Bones Episode 8.16 The Friend in Need

ACT ONE

A homeless man brings in a beat up suitcase that he found by the river to the local pawnshop. The owner of the shop has no interest in the suitcase. The homeless man opens the suitcase to find a bloody, gooey body shoved inside it! The pawnshop owner DEFINITELY doesn't want it now.

The next morning at Booth & Brennan's house, Booth does the newspaper crossword. Brennan tries to help but Booth doesn't appreciate her "know it all" attitude. He tells Brennan she doesn't have to be the smartest all the time. Brennan gets a call that the remains are at the lab.

Brennan joins Finn, Cam, and Hodgins on the platform to examine inside the suitcase. Hodgins believes that the suitcase was knocked from the shipping channel and came in with the tide. Brennan examines the mandible and determines the victim is male and in his teens. Hodgins needs to examine the krill and plankton to determine where the suitcase was originally dumped. Hodgins brings up Michelle to Finn and Cam but Finn is tight lipped on discussing any personal matters in front of his girlfriend's mother.

ACT TWO

Booth and Sweets arrive at the victim's family apartment. Dental records have confirmed that the victim is Manny Monaco, he was reported missing a few weeks ago. Booth and Sweets enter the apartment and find Manny's mother as well as their neighbors and family friends. Delores, and her daughter Kat. Manny's mother is devastated by the news of her son. She tells Booth that Manny was a good kid and kept to himself. Kat tells them that she last saw Manny two weeks ago when they went to a party. Booth gets a call from Cam. She tells him that Manny had high levels of ketamine, the party drug, in his system. Booth asks to take a look in Manny's room when he is off the phone. Sweets offers his services to everyone if they need to talk.

Finn gets a surprise at the ATM to see Michelle is back in town. Finn is not on board with lying to Cam about Michelle being in town, but Michelle convinces him to be a little naughty.

Booth and Sweets find cell phones, hard drives, and other electronics in Manny's room. They find a wad of cash behind Manny's pillow and assume that he was fixing electronics and collecting money. Kat comes into Manny's room and tells Booth that Manny never did drugs. Kat is shocked to see the money.

ACT THREE

Angela goes through all the cell phones, which don't contain any information. Angela thinks Manny could have used the phones as burner phones for his drug dealing. Angela has pulled texts from Manny's phones. There were messages from Kat and an unknown number with cryptic messages. Angela gets a hit on the unknown number, Nick Pavonetti.

Booth meets Nick Pavonetti at Pavonetti & Sons Moving Company. Nick tells Booth that Nick and Manny worked together trying to sell cell phones that don't charge you. Manny did the labor, Nick did the sales. Nick tells him that he was trying to give Manny a social life but the last time he saw him was at a party.

Finn finds two bumps on the skull that could be cause of death. Brennan tells him that they are holding points from a halo traction brace, that helps stabilize cervical vertebrae for healing. Finn remembers seeing in the file that Manny was in a car accident as a child. Brennan looks at the vertebrae and notices osteophytes which caused cervical vertebrae three and four to be severed. They realize that cause of death was asphyxiation. Finn gets a call from Michelle but chooses to ignore it as Cam enters the Bone Room. Cam needs Brennan come to Angela's office.

Angela has been going through Manny's computer. He used to visit the Hipstashotz website pretty frequently. There are a bunch of pictures from the party that all the kids went to. Angela applied facial recognition to all the photos that Manny was in. It becomes a photo flipbook for them to look through. Manny looks mad at the party and especially angry when he sees Kat dancing with another guy. Angela wonders if Manny was stalking Kat. There are photos of Manny and the other guy getting into a fight.

ACT FOUR

Booth questions Garrett Saunders who denies even knowing Manny. He tells Booth that he is a senior and he started dancing with Kat, who is only a sophomore. He tells Booth that Manny got in his face and Garrett pushed him off. Garrett adds that Kat yelled at Manny about how much she hated him and wished he was dead.

Brennan and Finn look at all the injuries and start to get confused on when each occurred. Brennan needs Finn to catalog all the injuries: antemortem, time of death, and postmortem.

