Bones: Double Trouble in the Panhandle Recap
February 2nd 2009 01:02
“Welcome to Oklahoma, ma’am,” The Sheriff greets, tipping his hat.
“Welcome to Texas,” The Ranger corrects.
“Guys,” Booth answers. “Welcome to the United States of America.”
Bones asks to see the remains, and the two men take her over to the two skeletons. She stares down at the dry bones, guessing that the time of death was some months ago.
Texas Ranger: How do you think they died?
Oklahoma Sheriff: They left Oklahoma, hit Texas, and then died of despair.
Texas Ranger: Nope, they’re definitely Oklahomans. If they were from Texas, they’d have sense enough to carry water.
Bones: That wouldn’t show up in the Bones.
Booth points out that there’s no clothing, and Bones agrees that it might have just blown away in the wind. The Oklahoma Sheriff looks down at the skeletons and suggests, “Maybe a young couple, some kind of suicide pact.” Bones studies the skeletons and decides that they were two females.
Texas Ranger: Oh! Lesbian suicide pact.
Oklahoma Sheriff: Definitely Texans.
Bones looks over the remains some more and discovers that they belong to conjoined twins.
Bones: The point of attachment is posterior.
Booth: Ah, joined at the ass.
Oklahoma Sheriff: Definitely Texans!
Texas Ranger: So what do we got here, doc?
Booth: Well it’s a federal case boys, FBI will take jurisdiction.
Both the Sheriff and Ranger tip their hats to Booth and the investigation is officially handed over to the FBI.
~*~*~
Back at the lab, Mr. Vincent Nigel-Murray points out that, "Conjoined twin births occur once every 85,000 births. The same frequencies at hermaphroditic birth.” Bones and Cam exchange a look.
“Ah Mr. Nigel-Murray,” Cam answers. “We’ve so missed your insights.”
“Thank you,” he answers, completely missing her tone.
Cam wonders why the remains were dispersed by scavengers, and Bones tell her that they were buried in such a shallow grave that the remains were spotted by an oil survey team from a helicopter.
“Begging the question, what exposed the bones,” Vincent says.
Angela joins them on the platform, with news that a sandstorm eight days ago might have unearthed the remains. By examining the victims’ teeth, both Bones and Vincent agree that the victims were between 19 and 21 years old.
“Guys, Hello?” Angela interrupts. “IDing them is not going to be a problem. How many sets of conjoined twins can there be?”
Leave it up to Mr. Nigel-Murray to answer, “Um, over the last 500 years, approximately 600 sets. Over 70% women.”
She had to ask.
“I did not expect him to know that,” Cam admits.
“Well all facts are useful, it’s just the context that shifts,” Vincent answers.
Angela is pretty sure she could just do a search for missing Siamese twins “and find them in like ten minutes.”
“By all means, give it a shot,” Cam answers, and Angela goes off to search.
Vincent and Bones continue to examine the bodies, determining that neither of them could have survived the death of the other.
“So murder-suicide, suicide-murder,” Vincent says. “Or vice versa.”
Bones looks up. “That was vice versa.”
Hodgins joins them to announce that the soil beneath the remains “was full of weirdness”. He found that the victims were most likely naked and wrapped in a sheet. Aside from decomposed cotton, he also found decomposed popcorn and soil mites.
“They were killed at the movies?” Cam asks.
“I have a theory-“ Just as Hodgins is about to announce his theory, Vincent interrupts, “The circus!”
Hodgins’s smile disappears. “Kinda stole my thunder there…” But yeah the travelling circus.
Angela rejoins everyone with news that she’s found out who the victims are. She goes over to bring up a circus website on the monitor. The advertisement reads: “Jenny and Julile Van Owen: Siamese Twin Jugglers!—Bingham’s Circus of Wonders”.
Angela and Cam: The circus.
Vincent: The circus.
Hodgins: The circus.
Vincent: Abracadabra was first uttered to cure hay fever.
Everyone just kind of stares at him.
~*~*~
Booth and Bones are sitting on the couch in Sweets’s office. Upon hearing that the victims were naked and wrapped in a sheet, he points out that “it would help to know how they wrapped.”
“Well all the evidence is gone with the wind,” Bones answers.
“No other clothing?”
“According to Hodgins.”
Booth points out that, “The murderer didn’t want anyone to identify them from their clothes,” and Sweets answers, “They’re conjoined twins. Might as well have buried them with their driver’s licenses in their hands.” Good point.
“Naked bodies often indicate a careful burial,” Sweets continues. “Or, of course, sexual assault.”
“Okay, you know what?” Booth interrupts. “That’s uh, that’s creepy, we gotta get going there Sweets.”
Booth jumps up and when Sweets asks, “Where?” he tells them that they’re off to Texas because “that’s where the circus is.”
Sweets suddenly jumps up. “Uuuhhhh…circus folk are extremely close and tight-lipped. They won’t tell you anything.”
Booth and Bones pause in the doorway, and Bones is the first to ask, “How do you know?”
“I—“ Sweets stutters. “I’ve, you know, I’ve read articles.”
Booth laughs. “You are the worst liar I’ve ever met,” he tells Sweets. “You read articles?”
Bones grins. “Even I know he’s lying.”
“Ok, I’m adopted,” Sweets starts, then shakes it off. “No, you know what? My story isn’t important here.”
“Naw, it’s very important here, go ahead,” Booth coaxes.
“I—” Poor Sweets can’t get out of this one. Finally he sighs and Bones sits back down on the couch, anxiously awaiting his story.
“When I reached the age of majority,” Sweets explains. “I tried to find my birth mother… A psychic who worked the circus and carnival circuit in Florida,” he mumbles, staring at the back of his chair.
Bones exchanges a look with her partner, and Booth can’t let that one go. “Bio-mom was a carnie?”
“You know what? Let’s stay on track,” Sweets quickly changes the subject. “The point is, no one would talk to me.”
“Oh were you wearing a suit?” Booth teases.
“You’ll be wearing a suit and they won’t open up to you either,” Sweets answers, flopping back down into his chair. “You know, I’m just trying to be helpful here.”
Bones gets an idea. “I suspect Sweets is right. I studied a carnival for six weeks as research for my cultural anthropology dissertation. No one would tell me anything.” Suddenly she adds, “Even though I became quite adept at the highwire.”
“Fine,” Booth answers. “If they’re gonna talk to their own, WE will go undercover.”
“What?” Sweets asks. The partners ignore him.
“If we’re going a circus, we’ll need an act.” Suddenly excited, Bones quickly reminds, “I’m quite adept on the highwire!”
