Bones Episode 1.19 The Man in the Morgue

DR. BRENNAN has come to New Orleans offering her talents to identify the bodies found in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Operating in a makeshift morgue within a church, Brennan is working on what seems to be an endless task of identifying bodies that have unearthed from cemeteries. The makeshift morgue is split into three areas: an open area where autopsies and identification takes place, a small cold room holding identified bodies, and a much larger cold room where unidentified bodies are stacked high in boxes and body bags.

MIKE DOYLE wheels a body into the autopsy area with DR. GRAHAM LEGER by his side. They joke about Mike's kinky new girlfriend before Dr. Brennan's presence embarrasses Mike, but none of this phases Brennan. Dr. Leger goes on to tell Brennan that Mike's girlfriend likes to get wild in the morgue cooler at night. ZACK chimes in via computer video link awkwardly ending the kinky conversation.

Mike exits as Zach talks to Brennan about information she's sent him regarding the bodies she's identifying. She informs Zach that she'll be back in D.C. in two days.

Later, Brennan begins an autopsy on JOHN DOE 361, male, 40's, badly decomposed, and found in the Ninth Ward sticking out of the mud with a small hole in the front of his skull. DETECTIVE ROSE HARDING and ASSISTANT M.E. DR. JAMES EMBRY are assisting Brennan. Det. Harding is there to find out whether the hurricane or foul play killed 361. Upon further inspection, Embry finds something lodged in 361's mouth. Brennan asks orderly SAM POTTER to conduct X-rays on 361. Sam wheels 361 away with Embry and Det. Harding as Dr. Leger asks Brennan out on a date. Brennan says she'll consider it after they look at the X-rays of 361.

FLASH! Brennan finds herself in her motel bathroom, lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood. Her head is cut open, her hands are covered in blood, and one of her earrings has been ripped out through the lobe. She thinks to herself, trying to figure out what has happened. Images flash through her mind; she sees blood, a knife or spike, Dr. Leger smiling, dangling feet, a panicked person running down the stairs of a house, and a wrist nailed to a wall. Brennan shakes her head and tries to stand up using her arm to help. She collapses, grabbing her wrist in pain. Brennan gets to her feet and the phone rings. She answers. It's the hotel clerk telling her the airport shuttle is waiting. Brennan is confused because she wasn't scheduled to leave until Thursday. The clerk informs her that today is Thursday. Brennan wonders what happened to Wednesday.

ACT ONE

Brennan is in the hospital being treated by DR. RYAN HALLOWAY. He notes that Brennan had her ear ripped open. Brennan has no recollection of what happened to her. Det. Harding arrives in response to a call Brennan made. She asks Dr. Halloway for blood samples off Brennan's clothes hoping to find the killers blood on them as well. Det. Harding asks if Brennan remembers anything and Brennan can only recall her flirty interaction with Dr. Leger at the makeshift morgue. Brennan tells Det. Harding that she has been inspected for evidence of rape, but Dr. Halloway found nothing. BOOTH enters in a hurry to Brennan's dismay. She'd told him not to come. Booth makes sure Brennan is OK. Det. Harding wonders if they're more than just partners. Brennan tells Booth about all of her physical injuries, but is caught on the fact that she has lost one of her favorite earrings, one that belonged to her mother. Booth wonders why she can't remember anything and asks Dr. Halloway when the tox screen results will be available. He tells Booth at least twenty-four hours.

Back in D.C. at the Medico-Legal Lab HODGINS brings ANGELA and Zack the latest shipment from Dr. Brennan via New Orleans. The package contains X-rays of John Doe 361. Zack is eager to get to work on this one.

While Booth and Brennan cruise through the destroyed neighborhoods of New Orleans, Brennan gets a call from Zack on her cell phone regarding 361's X-rays. Brennan doesn't even remember 361, let alone sending his X-rays to D.C. Zack informs her that he is of mixed race, late 40's, with uncertain anomalies on the spine, and that he was most certainly murdered. Zack found crush fractures on the pelvis and what appears to be a bullet hole in the skull, but no exit wound. Brennan tells him to keep looking.

After the call, Brennan tries to remember 361 to no avail. Her memory is foggy and she is hungry. After all, she hasn't eaten in two days.

At the restaurant Booth questions Brennan more about what she last remembers. All she can think of is Dr. Leger. Booth wants to talk to this Dr. Leger. Then PETER LASALLE, the restaurant owner, approaches Brennan wondering what she's still doing in town. He also wonders what happened to her head and face. Brennan explains that she believes she was assaulted Tuesday night. Mr. LaSalle tells Brennan that she was at his restaurant with Sam Potter on Tuesday night between eight and nine p.m. Brennan tells Booth that Sam is an orderly at the makeshift morgue who practices voodoo.

At the makeshift morgue Brennan asks Sam Potter why they went to dinner. He explains that they found a chicken's claw and some black gum root lodged in 361's mouth. Those were telltale signs of voodoo work, mojo. Brennan wanted to discuss that. Sam explains that voodoo is all about balance and that the hurricane, brought on by Secte Rouge, has destroyed the balance of New Orleans. Secte Rouge consists of those that follow evil. He goes on to say that he believes the things found in 361's mouth were the work of the Secte Rouge. Black gum root can only be found one place, a voodoo shop run by Richard Benoit. He's a good man and he'll tell you who has come in for black gum root.

