Broken Bones

Episode 50 "The Bone that Blew" Part 2

-Venus POV-

Temp and I looked at Booth as he asks, "Could we speak to your children?" "Of course." She leads us outside where the children are playing a bigger version of chess as Booth asks them, "Okay, so what time on Sunday did you last see Cal?" The boy asks, "Why?" Temp answers, "Because it's pertinent to our investigation." The boy asks his sister, "Weisheme yao wen zhege wenti?" "Wo bu zhidao." Booth asks, "What?" Temp and I answer, "Mandarin Chinese." The boy then says, "My father says the Chinese will run the planet in ten years. He figures it'll be useful." Temp then says, "That's very smart." Booth then says, "Okay, well, here, today, okay, I run the world." "Bie danxin ni zhege yuchun de jin jiao rou dui." Temp laughs as Booth looked confused, so I translated for him, "He just called you a stupid, inbred stack of meat." "Really?" The boy smiles thinking it was funny as Booth gets closer to him, "I'm sorry, do you have something to say to me?" He intimidates the kids as I grab him pushing him back a bit as the kid backs up in fright. "Duibuqi." I nod, "Xiexie. He apologized." "Good. So, you want to tell me what happened on Sunday?" "Well, Cal dropped me off at the algebra tutor around 8:00 and then took Lexie to check out a new horse." The sister adds, "In the afternoon, you had a game against All Saints." "Lacrosse. I got this." He lifts his hair revealing a scar from stitches.

Booth says, "Let's see. Oh. And Cal took you to the emergency room?" "No. He knew one of the moms was a doctor, so he figured she'd do a better job." I nod as Temp says, "Looks like the work of a plastic surgeon." "No, dermatologist. Dr. Ezralow. Very competent." Booth, Temp, and I looked at each other knowing that Dr. Ezralow had lied to them earlier." We were driving back to the lab as Temp says, "The Royce boy was stitched up by the same doctor who said she didn't know Cal Warren." Booth nods, "Mm-hmm, I'm having her brought in for questioning. You think those kids are better off than Parker?" Temp nods, "Yeah, of course they are. They have every advantage: a wonderful school, a successful father, mother committed to charity work." "I spend more time with my houseplants than they do with their kids." "Well, children of privilege have always been raised by staff. It's how the upper one percent stays the upper one percent. Assuming quality education and adequate supervision, parents are actually rather irrelevant beyond a certain age." "You're kidding me." I sigh nodding, "Sadly it is true." Temp the says, "Look at this. They start Latin in third grade. That's fantastic." Booth shakes his head, "No. You know what's more important than academic enrichment? A loving environment. You ask anyone."
Temp then says, "Parker is a wonderful child, Booth. You shouldn't feel inadequate." "Yeah, well, I'm perfectly capable of raising my own kid." I then say, "You're being defensive." "I am not." Temp adds, "It's because you only have one child. When you procreate in multiples, there's less pressure." "Thank you. I feel much better." Booth drops us off at the lab as I went with Cam to discuss a few things about the case. We were then walking as Hodgins comes over to us, "Hey. So you know that thing where you insist that all information goes through you?" Cam nods, "Yes, and I'm afraid I'm immovable on the subject." I nod, "I gotta agree with her on that one, it makes paperwork so much easier and faster for me once she gives me all the information that goes around the lab." Hodgins then adds, "Yes, and you send out little e-mails summarizing the case so far?" Cam nods, "Yes, plus I check those e-mails to see if they've been opened." "That's a very good system." I nod agreeing as we go up on the platform as Cam says, "Thank you." "Because if you weren't checking, I probably never would have read the e-mail that said Booth questioned a flying dermatologist." "I hope you're not trying to get some free lotion." I then say, "Do you need some? I could get you one if you need it?"

He laughs, "No. But I ran the accelerant sample through the GC mass spec. There were traces of tetra-ethyl lead." I nod understanding as Cam asks, "Have we changed the subjects?" I shake my head, "No, still in the same subject." Hodgins nods continuing, "Because if you hadn't been so anal about the e-mails, I never would have known that I discovered something that wasn't merely interesting but vital to the investigation." "Which is tetra-ethyl lead?" I then say, "Tetra-ethyl lead was a common antiknock additive in gasoline that went out with catalytic converters and unleaded gas." Hodgins nods, "Yes, that is correct." Cam asks, "Does the flying dermatologist drive a vintage car?" Hodgins answers, "Maybe. But for sure, the flying dermatologist flies a plane." "Aviation gas?" "The victim's remains were incinerated by aviation gas." "I'll let Booth know. Hopefully, she hasn't flown the coop while you were getting to the point." She leaves as Hodgin says, "I was trying to be nice." I pat his back, "You did good." I am going to walk around for a bit. He nods as I walk away.