Previously on Bones...
She thinks there's another serial killer out there.
Because that's what Pelant told her before he died.
If anything happens to me, uh, she... she'll keep doing
what she's doing.
And you'll never find out who she is.
I believe Lana Brewster
was the first Ghost Killer victim.
Trent McNamara was a nasty piece of work,
and that's his sister Stephanie.
We have evidence your father paid off a medical examiner
to cover up the fact that Lana was murdered.
You think I killed Lana? This family's been harassed enough.
I've seen this one before, on one of the Ghost Killer victims.
I'd like to help, Seeley, but Dr. Brennan has
no evidence to link these cases to a serial killer.
These are the files on all six Ghost Killer victims.
I want you to oversee this one.
Does Dr. Brennan know you're making me responsible for these?
Why would you give those remains to Dr. Edison?
A single gunshot wound to the temple.
This sure looks to me like an admission of guilt.
I read your autopsy report on Trent McNamara.
Yes, his fingernail was ripped off.
Lana Brewster sustained the exact same wound.
What do you think? I think we're gonna catch her.
Her?
That's what you said-- her.
Well, you believe me?
Mm-hmm.
And the forest demon took the shape
of the last man murdered.
He glided through the woods on the wind,
looking for new victims to feed on.
Stop, Dad, this is stupid.
You're just scared.
Am not.
Think you're going a little overboard, Mike.
That's what the demon's last victim said.
She was part of a family just like us,
sitting around a campfire, marshmallows on sticks.
We should've stayed in the regular campground.
It's creepy with no one else around.
I like it, Dad.
Go on. It was quiet that night.
The family suspected nothing.
Till the leaves started rustling.
It's just the wind, Allison. Still oozing
with blood from his last victim,
he catches the scent of the innocent family.
Okay, that's enough. Stop it, Mike.
Now. It's just a stupid ghost story.
It's okay, buddy. We're here to have fun.
Let's just roast our marshmallows,
and sing a few songs before we turn in.
Thank God.
What was that?
Nothing, honey.
Probably just a... a bunny or a chipmunk or something.
I swear to God, Michael,
this is the cruelest thing you've ever done.
You're the best, Dad.
I-I-I...
Awesome!
Hey. Oh,
is that my Bureau assessment you're filling out?
Yes. They wanted me to, because we're partners.
Oh.
But you're not allowed to look at it.
It's confidential. What are all those, uh,
papers there? This is my
answer to question 3a.
3a? They only have three little lines for that.
It says use additional paper, if necessary.
You must have at least 15 pieces of paper...
Eighteen.
18. On comportment? Well, okay, don't look.
You know this promotion affects you, too.
I was told to be objective and dispassionate.
That sounds terrible.
I think your comportment is excellent, by the way.
Thank you. For the most part.
Right. Ah.
Booth.
Hey, Camille.
Don't-Don't call me Seeley.
Right. Okay.
On our way.
Oh.
I really don't think that's a good idea.
Look, I'm just saying...
Okay, it's your call.
Got it. Bye.
What was that?
It's a body in the woods. Oh.
Okay, I'll get ready.
Cam just wants me to go.
What? I always go with you to a murder scene.
We're partners. She's bringing Clark out on this one.
Clark? I'm the head of forensic anthropology. What is going on?
Well, she thinks that this has something to do with the Ghost Killer.
And since, you know, Clark is heading this up...
She thinks I'm incapable of being objective about
the Ghost Killer, which is absurd.
I'm being dispassionate about you; I'm coming.
Technically,
you know, she has the jurisdiction to decide
which tech goes. Technically?
I laid all the groundwork for the Ghost Killer case.
I know, but you know... you know how you and Cam
got into it, last time, on this one.
What about you? Do you think that I'm the best person
to investigate this case? Of course I do.
It's not my call, okay? Don't shoot the messenger here.
You just... Just take the high road on this, all right?
Just show Cam that you're a team player.
You know Bones is pissed, don't you?
Hey, look, I'm just doing my job.
Just tell Dr. Brennan it wasn't my fault.
- Good luck with that. - Sorry, Seeley.
I'm not gonna have her veer
an investigation off track because she wants this
- to be the Ghost Killer. - Well, you must have
suspected something or you wouldn't have excluded her.
I do, but it's not conclusive yet.
The victim appears to have been stabbed.
Whoa! And the head was chopped off.
Actually, no. The victim was strung up
after she was already dead.