“No, no, no, you know what?” Booth gets a great idea. “We’ll have a knife-throwing act!”
“But I can’t throw knives…”
“But I can! I had THE best knife skills in the Rangers,” Booth says proudly.
Bones grins. “Are we going to join the circus?”
Sweets is confused.
Booth grins. “We are going to join the circus.”
Sweets just shakes his head. This is so not a good idea.
~*~*~
Before Booth and Bones head on over to pick up their new mobile home, they have to stop and talk to the mother of the twins, Sandra Hicks. Bones is confused. What mobile home?
“Yeah, circus folk, Bones,” Booth explains. “We crisscross the country—a mobile home. I had the field office here paint up somethin’ special for us.”
“Is that all you need to get a job at the circus? A mobile home?”
“You know what? It’s gonna help,” he answers. “It’s showy and we’re show people!”
“Well it’s always possible that we’ll talk to the girls’ mother and solve this whole case tonight right?”
“Hope not,” Booth mumbles.
“What?”
“Hmm?”
“Huh?”
Booth continues to drive, pretending like he said nothing.
~*~*~
Booth and Bones talk to Sandra Hicks and her husband/lawyer, Dell. Sandra tells them that she last saw her daughters four months ago. Sandra sued to circus for a number of things, all of which have yet to come through.
“You really hated that circus,” Booth says after hearing the long list of things they were suing for.
“They stole my daughrers!” Mrs. Hicks cries angrily. “And I will do anything to get back at them for that.”
Mrs. Hicks tells them that Julie and Jenny told them to butt out of their lives, and her husband corrects, “Jenny did.”
“If one of the girls wanted something,” his wife argues, “it was the same as both of ‘em wantin’ it.”
“If Jenny wanted something then they both wanted it. Didn’t matter what Julie wanted.” Mr. Hicks’s wife shoots him a warning look.
Bones tells them that she took a look at the remains and had to wonder if they’d ever considered having them surgically separated. Mrs. Hicks shakes her head. “It was too dangerous.”
“I disagree,” Bones answers, and Mr. Hicks adds, “So did Dr. Muir.”
“Well Julie and I thought it was too dangerous,” Mrs. Hicks argues.
“Your daughters disagreed on whether or not they should be separated?” Bones asks.
Again, Mrs. Hicks can only glare at her husband.
“Dr. Muir’s office,” Booth intervenes. “Here in Ft. Worth?”
~*~*~
Booth and Bones visit Dr. Muir, who doesn’t want to talk based on patient confidentiality. Booth reminds him that that doesn’t apply to murdered patients, and Dr. Muir admits that he’s never had a patient murdered before. Bones asks him if he thought the twins could be safely separated, and he answers with a, “Yes. So did Jenny. Julie and her mother disagreed.” He lets out a soft laugh. “She and her ambulance-chaser husband tried to sue.” In the end it didn’t matter what anyone else thought, “Julie and Jenny were going to have to come to an agreement.”
Bones wonders if they thought they could continue to work in the circus if they were separated, and Dr. Muir admits that “they both loved the circus. Jenny told me once that they had ideas on how to expand their act.”
“Sounds like Jenny was the bossy one,” Booth says, glancing at his partner before asking Dr. Muir, “And Julie was a little nicer?”
Dr. Muir smiles. “They were like any other sisters. They had distinct personalities and strengths.” He pauses a moment, and when neither Booth or Bones say anything more, he tells them, “Well if there’s anything else I can do to help The FBI…”
“Why don’t you send the rest of the records to The FBI in Washington,” Booth answers as he and Bones stand up.
“Why can’t you simply take them with you?”
“We have another appointment,” Booth says with a grin, and Bones, also smiling, thanks the doctor for his cooperation. Seems they’re both a little anxious to get to the circus!
~*~*~
Booth and Bones (a.k.a. Buck and Wanda Moosejaw) pull up to the circus in their showy trailer.
Bones: The FBI did a wonderful job with this trailer.
Booth: Just lose the Katherine Hepburn voice.
Bones: I’m just trying to find my character, you know.
Booth: Don’t it sounds ridiculous, okay?
They park the trailer and get out, dressed in their Buck and Wanda outfits.
“What’s my name, there Wanda?” Booth asks, and Bones points to the side of the trailer, answering, “Well it’s right there on the side of the truck. Which highwire is not…”
“It’s just sometimes you get irritated and you say “Booth!” without thinking.”
“I don’t do anything without thinking,” Bones answers, adding in her character voice, “Ever, Buck.”
The circus performers from clowns to acrobats are practicing inside the tent, as Henry Simon, the owner and ringleader of Bingham’s Circus of Wonders looks over their resume of newspaper clippings.
“Buck and Wanda and their Knives of Death, huh?” He looks up at them. “Never heard of ya.”
“Yeah, well we worked the Pacific Northwest,” Booth answers. “Canada, Alaska.”
Simon addresses Bones. “I guess that makes you the beautiful assistant?”
“Wanda yes,” Bones answers, gesturing up to the highwire and adding, “I’m also quite adept at the highwire.”
“I gotta admit, it would be nice to have a knife-throwing act around…”
“Ah well folks, they love a little danger,” Booth answers, whipping out his knifes.
“So what’s your thing?”
“Our thing?”
“Yeah, your gimmick, you know?” Henry asks. “Cowboy and Indian Princess? Pirate and Kidnapped Princess? Jack the Ripper and…Princess.”
“We’re Russian!” Bones answers enthusiastically before Booth can stop her.
“Or the Cowboy and Indian Princess thing,” Booth says, shooting her a warning look.
Too late, Henry already thinks the Russian thing is good. Okay then, they’re Russian.
He tells them to do the first show for free, and if he likes them, “then we talk payment.”
Booth throws a knife at a nearby wooden post, pulls out another one, and throws it, splitting the throw. Bones is impressed, and says , “Wow!” before she can stop herself. Clearly Booth wasn’t lying about his knife-throwing Rangers skills. When Henry looks at her funny, she quickly answers, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
Henry asks Booth and Bones if they’re “First of Mays”, and although they have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about, Booth and Bones quickly assure him they’re not. Henry calls out Lavelle, a little person who is their “24-hour man”. He introduces Lavelle to Buck and Wanda, who “do a barber act”, and Lavelle answers, “Moosejaw, what are you, Indian?”
“Canadian,” Booth answers.
“Lavelle’ll show you where to park your digs, you can get ready for the show.”
“They any good?” Lavelle asks, and Booth points to the post, asking, “How ‘bout that?”
Lavelle argues that “being able to splint a post don’t make you any kind of a showman.”
