Bones Episode 6.05 The Bones That Weren't

ACT 1

A skateboarder does tricks all around a construction site near Kalorama Park until his skateboard snags something, causing a wipeout. He inspects the cause of his fall only to discover a human skull in the concrete.

Booth and Hannah ready for work. Hannah wonders if Booth knows anything about Anacostia. Booth relates that it is a bad neighborhood. Hannah has a new story: police officers are being paid off in Anacostia. She can hardly contain her excitement.

Sweets and Brennan eat with Booth at the Diner. Sweets agrees that Anacostia is a tough part of town. Perhaps Hannah is looking for excitement elsewhere because she is lacking excitement at home. Booth defends his relationship. Hannah is very happy. He gave her the big closet and he always puts the toilet seat down. Brennan advises him to put the lid down as well. Otherwise, a mist of urine escapes into the air and lands on your toothbrush. Gross. Booth's cell phone rings. They have a case...thankfully.

Booth and Brennan arrive at Kalorama Park. Brennan can tell the victim is a male in his late twenties. She inserts a probe into the mouth and discovers an impression of the skull. When the concrete set, the bone was still there but in the meantime, it has disappeared. Naturally, Brennan needs the section of concrete sent to the Lab.

At the Lab, Hodgins vacuums dust from the concrete slab now on the Forensic Platform as Arastoo observes. He has returned to Forensic Anthropology after almost a year and is a bit rusty. Hodgins finishes vacuuming and Arastoo steps up. He fills the concrete mold with foam and uses a fluoroscope to get an image. There is a mold of a human skeleton inside. The tissue must have decomposed before the concrete was poured.

ACT 2

Brennan and Cam discuss the victim. He was lying on his back so he may have been unconscious. Arastoo interrupts. He's found a tattoo...on the victim's tooth. It is an image of a hip-hop dancer spinning on his head. This could identify the victim and for now, it's all they have.

Hannah returns home to dinner by candlelight and freaks out. Is Booth going to propose? She notices a set of new toothbrushes. What's going on? Did Booth find out she isn't allowed to pursue her corrupt cop story? Apparently, members of the White House Press Corps shouldn't write lurid crime stories. Booth laughs. He knows that Hannah will do the story anyway. He just wants her to be careful.

Brennan greets Angela at the Lab. Angela has been up all night working. She has borrowed an additive stereolithograh from Archaeology with the purposes of "growing" a plastic skeleton. Angela goes to take a nap as the machine begins its work. Brennan, Cam and Arastoo are fascinated. Later, the replica is laid out in the Bone Room and everyone is impressed. Arastoo can tell the victim was a ballet dancer due to his turned out hips and high arches. Nicks on the back of the skeleton suggest the victim was stabbed or impaled.

Booth and Brennan watch practice at the ballet studio of Cynthia Rinaldi. The victim, Robert Pearson, studied here. Booth thinks that Cynthia is mean and wonders about her cane. Booth tells Cynthia they are here to inquire about Robert Pearson. She immediately hopes Robert is dead. Robert broke her ankle and ruined her career. He is the reason she uses a cane.

ACT 3

Cynthia tells Booth and Brennan that she will heal in six months but Brennan knows that her injury is severe. She won't ever fully recover. Cynthia brushes it off. Booth knows that her father owns a construction company. Cynthia is their prime suspect. Cynthia wants them to charge her or let her go to her next class. She turns and hobbles away.

In the Bone Room, Cam and Arastoo realize the victim left ballet to become a hip-hop dancer. Hodgins has identified a fungus among the dust particulates he collected: blastomyces dermatitidis. It literally ate the bone. The fungus probably came from the murder weapon. Hodgins has more news: there was an outbreak of the fungus in Kalorama Park six months ago. Cam and Arastoo think that since the park is loaded with street performers, Robert could have spun on his head there. Hodgins also found bronze in the victim's wounds.

Booth and Brennan walk through dozens of street performers at Kalorama Park. Brennan believes "busking" is entertainment in its purest form. Booth decides to question singer Beverly Houle, magician Johnny Shade and city employee Derrick Price. They all recognize the picture of Robert and are shocked by his death. Robert used to dance to Beverly's music. Everybody loved him...except Russell Leonard. They two fought over dancing space in the park though Beverly adds they worked it out. Booth hands out his card. The partners walk past a bronze statue. Perhaps the victim was impaled on this statue of Shakespeare? Surprise, surprise! This is no statue...just a very still street performer!