Kat comes to the FBI to see Sweets. Kat confesses to Sweets that she was raped at the party. She doesn't remember much but woke up at home and knew what had happened. She just remembers one green eye and has been having nightmares. Kat's mom told her not to call the police if she didn't remember. Sweets tells Kat rape is never the victim's fault. Sweets tells her that since she doesn't remember it could mean she was drugged since Manny had access to drugs. Kat tells Sweets that it couldn't have been Manny. Sweets quickly leaves his office.

Brennan tells Booth that after further examination it was shown that Manny had the drug ON him and not IN him. Sweets enters Booth's office and tells them about Kat's rape. Booth thinks it could be Manny who raped her since he had access to the drug. Booth tells Sweets he has to follow protocol to bring in the cops and Kat's mom.

Kat is taken away with a local cop. She is furious at Sweets for telling her secret. Sweets feels horrible.

ACT FIVE

Finn goes over the victim's injuries with Cam that he has catalogued. Finn confesses to Cam that Michelle is in town. Cam is upset that Finn is breaking Michelle's trust. She suggests that they all "pretend" to see each other somewhere and pretend it is all a coincidence that Michelle gets caught. Finn is very confused.

Booth and Brennan question Kat's mom, Delores, in the FBI Conference Room. Delores admits she saw the way Manny was looking at Kat and didn't like it. After the party, Delores confronted Manny accusing him but he just ran away. Delores didn't want to go to the cops to hide what had happen to Kat and avoid her getting a reputation. Booth accuses Delores of killing Manny to get revenge but Delores has nothing to say.

Brennan and Finn analyze the pattern on the bones in the Bone Room. There are three sets of evenly-spaced breaks on the back and shins. Hodgins found three different dents on the suitcase even-spaced as well. Brennan heads to Angela's office to see if she can be of help.

Sweets leaves the FBI for the day. Kat confronts him. Sweets tells Kat that he was beaten as a kid and that he had to deal with his issues and Kat will need to do the same. He tries to show Kat it wasn't her fault. Sweets tells her he is going to do everything he can to catch her rapist.

Finn and Cam wait outside to get into a bar. Cam comes up "surprised" to see Michelle. Michelle tells Cam it was her idea to go behind her back and not Finn's. Cam storms off "upset."

Sweets comes to the Jeffersonian to ask Angela and Brennan for help. He believes Manny isn't the rapist based on his behavior. They decide to use the Angelatron to track Kat's moves throughout the night in pictures. They notice that after the fight, Kat ran off crying. She is outside alone until someone offers her a drink. Kat drinks the drink and then can barely walk. That guy is her rapist.

ACT SIX

Michelle comes into the Autopsy Room to visit Cam. Michelle apologizes for lying and didn't want to hurt Cam's feelings. Cam confesses to Michelle that she knew she was in town. Michelle agrees that they should be upfront about everything. Cam tells Michelle that she is dating Arastoo.

Hodgins has swabbed the suitcase and found some fibers in the latch. The fibers were from straps. The murderer used straps to help close the suitcase. The victim was put in the suitcase, three straps were placed around the suitcase, there was over five hundred pounds of force used to shut the suitcase. Brennan remembers Nick worked for a moving company. Angela suggests Brennan return to see if he has access to ratcheting straps.

Booth and Brennan return to Pavonetti & Sons Moving Company. Brennan finds Nick in a moving truck near the straps. Brennan ALS's the straps and finally finds the ones that were used. Booth cuffs Nick.

Sweets comes to the FBI to watch Booth interrogate Nick. Nick got paid in Special K from a client and so he gave Manny his share of the drug. Nick tells Booth he didn't give Manny the drug until after the party because Manny got in a fight and left the party. Brennan shows Nick a photo of him and Kat and accuses him of rape. Nick denies it. Sweets sees a green eye pendant on Nick's necklace, Sweets busts into the room and rips it off Nick's neck. Nick says that Manny came to him freaking out, throwing things at him, etc. Nick tells him he punched him once and it was all an accident. Booth tells everyone that he can't charge him with both rape and murder. Nick hears this and confesses to rape thinking he will get away with murder. Booth tells Nick that the FBI can only charge him with murder but the DC cops will ALSO charge him with rape. GOTCHA!

In Sweets' office, he tells Kat and Delores that they caught the murderer and the rapist. Sweets tells them both that they need to get some professional help. Both of them cry and embrace each other.

That night at home, Booth and Brennan hang out with Christine. Brennan and Booth are happy that Sweets had his moment for justice and that the case is put to rest.