paladinsuitsyou | Scene 14: On the movie set

Brennan, in her quiet room at the Neptune Grand, closes the window on her own laptop as she wedges her cell phone under her chin. She'd been reading up on stunts and stunt people. Some of them had sustained some truly spectacular injuries over the course of their careers.

Their skeletons probably look like fused jigsaw puzzles.

"Why are we going back to L.A.?"

"I've found our chief suspects," Booth says triumphantly. "At least, in the faking Lynn's death part. As far as her murder...I still have no idea. But we've gotta talk to them and see if we can figure it out. I'll pick you up in ten?"

"Sure." Brennan is already fishing under the sofa for her shoes.

"Our chief suspects? Do you mean Ms. Echolls and her paramour?"

"No, although I still don't hate her for the murder," Booth says. That's probably just spite talking, there. He certainly doesn't suspect Chad. "It's a couple of stunt people a couple. They worked on Trina's movie, or would have, if it had gone into production, and they were slated for this one. I just talked to the director, and they're the only ones who did that."

He reaches the car. "They also perfected the stunt in Over the Edge. It's their signature move."

Brennan tugs her shoes on as she listens to Booth, and begins to gather up what she'll need to take into L.A. with her.

"The stunt for Lynn Echolls's character?"

Brennan shuts down and closes up her computer.

"You think the stunt people faked her death using the same stunt they developed for the film? Why?" The initial extrapolation isn't hard, but, for Brennan, motive still remains a murky area.

"Cause they'd knew it would work," he says, turning onto the main drag in Neptune. "They didn't expect anyone to film it, right? So who would figure it out?"

It's pretty clear to Booth, at this point. The murder, though - that's harder.

"Working with Lynn Echolls to help her escape an abusive marriage?" Brennan zips up her bag and locates her key card.

"Wouldn't it have simply been easier to file a police report and get a restraining order?"

Do Hollywood types have to overdo everything?

"You'd think," Booth says drily. "And yet, somehow, it didn't work out. Logan did seem pretty convinced Aaron would do something drastic if she left. That's all I've got."

He pulls in front of the Grand's main entrance and looks out. All he gets is a glare from the parking attendant. "I'm outside, whenever you're ready." He glares back at the attendant.

"I'm on my way." Brennan watches the numbers in the elevator count down, the floor under her feet lurching just a tiny bit right before the doors open on the Neptune Grand's lobby.

"What do we know about the stunt people?" she asks, threading her way through guests and hotel staff.

"Names are Andrew and Cassie Vickers," he says, flipping through his notes. "They worked with Lynn a few other times over her career, but they never did that stunt again with her. They did use it in three or four other movies, but none were as successful as Over the Edge. And then it looks like they basically stopped working in movies during the '90s - they did a lot with TV, but all bad, cheeseball stuff. I can't figure out why, but their career definitely took a downturn."

"According to my research, show business is incredibly fickle. I would imagine that holds true for stunt people as well as actors and actresses."

Brennan hangs up on Booth, and opens the door of the rental car.

"I can't imagine they were happy to lose the job on Princess of the Damned" she adds without missing a beat, sliding into the passenger seat. "Even though it sounds like it was a pretty limp-ass production too."

"Lame," Booth says, a little wearily. "A lame-ass production, Bones. And yeah, I think you're right. Although why kill Lynn, and not Trina? It was Trina who pulled out, after all."

So many questions, so few answers.

"Plus, you find her annoying." Brennan grins, teasing.

"So, what are they working on now? Assuming that they're working?"

"They're working on this new movie, the one they blew up the federal building for - The Royal Mummy."

Booth sounds kind of smug. He's pretty sure the pieces are falling in place here.

"That's...an interesting coincidence."

Pieces don't fall into place without evidence, of course. But it's something.

"I wonder how well they knew the Echolls family?"

"The director implied they were friendly, but I don't know how friendly," Booth says. "Something to ask, I guess."

It's Hollywood. Pinning down these kinds of relationships is tough.

"Hollywood is an interesting culture," Brennan says. "Everything is image, and therefore subterfuge. There's a degree of that in all human interaction, true, but here it's like that's all there is."

"Just like in the case of the woman at the airport." That had been back when their partnership had been fairly new and uneasy. "Everyone is trying to present themselves as someone different."

"It makes it very hard to work out who is lying simply by observing them and employing psychology. If the Vickers look like good suspects, there must be some sort of physical evidence to tie them to the Echollses."

"I hope so," Booth says, sighing. "I hate these kinds of cases. Too many suspects, not enough evidence, not much to go on. The trail's cold, because her life, as far as we can trace it, was over. I mean, we know she was living in Cabo, but no one down there really seemed to know her, you know?"

"Someone had to know something," Brennan says reasonably. "I highly doubt your average actress would have the resourcefulness to fake her death and set up a new life for herself in a foreign country on her own."

Trina might be able too, Brennan is willing to concede. But from her observations and research, Trina Echolls is a somewhat below average actress; her strengths clearly lie elsewhere.

Lynn was below an average actress, too, but Booth hasn't gotten the impression that she was overburdened with brains.

