Broken Bones

Episode 12 "The Man with the Bone" Part 1

-Venus POV-

Temp and I were with Booth at the morgue for a case. Booth leads us into the building as he says, "Welcome to the dungeon." Temp then replies with, "Why do the FBI always stick their morgues in the most depressing basement they can find?" "Don't be such a snob, Bones. Okay, not everyone gets to play in a multi-million-dollar lab, you know with skylights...". I chuckle then added, "And get amazing equipment and Boss from your one and only berry squint." I do a little bow as Booth laughs a bit nodding as Temp continues, "It's because, as a society, we feel the need to hide death away. The people who deal with the dead are viewed as freaks." 

I nod, "Yeah, she is right about that. People get weird out when you tell them you work with dead people... I remembered I scared someone off with that. It could be useful at times when you want to be left alone." Booth just looked at me for a brief second continued talking, "but this guy you're about to meet-- Harry-- he's a bit twisted." I chuckle, "Aren't we all." Booth chuckles a bit as well as Temp speaks, "You probably think I get some kind of rush when I work, that I'm somehow titillated." I shake my head as Booth speaks, "Uh, choice of words, Bones, choice of words." We follow Booth as he leads us through doors and walk up to Harry, "Agent Booth." "Harry Tepper, meet Dr. Temprance Brennan and Dr. Venus Brennan from the Jeffersonian." "Hmm, I've read about them." Temp and I both greet Harry. "They are good. I also read your novel, too Dr. Brennan. The heroine's very aggressive." I nod as Booth tries to lead us back to the main topic, "Harry, you want to...?" Harry then starts leading us his examination table as Booth continues, "Okay, everybody, meet Ted Macy. Body was found in a national park. Local coroner wrote it off as some kind of an accidental drowning, but you see, we have to investigate every death on federal land." I nod as Temp hands me some gloves to put on as Harry takes over, "During my examination, I found he had a crushed larynx. That didn't seem accidental."

I nod as Temp cuts in, "This is a corpse. With skin." Harry then mocks her, "She is good." I then interject, "She is right Ranger, you know our main specialty is bones not human flesh. What do you need us for?" Booth nods, "I didn't bring you both here to examine the body. I want you to see what they found in his hand. Harry, the bone?" I nod as Harry brings out the bone that was inside a container. My eyes widen as Temp asks, "What is that?" "It's a phalanx. Finger bone. Figured she'd know that." I cut in, "No sorry, but she meant what liquid is in with the bone." Temp nods and quickly takes the container saying, "Yeah, I'd figure any competent medical examiner would know not to compromise evidence. Is this Lysol IC?" "We use it to decontaminate remains." I shake my head as Temp continues speaking to Harry in an angry tone, "Are you trying to break down the periosteal surface of the bone, wreak havoc on the marrow? Did you even dilute this?" I sigh as Booth speaks, "Bones..." "What?! You've removed particulates and trace elements that could potentially lead us to his killer. Is this your first day on the job?" "18 years next month." I looked up a bit surprised and then looked at Booth, "Hey, it just shows that you always learn something new in the field." He nods, "You got that right." Temp leaves first angry at Harry as he speaks, "She's intense, the opposite of you. Your more relaxed and friendlier." He just stares at me as Booth just nods and hurriedly pushes me so we could get out of the room.

The team was in the bone examination room as we discovered that the bone is old and Angie guesses first, "Native American." Zack then adds, "British Colonial." Hodgins continues, "American Revolutionary." I nod as I looked over to the door hearing Booth walk in, "Hey, what are we playing?" I wave hello as Zack speaks, "Dr. Brennan, the destroyer of evidence is here." "Okay, I assume that's a joke, so nobody gets hurt. Did Harry really mess up that bone?" I sigh and nod, "He sadly dissolved any traces of ingrained particulates on the surface, but we were still able to save some valuable attributes." "Like what?" Temp continues for me, "Alternating sclerotic and porotic areas on subperiosteal surface demonstrates that whoever this was suffered from tertiary syphilis. " "Tertiary syphilis. Whoa. Wow, that's the worst." I chuckle, "Ranger that was a common ailment in the 17th century. Which is where the bone dates from." "Say what?" I start getting all jumpy as Zack speaks, "We ran a radiocarbon dating test. The finger's over 300 years old." I nod as Temp adds, "It's a unique find for the area." Angie then speaks up, "I'm going to change to French trapper." I chuckle as Hodgins adds, "You can't change yours."