTH: Schatzi? TUCKER: It means "treasure" in German. BOOTH: Yeah, I want to hear Schatzi bark. TUCKER: Gib laut! (Schatzi barks twice.) BOOTH: I can't see its teeth. Want to show me his teeth? (Booth takes his gun out and places it on the table. Tucker shows Booth the dog's teeth, Shatzi growls.) Why do you file its teeth down to points? TUCKER: I'm a drug dealer. You people catch me with a gun, I go away forever. BOOTH: Shatzi your choice of weapon? TUCKER: Never had to use him yet. Were you really going to shoot my dog? BOOTH: I got nothing against your dog. (Booth picks up his gun and puts it back in his holster.) I was going to shoot you. See, I'm going to take your dog. (Hands Tucker a warrant.) TUCKER: Aww, man. You got a warrant for my dog? BOOTH: Mm hmm. TUCKER: That's cold. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab platform. Cam and Starret are going over results.) STARRET: Per your instructions, I microsiled the lethal bite mark. See here? (Points to bite marks on a bloody mandible.) CAM: An irregularity in the wound track. STARRET: Yes. I took an impression of Shatzi's bite. CAM: Who's Schatzi? STARRET: (Schatzi barks in a cage behind them.) Drug dealer's dog. (Turns to the dog and points.) Sejet sch n brav! (Turns back to Cam.) He responds to German commands. CAM: Very intimidating. STARRET: The dog that killed Dr. Elliot has a pronounced crack in its canine tooth. And the neighboring bicuspid shows a slab fracture. Very distinct. CAM: So Schatzi's not our killer. STARRET: Schatzi is innocent. (Shatzi barks again and the phone rings, Cam picks up.) CAM: Hey, Hodgins. (Scene cuts back and forth between the lab and the examination area where Hodgins and other FBI forensic crewmen are examining a car.) HODGINS: City police found the vet's car. A forensics crew is going through it now. Booth wanted me to make sure they didn't screw things up. (A forensic crewman gives Hodgins a look, and Hodgins shrugs.) Hey, deal with it. CAM: (Heard over the speakerphone) Well, I hope you find something, 'cause this puppy's innocent. HODGINS: (Heard over the speakerphone.) Yeah, well we're finding gobs of dried blood. CAM: It's a vet's vehicle-could be from one of his patients. STARRET: It's not. HODGINS: (Heard over the speakerphone.) Don't listen to him. You'll end up buying this blood-soaked heap for three times its value. STARRET: I worked as a vet's assistant in college when I was studying to be and EMT. We were as careful with blood as any human doctor. HODGINS: You ever think this vet didn't live up to your high standards? STARRET: (Heard over the speakerphone.) Most likely, the car was used to transport the victim's body, and then dumped. CAM: (Heard over the speakerphone.) That does make more sense. HODGINS: I found... (the forensic crewman clears his throat and gives Hodgins a look) Excuse me. The crack FBI team found a prescription bottle of arithromyacin. CAM: That's not an animal drug. That's a macrolide antibiotic used for a number of conditions. STARRET: Including acne and STDs. (Cam nods and gives him a questioning look. He holds up his hands.) Four boys. CAM: (Heard over the speakerphone) Maybe we got lucky and the bad guy dropped his prescription. HODGINS: Bottle reads "Donald Timmons." STARRET: (Heard over the speakerphone.) We should track him down. HODGINS: Wow, that is an absolutely wonderful idea that could only have sprung from a time-tempered mind of a man with your life's experience ripping off unsuspecting car enthusiasts. FBI FORENSIC CREWMAN: I feel better. You treat everyone like crap. (Cut to: Booth and Brennan driving up to a run-down shack with lots of machinery. Two dogs are sitting outside.) BOOTH: Wow, look at that pit, huh? Muscles like cantaloupes. (Pit bull starts barking.) BRENNAN: (Goes for the door handle to get out of the car.) Is that why we're not getting out? BOOTH: No, it's the country, Bones. They got a different way of doing things. BRENNAN: You're afraid of the dog. BOOTH: No, I'm not. What