"Yeah, and I don't think so much that anybody was capable of pulling this whole thing off alone. That bridge dive was pretty convincing."

"So, clearly she had help."

Which means someone knows something. And somewhere there will be evidence of it.

"And that help seems not to have come from her family." Brennan shakes her head. "What kind of person leaves her child in a situation known for physical and emotional abuse?"

It's not that Brennan is overcome with warm-fuzzy sympathy for Logan Echolls. It's more the principle of the thing she finds appalling.

"I don't know," Booth says, controlling his anger as best he can, but it's clear in his tone all the same. "Who lets that kind of thing happen for 16 years in the first place and then bail? This family is not OK."

"I have no idea," Brennan says honestly.

"But it seems very clear that Lynn Echolls herself was motivated primarily by self-preservation. On both counts. She made her escape, leaving her son. And prior than that it's possible he acted as an abusive surrogate if you will; allowing her husband to beat their child means that he didn't beat her. She did not want to disrupt that hierarchy."

Brennan is very good at compartmentalizing, and does not need to like or feel sympathetic toward a victim in order to solve a murder. In cases like this, that detachment is invaluable.

"That creates motive, certainly for Logan. And possibly for Trina as well. Right?"

"Right, I guess. I mean, we don't know if he ever abused Trina. It's likely. I didn't get the feeling, from Logan, that he hated her. If anything, he sort of...I don't know. It was like she was the only person he felt any connection with."

Booth shrugs off the suddenly introspective mood. "Whatever. It could be that neither of them had anything to do with it, and it was someone totally different, like these stunt people. We'll figure it out."

The rest of the drive to L.A. passes in much the same way.

Once they arrived at the movie set, there were several levels of security that they had to navigate their way through. Fortunately the majority of the guards (mostly used to dealing with traffic control and the occasional overzealous fan) backed down quickly when confronted with FBI credentials.

"So, how are we supposed to know which ones are the Vickers?" Brennan asks, looking around at the frenzy of activity on the set. "And how does anything get accomplished in this environment?"

They get some fairly odd looks from a pair of mummies and a warrior in a loincloth who are hanging out by a trailer taking a smoke break.

"We talk to the director," Booth says. "Who's meeting us...now."

A man walks over, grinning. "Hey, you guys the FBI?"

Booth nods. "I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth, this is my partner Dr. Brennan."

The man extends a hand. "Scott Davis. Nice to meet you. If you'll come with me, I'll take you to the workshop."

"To the workshop?" Brennan asks curiously. "A literal workshop, or is that an analogy?"

They fall into step with the director, Mr. Davis.

"And how well do you know the Vickers? Have you worked with them often?"

"Literal, more or less. It's a warehouse for the stunt stuff. They have a lot of equipment."

"I bet," Booth says.

"I've worked with 'em a couple of times," Davis says. "They're good people. Professional. But they're not as cutting edge as some people - not up on their CGI stuff, not really doing anything new."

Booth frowns. "So, that's why they're not working as much as they used to?"

The director nods. "They're not innovating like they used to. Man, back in the '80s, they were top of the line, really doing cool stuff. Now..."

"Not so much," Booth says.

"Not so much," the director echoes.

"So, why did you hire them?" Brennan asks.

Her eyes follow a large prop statue of an Egyptian god (convincing neither in its historical accuracy or its realism) being wheeled past and adds, "Is it because of the general low-brow nature of the project?"

The director frowns. "Yeah." It's short, and not at all friendly. "This is the workshop. I've got to get back to work."

Booth sighs. "Nice meeting you!" he calls as the director retreats. "Good work, Bones," he mutters.

"Not so good. He didn't answer the question," Brennan mutters. "If the Vickers aren't very good stunt people, why would they have been hired?"

She looks around at the interior of the workshop.

"This is fairly impressive though," she adds, looking around at the equipment and gadgets. "Zach and Hodgins will be jealous that they missed this."

"He said it was the lowbrow nature," Booth says. "It's pretty much what he said on the phone, too."

He looks around too. "Maybe after we arrest them, we can bring souvenirs," he says, trying to remind her why they're there.

"Nothing volatile," Brennan replies automatically.

There are enough potential explosives back at the lab.

"Oh. Hello," she adds to the man who has just come around a battered partition, holding a sword in one hand and a gangster style machine gun in the other. "Mr. Vickers?"

"That's right." Mr. Vickers looks none too pleased to see them--it's possible that he hadn't just come around that particular corner.

"I'm afraid you folks are going to have to leave. This is a restricted area. Dangerous stuff in here. We can't have just anyone wandering in."

Booth looks like he's preparing to loom.

"We're with the FBI, Mr. Vickers, and we have a few questions about the body found here a few days ago."

Vickers frowns. "I've got nothing to say about that. Don't even know who it was."

"Lynn Echolls," Booth says pleasantly. "I understand you and your wife worked with her in the past?"

Vickers shrugs. "I've worked with a lot of people. Yeah, I worked with Lynn. So?"

"The discovery of Lynn Echolls's body provides clear evidence that her suicide was staged. And it was staged using a stunt that you and your wife developed and employed in one her movies."