“Oh we’re show people alright,” Bones answers, waving an arm showily. In her Russian accent, she adds, “You will be amazed!” Booth twirls his knives in agreement.
Lavelle just shrugs at Henry and walks off. They’ll see about that.
~*~*~
Booth and Bones go back to the trailer, Bones very excited.
“Russian?” Booth asks once the door is shut. “You had to pick Russian.”
“I know, it’s brilliant, right?” Bones asks, impressed with herself. “It just popped into my head!”
“Don’t pop things, Bones,” Booth answers, checking outside the window as he gets on his phone. When Sweets picks up, he asks him what a “First of May” is, putting him on speaker-phone.
“A rookie,” Sweets answers.
“Why would a little person be referred to as a 24-hour man?” Bones asks.
“Ah--” Sweets grins. “—Having a little trouble with the lingo, huh? He’s the advance person. He goes to town ahead of the circus and sets everything up.” Booth checks out the window again, and Sweets adds, “If you’d like, I could e-mail you a lexicon.”
“I would certainly appreciate that,” Bones answers.
After a second, Sweets asks, “Um, can offer a piece of advice?”
“That’s why we called you, Sweets,” Booth answers.
“Don’t try too hard to be their friends,” he answers. “Act like you’re more interested in each other than any of them, alright? They will come to you.”
“Okay, thanks Sweets,” Bones answers, then shuts off the phone.
“So uh, sex right?” Booth asks.
“Oh, good idea.”
Booth shrugs and gets up. “Okay.”
Bones jumps up too. “Okay, I think what we need to do is get a syncopated rhythm going that takes advantage of the natural frequency of the springs.”
Booth is already just rocking back and forth, his hands on either side of the wall, and stops. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Are you this spontaneous during real sex?” he asks sarcastically.
“Yes, I am,” Bones answers honestly.
Booth just stares at her. Once again his sarcasm is lost on his partner. He puts his hands back on the wall and starts to rock.
Outside, Lavelle and Henry stare at Buck and Wanda’s rocking trailer.
“What do you think?”
“Let’s just hope they’re as good outside the trailer as they are in.”
Lavelle nods. “I’ll give ‘em good marks for staying power!”
~*~*~
Booth wanders into the tent and Henry looks up from the folder he and Lavelle are looking through. “Getting’ settled in Moosejaw?”
“Yep,” Booth answers, looking around as everyone continues to set up for the show tonight. “Nice tent. Very…”
“It’s a piece of crap,” Henry finishes for him.
“Right.”
“Let’s just pray there’s no wind or rain,” Lavelle answers, glancing up at the tent. “Hate for it to collapse on paying customers.”
“There something we can help you with?” Henry asks, noticing that Booth’s still looking around.
Booth tells them he’s looking for the Van Owen Sisters. “Julie and Jenny. Joined at the hip. Literally.”
“Ha, yeah, funny, how do you know ‘em?” Lavelle asks.
"We worked a carnie up in Alaska last year. Nice kids. Said they were coming down here to work at Bingham's."
Henry tells him that he’s sorry they missed them. Julie and Jenny already moved on…”When was it Lavelle?”
“After Petersburg, wasn’t it?”
“Buck?” Bones calls out, joining them all in the tent.
“Wanda. Julie and Jenny don’t work here anymore,” Booth tells her, and when Bones asks where they went, Henry pulls out a note from the girls. He hands it over to Bones to read: “Thanks for everything. We loved working here and we love all of you, but we’ve decided to take another direction in our lives. You’ll always be family. Love, Julie and Jenny.”
“That doesn’t sound like them,” Booth says, frowning.
“Well it sounds like Julie,” Henry answers.
“Not Jenny,” Booth says, and Bones adds, “Well maybe they were forced to leave under duress.”
“Look at the five dollar word the target can use,” Lavelle tells Henry, nodding to Bones.
“She likes to read the dictionary,” Booth explains quickly. Bones shoots him a disapproving look, but Henry just nods.
“Tough girl, Jenny,” Lavelle says, getting back on track. Henry says that they and the audience loved them, and Bones comments on the fact that Julie and Jenny quitting surely had an effect on the box office.
“Sweetheart,” Henry answers, closing his folder and standing up. “I got nothin’ but trouble at the box office.”
“I’m sure we’ll run into the girls somewhere or another,” Bones says. “I mean, there’s not many circus around anymore, right?”
A bell suddenly rings, and Lavelle jumps up. “Food’s ready in the Mess Tent. If you two can drag yourselves out of your trailer, I’ll uh, introduce you to the rest of the gang.” He hurries out and Booth pockets Julie and Jenny’s note.
He turns to his partner. “Duress?”
“What?” Bones asks as he continues to mumble about using too smart words. “Why?”
“Forget it.” He walks off as Bones continues, “Just because I’m in a carnival doesn’t mean I can’t read books and have a good vocabulary.”
Booth is already gone.
~*~*~
Back at the lab, Vincent and Cam watch a video of Julie and Jenny’s juggling act. “Is it more impressive that they can do that joined at the hip?” Cam asks. “Or less?”
“Twins die an average of 10 years apart,” Vincent answers, in his usual completely off-topic trivia way. “Even when they are genetically identical.”
“Not helpful,” Cam mutters as she studies the twins’ X-rays on the computer monitors. Vincent points out the suggested stab wound on the hand.
“Did you see the video?” Cam asks with forced politeness. “They were juggling machetes.”
Hodgins joins them to announce that he found chalk particles on both bodies. He pauses a moment, then turns to Vincent, dryly asking, “Any fascinating trivia on that subject?”
“One man’s trivia is another man’s wisdom,” Vincent answers, to which Hodgins just “Mmhmm”s, and goes on to tell them that the chalk found on the bodies is used in “flooring, fire-proofing, cosmetics, toothpaste, and laxatives.” He closes the folder and looks at Cam.
“So obviously,” Vincent says. “We are on the lookout for clean-toothed, eye-shadow-wearing, constipated contractor.”
“Whoa.” Hodgins has to leave.
Angela joins them and tells them about Julie and Jenny’s note that Bones sent over.
“On a standard keyboard,” Vincent begins. “There are over 3,000 words that can be touch-typed with the left hand alone.”
“It’s not typed,” Cam says with a smile. “It’s’ handwritten.”
“How many can be typed with the right hand?” Angela promts.
“450,” Vincent says relieved. “Thank you ever so much for asking me.”
“Please don’t encourage him,” Cam answers.
Right. The point is, Angela found something interesting. Even though Jenny was the left-handed twin, she apparently signed the note with her right; Julie with her left when she’s right-handed. When Vincent and Cam just look at her, Angela explains, “This note was obviously not written by them, guys. It’s fake.”