you do in the country is you sit in your car and you wait. It's rural-polite. Parker had a nightmare. BRENNAN: About severed fingers? BOOTH: No, it was a singing frog. BRENNAN: I don't see the connection. But then I'm one of those people who thinks that if you dream about a banana, it's probably just a banana. BOOTH: He's acting up in school, he's talking back to his mom, he's not flushing the toilet. BRENNAN: He's a boy. BOOTH: Okay, yeah. I get it. You saw a whole lady's corpse when you were a little girl, and you were fine. BRENNAN: Yes. Although, for some reason that I do not understand, I kept staging my own death. Pretending that I drowned in the bathtub, faking electrical shock. It really freaked my parents out. And then once when Russ found me hanging he had to go see the school psychologist. BOOTH: But otherwise you were fine? BRENNAN: Yeah. BOOTH: Yeah, okay. Do you dream about bananas a lot? BRENNAN: Why? (Booth shrugs and a man comes out of the building. Brennan nods toward the man.) Can we get out of the car now? (Booth and Brennan get out of the car.) BOOTH: Quiet. Don Timmons? DON: Why you just waiting in the car? Gladys wouldn't hurt you. BOOTH: FBI Special Agent Booth. This here is my associate, Dr. Brennan. BRENNAN: Do you know Dr. Seth Elliot? DON: Sure I do. Went to high school with him. He's my vet. Why? BOOTH: He was murdered. DON: Oh, man. (He turns toward the building and shouts.) Robbie. Hey, Robbie! ROBBIE: (Exits the building and walks toward them.) What's up? DON: Seth died. ROBBIE: What happened? DON: This is the FBI, they say he got murdered. This is my boy Robbie. He used to work for Seth part-time. BRENNAN: Can you think of a reason why Dr. Elliot's car would be full of blood? ROBBIE: No, no. It's not like he ran an animal ambulance or something. BOOTH: You ever ride in his car, Mr. Timmons? DON: No, never. Why? (Brennan brings out the prescription Hodgins found in an evidence bag and hands it to Don.) ROBBIE: When it's bagged like that, it means it's evidence, Dad. It's not his. It's mine. DON: Robbie. ROBBIE: Dad, it's a murder investigation. They don't care about insurance. I'm too old to be on my dad's insurance. BOOTH: He got the prescription under your name. BRENNAN: But that's fraud. DON: That's working around a system that doesn't care about people like us. Listen, I'm the father. Robbie shouldn't be held responsible. BOOTH: How about you? You been in Dr. Elliot's car recently? ROBBIE: Last... last time was on the weekend. We did a gelding over at Danny Oliver's place. BRENNAN: What about Tuesday night? Where were you? ROBBIE: I was at my tutor's. I'm trying to get my GED. (Gladys brings a squeaky toy to Brennan and she bends down and pets her.) BRENNAN: Hi. DON: Robbie's going to go to medical school if it kills both of us. ROBBIE: I was kind of thinking I'd be a vet. DON: Yeah, well that's a good backup if you crap out on medical school. BOOTH: We're going to need the tutor's name, address, all that stuff. DON: It's Andrew Hopp. He'll vouch for Robbie. BRENNAN: Gladys is a very nice animal. ROBBIE: Yeah. Dad really trained her great. DON: Gladys, come. Sit. Lay down. What? (Scratches at his ear and Gladys barks.) BOOTH: Well, that's impressive. DON: No sense in owning a dog if you can't control it. BRENNAN: (To Booth.) Gladys teeth are not filed. ROBBIE: What? BOOTH: Oh, Dr. Elliot was killed by a dog with sharpened teeth. (Brennan throws the squeaky toy.) BOOTH: Bones, what are you doing? Enough playing with the dog. BRENNAN: What? ROBBIE: Seth was murdered by a dog? BRENNAN: The murderer was a human being, the murder weapon was a dog. [SCENE_BREAK] ACT THREE (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab platform. Hodgins looking into a microscope and Sweets standing nearby once again.) HODGINS: Back to this, are we? You staring at me? SWEETS: Well, I have concerns, Dr. Hodgins. HODGINS: About me? SWEETS: Yeah, you seem to have completely abandoned your paranoid conspiracy theories. HODGINS: I'm not a trained psychologist, like you, but that sounds like a good thing. (Picks up the phone and dials Cam.) Dr. Saroyan, I've found something important I need to show you. (Hangs up.) SWEETS: Conspiracy was the central idea around which you organized your sense of self. Also, I can't help but note that you're not paying quite so much attention to your personal appearance. HODGINS: Less paranoid and less vain. Again, that sounds like a good thing. SWEETS: These kinds of changes in a man's life indicate intense distress. Would you like to discuss this with me? HODGINS: I'd rather drive a motorcycle full speed into a bridge abutment. SWEETS: Do you, uh... do you often entertain suicidal thoughts? HODGINS: No, I'm more homicidal in nature. SWEETS: Pretty sure you're not saying that in earnest, but as a way to keep me at arm's length. (Cam enters.) CAM: I'm here, what's up? HODGINS: (To Sweets.) Oh, do you mind? I have work to do. SWEETS: You need to talk about these things, Dr. Hodgins. If not with me, then with someone else. Dr. Saroyan. (Sweets exits.) CAM: What have you got? HODGINS: Oh, uh, I found some particulates that the geniuses at FBI forensics missed. CAM: From the victim's car? HODGINS: Crushed exoskeletons of copeopods and other crustaceans. CAM: Ah HODGINS: (After Cam's confused expression.) Yeah, I don't know what that means either. CAM: So, you called me over here to... HODGINS: Make Sweets go away. CAM: Not an appropriate use of your boss, Dr. Hodgins. HODGINS: It worked, didn't it? (Cut to: Brennan's office at the Jeffersonian. Booth and Brennan are walking into the office with Andrew Hopp.) BOOTH: Thanks for coming into the Jeffersonian, Dr. Hopp. HOPP: I'm not a doctor yet. I'm only a third year medical student. BRENNAN: So, you tutor Robbie Timmons? HOPP: Yeah, twice a week-here's a complete record of our meetings. (He pulls out a piece of paper and goes to hand it to Brenann but Booth snatches it.) BOOTH: I'll take that. Thanks. (Booth looks down on a small pillow with parallel stitches in it that Hopp is holding.) BOOTH: You, do a little, uh, needlepoint on the side? BRENNAN: It's used to practice suturing. HOPP: Yeah, next year we use actual corpses. BOOTH: So what is, uh, Robbie like? HOPP: He's a good kid-I mean, he's never going to be what his dad wants, but he tries hard. (An alarm beeps on his cell.) I'm sorry, I have to run. I got a class. (They begin walking out of the office, following Hopp.) BOOTH: Did you ever meet Dr. Elliot? HOPP: The vet that Robbie worked for? The one who got murdered? Yeah. BOOTH: I take it you didn't like him, huh? HOPP: Uh, I was raised not to speak ill of the dead. BOOTH: Yeah, well I was raised to ask questions like that, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist. HOPP: (Sighs.) I met him maybe twice, and I'm pretty sure he was tweaking. BRENNAN: W-what's that? BOOTH: He was a meth addict. HOPP: I'm just not sure Seth Elliot was the best role model for...for Robbie Timmons, that's all. BRENNAN: Did Robbie Timmons' father know? HOPP: No way, Old Don's a pretty straight arrow. Robbie's his main project, so... BOOTH: Well, thanks for coming in. HOPP: Hey, thanks for letting me see this place. It's legendary. (Hopp exits.) (Cut to: Angela's office. Angela is at her computer and Booth and Brennan are standing behind her looking over her shoulders.) BOOTH: It's dogfighting. ANGELA: (Scrolling through pictures of various dogs fighting.) I hate this job, so I'm quitting to go run a gallery in Dubai. BRENNAN: Oh, it's just disgusting. ANGELA: Yeah, we got the subpoena to download Dr. Elliot's PDA records from the server. BOOTH: These were on his PDA? ANGELA: Time-stamped the day of his death. BRENNAN: (Pointing to a picture.) Fighting pit, spectators. A rape stand used to restrain uncooperative females. The smaller cages are for bait-small animals used as rewards for the winners. BOOTH: They teach you that in anthropology school? BRENNAN: Pitting animals against each