Brennan casts an almost imperceptible glance at Booth.

"A friend of mine is fond of saying that there is no such thing as coincidence when it comes to a murder investigation." Brennan shrugs slightly. "Not true in all cases, of course, but it's not a bad rule to follow."

Vickers takes this in with an expression that is equal parts distaste and 'what the hell?'.

"Well, that's an interesting coincidence, lady, but I don't know anything about that. I knew Lynn Echolls in a professional capacity, meaning not very well. She was the star. We were just the stunt people. Get it?"

Brennan nods. "You are lower on the hierarchy," she says. "Mr. Vickers, where is your wife? We'd like to talk to her as well."

"Hardly a coincidence," Booth says. "You developed that stunt for Lynn Echolls. It was her movie you first used it on. It was the key to your success - back when you were sucessful. I hear things have been tough lately."

Vickers looks like he'd like to punch one or both of his questioners.

"Drew? What's going on?" A woman comes in from outside, wearing straps on her body. "Who're these people?"

Vickers scowls. "Cassie, this is the FBI. This is my wife."

Cassie smiles pleasantly. "Are you investigating Lynn's death? Wasn't that just awful? We worked with her a few times, years ago. She was great to work with - never wanted to do her own stunts. Made our lives much easier."

"We are, Mrs. Vickers," Brennan replies. "But as we were telling your husband, the circumstances surrounding Lynn Echolls's death have changed. The body that was discovered on this set was hers. And she didn't die by jumping off of a bridge."

"Oh?" Mrs. Vickers is still smiling, but it's become rather fixed. "Well....that's a strange coincidence, isn't it?"

To her credit, Brennan does not repeat the statistical improbability of a coincidence in this case.

"If Lynn Echolls didn't perform her stunt, I take it you did? Did Lynn Echolls ever ask you for assistance outside of a film project?"

"Of course not." Mrs. Vickers glances at her glowering husband. "Why would we?"

"That's what we're here to find out. Exactly how have you been supporting yourselves, since your movie work dried up?"

Now Mr. Vickers isn't the only one who is glowering.

"TV, mostly. Some films, but low budget stuff, like this one."

She makes a face. "Apparently we're not 'cutting edge' enough anymore. I happen to think it's because CGI is replacing us. It's ridiculous. Everyone can tell the difference."

Booth raises an eyebrow. "You ever consider a career change?" Like, to blackmail? Murder? Faking people's deaths? That's totally implied here.

Andrew Vickers shakes his head. "We love our jobs, Agent Booth. There's nothing we'd rather do."

"And you could have employed your job skills to help Lynn Echolls stage her death in order to escape her marriage. I'm sure she would have had the ability to pay you well for your services. An investigation into your financial records would tell us for certain."

Brennan looks at Booth. "How much trouble exactly can you get into for helping to stage a suicide?"

Mrs. Vickers sidles closer to her husband. Andrew Vickers looks as though he wishes the weapons he is carrying were made out of something more substantial than plastic.

"If Lynn Echolls didn't die by jumping off that bridge and now she's dead," he says, "shouldn't you be worried about who killed her instead of this kind of wild goose chase?"

He snorts.

"Typical government employees."

"Could be whoever helped her fake her own death helped make her dead for real," Booth suggests. "It's fraud, at least, to help a woman fake her own death. I wouldn't be surprised if blackmail entered into it, too. And blackmail almost always leads to murder, it seems."

He smiles at them. "Anything you want to tell us?"

They just glare at him.

"They don't look very cooperative," Brennan says, observing the pair.

"We don't have to keep listening to this," Andrew Vickers says. "We have work to do--any other questions you have, you can ask them through our lawyer. Got it?"

He tugs his wife's arm. "Come on, hon. There's nothing to worry about--they'd have read us our rights by now if they actually had anything."

"Fair enough," Booth says. "We'll be back, don't worry."

He gets no response, just another glare.

Outside the workshop, they stand aside to let a contingent of the Pharaoh's guards march past.

"If the Vickers helped Lynn Echolls stage her death, and if they blackmailed her--presumably to keep her secret--why kill her do you think? It would effectively cut off a profitable stream of income."

"Maybe she was refusing to pay? Threatening to go to the authorities is unlikely, but if she were threatening to stop paying, they'd be left depending on money from crappy projects like this." He waves, indicating the Pharaoh's guards and the fake pyramids. "Which can't pay well."

"It could--and this is purely conjecture--it could be that they never intended to kill her. There might have been an confrontation in which things just got out of hand."

"We've seen it happen before."

People get mad or panic, and stupidity or tragedy ensues.

"How long will it take to get access to their financial records, do you think?"

"We just need a warrant. With what we've got so far, we shouldn't have much trouble. Then we'll bring them in for formal questioning."

He grins. "We're close, Bones. I can feel it."

"I'm not sure it's actually possible to 'feel' an impending arrest," Brennan replies with a sidelong smile.

"I'll make sure that all the physical evidence from the body is ready to present to the judge."

Should Booth's gut prove to be right, she'll make sure the facts are in order to back him up.

Scene 14: On the movie set

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