~*~*~
In the Mess Tent, Booth and Bones get ready to have their first circus meal. Booth stops just as they’re stepping into the tent to scoff, “Look at that, huh? Clowns.”
“Well,” Bones leans over to explain, lunch tray in hand. “The psychiatric term for fear of clowns is Coulrophobia.”
“It’s not fear,” Booth clarifies. “It’s hate, ‘kay? Big difference.”
They walk over to sit down a table. “You mind?” Booth asks, twirling his knives. Of course not. Henry gestures for them to join them at the table and introduces Buck and Wanda to Magnum the strongman and Madame Nina.
“Oh are those your legal names?” Bones asks, sitting down at the table.
“Is Wanda yours?” Madame Nina asks dryly.
Bones glances at her partner, who is eating his lunch with one of his knives.
“Buck and Wanda,” Lavelle explains. “They knew Jenny and Julie.”
Magnum shakes his head sadly. “I miss those girls.”
“We all do,” Nina says, picking at her food.
“Not the clowns,” Henry says, and Booth looks up. “Why was that?”
Nina explains that the girls were trying out a new act. They borrowed some of the clowns’ equipment without asking, and the clowns got mad.
“Yeah well, they should have stuck to juggling,” Henry answers.
“They were just trying to help save the circus,” Nina says, and Magnum agrees. “They wanted more time in front of the audience.” Henry can’t argue with that.
“Not Julie,” Nina says with a smirk. “She wanted to spend more time with her boyfriend.”
“She had a boyfriend,” Booth coaxes, and Bones is the first to point out, “But her sister was literally right beside her all the time.”
“People can’t help who they fall in love with,” Magnum answers.
Everyone continues to eat for a moment, until Henry says, “You fall in love with an outsider, that’s the end of circus life.”
“Who was it?” Booth asks, and Nina answers, “He was a gillie.” Judging from her look, that’s definitely not a good thing.
“What’s a gillie?” Booth whispers to his partner, and Bones explains, “A gillie is an outsider.
~*~*~
Back in the trailer, Booth and Bones both sit on the end of the bed, trying to cram into the frame of the door so everyone on the other end of the webcam can see them.
“So one of the girls had a boyfriend—“ Bones starts, but interrupts herself as her partner sits down. “—Booth, you’re sitting on my clothes.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s kind of tight in here.” He gets up so she can move her clothes.
“Which is why you shouldn’t throw your underwear on the floor.”
Hodgins and Cam exchange amused looks as they watch Booth and Bones continue to argue in the cramped space.
“They fell.”
“Don’t blame gravity for lack of tidiness.”
Bones moving the clothes behind them as Cam leans closer to the screen and asks, “Is there only one bed in there?”
“Okay, can we please hit rewind here?” Hodgins quickly asks before either Booth or Bones can answer.
“ONE of the girls had a boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Bones answers, and both she and Booth have to stand up for Bones to walk through the door and sit down in front of the computer.
“Only one of them,” Hodgins says, unable to stop from laughing. “I mean how did they…you know, whe they’re…” He stops, frowning off into the distance. “I just don’t see how physically they—”
“Okay look, that’s not the issue,” Booth interrupts, leaning towards the webcam.
“Just take that image out of your mind,” Bones tells Hodgins. “And pretend that they are separate individuals and ask yourself if you found anything that suggested a relationship.”
Hodgins is still staring at nothing with a very concentrated look on his face.
Finally Booth asks, “Hodgins?”
“Huh? Yeah, sorry still workin’ on the mind picture eradication thing,” he answers, forcing himself to focus back on the case. Bones asks if he found anything on one of the sisters that he didn’t find on the other, and Hodgins tells them that he did find some residue of polyelectrolyte polymers under the fingernails of Julie and not Jenny. When he tells her what kind, Bones asks if it’s makeup.
“It’s not makeup,” Hodgins answers. “It’s hair gel.” As Booth eats an apple and ponders this a moment, Hodgins adds, “Seems like Julie was running her fingers through someone’s hair.”
“Julie was the one with the boyfriend?” Booth asks, and Bones asks if Hodgins can ID the brand of hair gel.
“Uh, no,” Hodgins answers. “But it would smell a lot like sandlewood.”
“Oh,” Booth answers without hesitation. Smoothsure Power Hold.”
“Uh,” Hodgins answers, glancing at Cam. “That’s definitely on the list of possible products, yeah.”
“Dr. Muir was wearing a TON of hair gel that smelled just like sandlewood,” Booth answers. When Bones, Cam, and Hodgins all just stare at him, he simply adds, “Son of a barber. I know my traditional hair products.”
“So Julie having an affair with Dr. Muir?”
“Tell you what,” Booth answers his partner, setting down his half-eaten apple and glancing at the clock. “If we leave now, we can question them and be back in a couple of hours.”
“No, not in this thing!” Bones says, jumping up. “And we have a show. We can’t be late!”
“You know, we’re not circus performers okay?” Booth asks, bending down to start rifling through their clothes. He tosses them over this head as he reminds her, “We solve murders.”
“Yeah, we’re undercover murder solvers,” Bones argues. “If we don’t make it back in time, we’ll blow our cover.”
“Tell you what,” Booth answers, finally finding his red “Buck vest” and putting it on. “I will search for a faster vehicle.” He stops at the door. “Oh, but first, I gotta go scavenge some Russian costumes because somebody said we did a RUSSIAN act.”
“It was a great idea,” Bones tells him as he heads out the door.
Cam and Hodgins are still listening to them from the webcam, and after the trailer door swings shut, Cam asks, “Dr. Brennan, if you do have to perform, any chance that you could setup a webcam so we could watch?” Hodgins glances at her with a hidden smile as she adds, “You know, to see if we might be of any help with the case I mean.”
“Yeah,” Bones answers, believing that’s the reason. She begins folding the clothes Booth just strung everywhere and adds, “Anything to help.”
Cam covers up the webcam and gives Hodgins a thumbs-up, mouthing an enthusiastic, “YES!”
~*~*~
Booth glances over to the motorcycle sidecar and asks if Bones remembered to bring their regular clothes.
“Yes they’re in the bag,” she answers, then asks, “Where did you learn to drive this thing?”
“You’re kidding me, right? I’m a cop!”
They continue to bounce along the highway, goggles on, and Bones says, “We should really talk about our act.”
~*~*~
Back in the lab, Vincent discovers Julie and Jenny had matching fractures on the back of each of their skulls.
“Like their heads were cracked together?” Cam asks.