other is a common pastime in evolving cultures where violence is more commonplace and animal life has no value. ANGELA: To men. No value to men. BRENNAN: Yes, it's always men. BOOTH: Here we go again. Okay, you two don't get all, you know, Xena: Princess Warrior on me, okay? I guess we know now where Elliot liked to do his gambling. BRENNAN: Wait, Ange, go back. (Points to an area on the picture on the screen.) Right there, can you magnify that? ANGELA: What, that blob? BRENNAN: There's something familiar. That's Glady's ball. ANGELA: Who's Gladys? BOOTH: Could be enough for me to get a warrant if the judge had a glass of wine or two at lunch. ANGELA: Dubai, people. I'm going to go sell Inuit art to gazillionaires. (Cut to: FBI Building. Sweets is on the computer, typing when there's a knock and Booth enters towing Parker behind him.) BOOTH: Hey, Sweets. You got a minute for me and Parker here? SWEETS: Wow, there you are, actually right here in my office without an appointment or... Hi, Parker. I'm Dr. Sweets. PARKER: His face doesn't look like a baby's behind. BOOTH: (Covers Parker's ears with his hands.) Look, okay, he's having nightmares. He's uh, not eating. He doesn't want to go to school and suddenly, he's afraid of meteors. SWEETS: Giant flaming rocks from outer space. Who wouldn't be afraid? PARKER: You know I can still hear you. BOOTH: Okay, hum, hum, okay, got it? Hum. (Parker starts humming.) I know all this is connected to him finding that finger. SWEETS: I'm not some radio advice hack who performs diagnoses over the phone. BOOTH: This is exactly why I brought him here in person-cure him. SWEETS: No. It doesn't really work that way. Therapy with a child is... PARKER: (As Booth lets go of him.) Ah, I thought I was going to run out of breath. BOOTH: Yeah, I'm going to run out of breath when I run upstairs to get that warrant from that senile judge. Ten, fifteen minutes? Is that good enough time? Okay, see you! Bye, have fun! (While Sweets shakes his head Booth runs out of the office and shuts the door behind him) PARKER: (Sits down on the couch and puts his feet up on the coffee table.) Are you my babysitter? SWEETS: (Sits down across from Parker.) Parker. That is exactly what I am. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab. Cam and Hodgins walking through the lab to a workstation.) CAM: The judge said no. Glady's ball wasn't enough for a warrant. HODGINS: Why? CAM: Because over two million of them were sold last year. HODGINS: Well, we did our best. Next case. CAM: We need evidence that the Timmons' place was used for dogfighting. HODGINS: Alright, well, I found crustaceous material in the victim's car. It's an antifungal treatment used on Astroturf. CAM: That doesn't link us with dogfighting, either. ANGELA: (Approaches and nods.) Yeah, it does. (Cut to: Angela's office. Scrolling through more pictures of dogfighting.) ANGELA: Ick. (Next picture.) Ew. (Next picture.) Blugh. (Next picture.) Alright, here we go. Brennan said that this was the dogfighting ring. (Magnifies a picture of the ground.) HODGINS: So, it's Astroturf. CAM: If this Astroturf cleaning stuff was delivered to the Timmons' place, that should get us a warrant. HODGINS: (To Angela.) You're a genius. ANGELA: No, you're the genius. (Awkward silence ensues. Then Cam and Hodgins exit.) (Cut to: Timmons' place. Booth exits the SUV and starts rattling off instructions as he heads back to greet Mr. Cesar Millan.) BOOTH: Okay, people, what we're looking for is evidence of a dogfighting operation. Mr. Millan, thank you so much for coming. CESAR: I hope I can help. BRENNAN: I've seen you on TV. CESAR: Thank you. BRENNAN: No, I only stated a fact-there's nothing inherently complimentary about being on television. BOOTH: She's happy you're here, and so am I. DON: (Exits the building looking angry.) What the hell's going on here? BOOTH: (Hands an agent the warrant.) You know what? Serve him this warrant, tell them we're looking for Astroturf. BRENNAN: So, where do