BONES AU - PART THREE "The Cannibal in Question"

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Uh... Be on the lookout for a face eating cannibal who uses a walker?"

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In the prison visiting room sat Scott's father, Rupert, and Scott in silence. Scott was not great with silence, therefore he broke it.

"I, um, I brought you a coffee cake but they - they took it from me..."

"Yeah, well, I'm not into coffee cake. These days all my, uh, meals are prepared by men in hair nets... I'm glad you came. When I was waiting, I was thinking about all the places I've been that are worse than prison. El Salvador, for example, and that two weeks I spent in a shipping container."

"There's Disney World. You hated Disney World."

"I thought I was always able to keep that from you kids."

"Nah...I was six, Koda was 10, it was pouring rain. Mickey sneezed so hard his head popped off." Scott smiled and they both laughed. After this died off, Scott's face became serious. "So, I'm here about Koda..."

"Well, he's fine. You don't have to worry about Koda."

"The woman he lived with, the...the kids he was raising. They need him home."

"Koda sends Amy and the girls money every month."

"The younger child, Hayley, is...really sick. She's asking for him."

"How sick?"

Scott took a deep breath. "Dad? I'm here. What exactly does that tell you? Look, I'm asking you to tell Koda. Let him make up his own mind what to do."

"If he comes back to D. C., Koda is going to end up in here with me. He won't do that. He's scared to death of jail!"

"He'll come if you ask him to... I've gotta go." Scott said as he stood. Just as he put his hand on the door handle, a palm rested on his shoulder hauntingly.

"Well, come back soon. And thanks for the coffee cake."

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In Mitch's office, the team was gathered in trying to put pieces of the case together.

"So, I found the same symbol that was mailed to Dr. Hoying, on this tapestry." Mitch pointed at the larger than life tapestry now carefully hanging on his wall.

Joe studied it. "It looks like a bunch of tarot cards."

Mitch nodded. "Uh, right, okay." He started pointing to the tapestry. "The Architect. The Martyr. The Orator. The Musician. The Bishop. The Corrupter-"

Joe jumped up. "That's it! Sean Collins was the-the musician, Father Cooper was the Bisop!"

Scott's eyes widened. "He's doing it in order... Next is the Corrupter, then."

Joe snorted. "So, let's call up every porn kingpin and drug dealer in the country. Tell them to look out for a lunatic with a napkin in his collar holding a knife and fork!"

Malo had walked in just in time to hear this and scoffed. "Joe, you're being way too literal. These icons extend from the sixteen hundreds. A corrupter would mean a heretic. Like say, a pretender to the throne."

Joe raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing here, Malo?"

"You left a message that you wanted to see me."

"Not see. Talk. On the telephone."

"Interesting what people say unwittingly. I'm totally into the Gormogon file and it's my opinion, you're looking for a duo."

Scott interjected this time. "How'd you get the file?"

Malo shrugged. "Joe."

Scott turned to Joe in aggravation. "You gave him the case file?!"

Joe put his hands up in defense. "Time out, okay? He came up with the whole duo thing!"

Max saw this was going down hill so he spoke up, turning the image of the new skeleton onto the screen. "We found another Widow Thon thkeleton. This one'th complete."

Scott liked this conversation much better. "The teeth marks suggest two cannibals."

Malo perked up. "Really? It's awesome! It's like the Sith Lords, man. There's always only two of them!"

Joe took a deep breath. "Did you just... Star Wars us?"

Malo shook his head. "Here. In the parlance of the 17th century, it's a master and apprentice situation. Each master must create one of these sculptures while training an apprentice. Once complete, the master retires, the apprentice becomes the master - starts his own project."

"So, Gormogon used to be the apprentice?" Mitch asked.

Malo nodded. "Now he's the master."

Scott turned back to Joe. "How does me saying no, translate to bringing Malo in?"

Malo kept talking to the rest of the group. "Okay get this. Both victims lost their father's at a young age. Widow son's. Coincidence? I think not."

Joe ignored Scott. "Also, we arrested Gormogon's apprentice."

Mitch snorted. "Yeah, then he killed himself."

Malo tilted his head in thought. "Point of Investigation. How do masters find their apprentices? Not on Craigslist. I checked..."

Joe's phone rang and he left the room to answer as everyone else kept conversing.

Malo pointed at Scott. "I'll bet you two free sessions that the master has access to 'at risk' children."

Max clicked his tongue. "Kids got chops."

Scott rolled his eyes. "Well...anything else, Dr. Sweets?"

Malo nodded. "Yeah. It must be killing him that you have this." He pointed to image of the silver skeleton on the screen. "This is like, his whole reason for living. You might be able to find some way to use that."

Joe walked back in as he closed his phone. "Wait til ya hear this. Father Cooper took a trip to Turkey last year."

Max perked up. "The Anatolia region!"

Joe nodded. "Mhmm. Sean Collins was on the same trip."

Mitch pitched in. "The Bishop and The Musician."

Scott had a thoughtful expression. "What about a corrupter?"

Joe scratched the back of his neck. "Trip was arranged by a lobbyist. Is that too literal? "

Malo shook his head. "A lobbyist? Oh, that's a total pretender to the throne."

Joe looked at Scott. "Got time to talk to a lobbyist, Bones? "