“Interesting fact—”
“Yes, but it is pertinent?”
“Indeed,” Vincent answers, then finishes, “In the fraternity of forensic anthropologists, these are known as “kissing fractures”.”
“So heads knocked together is the cause of death?”
“Little known fact, there were actually six men known as the Three Stooges.”
“So we’re going with The Three Stooges as the cause of death?”
“Such would be my inclination.”
Cam just nods, starts to walk out, then turns around to tell him, “I’ll let you pass on that nugget to Dr. Brennan when you tell her about the fractures.”
~*~*~
At Dr. Muir’s office, the doctor tells them that he already sent the girls’ medical records off to the FBI. “I don’t know how else I can help you.”
“I want to run my fingers through your hair,” Bones tells him, and Booth nods. Dr. Muir just stares at them both like they’re crazy. “Why…?”
“To prove that you were in a sexual relationship with Julie Van Owen.”
“And running your fingers through my hair will prove that?”
“Yep.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Booth says, stepping forward. “Look Dr. Brennan up on the internet, she’s getting’ very famous for this kind of stuff.”
Bones wonders about this, but doesn’t say anything.
“You’re not gonna understand it,” Dr. Muir says, and Booth answers, “You had a threesome.”
“Absolutely not,” the doctor answers. “I dated Jenny first, and then I fell in love with Julie. And Jenny didn’t really like that.”
“That’s why he recommended separating the twins,” Bones tells Booth, and Dr. Muir insists that “That’s not true. My recommendation was totally objective.”
“Maybe the mother found out and sued his whole life away,” Booth tells Bones, and again the doctor answers, “Which is why we kept the relationship a secret.”
“Relationship?” Bones asks. “A sexual relationship?”
Booth looks at his partner. “How?” To Dr. Muir, he asks, “When you were—” he turns to Bones “—I’m trying to understand—” Back to Dr. Muir. “When you and Julie—”
The doctor interrupts to explain that "A fair amount of privacy could be achieved by an eye mask and an MP3 player turned up very loud. Julie like the Kings of Leon, Jenny liked Maroon 5."
Bones is not impressed. “The American Medical Association is going to take away your license.”
“That’s a motive for murder,” Booth agrees.
“We should arrest him.”
“Wait, on what charges?”
“Nothing positive for the whole suspicion of Murder thing,” Booth says, walking around the desk to handcuff Dr. Muir. “You know, the other thing? It’s just uh, it’s, well, confusing.”
~*~*~
Back on the motorcycle and sidecar, Bones asks if Booth can go faster. “We’ll miss the show!”
“No, we’re makin’ great time, Bones, alright? Relax?” Booth’s phone starts to ring. “A little help here please? I’m kinda busy.”
Oh right. Bones begins digging around in his pants looking for his phone. “Shouldn’t we talk about our act? We need costumes.”
“No, we don’t need the Russian costumes, alright? We’re dropping the act.”
The phone continues to ring, and Bones continues to dig for it. “What? You could throw knives, I thought.”
“What? Yeah, I know I can, but we caught the bad guy, alright? We don’t need to go undercover—what’re you doin’ diggin’ for loose change?”
“I’m—oh, got it.” Bones finally pulls out Booth’s phone and answers it. “Special Agent Seeley Booth’s phone, Dr. Temperance Brennan speaking.” She listens a moment, then holds out the phone. “Dallas field office, it’s for you.”
“Of course it is, it’s my phone!” Booth glances from the road to the phone and back. “Well then, ask them what they want.”
Bones gets back on the phone. “What is this about, please?” She listens, then tells her partner that they said that all of Dr. Muir’s alibis checked out. They can’t hold him for murder.
“He didn’t kill the twins?”
“Well he couldn’t have driven all the way to the Texas-Oklahoma border during that time. Now can we talk about our act?” Bones asks eagerly. “I do know a few words in Russian.”
Booth sighs. “Oh no…”
~*~*~
Back in the lab, Angela runs some scenarios with Vincent and Cam, who’s getting annoyed by Vincent’s trivia. (Ex: The same amount of force that killed the girls is the same as a pit bull’s bite. Cam: Where they attacked by a pit bull? Angela: Not a likely scenario.)
Angela sits down at the computer and runs through the scenarios. Vincent rules out both whiplash and a hard fall, and Angela rules out separate attacks with the same weapon due to the absolutely symmetrical fractures. The heads could have been conked together, which would show up in the soft tissue, but again, they have no soft tissue to look at.
“What if the blunt instrument was soft?” Vincent asks, and Angela is confused.
“What, like a pillow?” Suddenly, something occurs to her. “Oh wait a second…” She punches some keys on her computer and brings up a picture of “Tumbles the Clown holding weights labeled “1000” on each side. “Clown props.”
“I’ll call Booth and Dr. Brennan.”
After Cam leaves, Vincent can’t help but add some more trivia. “After Cortez conquered the Aztecs, clowns were among the many treasures he carried back to Clement VII.”
“Thank you,” Angela says, trying her best to be nice about it. “That’s…”
Vincent nods. You’re welcome!
~*~*~
Booth steps out of the trailer with his Russian fur coat, hat, and mustache.
“You ready?” Lavelle asks, walking up.
“Ready! Yes!” Booth answers, in his Russian accent. “Throw knives at beautiful woman.”
“Not AT I hope.”
“Right, no, of course.” Booth laughs. “Around.”
The trailer door opens and Bones out in her red velvet, sequined Russian outfit, cape, and tall black heels. Her hair is pulled back and her makeup is ready.
“Wow—” Booth suddenly sees his partner. “Wanda, you look—whoa.”
“You too, uh, Boris.”
“You make beautiful Natasha!”
Lavelle laughs. “Man, you act like this is the first time you’ve done this.”
“We like to keep things fresh,” Booth answers, and Lavelle nods, answering, “So I’ve seen.”
Lavelle leaves and Bones asks, “Okay, so um, I stand against a board, right? With balloons all around me, and you pop them with your razor-sharp knives?”
“Right,” Booth mumbles, holstering his knives. “Unless we do our actual job and find the murderer.”
They start to head over to the rest of the circus and Bones asks, “What’s with the mustache?”
“What I thought it’d add a nice Russian flair.”
“It looks like a small animal.”
They walk over and start going through the clown’s props. Giant plastic ice cream cone, giant plastic phone…Suddenly the clowns spot them. They’re not happy.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” Tumbles calls as his clown posse joins him. “You mind tellin’ me what you’re doin’ here?”
