Bones Episode 7.11 The Family and the Feud

ACT ONE

A man and his beloved pig, Penny, are on the hunt for some truffles. The pig has success finding some but gets scared when she sees a dead body hanging by a tree. The pig and man squeal in fear as the bed body's eyes turn red, then green.

Booth, Sweets, and Brennan have breakfast at the diner. Booth and Brennan explain to Sweets that they are in the process of interviewing new babysitters due to Christine's suspension from the Jeffersonian's daycare. Booth explains that Brennan's constant nagging was not appreciated at the daycare. Booth tells Brennan if she doesn't make a decision by the end of the day-he is going to make the decision for her and he should trust his parenting. Their conversation is interrupted by Booth's cell phone--there's a case in West Virginia.

On the scene, Hodgins is delighted when he learns there are truffles in the area. Brennan notes that the victim is a Caucasian male in his 80's. There is a lot of blood on the victim's clothing, which indicates he bled out from an assault. Hodgins finds railroad worms in the victim's skull, which is why the victim's eyes lit up. The female worms glow green to attract males and red to frighten off predators. Brennan finishes her examination and stands up to kiss Booth... hard. Booth is taken aback and Brennan explains that he is a good father and she trusts his decisions. Whoah baby, not at work!

ACT TWO

At the lab, Brennan has Daisy remove the victim's shoes. Daisy notes that the victim is a polydactyl-he has six toes! Angela takes pictures for her facial reconstruction and asks for the victim's age. Brennan says he's 80, Cam says he's 40. They will each run tests on the muscles and bones to confirm who is accurate.

Brennan comes home to find a surprise-her father. Booth has asked Max to watch Christine while they decide on a sitter. Brennan is skeptical since Max abandoned her as a child, but Booth assures her that this is only. Booth gets a call-the victim was Tug Babcock. He was 65 years old. Brennan is surprised at her mistake.

Hodgins and Daisy inform Cam the victim was shot on left side, which nicked the L4 and shattering the right half of his pelvis. Cam requests Daisy reconstruct the pelvis, which is in a million pieces. Hodgins volunteers himself and Angela to back t the crime scene to look for the bullet.

Booth visits the Babcock residence to share the news about Tug. Tug's son Ephraim, his wife Claire and their son, Junior thought he was out camping. Booth asks if anyone would want Tug dead. The three simultaneously answer: the Mobleys. The Mobley family lives across the valley and have been making their lives miserable for over a hundred years. Claire explains that she is a lawyer who represented Tug in a recently property lawsuit he won against the Mobleys.

Caroline Julian rolls a large cart of files into Booth's office. The files contain all the charges and lawsuits against the Mobleys and Babcocks over the years. Brennan notes that tribal feuds are generational since it becomes a sense of culture identity.

Angela patrols the crime scene with a metal detector while Hodgins uses a ground penetrating radar machine to look for truffles. Angela finds the bullet in a tree. The detector keeps going off. Hodgins notes that there is copper in ground, which means lots of money. Angela realizes that lots of money is lots of motive.

On the drive to the Mobley house, Brennan can't get cell reception to call Max and check on Christine. Brennan finally gets service when she hangs outside the window of the car. Everything is fine with the baby.

The couple arrives at the Mobley house to find Norbert Mobley shooting at them. Booth is able to corner Norbert but he fights back. Booth punches him and Norbert goes down.

ACT THREE

Norbert sits in a chair, handcuffed, and explains that half of his house is missing due to the property dispute. The Babcocks took what was on their side of the property line and Norbert decided to stay to spite them. Norbert is pleased to hear about Tug's death but claims he can't take the credit for taking him down. Norbert explains the origin of the feud. Back in 1893, Carlene Babcock married Stonewall Mobley. She poisoned him to take the land but when they found him, the woman had been poisoned too.Booth still doesn't understand why Norbert was shooting at them. He explains that people have been lurking around, digging up his land at night.

Hodgins visits the FBI to tell Caroline about the copper and that someone was digging holes on the Mobley land, taking soil samples. Hodgins explains that a mining company has an option to drill on Tug's land but only after his death. The company's owner is Dennis Timmons. Hodgins asks Caroline if she can tell Booth to take him in the field more but Caroline has no time for his nonsense.

Brennan comes home to find Max being super Grandpa. He's cooked, cleaned, and even got Christine to take a nap. Max assures Brennan she has nothing to worry about when it comes to him.

Sweets checks in with Booth in the conference room to see how Max is doing. Booth is irritated with Sweets for meddling. As punishment, Booth tells Sweets to question Dennis Timmons solo.

Sweets informs Dennis Timmons about Tug's death. Dennis explains to Sweets that he didn't do it. He admits that his business is in bankruptcy and he trespassed on the land to get samples to get a loan from the bank. Timmons explains how he saw a blonde girl walking through the woods at night. She shot at Timmons once. The thing he knows is that she drives a blue pickup truck with one taillight.

Angela shows Daisy that the casing found on the bullet doesn't match the Mobley gun. Angela thinks maybe the bullet belongs to the mystery blonde. Daisy notices something in the traces of the casing - they're tiny bone fragments. Daisy and Angela go into the Bone Room to look in the medio-cam. The color of the bones don't match. There could be two victims!

