And the Killer Is......

Brennan sighed heavily for the third time in as many seconds, prompting Booth to look her way with eyebrow raised.

“You know Bones, huffing and puffing is not going to blow the cars away.”

“What? Oh.” She looked through the windshield as if noticing the dense stall of freeway traffic stretching in endlessly in front of them. “No, Booth. It’s not the gridlock, it’s these people! The actors, the crews, the people with that web site….I just don’t understand. How can they be so…so….”

She stopped, shaking her head in frustration before looking down at the script resting in her lap, the one they had discovered at the victim’s apartment.

“Let me guess. You don’t understand how they all have themselves in a tizzy over a TV series...”

“No, Booth. I understand that.”

“Really? I’m shocked…no wait. There’s some anthropological explanation isn’t there?”

“Well, yes. It’s a recognized behavioral pattern. Disparate people seeking out a common thread around which they can unite. In this case, it’s pop-culture. A television show.”

“Oh-kay. If that squares it with you, fine. But what has you all bothered then?”

“They all profess this, this loyalty. To FINCU, to each other…but when you look below the surface of all of that intensity, there’s nothing but…”

“Cheating?”

“Yeah, Booth. Chas cheats his investors, then cheats on his wife with Cherry…”

“…who is cheating on Tim…”

“…who is cheats with Ashley and lies to her. Not to mention Dylan, even if he’s not cheating on Shelby because they aren’t really together, it feels like he, both of them, are cheating the fans by lying.”

“But Bones, it isn’t like we haven’t seen this sort of thing before. There are so many ways that people cheat, let each other down….”

Booth’s words trailed away as he noticed she was looking at the script she still held, lost in thought. He was suddenly sure that the conversation had just wandered from the case to something much more personal.

“That’s it, Booth!” Brennan suddenly exclaimed.

“Listen, you have to know that I would never…”

“So many ways to cheat!” She interrupted. “You’re right, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. Booth, we need to go back to the production offices.”

“Care to explain what’s going on first?”

“I know who killed Tim. We have to hurry Booth!”

“I’d love to, but in case you haven’t noticed….” He waved a hand towards the sea of cars in front of them.

“Use the siren. Duh!”

He looked at her with a mixture of amusement and shock on his face.

“Did you just ‘duh’ me? I can’t believe….hey, get your hands off my siren!”

xxxxxxxxxx

Brennan looked around the ‘borrowed’ interrogation room and couldn’t help but make comparisons. It was suitably intimidating and shadowed, but something was off. As strange as the thought sounded in her head, it just didn’t feel like…home.

But she quickly put the emotional response aside as Booth led their suspect into the room. The surroundings might be different, but the focused intensity on her partner’s face was the same as he settled in the seat next to her, and studied the person isolated on the other side of the stark table.

After several minutes of quiet appraisal, he moved quickly, slamming a bound script in the center of the table. The sound of the heavy binding hitting the metal surface was like a shot in the silent room.

“So, Jemma. Want to tell us why you killed Tim?”

Despite the bluntness of the question, Jemma didn’t tear her eyes from the stack of pages that had fallen open on the table. She ignored the accusation as she slowly pulled the script towards her and began to flip through the typewritten pages.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jemma finally said, but the words quaked as if she didn’t even believe her own denial.

“Jemma. We know.” Brennan spoke, her tone deliberately soft in contrast to Booth’s aggressive stance. “He was blackmailing you, wasn’t he?”

The other woman didn’t respond except to drag her eyes from the script to look at Brennan. Encouraged by the silent acknowledgement, she continued.

“You and Tim attended Cornell at the same time. He knew about the accusations of plagiarism. Had proof that you had cheated…”

“I didn’t cheat!” Jemma was suddenly animated, standing abruptly from her chair and leaning over the table in Brennan’s direction. But before Booth could respond, Jemma wilted back into her chair, whatever energy she gathered gone as quickly as it had come.

“I didn’t cheat. Or I didn’t mean to. But I was so tired. You have to understand. I was working two jobs with a full load of classes. My thesis…it was my only chance. And I was so far behind….

“You must have had options. A postponement, something.” Brennan responded, tense now at the attempt to justify academic impropriety.

“No. There was no more money. No more time.”

“So you copied someone else homework. And Tim found out about it.” Booth pushed.

“I don’t know how. At Cornell, there had only been rumors, accusations…it was enough to keep me out of legitimate literary jobs. There had never been any proof though…until Tim showed up here in L.A…on the set. All of these years, slaving away on this show, putting up with Chas and his….”

“What did Tim want? Money? We found the cash deposits…” Brennan asked.