“Oh what, you’re gonna play tough?” Booth asks, pointing out, “You’re CLOWNS. I throw knives. “
The clowns think they need to show Booth who’s boss here. “Bring it on, Bozo!” Bones quickly steps in to assure them that they were just looking for some props for tonight’s show. She grabs a rubber nose. “Buck here, is going to knock this nose off my face!”
The clowns look at each other, wondering why everyone things the clown props are for everyone. “This is OUR stuff.” When another fight threatens to break out, Bones is disappointed. “Traditionally, clowns are fun-loving and anarchistic. You are rigid and humorless.”
That only makes the clowns madder, and when they start to group up, Booth grabs a giant fake hammer. Suddenly, Henry, all dressed up for the night’s show, walks up and shoots a fake gun. A “BANG” flag falls down, and he breaks up the fight, warning Tumbles that he’s serious.
“Let’s go guys,” Tumbles says to the other clowns, and Booth can’t help himself.
“Not so funny now, hey Tumbles?”
“That’s enough Moosejaw,” Henry warns, adding that they better be ready for tonight’s show.
“I’m ready,” Bones says as Henry walks off after the clowns. “How ‘bout you?”
“Yeah I’m ready—” Booth swings the giant hammer, hitting Bones right in the face. “Bones!”
“My eye!”
“You okay?”
“I’m okay.”
“You can’t—we can’t do the show now.”
“What? No! The show must go on!” Bones insists, her golden-gloved hand over her eye.
“Says who?”
~*~*~
The show has begun and Henry is welcoming everyone. “Ladies and Gentlemen and children of all ages! Welcome to Bingham’s Circus of Wonders!” He continues to welcome the crowd and introduce the acts. All the circus performers come out and do their opening parade of acrobats, clowns, twirlers, etc. Booth and Bones step out, she with a red eye patch on, and Bones gets very excited.
“They’re clapping for us!” she tells Booth, grinning and waving back at the audience. Booth’s stern face prompts her to add, “Smile Borris! And wave!”
Booth waves to the crowd, who cheers enthusiastically.
“Show them your knives!” Bones coaxes, and when Booth just continues to study the audience, she grabs his knives herself. “Where’s the Buck Moosejaw I married?”
Bones holds up his knives for the audience, and they all cheer. Booth notes this, then decides to try it himself. He lifts his hands triumphantly into the air and the crowd goes wild! Now into it, Booth pulls out more of his knives to show them.
~*~*~
Backstage, or rather behind the red curtain, Bones finds Booth and whispers, “Hey, I got props!”
“Props?” he whispers back, confused. “For what?”
“Props. Objects for you to throw knives at!”
“Oh no, you are gonna stand against the board—still—and I am gonna throw knives around you. Not to close!”
“That does not sound like a very good act,” Bones argues. “I’m sure the crowd is expecting a lot more than that!”
“There is no act, remember? There’s just me trying to kill you!”
“You said you were very good, trained in knife skills by the military.”
“Oh I am very good,” Booth assures confidently, whispering, “But it’s YOU I’m concerned for.”
“Well if you say you’re skilled, then I have no reason to doubt you, do I?” Bones says simply as Magnum the Strong Man walks through the curtain.
Magnum laughs. “You know it’s not good for the barbers to fight before a show?” He nods to the knives. “Those things are sharp.”
“Let’s just get through this, alright Mrs. Moosejaw?” Booth says pointedly.
“Okay!” Bones answers loudly with a smile.
They both peek through the curtain to have a look at the clowns and their act.
“Look at that,” Booth whispers. “The clowns are using those fake barbells. One of them could’ve clocked the twins and smashed their heads together.”
Bones shakes her head. “The bar joining the foam weights together is too short. The fulcrum wouldn’t give any of them sufficient force to cause a kissing fracture.”
“Their clowns!” Booth hisses as they both step aside for said clowns to come through. “They have their ways.”
Suddenly Lavelle joins them. “You’re up!”
Everyone back at the lab watches on the webcam as Henry announces, “And now, straight from their triumphant tour of Europe and the Far East, The Circus of Wonders is proud to present the razor-sharp skills of the most thrilling, the most breathtaking, the most dangerous knife-throwing act in the world: Boris and Natasha, and their Russian Knives of Death!”
Booth and Bones walk out to dramatic music and everyone claps. Angela squints at the screen, asking, “What’s up with Brennan’s eye?”
“An eye patch.” Hodgins nods approvingly. “It’s very rakish.”
“Plus she only has to be half as scared,” Cam adds.
They continue to watch onscreen as Bones swishes her arms around enthusiastically in preparation for their performance.
“Bones,” Booth whispers, guiding her back up against the board with balloons on it. “Just keep your arms outstretched like this, okay?”
“Okay,” she says, clearly enjoying the excitement.
“Be very very still.”
“Okay, shouldn’t the balloons be closer to my body?”
“Not if you want to live,” Booth answers dryly, stepping back and walking across the dirt ground. Henry, Lavelle, and the Squints anxiously await to see how this is going to play out.
A short clown holds out his arms, indicating to Booth that he should hand him his coat. Booth shoves the heavy coat at him, making the clown stumble backwards and the crown laugh.
Booth holds up his knives triumphantly, and turns around, getting ready to throw them at his partner. Everyone back at the lab is holding their breath. Bones seems to be the only one not worried about herself.
The crowd quiets and the drumroll begins. Booth raises his knives, steadying himself. Bones smiles in anticipation. Booth throws the first knife, almost surprised when he pops the first balloon without any problem. The crowd claps and Bones’s smile deepens.
Drumroll please…Booth steadies his second knife…and…POP! He pops the balloon beneath Bones’s left hand perfectly. Booth nods ‘ya see that?’ to his partner and Lavelle and Henry exchange impressed looks. Guess Buck was telling the truth after all about his knife skills.
Booth pops the last three balloons, between Bones’s legs, and the two beside her head, and the crowd and the Squints go wild with clapping. Bones steps forth and does some more ‘look at me, this is great!’ arm movements, and Booth, relieved that’s over, raises his hands and growls triumphantly at the crowd. “Natasha’s balloons are no match for Boris’s Knives of Death!”
Bones pulls out his knives and brings them back to him. As Booth is turning to address the crowd, she pulls out a giant stuffed strawberry. When the crowd, “Aahhh!”s Booth turns around. “Huh?”
Angela and Cam’s smiles falter. Uh…are they sure about this?
Bones calls out to “Boris” to pear the strawberry on her head, and he just stares at her. What?! Is she crazy? Bones enthusiastically points to the strawberry, and the crowd cheers. Well, he can’t not do it now.
Swallowing hard, Booth gets his knives ready. The drumroll starts and Hodgins asks, “Are they sure they know what they’re doing?”
