Broken Bones

Episode 51 "Double Trouble in the Panhandle" Part 1

-Venus POV-

Booth, Temp and I are walking in the desert as it was hot as we see two sheriffs as Booth says, "That must be them there near that big piece of nothing." Temp then says, "According to my GPS, it's about where Texas turns into Oklahoma." "Oh, great, right in the middle of a jurisdictional pissing contest. Look, I'm out of water." I then take out a bottle of water, "Here Ranger. I brought a spare one just in case one of us ran out." "Thanks. Hey!" The two Sheriffs turn looking at us as one of them says, "Hey! Are y'all FBI?" "FBI Special Agent Seely Booth. These here are Dr. Temperance Brennan and Dr. Venus Brennan from the Jeffersonian." The other Sheriff says, "Welcome to Oklahoma, ma'am's." "Welcome to Texas, ma'am's." Booth then says, "Guys, welcome to the United States of America." Temp then asks, "Where are the remains, please?" "Oh, right here." The two walked us over seeing skeletal remains as Temp says, "Hardly any flesh left." I nod, "It's very dry here, so I'm guessing the time of death was some months ago." The first Sheriff asks, "How do you think they died?" The second one says, "They left Oklahoma, hit Texas, then died of despair." "Nope, they're definitely Oklahomans. Texans would have sense enough to carry water." 

Temp then says, "That wouldn't show up in the bones." Booth then says, "No clothing." I answer, "Might have blown away." The second Sheriff says, "Maybe a young couple, some kind of suicide pact?" I shake my head, "Sub-pubic angle suggests two females." The first Sheriff says, "Ooh, lesbian suicide pact." The second one then says, "Definitely Texans, then." Temp then says, "The victims were Pygopagus, or some would say Illeopagus." Booth asks, "What's that?" The second one asks, "Greek?" I shake my head, "No, conjoined twins." The first one asks, "What's that?" The second one answers, "Siamese twins." I nod, "The point of attachment is posterior." Booth then adds, "Joined at the ass." The second one laughs a bit, "Definitely Texans." The first one then asks, "So what do we got here, Docs?" Booth answers, "Well, it's a federal case, boys. The FBI will take jurisdiction." They both nod as we get things prepared to take the bodies back with us.

We are back in the lab as Vincent says, "Conjoined twin births occur once every 85,000 births. The same frequency as hermaphroditic births." I nod as Cam says, "Oh, Mr. Nigel Murray, we've so missed your insights." "Thank you." "Why weren't the remains dispersed by scavengers?" I answer, "Well, the depression in the earth suggested that they were buried in an extremely shallow grave. The remains were spotted by an oil survey team from a helicopter" Vincent the asks, "Begging the question, what exposed the bones?" Angie then comes up, "Well, there was a sandstorm in that area eight days ago. Sustained winds of 60 miles an hour, gusts of about 80." Temp then says, "Their molars have not completely emerged, and root development is incomplete." Vincent adds, "Indicating that the victims were between 19 and 21 years of age." Angie then says, "Guys, hello? ID'ing them is not going to be a problem. How many sets of conjoined twins can there be?" I then say, "It's time to shine again Vincent." "Um, over the last 500 years, approximately 600 sets. Over 70% women." 

Cam then says, "I did not expect him to know that." "Well, all facts are useful." I nod agreeing as he continues, "It's just the context that shifts." Angie then says, "I bet I could just go search for missing Siamese twins and find them in like ten minutes." I smile at her, "Wonderful. Please do that." Vincent then begins to speak again. "The victims had two separate spinal columns fused distally at the lowest sacral level extending to the pelvis. No other vertebral anomalies." Temp adds, "Neither one of them could have survived the death of the other." "So murder-suicide. Suicide-murder. Or vice-versa." "That was vice-versa." I chuckle a bit as Hogins comes up, "Soil beneath the skeletons was full of weirdness. Quite a bit of decomposed cotton." Temp then says, "We didn't see any fabric." "Wow, it's decomposed, It's fairly cheap stuff, too. I think they were wrapped in a sheet." Cam then says, "Naked, wrapped in a sheet. Sweets will have something to say about that." I nod as Hodgins adds, "Also I found soil-dwelling mites: genus ameronothrus. Nearest place they could have picked up soil mites was hundreds of miles away. And decomposed popcorn."