ACT FOUR

Booth and Brennan take a coffee break at the diner. Brennan tells Booth she'll look for environmental markers that could help locate the other body. Brennan calls Max for an update but Max isn't picking up the phone. Brennan starts to worry. Booth assures her he'll put in a call to the D.C. police to have them look for Max. Brennan decides to go work from home and wait until they return. Booth gets a phone call-they found the pick up truck.

Sweets checks in on Daisy in the Bone Room. She has completed remodeling the pelvis, which showed a biopsy needle nick. Cam has test results: Tug had Stage Four bone cancer with only a month left to live. Cam leaves to tell Booth and Brennan the news. Daisy is upset that the family feud killed a man with only weeks to live. Daisy pulls up old articles written on the feud. Daisy is determined to find the real reason the feud started.

Brennan video chats with Hodgins. She has found tunneling in the bones that could indicate insect activity in the bone dust. Hodgins believes it could be mites. The doorbell rings and Brennan quickly hangs up with Hodgins. Max is at the door with Booth's cop friend. Max profusely apologizes and explains that he must have dropped his phone when he was playing in the park. Brennan is fed up and asks Max to leave.

Booth talks to SueBob Mobley next her pickup truck. She is handcuffed to the door. SueBob is reluctant to talk to Booth about anything until Booth threatens to take her to jail. SueBob admits that she was in the woods to see Junior Babcock. They are in love but knew if Tug found out, the family war would have intensified.

ACT FIVE

Booth questions Junior Babcock with his lawyer mother, Claire, by his side. Junior tells Booth he loved his grandfather. Booth tells them he knows about his relationship with SueBob. Claire is stunned. Junior admits that he is in love with SueBob but Tug gave him his blessing to be with a Mobley. Tug even gave his grandson money for a ring.

Angela, Brennan and Cam have smoothies in Brennan's office. The girls urge Brennan to forgive her father but Brennan doesn't give in. Brennan receives the results from the bone dust testing. The bone is 120 years old. Brennan realizes that there wasn't a second victim, instead the bone dust was packed into the ammunition. Brennan explains that some people honor their ancestors in this way. Angela tells them they should be able to find out who made the bullets.

Daisy explains to Hodgins that she wants to fix the family feud. She wants Hodgins to see what chemicals are in the old bones and help set the story straight. Hodgins agrees but is distracted by cooking truffle-covered pasta in a beaker. He offers Daisy a taste. GROSS! Hodgins tastes the pasta and immediately spits it out. Hodgins is going run it through the mass spec to figure out why the truffles taste horrible.

Booth tells Caroline that the bullet that killed Tug was bought by Norbert Mobley. Norbert ordered 30 rounds of Stonewall Mobley ammo. Caroline tells Booth she will get him a warrant to search Norbert's house.

Angela, Daisy and Hodgins read the results from the mass spec. The truffles contained arsenic, cadmium, lead, and copper. Hodgins realizes that the acid drainage probably contaminated the water table with toxic runoff. Daisy needs to find out where Stonewall and Carlene's bodies were found. If the truffles are toxic now, they must have been deadly in the 1800s.

Brennan informs Booth that there are two babysitters watching Christine now that Max is gone. Booth and Brennan walk up to Norbert Mobley's home. They find Norbert on the lawn. Booth asks to see the ammo that was made from his great-great-great grandfather. Norbert tells Booth that the ammo was in his parlor, which is now gone. Norbert didn't move any of possessions before the Babcocks tore his house down. He let the lawyer daughter take the bullets along with everything else. Booth and Brennan need to speak with Claire Babcock immediately.

ACT SIX

Booth and Sweets leave the diner. Sweets explains to Booth that Claire has the best motive. The family feud lawsuits brought in a lot of money for her. If Tug was sick and wanted to end the war, he would have told Claire to stop the lawsuits. Booth is a little impressed with Sweets.

Booth and Brennan pay a visit to Claire. Brennan finds the ammo that Claire says she got from Norbert. Brennan also notes a rifle that is wedged back in the pile of Norbert's belongings. Claire denies everything and says she doesn't even shoot. Brennan puts her arm around Claire, who winces in pain. Brennan explains that she must have injured herself on the recoil. Claire says this is circumstantial and storms off in a huff.

Caroline pays a visit to the Bone Room demanding definitive evidence from Brennan and Cam. Hodgins comes in with news! It's truffle season and the spores are out. The location where Tug was killed is the only grove in the area with truffles. If Claire Babcock was there, her clothes would be covered with spores.

Booth and Brennan subpoena Claire's clothes. Hodgins puts on a sterile suit to examine the clothes in a mini-lab he has set up in the Babcock living room. The results speak for themselves: there are spores on her clothing. Claire admits that Tug wanted to stop the feud but she wanted to make a little more money to move away from the country. Busted!

Daisy explains her findings to Sweets. In 1892 there was record rainfall, which caused toxins to run off from the copper mine into a nearby stream. Carlene Babcock and Stonewall Mobley died from heavy metal toxicity. Daisy tells Sweets that Junior and SueBob were happy to hear the news and want to have a family barbecue to make peace.

Brennan picks up some of Christine's toys when there is a knock at the door. It's Max. He apologizes again for what happened and thought that Brennan didn't call him that day because she trusted him. Brennan tells him all she wants is to be a family and Max couldn't agree more. Booth comes in with Christine. Brennan invites Max to stay for dinner and passes Christine to Max. Booth and Brennan happily look on at Max and Christine bonding.