Booth concentrates on the wobbling strawberry as Bones continues to grin. He throws the knife perfectly, spearing the strawberry to the board. The crowd is amazed. As is everyone back at the lab!
Bones joins Booth, grabbing his hand to bow, telling him, “You really are as good as you said! You should try it blindfolded!”
“Says the half-blind woman,” Booth answers as they continue their circle of bowing.
Just when Booth thinks it’s finally all over, Bones goes over to a bag and pulls out the rubber nose. Both Booth and the crowd aren’t so sure about this.
“Is it just me,” Cam asks, “or does she seem a little too into this?”
They all stare nervously at the screen, and Sweets answers, “There’s of course a sexual component to an act of this sort, the knife representing—”
“We get it,” Cam quickly interrupts, and they all focus their attention back on the screen.
“Dr. Brennan is showing remarkable trust and willingness,” Sweets adds as she bends over sideways against the board.
Booth takes a moment, clearly not wanting to do this, and someone from the audience shouts, “Be careful! She’s only got one eye left!”
Booth lets out a mirthless laugh, then turns to face his partner. She’s still standing there with a smile on her face, completely trusting her partner. Booth steadies his knives as the drum rolls and Angela holds her breath.
The knife flies through the air and stabs the nose perfectly. The crowd goes wild as Bones stands up, nose perfectly fine. Everyone in the lab claps and cheers, and this time even Henry and Lavelle are impressed.
“Let’s hear it for Boris the Brave and the knee-knockingly lovely Natasha!” Henry tells the audience, and Booth and Bones address the audience’s cheering. Bones dances around, then grabs Booth’s arm. “Let’s go, Boris.” They leave to a chorus of cheering and clapping.
Once behind the curtain, Bones laughs excitedly. “They loved us! You were great. Superb hand-eye coordination, Bucky.”
Booth is not so excited. “I could’ve killed you!“
“Therein lies the excitement for the spectators!” she answers, still grinning.
They both peek back through the curtain to see Magnum now doing his act. “Look at that,” Booth says, nodding to Magnum holding the giant mallet. They watch him hit a seesaw and sends an acrobat flying through the air and into a chair. Bones agrees that Magnum definitely has the upper body strength that could cause the kissing fractures on the twins.
~*~*~
Later on after the show, Booth and Bones approach Magnum. “Hey there big guy, you got a minute?”
“For what?” Magnum asks, suspiciously.
Booth tells him he has another question about his “friends Julie and Jenny,” and Magnum stands up. “No, this is getting’ old. I told you, they were here, they left, that’s all I know, okay? Now check with some other circuses.”
“They’re dead,” Bones tells him. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”
Magnum scoffs. “Dead? What’re you talkin’ about?”
“Their heads were smashed together,” Booth answers. “Weren’t they, Magnum?”
Magnum starts to roll his eyes, then suddenly rips the nearest wooden beam out of the ground and catches Booth and Bones in a net. He takes off running as they struggle to get free.
Booth: That guy is strong!
Bones: Well he is called the Strong Man.
Booth: Help me get out of this—
Bones: I’m trying to get out!
They continue to struggle with the net.
~*~*~
Back in their trailer, Bones sits in front of the computer with ice against her eye as Booth calls in a BOLO on Magnum. “He’s wearing a tank top that says ‘Magnum’, he shouldn’t be that hard to spot.”
Booth hangs up his phone, and Bones tells him that “Mr. Nigel-Murray has found some additional bone anomalies.” She turns to the computer where Vincent and Cam are waiting. “Explain.”
“Anomaly,” Vincent begins. “From the Greek—”
“I’m thinking we could move this along a bit faster Mr. Nigel-Murray,” Cam interrupts.
Right. Vincent tells them that he found fractures on Jenny and Julie’s lower legs and the cuboids in their feet.
“Does the guy torture them first?” Booth asks. “Rubber hose their feet?” Not according to Vincent.
Bones asks about the X-rays, and when Vincent opens his mouth to answer, Cam quickly interrupts, “They’re on their way.”
“I was more than capable of telling her that,” Vincent says, and Cam tells him that she was worried he might go into a story of the invention of the X-rays. This of course, prompts him to do just that, and Cam interrupts, “I rest my case.”
“By the way,” Cam tells Booth and Bones. “We all loved your show.”
Bones perks up. “Thank you! Did you hear the cheering?”
“Ha, it was all for me,” Booth teases, pulling out his knives.
“Booth was undeniably good,” Cam agrees.
“However, he’s not very imaginative as far as the act goes,” Bones answers.
“Now look,” Booth points out. “There is a difference between imagination and tempting fate.” He leans towards, her, knife in hand.
“I am just asking for a little flair!”
“You want flair, then I—”
“Can I ask about the eye?” Cam interrupts, and they Booth answers, “no,” closing the computer.
“I was thinking that I could wear a hat of fruit,” Bones says, still thinking about their act. “And then you could slice through each fruit while—”
“Bones,” Booth interrupts, serious again. “It’s over. No more undercover, the act. It’s over.”
Bones sighs sadly, realizing he’s right.
“We have to go question the other performers,” Booth says grimly, setting his knife down.
Bones rests her head on her hand, answering just as grimly, “Right…”
~*~*~
In the ring, Henry and Lavelle approach Booth and Bones. “Hey, you two want to explain what happened with Magnum?”
“He trapped us in the net,” Bones answers, and Lavelle asks, “For no reason?”
“We asked him about the twins,” Booth says, and suddenly more circus performers start to close in.
“Asked what?”
“If he knew anything about how they died.”
“You want us to take care of this?” one of the circus guy’s asks, and Henry tells them to settle down. “Who are you?” he asks Booth, and Booth pulls out his badge, telling them who he really is. Brennan introduces herself and the ring starts to clear out. Clearly the circus performers aren’t about to talk to an FBI Agent and a forensic anthropologists, both outsiders.
Booth tells the leaving crowd that the Van Owen sisters were murdered and that their prime suspect right not is Magnum. Everyone just ignores him and Bones as she tells them “he had the requisite strength!”
“Magnum never killed anyone,” Lavelle insists.
“People,” Booth calls out, “can you please come back, now?” When they don’t he asks Henry if he’ll please ask them to come back.
Henry just shakes his head. “None of us are gonna help you.”
“Don’t you care what happened to the twins?” Bones asks, and he just answers, “You’re not one of us.”
Henry starts to leave too, and Lavelle tells Booth and Bones, “You don’t get it, do you? How could you? You’re gillies.”
“No,” Bones argues. “No, we’re not gillies, our act was good!”