ACT 4

At the FBI, Sweets tries to question Tyler Milford, the human bronze statue. Apparently, he can only communicate through Shakespeare verse. Sweets does his best to carry on the conversation using any and every Shakespeare quote he can remember. He ascertains that Robert was a pickpocket. Robert had a partner whom he betrayed.

Brennan and Arastoo work to determine cause of death in the Bone Room. Brennan believes the injuries suggest impaling but nothing points to a clear cause of death. Hodgins arrives with news: the bronze particulates did not come from the human statue.

Angela uses the Angelatron to show Cam what the construction site looked like before the concrete was poured. Rebar posts poke through thick plastic sheeting. The victim likely fell onto the posts and was then hidden under the plastic sheeting, where he decomposed for four months while the construction company sorted out financial issues. Cam notices that one of the marks on the body is not consistent with the fall. It punctures the victim's lung and was probably how the fungus was introduced to his system.

Booth realizes that Russell Leonard had the most to gain from Robert's death. He would have gotten better dance spaces and more money, not having to compete with Robert. He was arrested two months ago for threatening another dancer with a sharpened screwdriver.

A giant crowd watches Russell Leonard perform at Kalorama Park. Brennan is fascinated by the way Russell dances. Booth finds a screwdriver in Russell's bag and arrests him but he is interrupted by a phone call: Hannah has been shot!

ACT 5

In the Hospital, Hannah insists that she is fine. Booth is worried. Brennan arrives with Hannah's X-rays and another diagnosis. Hannah is not fine. She needs surgery to repair a hairline avulsion fracture. Brennan just saved Hannah's life.

At the Lab, Hodgins isn't getting much useful evidence from the screwdriver. However, the CDC reported three more cases of bone eating fungus at the park.

Despite Hannah being in the hospital, Booth and Brennan interrogate Russell Leonard. Russell taught Robert everything he knew and soon Robert was pulling in bigger crowds. Russell was jealous but he didn't wish ill will to his friend. Booth wonders why he didn't report his "friend" missing. Russell won't talk if Booth has already decided he is guilty. He wants a lawyer.

Hodgins and Arastoo comb through a dumpster in Kalorama Park. None of the food stalls are the source of the fungus. However, Hodgins finds something growing on the side of the dumpster. Hmmm...the trashbags in the dumpster are mainly from the restroom. He analyzes the sample and it is the fungus! Janitor Derrick Price unwittingly collected the fungus for them. They see Price, spearing trash with a garbage picker. Maybe he isn't so innocent after all.

ACT 6

Brennan presents the trashpicker to Cam as the possible murder weapon. Brennan believes that since Robert was a pickpocket he could have been running from someone he robbed. He or she chased him to the construction site, grabbed the trashpicker and killed Robert, hiding his body in the plastic. Cam laments that they couldn't find any fingerprints on the plastic. Brennan has an idea.

Brennan demonstrates her theory. She cuts a hole in plastic sheeting and shoves Hodgins through. In doing so, she leaves a full palm print on the plastic. The murderer would have done the same. How do they get a six-month-old palm print off plastic sheeting encased in concrete? Luckily, Hodgins has the answer.

At the Lab, Hodgins sprinkles gold dust onto the plastic. Gold will adhere to the fingerprints on an atomic level. It is the only thing that will work. Voila! A golden hand print appears. But it is awfully small...too small to belong to a man.

Booth and Brennan watch as Cynthia Rinaldi and Beverly Houle sit in the FBI Conference Room, waiting for them to drink from their water glasses and leave fingerprints. Booth already knows who the murderer is. No pickpocketing ever occurred while Beverly and Robert were performing. They were the pickpocketing team and he cheated her. Booth believes there was more to it. He likely also broke her heart.

Brennan visits Hannah in the Hospital as she types furiously on her laptop. Brennan wishes Hannah would be more careful. Booth would be terribly upset if she died. Hannah wonders if Brennan would back down if the situation were reversed. Brennan admits that she wouldn't. Booth will just have to resign himself to being worried about the two women in his life...because they are both risk takers.