Bones Episode 7.10 The Warrior in the Wuss

ACT ONE

Two campers carry a canoe over their heads, making their way through the woods. They gloat about playing hooky from work. Suddenly, one of the friends gets steps into a maggot-filled ribcage!

Cam wheels in Hodgins' new evaporator. Hodgins is thrilled, but Cam tells him he is going over budget with his new toys. She tells him to figure out which appliances he needs and to send back the others. Cam gets a call from Booth and Brennan -- they need Hodgins at the crime scene.

At the crime scene, Booth is eager to speed up the case since Parker is returning from England. Brennan says the victim is male, and based on the size of blowflies, Hodgins puts time of death at three days ago. Booth is ready to leave the scene but Brennan insists she needs the victim's head. Hodgins and Brennan analyze the river flow while walking down a hill in the woods. Booth has lost his patience and steps down the hill. He slips down the hill and lands right in a large, muddy puddle. Booth comes out the puddle holding the skull. He found it! Now let's go to the airport!

ACT TWO

Booth is excited to have Parker back. Parker likes his new room and the new baby. Booth wants to hang out, but Parker tells him he is jet-lagged and just wants to rest. Booth is a little disappointed.

At the lab, Brennan, Cam, and Clark examine the remains. Brennan determines that the victim was between 26 to 36 years old. She notices a peri-mortem wound on the spine. Clark notes that this could be a stabbing injury. Cam asks how it went with Parker and Christine. Brennan is confident that the two children will be close, but Clark adds from an anthropological sense there are many dangers of having step-children. Brennan doesn't seem too concerned.

Hodgins complains to Angela about having to return his gadgets. Clark interrupts an explanation why Angela can't find a match on her facial reconstruction. Clark explains that the victim had lifts in his shoes. Angela puts the victim at 5'8" instead of 5'5". This leads them to Tony Cole, who was reported missing by his wife.

Booth and Sweets question Tony's wife, Nicole Cole. Nicole explains that her husband was a good man. He'd help his son with his homework and karate. She did notice he was stressed due to his work. He owned a Spark & Steel truck. A new rival salesman, Karl Singler, was honing in on Tony's territory.

Clark brings Cam and Hodgins into the Bone Room. He has examine the spine and found that the tip of weapon lodged in the bone. The weapon was at least seven inches long, which would have been long enough to sever the common and external iliac arteries. Hodgins and Cam are happy Clark has found cause of death. Hodgins plans to determine what metal the weapon from.

Booth and Brennan head to meet Karl on his truck route. Brennan suggests that later on they should do a family project as a family. Booth is appreciative that Brennan is concerned with how Parker is adjusting.

Booth and Brennan find Karl and ask him about Tony. Karl admits that the economy is tough and he wanted more clients but he didn't kill Tony. Karl tells them that he was at work all day Friday and went to poker during the night. He has friends that can back up his alibi. Brennan tells him the murder weapon was made from metal and around seven inches long. Karl opens the back of his truck to reveal hundreds of tools that could be potential murder weapons.

ACT THREE

Sweets tells Booth that Tony was trying to overcompensate for being small by wearing lifts and choosing an overtly masculine profession. Booth remembers the wife mentioning karate, and Booth assumes that Tony wanted to help his son defend himself incase he was bullied. Sweets shows Booth a police report filed the day before Tony was murdered. Tony tried to instigate a fight with his son's karate teacher. The person who made the 911 call was Tony's son. Time to get shrinky with the son.

Hodgins gives Cam an update that the metal fragment Clark found was stainless steel. He tells Cam it wasn't a match for any of the tools Booth and Brennan found. Cam apologizes to Hodgins for making him give up his equipment, but she tries to explain that there are cutbacks in every department. She tells him there isn't even going to be a Founder's Day party. Hodgins is completely distraught hearing this news.

Sweets talks to Nicole Cole and her son, Danny. Danny explains that he started a fight with sensei's kid, Blake, and he thought if he could take down Blake, his father would know how tough he was. Instead, Danny got beat up by Blake. Danny tells Sweets he was bad at karate but Tony made him practice all the time. Tony went to talk to Danny's karate teacher and he just flipped out. Danny says the next morning his father told him he wasn't done fighting.

Angela comes into the Autopsy Room to see Cam going through the victim's stomach contents. Cam pulls out what she thinks may be a tiny worm. Angela is completely grossed out. Cam asks Angela to try to manipulate Hodgins into speeding up his returns. Angela tells Cam she won't help, but that some of Hodgins' crazy equipment might help Cam determine what that worm is.

Booth stops back at the house during his lunch break to check in on Parker. Parker isn't in his bedroom and sneaks back to his room to find Booth waiting. Parker tells Booth he was exploring the woods out back. Booth notices Parker's clean sneakers but gets a call from Brennan and Cam. They have found bruising, which suggests that the victim landed a few punches before he died. Brennan can tell by the matrix and the localized points of the bruising the victim fought someone proficient in martial arts.