Lavelle lets out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, you’re gillies.” He too leaves.
Well great. “We have no case,” Bones says, and Booth reminds her that they will once they bring Magnum in.
“We have no definitive forensics tying him or anyone else to the murders.”
“Yeah you will.” Booth waves it off. “When you get back to the lab you’ll find evidence. The bonious maximus will have his initials on it or something.”
Bones sighs, then looks up, sadly adding, “I really was pretty good on the highwire.” She stares at it a second, then says, “I’m gonna try it.”
“Up there? Now?”
Bones is climbing the ladder before he can stop her.
“Bones no, you will—you’ll fall! It’s too high!”
“There’s a net.”
“You’ve got no depth perception—you have a patch you your eye, you won’t be able to see!” Booth argues, still trying to talk her out of it.
“What? No, it’s more a case of feel, Booth.” She continues to climb the ladder. “You know, I could do it with my eyes shut.”
“Alright you shut your eyes and I will shut mine, because I am not watching.” Booth turns his back to her and shuts his eyes. He starts to walk off, and Bones calls after him, “My teacher said I was one of his best students!”
“This is crazy.” Booth mumbles, crossing his arms as Bones climbs onto the platform behind him. He squeezes his eyes shut as Bones picks up the balancing pole and steps onto the wire.
“Booth! Look!”
“No, I’m not gonna look, I’m keepin’ my eyes shut,” he answers, turning around but keeping his eyes closed. “This is absolutely—” He opens his eyes an sees her successfully walking across the highwire, and is shocked. “Bones, you’re fearless!”
She starts to wobble, wincing. “My feet! I’m not in shape for this…”
“Look at you, you’re doin’ great!” Booth encourages, greatly impressed. “You think maybe you could ride a bike on that thing, and maybe spin a ball on your nose at the same time?”
“Ow, my cuboids!” Bones calls out, swaying as she takes another step. Her legs start to shake.
“Your what?”
“My cuboids, the bones in my feet,” she calls back, shakily taking another step.
Booth’s back to being worried for her again and takes a step forward, nervously watching his partner teeter above him. “Bones, you alright?” She takes another shaking step, then has to back up. “Bones?”
“Yeah, I’m fine—” Or not. She falls off the highwire and into the net below.
“Bones! Are you alright!” Booth rushes to make sure she’s okay, and she assures him she’s fine.
Bouncing around in the net, Bones crawls over to her partner. “I know what happened.”
“Yeah it’s pretty obvious, you lost your balance.”
“To the twins,” she explains, making it to the side of the net. “They weren’t murdered. The stress fractures to their fibulas and cuboids?” She points up. “They were caused by walking on the highwire. And the kissing fracture? Their heads snapped together when they fell into the net. That’s why there was no other trauma.”
“Oh, a conjoined twin highwire act…” Booth says, glancing at the highwire.
“Henry said that Jenny wanted to be famous. Their act would have been completely unique.”
~*~*~
Outside, Booth and Bones head back to the trailer.
“Well that’s a first,” Bones admits.
“Yeah, covered up an accident by making it look like a murder.”
“I didn’t kill them.”
Booth and Bones turn around to find Magnum is back. “I didn’t kill them,” he says again, enthusiastically adding, “I loved them. I would never hurt them.”
“We know,” Bones answers sadly.
“I buried them. They needed a proper burial.”
Booth and Bones both feel sorry for him and Nina, Lavelle, and Henry join them.
“Don’t say anything, Magnum,” Nina tells him.
“You asked them not to go on the highwire,” Bones says, “but that’s exactly what they wanted to do.”
“It’s probably the only thing Julie and Jenny ever agreed on,” Booth adds, and Bone continues to explain, “When they dropped to the net, the force of the fall snapped their heads together.”
“An accident like that?” Booth says. “Their mother definitely would have sued. The circus would never have survived.” He steps up to Magnum. “You know, I’m gonna have to arrest you for interference with a dead body.”
“We’re sorry,” Bones quickly adds, looking at her partner. “Aren’t we?”
“Yeah,” Booth agrees, turning back to Magnum. “Sorry.”
Bones assures Magnum that they’ll get him a good lawyer, and Magnum asks them to please not bring the rest of them into this. He doesn’t want the circus to die because of him.
“What you’re gonna have to explain is why you wrapped them in a sheep,” Booth helps, glancing at Nina. “Because that’s something a woman would do out of respect.”
“You’ll also have to explain how you forged their handwriting on the note,” Bones adds, and Magnum and Henry exchange a look.
“Yeah, I will,” Magnum answers solemnly. “Thanks.”
Nina and Henry help Magnum back to the tent, and Booth tells his partner that he’ll just call the Dallas Field Office and have them pick him up .
“Think he’ll run again?”
“Naw,” Booth answers, watching the rest of the circus performers walk off sadly with Magnum, Henry, Nina, and Lavelle. “He won’t run.”
~*~*~
The next morning, Booth steps out of the trailer to find an empty dirt lot. The circus has moved on. A crumpled flier blows across the ground, coming to rest at his feet. Booth picks it up and smiles.
Bones steps out of the trailer, two coffee cups in hand. “They’re gone.” She looks around at the emptiness. “You slept through it?”
“Yeah.”
She hands him a cup and Booth looks down at the flier, reading, “Boris and Natasha and their Russian knives of death. Guess we’ve all got it in us, huh?” he asks, switching his cup with Bones’s as he hands her the flier. “The desire to run off and join the circus?”
“We did it,” Bones says, looking wistfully at the flier.
“Buck and Wanda were damn good,” Booth agrees.
“Buck was more dashing that you. I mean, Buck drove a motorcycle.”
“Well Wanda was funner than you,” Booth answers, much to Bones’s disgust. “I mean, she let me knock off a rubber nose from her face with a knife. You would never let me do that, you are WAY too rational.”
Bones can’t help but laugh and Booth chuckles too. They both stare at the ghost of the circus.
“Were do you think they are now?” Bones asks, taking a sip of coffee.
“Over the horizon.”
They continue to stand outside Buck and Wanda’s trailer, sipping coffee and staring out at the trees thoughtfully. Neither of them wants to leave.
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Okay, this episode is officially going on my favorites list. That was great! I love their undercover episodes! Poor Bones, she was so happy being in the circus. LoL And Booth’s knife-throwing? Wow. I loved the part with Sweets trying to explain why he knew so much about the circus and Cam talking Bones into setting up a webcam. Hehe
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Comment by NoaIzumi
Fine Politics
Anime Bottle
This is one of my favorites, too.
Comment by Meggie
TV Chit Chat