“So I wasn’t the only one he was extorting?” Jemma laughed wryly. “No. He wanted what everyone that comes to Hollywood wants. He wanted to be a star.”

“He wanted you to get him a role on FINCU.” Booth stated.

“Yes. But I didn’t have that kind of pull with Chas. Not his type. You’ve seen Cherry, right?”

“Um, yeah.” Booth straightened in his chair, eager now to move the confession along. “So what did you give Tim?”

“Dirt.”

“Soil?” Brennan asked, shooting a confused look in Booth’s direction

“No, Bones.” Booth answered. “She was supplying Tim with all the details he used in trash talk on FINCUniverse. Isn’t that right, Jemma? You told him about Dylan and Bobby, gave him a preview of all of those crappy storylines…I bet if we compared her handwriting to the margin notes on that script…

“It would match.” Jemma admitted softly, tears welling in her eyes. “Tim, that bastard, he just kept wanting more and more…and the thing with Dylan and Bobby….they try to hide it, but those two, they really love each other and I couldn’t…I couldn’t…”

Brennan quietly placed Angela’s rendering of the torn note in front of Jemma.

“And is that why you asked to meet him backstage? Because you couldn’t continue submitting to his extortion?” She asked.

“He just kept laughing. Threatening to expose me as a fraud. But I didn’t kill him. It was an accident, I swear. We were arguing, and he tripped, fell into the fan…” Jemma sniffled, the tears running down her face. “The sounds, it was awful, horrible. But you have to believe me, I didn’t kill him.”

“You’re forgetting one thing, Jemma.” Booth said, calmly placing a second script next to the first.

“But…” Jemma started to protest, but Brennan interrupted.

“The episode you wrote. The Farmer in the Fertilizer.”

Jemma’s tear-stained face hardened as Brennan continued.

“A combine instead of an industrial fan. The victim turned into compost instead of splattered across a stage.”

“But still a murder disguised as an accident. You planned it all out right there and it was on TV for millions to see. I think a jury will buy it.” Booth added.

Jemma slumped in her chair, defeat in her voice as she spoke.

“All that work. Trying to put what happened at Cornell behind me. And what he was making me do…it was like I was cheating all over again. Everyone at FINCU, the fans. I just couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t be a cheater.”

“So instead you became a murderer.” Brennan stated acidly as Booth reached for his handcuffs.

“Jemma Hughes, you are under arrest for the murder of Tim Westerfield.”

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Brennan stabbed the fork into pie crust and sighed. The pie had been an attempt to try something different in a new place. A compromise with Booth. But the truth was that she still didn’t like pie. And this diner was just like the interrogation room today. Completely serviceable, but not theirs. Not home.

She pushed the plate away and looked up to find Booth staring at her with concern.

“What is it, Booth? I told you that I didn’t like…”

“Temperance,” he began, the gravity in his tone bringing her to full attention. “What we were talking about before, you know that I would never…that I won’t let you down.”

“Well, duh.” She said, rolling her eyes for effect.

“Two ‘duhs’ in one day? Who are you and what have you done with my Bones?” He said, the edge of his mouth quirking into a the beginnings of a smile.

“I’m still me, Booth. And I don’t worry about…you letting me down. You’re the truest person I know.”

“Yeah?” He asked,

“Yes. True blue.”

“Thanks, Bones.” He said, as he edged her plate closer to his said of the table.

“Hey! Give me back my pie.”

“But I thought you didn’t like pie.”

She shook her head as he grinned, and then happily settled into the comfort of their familiar banter in this unfamiliar restaurant in this strange city.

Great job Willi, it was such a great adventure, I went to guess this morning but you had already posted the killer, so I guess that's what I get for living three hours behind you! I wouldn't have guessed Jemma though, so I don't feel so bad! What a great storyline, nicely done, you and Ana(?I think?) should be very proud!!

Bella

Darn it! I guessed wrong:( Oh well, what a great time I had trying to piece everything together! Thank you to Willi and any others that put this game together!

well, I had a few things correct. But wrong killer.
Had a blast with this ladies...
awesome job putting it together...
kudo's to you both
thanks for a lovely summer

fab

woooooooo, i was right!
i KNEW that jemma was up to no good!

awesome game ladies, kudos to you for a well thought out and executed game!

I was right it was Jemma

Darn, guessed the wrong person but this was alot of fun. Thanks for putting this game together.

Prizes will be issued soon!

I was way too stupid to figure it out.....I had a few ideas and she was actually on my list but at the end I still didn't know who the murderer was......

whooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooo i guessed jemma.................i finally won a game.........omg...........now watch......i will be disqualified or something...............its alright............hee hee