paladinsuitsyou | Scene 14: On the movie set

Scene 14: On the movie set

Previously...

Booth's found Java the Hut, which he likes better than Starbucks. It's a little heavy on the adolescents, but during the middle of the day, it's pleasantly free of them. There are a few adults typing on laptops, but Booth's used to that. They're all over D.C., although the Royal Diner is pretty free of them.

His phone rings, and after a brief conversation, he ends the call and clicks over to dial Brennan.

"Bones! We're going back to L.A. You ready to go?"

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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.

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Scene 14: On the movie set

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