En route to Benoit's shop Brennan and Booth discuss voodoo. Booth thinks it's all hocus pocus, but Brennan approaches it with a more worldly view and compares it to Booth's religion, Catholicism. Booth says Catholics don't believe in zombies to which Brennan compares the raising of Jesus after death. Booth doesn't approve of this comparison. Brennan's cell phone rings. Zach is on the line with info on the X-rays of 361. There is evidence that his body was roughed up badly, as if being tossed around in floodwaters. He's also found a diminished disc in his spine. Brennan asks Zack to cross-check that info with the files of missing flood victims. Booth has explains to Zack why Brennan hasn't returned to D.C. yet, and people at the lab are thinking that something is up. They aren't buying the whole "voodoo" story and they are beginning to think Booth and Brennan are up to no good.

Brennan and Booth arrive at Richard Benoit's voodoo shop and Booth is immediately taken by a picture of Benoit with a vintage Cadillac. RICHARD BENOIT appears and explains that this is his car and they used it to evacuate the floods. Booth cuts to the chase and drops an evidence bag containing the items found in 361's mouth. Richard knows right off the bat that this is an evil spell, the work of Secte Rouge. Richard's daughter EVA is brought out to search their records to find out who has purchased black gum root recently. Brennan takes a look at the print out to find Dr. Graham Leger on the list.

Booth and Brennan enter Leger's home quietly and call out for him. No answer. Then Booth notices a black cloth hanging over a mirror. Brennan's memory flashes: a bloody spike, Dr. Leger smiling, blood splattering a wall. Brennan heads upstairs. Booth follows. She knows something bad happened here and that she fled from this place Tuesday night. They enter the master bedroom to find a man with his face cut off, crucified to the wall three feet off the ground, with a mojo bag around his neck.

ACT TWO

The police have arrived at Leger's house and the place has become a crime scene. Photos are snapped and Leger's body is placed into a body bag. Det. Harding is on the scene. She questions Brennan and Booth as to what they were doing there. As Brennan explains everything to the doubting Det. Harding, Booth spies Brennan's missing earring under a table. A crime scene technician approaches and shows Det. Harding a split cow's tongue found on the body. Booth slyly grabs Brennan's earring without notice. Brennan points out that the cow's tongue is the work of Secte Rouge. Det. Harding isn't buying it and she still suspects Brennan of foul play, but without evidence Brennan and Booth are free to go.

At the makeshift morgue Brennan and Booth join Dr. James Embry who re-informs Brennan of what she was doing on Tuesday before she blacked out. Brennan asks to see the file on John Doe 361. Embry says there is no file for a John Doe 361.

They head into the cooler room to find 361's body and Sam Potter is inside with a snake across his shoulders giving a final blessing to the deceased. Zack calls on Brennan's cell speakerphone. He and Angela are having trouble with the X-rays of 361. Angela says they won't scan in for some reason. They need the real remains of they're going to find anything. Booth wonders why they haven't questioned Sam Potter, as he waves a snake over the bodies. Sam explains that he does not practice evil voodoo and Brennan thinks Booth is just too closed-minded to understand that there are good and evil voodoo practices.

Back at the Medico-Legal Lab Zack and Hodgins continue work on the X-rays. Hodgins is frustrated because there seems to be dirt showing up on the X-rays, but without the actual samples he can't do his work. Zack furthers this frustration by thinking out loud and ignoring Hodgins' cry for understanding.

Brennan and Booth stand in Brennan's motel room. Brennan has started to doubt herself. She thinks there is a possibility that she killed Dr. Leger. She has no recollection of what happened and it scares her. Then Booth notices a mojo bag on Brennan's bed. Inside are sea shells, flesh, a strip of leather, and a human tooth. Det. Harding bursts in to arrest Brennan because they found Brennan's blood at Leger's home. Booth sticks up for her, but Brennan gives herself up and Harding takes her into custody.

ACT THREE

At the police station, Brennan is interrogated by Det. Harding. Brennan is cooperative. After denying that she had any sexual relations with Dr. Leger, Booth and attorney CAROLINE JULIAN enter to shut Brennan up before she convicts herself. Det. Harding leaves after Caroline informs her that Brennan will not be saying anything else.

At the lab in D.C. Zack has discovered that John Doe 361 had Spina Bifida as he combs through files of New Orleans residents that suffered from the disease.