we look first? BOOTH: Start with the larger outbuildings. C'mon. (Cut to: Cesar, Booth and Brennan walking around the buildings.) CESAR: You don't hurt the ones you love. You don't send the ones you love to their death for entertainment. (Brennan stops and looks into a holding pen.) BOOTH: You must really hate these guys. CESAR: I really do. BOOTH: (Watching Brennan as she steps into the pen and looks at freshly turned dirt.) What is it? BRENNAN: He said that the dogs fight to their death. So we should have expected this. (Dog bones are sticking out of the soil.) It's a mass grave. These seem to be all dog bones, but there's other stuff too; some trash, betting slips. BOOTH: We'll send it all back to the Jeffersonian. See if we can trace the betting slips. Find these people and charge them. BRENNAN: Yes, that would make me feel a bit better if we did that. CESAR: (Calling from inside a nearby building.) Agent Booth, we found something. (Cut to: Cesar, Booth and Brennan walking inside the building, looking around.) BOOTH: Yep, dogfighting ring. The Astroturf. BRENNAN: It's just like the pictures on Elliot's PDA. BOOTH: Find any dogs? CESAR: Yes, quite a few in fact. (Cesar opens a door to reveal several dogs chained up on the other side. They all stand up and start barking at them.) CESAR: Shhht. Hey. Shhht. (Snaps his fingers and motions them down.) Shhhh. Down. (The dogs all lie down.) BRENNAN: How does he do that? BOOTH: He's the dog whisperer. (Booth snaps and tries to imitate the sound Cesar makes.) BRENNAN: You didn't do anything. (Cut to: FBI Building interrogation room. Booth is questioning Don Timmons.) BOOTH: Dogfighting ring, the remains of a dozen dead dogs. And you're gonna tell me all that happened a hundred yards from your house and you had no idea what was going on? DON: I never go to the barn. I, uh, I rent it out. (Pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to Booth.) BOOTH: (Stares at Don for a minute before picking up the paper and reading it. Scoffs.) Numbered company. Don't tell me. They pay cash and you never met the tenant. DON: That's right. As far as I know, they use it for storage. BOOTH: How involved was Dr. Elliot. DON: I have no idea what you're talking about. BOOTH: He owe you money, or maybe you just wanted a bigger cut. DON: Let me go, or get me my lawyer. BOOTH: Whatever happened, you know what? Four days ago, you snapped. You had one of your trained dogs attack him. DON: Four days ago? I'm a driller, Agent Booth. I dig wells mostly, some pylon holes. Four days ago I was at an auger seminar in Chicago. BOOTH: Can you corroborate that? DON: Airplane tickets, hotel receipts, about sixty eyewitnesses. See, I'm kind of the life of the party at those things. I know how to organize a good time. BOOTH: Just like you know how to organize a dogfighting ring. DON: I don't know anything about what goes on down at that barn. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab. Dogs are everywhere contained in cages. Cesar and Brennan are looking at the dogs.) CESAR: Hey, stop that now. BRENNAN: Could I see your teeth please? CESAR: That's not how you do it. (Motions down with his hand.) Shht. Down. (Opens the cage door.) Down. (Takes the dog by the head and lifts his lip so that Brennan can compare a molding to its teeth.) BRENNAN: No, it's not a match. CESAR: That mold you made, it's like Cinderella's slipper. BRENNAN: That story never made sense to me, but yes. (Another dog starts barking at Brennan.) BRENNAN: Hey, stop that now. (Tries to make the same noises as Cesar to calm the dog.) CESAR: It's not as easy as it looks. Shht. Down. (They open the cage door and compare the mold to the dog's tooth.) BRENNAN: It's a match. CESAR: Are you positive? BRENNAN: This is the killer dog, yes. CESAR: I'm sorry, buddy. (Pets the dog.) So sorry, buddy. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab. Hodgins and Starret are sifting through evidence on an exam table.) STARRET: Should I be looking out for anything in particular? HODGINS: Yeah, flashy crap you can sell to a gullible kid. STARRET: I didn't sell you that car, you bought it. You saw those horizontal scallops and you just had to have it. I suggested that you look under the hood, but all you did was sit behind the wheel and make vroom-vroom noises. HODGINS: I was twenty years old. STARRET: All these years later you're still blaming me? You're not twenty anymore, Dr. Hodgins, so cut it out. HODGINS: You know...(Long pause as he gets angry, then realizes his mistake.) I'm sorry. I just... (Puts his head in his hands.) I've just been having a lot of problems recently. STARRET: I'm sorry to hear that. HODGINS: My best friend who used to work here with me, he got himself into a lot of trouble. I really miss the guy. STARRET: Dr. Hodgins... HODGINS: You know Angela? She and I, we were engaged to be married, and well, that went south too. STARRET: That's a lot to bear... especially if you feel responsible. HODGINS: Yeah, I do. I do feel responsible. STARRET: You shouldn't be talking to me. HODGINS: Of course not, I'm sorry. STARRET: What I mean is; I'm not the right person for you to confide in. This is my last day here. I leave for a dig in Arizona tomorrow. HODGINS: Oh. STARRET: There are people around here to seem to like you very much. People who are concerned with your happiness. (He roots around in the evidence and brings out a small microchip.) What's this? HODGINS: It's a computer chip. Pet owners have them embedded in their animals in case of theft or loss. But, you knew that. Didn't you? (Cut to: Sweet's office. He's laying on the couch reading a magazine when Booth enters.) BOOTH: I got a message that you have something to tell me about Parker. SWEETS: Uh,yeah, yeah. Uh, you were right. Parker is traumatized. (Booth looks dejected and flops into a chair with a sigh.) Uh, it has nothing to do with the finger in the nest. BOOTH: Huh? SWEETS: Um, he has a girl problem. BOOTH: Girl? He's six. SWEETS: Uh huh. The girl, her name is Stephanie Clyde. She's somewhat large. Likes to pick him up and carry him around. BOOTH: Carry him under her arm? SWEETS: Like a pet monkey. He doesn't know what to do. He says you told him never to hit girls. BOOTH: I told him never to hit anyone. You know, unless it was for self defense. She, uh, carries him around? SWEETS: Like a monkey. At recess. She thinks he's cute. BOOTH: What about the finger? SWEETS: Parker actually wishes that you'd let him have the finger. So he could show it to Stephanie and maybe make her barf. BOOTH: Why doesn't he just run away? SWEETS: Well, when I suggested that, he told me very proudly that his father never ran away from anything. BOOTH: (Laughs.) Proudly? He said that? SWEETS: I think you know what to do. I mean, we've all had our Stephanie Clydes, right? BOOTH: No one's ever carried me around like a monkey, especially a girl. SWEETS: Of course not, me neither. (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab. Cam examining the dog that had the matching tooth, revealing a wound.) CAM: This is exactly where the microchip would be embedded. (Starret takes the serial number off the microchip and it loads in the computer.) STARRET: Ten digits. HODGINS: The FBI can use it to track down Ripley's owner. CAM: If it's his microchip. (Cut to: Dr. Elliot's office. Booth and Brennan hand Karen Landrew a case file.) KAREN: Ripley? BRENNAN: According to the American Veterinary Identification Device database, his owners brought him here. BOOTH: To be put to sleep. KAREN: It's true. You know why? BOOTH: Why? KAREN: Because they didn't know when they bought him that he'd get so big. BRENNAN: You didn't euthanize Ripley. KAREN: Seth couldn't do it. The dog was completely healthy. Instead he found Ripley a new home. BOOTH: Where? KAREN: That, I don't know. BRENNAN: Ripley ended up at a dogfighting facility run by Don Timmons. KAREN: No. Seth devoted his life to saving dogs. He simply wouldn't do that. Not on purpose. ACT FOUR (Cut