Brennan and Booth make their way to the karate dojo. Booth is distracted and tells Brennan that Parker lied to him about being in the woods. Booth is visibly upset about it.

Booth and Brennan watch karate instructor Hunter Sherman teach his class. Hunter comes over to Booth and Brennan asks him questions about Tony. Hunter tells him he didn't responsibly handle the situation when Tony came to see him. Hunter raised his voice but tells them he doesn't believe in violence. Brennan wants to measure Hunter's hands and feet to see if he is the one who beat up Tony. Hunter refuses, but Brennan grabs a DVD of Hunter fighting - she can get the measurements from the video.

ACT FOUR

Angela and Brennan watch Hunter's DVD. Angela is amble to measure Hunter's hands, feet, and head. They don't match the victim's injuries. Angela tells Brennan the person who caused these injuries is considerably smaller than the victim. Brennan suggests that Booth talk to Hunter's kid.

Cam finds Hodgins and Clark performing an autopsy on the worm. It is a mescal worm. Cam stays to help as Hodgins extracts a piece of dirt from the worm's body. Clark believes that it is a worm's turd, but Hodgins believes that it could lead them to more answers.

Brennan checks on Parker, who isn't in his bedroom. She finds broken picture frames, Parker's old science project, his RC car has been torn apart, and Brennan's lab coat. What is going on?

Booth and Sweets return to the dojo to see Hunter practicing with his daughter, Blake. Booth and Sweets ask to speak to Blake in private. In Hunter's office, Blake explains that Tony stopped her on her way home from school. She tells Booth and Sweets that Tony told her that since her dad wasn't going to teach her the difference between right and wrong, he would. She told Tony she felt threatened and to leave her alone, but he wouldn't. She struck him but didn't use a weapon. She pulls up a video of the whole fight her friend recorded with her phone. Sweets is impressed with the video.

ACT FIVE

Brennan is waiting for Booth in his office. Booth tells her that Blake didn't kill Tony. Brennan tells Booth what she saw in Parker's room, and Booth tells Brennan he will deal with Parker in his own way.

Clarke tests out possible murder weapons on bone substitutes but still can't find a match. Brennan tells him that the blade need more resistance. Clark pulls up a magnification of the spine and shows Brennan a scratch. Brennan notes that the scratch would have happened when the weapon was removed. She adds that to cause this type of wound, the victim would have to be have been stabbed in the front and then have the weapon pulled out from behind. What kind of weapon is that?

Hodgins comes to Cam with results from the worm autopsy. Hodgins found traces of fungus and other soil from Mexico's Jalisco region. Hodgins explains that some of the finest distilleries in Mexico harvest agave: Maguey del Sol. In the D.C. area there are only three bars that are licensed to carry that alcohol and one of them is on the route of Tony's Spark and Steel truck.

Sweets and Booth head to Cantina Carreras. Sweets can sense that he isn't needed in the questioning and wants to know why Booth brought him along. Booth admits that Parker's behavior has been weird lately: smashing toys, locking himself in his room, and Booth doesn't know what it means. Sweets tells Booth that he's a good father and he really just needs to talk to Parker.

Booth and Sweets talk to the bartender, Tim. Tim recognizes the picture of Tony. Tim explains that Tony came in a week ago needing something strong so he gave him Maguey del Sol. Tim explained that Tony must have been onto his third drink when the whole bar started laughing and pointing at him. The patrons were watching the video of Tony getting beat up by Blake. Tony flipped and started threatening everyone but that only made everyone laugh harder.

ACT SIX

Sweets and Angela look at a map on the Angelatron of the locations the video was viewed. The video was posted at Blake's school but didn't go viral until the "active inducer" put it online. They are both able to see the first view of the video outside the school. It's Karl Singler.

Booth and Brennan have lunch at the diner. Booth explains to Brennan that Karl showed the video to all of Tony's customers to humiliate him. Brennan still can't determine the murder weapon. Booth tells Brennan that they need to talk to Parker as a family later. Their food comes: veggie burger for Brennan, fish sandwich for Booth. Booth realizes that it's fish! The weapon is a fishing blade on a multi-tool knife. The knife curves, which means Tony was stabbed from behind and when the weapon was pulled out, the tip broke off. Brennan remembers that Karl is a fisherman.

Brennan and Booth find Karl and examine his fishing knife. Brennan notices that the tip is intact but the gears have blood in them. Karl claims it was self-defense, that Tony attacked him. But it's not self-defense when you stab someone in the back.

Hodgins and the rest of the gang have their own Founder's Party at the Jeffersonian. Hodgins has brewed his own tequila and made guacamole using his own tools to save the Jeffersonian money. Cam does not agree with that they are doing but gives in. Bottoms up!

Brennan and Booth confront Parker about his behavior. Parker tells Booth and Brennan that he hasn't been doing anything bad. He takes them upstairs to Christine's bedroom. In the bedroom, Parker shows them what he's been working on: a baby mobile for Christine. Brennan puts Christine in the crib. She likes it. Parker is happy.