Back in the Big Easy, Brennan and Booth have lunch with Sam Potter and learn a little about voodoo. He believes that all of these mojo bags are to prolong Brennan's amnesia. He thinks that someone doesn't want her to remember what happened on Tuesday night. He leaves Booth and Brennan with that. Booth seems bothered that someone has done this to Brennan. She wonders why Booth is so nice to her. He explains that it is because she gets the bad guys and makes them pay for what they did. She accepts that, but wonders to herself if that's the whole truth. Brennan's lawyer Caroline arrives to break things up. She tells them that the tox screen was negative and they can't believe it. Caroline wonders if they should go for another story just to get Brennan a minimal sentence. They think not. Brennan pulls her wrist X-rays from Caroline's hospital records and discovers that the doctor was wrong in his first diagnosis. Brennan explains that the fracture in her wrist had to have come from either a defensive motion or because someone slammed her wrist into something. With this line of reasoning, Brennan couldn't have stabbed someone in the chest and then had them break her wrist. Caroline likes the sound of that. Zack calls Brennan with an ID on John Doe 361. His name is Rene Mouton. Angela asks Brennan when she'll be back and after Brennan spills the beans about her murder charges Angela grows concerned about Brennan's wellbeing. Hodgins consoles her.

Booth briefs Brennan on info he's gathered on Rene Mouton as they walk though the makeshift morgue. Mouton was the head of a voodoo church, a good guy that helped a lot during Katrina, and then disappeared. People thought he got swept away when the levies broke. Sam Potter overhears and interjects that he thinks all of this is the cause of a bokor, a Secte Rouge sorcerer. Brennan agrees with Potter. Booth thinks it's questionable to say the least, but he agrees that this person would need access to this makeshift morgue to get those missing files and hide the body. That suggests Sam, Dr. Embry and Mike Doyle, the assistant with the kinky girlfriend. They head to the cooler to go through all of the bodies in search of Mouton. Instead they find Mike Doyle's freshly killed corpse and in the cardboard casket with him is Mouton's decaying body.

ACT FOUR

Police have arrived at the makeshift morgue where Booth and Brennan are trying to piece things together. They've found that Mouton's skull is missing. Dr. Embry approaches to let them know that Mike Doyle was probably drugged, and then a spike was driven into his skull during or immediately after sexual intercourse. Det. Harding is there to hear this and she points the finger at Sam Potter, Dr. Embry and Dr. Brennan as prime suspects. Dr. Embry reminds Det. Harding that there is no security at the morgue. People can come and go as they please. Brennan restates that Mike Doyle was killed during or after sex, which reminds her of Mike's kinky girlfriend who liked to have sex in the morgue, but nobody knows her name. Det. Harding has heard enough. Sam Potter butts in asking if he can scatter farine guinee across Mouton's body. Farine guinee is a type of ashes used by voodoo practitioners to purify the remains. As he scatters the ashes they briefly outline a distinct shape on the ribcage of the body. Brennan notes that it must be an electrostatic charge, most likely what made it hard for Angela to render the X-rays back in D.C. Booth notes the shape the ashes made, the emblem of a 1959 Cadillac Brougham. The same car owned by Richard Benoit, the voodoo shop owner. His daughter, Eva, must be Mike Doyle's kinky girlfriend. She must be the killer.

At the voodoo shop Brennan, Booth, and Det. Harding confront Richard Benoit. They ask if his daughter is dating Mike Doyle. He confirms that she is and Det. Harding demands to see Eva. They explain that Mouton was the victim of a hit and run by Eva and that when she asked Mike to hide his body at the morgue, he said no so she killed him. They also tell him that she is a member of Secte Rouge. She had access to the voodoo shop for all of the mojo bags they found. Mr. Benoit comes to terms with the possibility that she is guilty and leads them to her in the basement of the shop.

In the basement they enter a storage room and find Eva dead, her body thrown onto a large spike fixed on the wall. Benoit pulls her off, crying. Brennan and Booth search the room. They find Mouton's skull and the spike used on Mouton and Mike Doyle.

Later, in the basement still, the police have arrived and Eva's body has been taken away. Dr. Embry and Sam Potter are searching the room. Sam Potter confirms that this is the lair of a bokor, one who calls on the dark spirits. He informs Brennan that the spike on the wall is used for animal sacrifice. It is heated red-hot to cauterize the wound. Brennan is confused as to how she killed herself. Dr. Embry notes that it had to be difficult to drive the spike through the sternum, chest cavity, heart, and spine. Brennan doesn't buy it. The room is only twelve feet wide and even with a running start, that much damage is impossible. They all look at Richard Benoit. Sam Potter accuses him of being the sorcerer and killer claiming that he killed his daughter so they would stop looking for the killer of Mouton. Brennan knows there must have been a struggle with him throwing Eva on the spike and tears Benoit's shirts open to reveal a freshly bandaged injury. Det. Harding cuffs Benoit as he begins to curse Brennan. Brennan's heard enough. She pokes him in the eyes and exits with Booth.

Brennan and Booth are back in D.C. at the Medico Legal lab and they tell Angela, Zack and Hodgins about their case in New Orleans. They debate whether voodoo or any other types of mysticism are real. Brennan is adamant that they do not and Booth along with the rest of the crew is little uncertain. Brennan feels cornered when she can't explain why she couldn't remember the Tuesday night or Wednesday, or why the blood test came up negative. When Booth teases that Benoit might send her a little mojo bag from prison she declares that objects carry no intrinsic power, and that things are just things. Then Booth reveals Brennan's lost earring that he picked up at Leger's house. Brennan stands corrected.