to: Brennan's office. She's sitting on the couch looking at her computer with Ripley when Booth enters.) BOOTH: Hey, Bones. Don Timmons' alibi checked out. He was in Chicago... (Trails off when he sees Ripley.) Whoa, what are you doing? BRENNAN: I'm just going through the case to see if I missed anything. BOOTH: Uh, the dog should be, you know, in the cage. He killed Seth Elliot. BRENNAN: It's not his fault. He's actually a very nice dog, aren't you? He reminds me of you. BOOTH: Me? BRENNAN: He's got warm and reassuring brown eyes, and he's capable of great violence. BOOTH: Hey, great. Thanks a million. (Starts to walk out.) BRENNAN: Wait, Booth, look at this cruelty. They send dogs into fight, to die or be hurt, and then they stitch them back up and they send them out to fight again. You know, we've been assuming that it's been Seth Elliot doctoring these dogs. BOOTH: Well, he was a vet. BRENNAN: But look... (magnifies a picture of a stitched wound) common suture stitch. See here how it's uneven in the same way, and then there's an "x" at the end? BOOTH: So? BRENNAN: It's distinctive. And I've seen it before. (Cut to: Barn where the dogfighting took place. Booth and Brennan are comparing the pillow Hopp used to practice his stitches with the photograph of the stitched wound. Don, Hopp and Robbie are standing nearby.) BRENNAN: Common suture, uneven..."x" at the end. Same thing. It's like a fingerprint. BOOTH: (To Hopp.) The thread is green nylon. You'd better believe we'll match it. HOPP: Stitching up wounded animals isn't a crime. ROBBIE: What's going on? HOPP: Just everybody shut up, and we'll be fine. (Cesar enters with Ripley on a leash.) BOOTH: Everyone, this is Ripley. BRENNAN: He killed Dr.Elliot. DON: None of us ever saw that dog before. BRENNAN: Well, we can tie Andy here to all of these wounded animals and to Ripley. ROBBIE: Is that that guy from TV who talks to dogs. CESAR: Yes. BOOTH: You see, we want to know who sicced Ripley here on Seth Elliot. BRENNAN: We don't need you. We know you were in Chicago. CESAR: (To Robbie.) Would you mind clapping, like this? (Claps twice.) HOPP: No we won't do that. DON: Do it Robbie. ROBBIE: What? DON: You're not his master, do it. (Robbie claps twice and there is no reaction from Ripley.) CESAR: It's not him. (Booth walks behind Hopp and claps twice. Ripley comes running and sits at Hopp's feet.) BOOTH: Look at that. BRENNAN: He's waiting for your command. HOPP: May... maybe my dog killed Dr. Elliot, but that doesn't mean I made him do it. DON: Ripley's a good dog. He wouldn't attack unless he was ordered. (To Robbie.) Tell these people what you know about Seth Elliot. HOPP: Robbie... ROBBIE: I-I saw it. Andy told Ripley to attack because he saw Dr. Elliot taking pictures of the dogfighting. (Cut to: Sweet's office. Sweets is sitting across from Hodgins.) HODGINS: I don't know how to do this. SWEETS: Mostly you just tell me what's on your mind. HODGINS: Mostly on my mind is I hate everyone. SWEETS: Everyone? HODGINS: To varying degress, but, um... yeah, yeah everyone. (Shrugs.) Angela...the most. Because we, you know, had something great, uh, and now it's dirt, Zack...for being such an idiot, Brennan for bringing us all together, Cam for making us efficient, Booth for giving us a mission, you for pick, pick, picking at me... Should I go on? SWEETS: No, no. I get the point. HODGINS: I just hate everyone. So, what? Intense therapy, heavy medication? SWEETS: Nah. I'm good with the hate. HODGINS: Are you serious? SWEETS: Yeah, I am. You're doing fine. HODGINS: Um... I hate everyone. SWEETS: You're coping. It's a coping technique. Coping's good. HODGINS: Did you get your degree on the internet? Let me see your diploma. SWEETS: You're working. You're living a life of purpose. You haven't turned your back on your friends. HODGINS: Except I hate them all. SWEETS: You're independently wealthy, right? You don't have to work. And yet you choose to stay with the people you hate. HODGINS: Which makes me