paladinsuitsyou | Scene 7: Interrogating Trina

Scene 7: Interrogating Trina

Previously...

Trina Echolls looks good even when she's being interrogated. The flourescent lights don't do anyone any favors, but she manages to look fresh and pulled together in spite of them.

Booth notes this both as a man (pretty girl!) and investigator (she's being interrogated - why does she look so relaxed?). He watches her for a long moment, wanting to see if he can make her uncomfortable.

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Perfectly relaxed. The lighting is a bit harsh, sure, but she's been in worse.

Nor does she find it all that awkward to be watched, or questioned. (Pssst, Agent Booth. It's kind of what she does for a living.)

So she just watches him back, with a very slight smile.

It's intended to be infuriating. Is it working?

It's not entirely infuriating, but is ever-so-very-slightly irritating.

"So, Ms. Echolls, the last time we spoke, you intimated that your stepmother "would never" do something. Were you referring to her faking her own death?"

It seems like the best place to start, somehow. He wants to know what she meant by that.

"No."

Ask a yes or no question, get a yes or no answer.

"What, specifically, were you referring to, Ms. Echolls?" Brennan asks calmly, interjecting herself into Booth's interrogation.

The young woman is engaging in a power play. If she irritates Booth (and Brennan has a feeling that Booth is edging in that direction) Ms. Echolls gains the upper hand.

Trina turns slightly, to face Brennan.

"I'm still not at all clear as to why I'm being questioned by a woman from a museum."

She puts quite a contemptuous spin on the word museum.

"Dr. Brennan is my partner," Booth says shortly, trying to keep his cool. She's just so irritating. "Answer her question."

Trina looks from one to the other, eyebrows raised, clearly amused, clearly insinutating something.

"Well, that's touching, but it still doesn't give her a right to be in this room. She's not exactly an officer of the law, is she?"

Brennan turns to Booth, ignoring Ms Echolls for the moment.

"Is that the sort of evasiveness that's usually indicative of guilt?"

If it sounds like an honest question, that's because it is one. For quite some time now, Brennan has been observing Booth and how he deals with people. How he can determine so easily if they're lying or what their motivations are.

She's started to pick up a little bit, and is curious to know if her instincts are correct.

"It's certainly indicative of something," he says, the corners of his mouth tight in an attempt not to grin. "Possibly guilt, or maybe Ms. Echolls just doesn't much like us. Either way."

"Don't be too quick to rule out the possiblity of both," says Trina. "Or of neither. That would be irresponsible."

That same irritating smile.

Brennan turns back to their suspect.

"Logically, the option of 'neither' does not apply or you'd likely be more willing to help us determine who might have killed your stepmother."

"That leaves guilt, dislike, or both."

"Statistically, guilt has the edge."

Trina looks back at Brennan again.

"Look, I'm sure you're very smart," she says, in a tone that implies she's really not at all sure of the fact. "But I think you need to do your homework. If you think accusing me of murder is going intimidate me, you really are in over your head. I'm an Echolls, sweetie. It was only a matter of time. No one's made it stick yet."

"I am very smart," Brennan says matter-of-factly.

"And I assume you are referencing charges that were laid, at various times, against your father and brother."

"It is possible that the fact that there were no convictions indicates that they were in fact innocent. But it's also, maybe even more so, indicative of a society in which individuals who have been deemed celebrities or pseudo-celebrities are accorded special treatment due to a combination of popular sympathy and an ability to hire very expensive lawyers."

Brennan's general opinion of Hollywood celebrities probably ranks on the rung just below plastic surgeons.

"Bones," Booth says, and now he's not amused anymore. "Not helping."

He doesn't, however, take his eyes off the suspect. He's wondering if she'll be any more helpful once Bones is out of the room.

"What? It's true, Booth."

"Celebrities are awarded special treatment, whether we want to admit it or not. From the practical standpoint they simply have more resources in the form of money and connections."

"And they are fed by a society of individuals--fans--who are willing to throw emotional support behind them, even in the face of what anyone with common sense would see was obvious guilt, simply because it makes them feel important and like they have a share in the lives of the people they support. And the worst celebrities exploit that."

"Come on. You read the file on Aaron Echolls."

"I did," Booth says. "And I know that you're not helping here. Wait for me outside?"

That last sentence sounds like a question. There's clearly a questioning inflection. Something in Booth's tone, though, that says it is not, in fact, a request, but a command.

Brennan recognizes the non-request tone in Booth's voice. And her knee-jerk reaction is to argue.

But she curbs it. Booth is, after all, the people person. The one with intuition. Even if she doesn't like it, she'll trust him on it.

"I'll contact the Jeffersonian. See if there have been any new developments with the remains," she says, rising from the table.

And she will, she tells herself as she leaves the interrogation room, and opens the door of the room next door.

Eventually. But there's no need to do it this minute.

Instead she takes up her position in front of the observation window to see what develops.

Booth would be pleased to know she's there - her instincts aren't always the best, but her input is always helpful.

Well, almost always.

"Ms. Echolls, I am sorry about my partner. She's a brilliant scientist, but sometimes she gets a little carried away with her prejudices."

Trina's smile is a little wry, and she drops her voice to a stage whisper.

"You know, you might want to watch what you say. I'm pretty sure your girlfriend is still listening in from the other side of that window."

Booth chuckles. "Don't worry, Ms. Echolls. I can handle my partner quite well."

The emphasis on partner makes it very, very clear that he doesn't want to discuss anything about their possibly salacious nature. After all, there's no point in denying it - it just makes a person look guilty if they protest too much.

"Now, back to the subject at hand. How did you come by your stepmother's credit card numbers? You used them just days after she had died."

"Did I?" says Trina. "I afraid I don't remember."

Gonna be hard to press that one, Booth. The bills were paid, no charges were pressed, old news.

And yet...he has Logan Echolls' recorded testimony. So it's worth pressing it just a little.

"Your brother says he was looking into your stepmother's suicide with uh, Veronica Mars. Sheriff's daughter, right? And that he found you at the Neptune Grand, registered under Lynn Echolls' name, using her credit card. Seems like an odd thing to do to me."

"So you mean when we all thought she died, not when you maintain she actually died? You should be clearer."

A light shrug.

"Needed some privacy, hard to do in those days with the last name Echolls. Hard to do most days, really. Dad let me use Lynn's card."

Can he prove she's lying? Can he even be sure she's lying?

"Right, sorry," Booth says, offering an apologetic smile. "The terminology for this kind of situation is pretty tough, huh?"

It's a plausible explanation, and since it's the only answer he's gotten so far, he's going to take it at face value.

"Fair enough. So, another question about your brother. Your name shows up more on his arrest log than either his father or his mother's name. What's the reason for that?"

Trina looks confused.

(This is not the same as Trina actually being confused.)

"Could you explain what you mean by that?"

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