completely nuts. SWEETS: No, you've... you've replaced one way of seeing the world-paranoia-with another: misanthropy. Soon you'll replace misanthropy with something nicer. But for now, temporarily, I'm satisfied with your coping technique. HODGINS: My coping technique of hate? SWEETS: Correct. HODGINS: So... are you, like, my therapist now, or... SWEETS: No, we work together. HODGINS: (Stands.) Great, see you at work. (Hodgins exits.) (Cut to: Booth's office. Brennan walks in to find Booth sitting at his desk.) BRENNAN: Hey. BOOTH: Hey. Robbie Timmons gave a statement. Andrew Hopp set the dog on Seth Elliot. Apparently Elliot was furious when he found out the dog he'd given to Timmons was used in dogfighting. BRENNAN: Dr. Elliot took all those photos to turn into the police. BOOTH: Andrew Hopp would have lost his main source of income. He would have been forced to leave medical school. BRENNAN: What about the rest of the people in the dogfighting ring? BOOTH: Don't worry about it. We'll round 'em up. (Looks at the bag Brennan has in her hand.) So, what do you got there? BRENNAN: (Takes a collar and leash out of the bag.) Well, I've decided to adopt Ripley. BOOT: Bones... BRENNAN: I've already contacted a dog walker and a doggie day care place, and my dad will take him when I leave town. I got a little tag. See? Ripley Brennan. BOOTH: He was put down. BRENNAN: What? BOOTH: I'm sorry. You know, he killed someone and they had to put him down. BRENNAN: It wasn't Ripley's fault. People made him do what he did. BOOTH: I know. I'm sorry. BRENNAN: You can tell he's a good-natured dog. They put him down? BOOTH: Yeah. BRENNAN: Damn it. BOOTH: Bones, I'm sorry. BRENNAN: What are they going to do with his remains? (Cut to: Booth and Brennan in a copse of trees. Booth is putting dirt into a hole in the ground.) BRENNAN: Hey, Booth? Can I do that? BOOTH: You sure? BRENNAN: Yeah, you dug it. (Brennan takes the shovel and begins putting the dirt in the grave.) BOOTH: Yeah. BRENNAN: So did Sweets help you with Parker? BOOTH: Yeah. I told Parker that it's best to just walk away sometimes. BRENNAN: What, sometimes? Isn't it always better to walk away? You know, this dog would still be alive if he wasn't forced to fight. BOOTH: I told him to walk away if it's for himself, and to stand up and fight if it's for someone else. I don't know if that was the right thing to say, but... BRENNAN: You're a very good father. (She finishes with the dirt and sighs.) BOOTH: So, did you want to say something? BRENNAN: Well... I feel that this dog, Ripley, paid a price that was unfair. BOOTH: It's not my fault, Bones, why're you talking to me? BRENNAN: What? You're the only one here. BOOTH: Talk to the universe... or God or Ripley. BRENNAN: Well, I don't believe in God. BOOTH: Well, God spelled backwards is "dog". BRENNAN: And Ripley is dead. Plus he's a dog, with, you know... limited vocabulary skills. BOOTH: Bones, just... speak from your heart. BRENNAN: On behalf of humankind, universe, I'd like to apologize for what happened to Ripley. He was born a cute little puppy and then the people who adopted him wanted to kill him because they were too stupid to realize that he would grow into a big dog. BOOTH: That's good. BRENNAN: (Choking up.) Ripley was a good dog. He didn't wanna fight. But he did it to please his master. Y'know, he didn't want to attack a human being, but he did it to please his master. You know, it wasn't Ripley's fault that his master was cruel and selfish. Like all dogs, Ripley only saw the good in people. Dogs are like that. People should take a lesson. (Brennan takes the dog tag out of her pocket and presses it into the soil over the grave. She then begins to press the dirt down on the grave.) BRENNAN: Is that enough? BOOTH: Yeah. As much as any good dog...(reaches out to touch her shoulder) hey, could hope for. Even with limited vocabulary skills, okay? (Brennan starts to tear up. Booth wraps his arm around her and she leans into him.)
The Finger in the Nest