Oh, wow.
Yeah. The body separated from the head during decomp.
It fell on a family that was camping.
I have a feeling they're gonna be staying
in hotels from now on. Right, so...
it was killed, then hung.
All right? There's no attempt to hide the body.
The lack of a prominent glabella
indicates the victim was female. Okay, well,
the body is very gooey, here.
Any, uh... you got time of death, bug boy?
Predation, blow flies and rove beetles put time of death
between eight and ten days.
So far, I hear nothing that connects this
to the Ghost Killer.
Well, I need to compare this
to the other potential victims.
That's gonna take time, Agent Booth. I don't have time.
And I can't start a serial killer investigation
unless we're certain. Oh, God.
Why didn't I just wait for the pictures?
You know what? I know I'm supposed to be
a good soldier here, and I'm trying real hard,
but we all know that Bones should be here.
Which is why I am, Booth. Yes.
Dr. Brennan, I specifically told you to wait until called.
You are not to touch the rema... The third finger
on the right hand has an avulsion fracture
on the superior aspect
of the distal phalanx. The fingernail
has been ripped off, just like every other Ghost Killer victim.
Did you not see this?
Yes, I did.
And you can check my notes.
Now can I please get back to work?
Fighting among the squints
can compromise the case.
You don't want this going on the report when the muckymucks
- are deciding who to promote. - You know what?
I don't care about the muckymucks.
Bones should have been here from the beginning.
Seeley... This evidence should have been linked
- to the Ghost Killer immediately. - I did.
I also noted the other fingers. Unless you're
too arrogant to look at my findings.
Oh! Uh-oh.
All of them have avulsion fractures.
Yes, all the nails were ripped out.
The Ghost Killer's never done that before.
Those fractures are old.
Just check the remodeling.
With traces of
what seems to be an adhesive.
Well, that might explain these. What are those?
Well, maybe the victim
couldn't grow her own nails, so she wore artificial ones.
These aren't artificial.
These nails are real.
Real?
Who glues on real nails to themselves?
♪ Bones 9x22 ♪ The Nail in the Coffin Original Air Date on April 21, 2014
♪ Main Title Theme ♪ The Crystal Method
== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man
♪
So we're finally calling it.
The Ghost Killer exists.
Every victim has had the fingernail
of the third distal phalanx torn off.
That signature suggests the work of the same killer.
The X-rays show
multiple sharp force trauma injuries.
There are also indications
of blunt force trauma on what little tissue is left.
This is a far more violent murder
than the others. Until the bones are clean,
we can't determine which are post-
and which are perimortem.
So you two are cool with each other?
Oh. Dr. Edison's
work has been excellent.
And I imagine he is relieved
to be working with me.
As soon as
Dr. Saroyan apologizes
for excluding me... Which you ignored.
And which I would ignore again.
Oh, boy... I poked a hornet's nest, didn't I?
Am I the only professional here?
Well, this bladder seems to be intact,
which means I'll be able to run a tox screen.
Has Dr. Hodgins returned from the crime scene?
I need these wounds swabbed.
He's still there, looking for
fingernails and any other particulates
- that'll tell us who this victim is. - The skull is intact.
So how long do you think it'll take you to get an I.D.?
As soon as Brennan gives it to me, I can...
I don't think
that'll be necessary. Can you bring up
Trent McNamara's skull X-rays?
- The last victim? - Technically, not a victim.
His death was ruled a suicide.
You may want to re-evaluate
that ruling.
Notice the forward prominence
of the lower mandible.
This is a rare genetic marker
known as prognathism.
Now, bring up this victim.
Mm-hmm.
Same prognathism... I mean, albeit mild.
You think this victim is a McNamara?
Statistically,
that's a reasonable conclusion,
and since there was only one surviving member of the family,
this must be Trent's sister, Stephanie.
Excellent.
But why would the Ghost Killer
target the McNamaras?
In most of the previous cases, the remains were hidden.
Or the killings were made to look
like an accident.
Hanging the victim from the tree was brazen.
It was theatrical, even.
The Ghost Killer is upping his game.
He's thumbing his nose at us. Her.
Bones thinks that the killer is a woman.
- She's never been wrong. - Good enough for me, cher.
But why two McNamaras?
There's never been a connection
between the victims before.
That we know of.
The connections could all just
be in his-- or her-- mind.
Serial killers often develop
elaborate rationalizations
to justify their actions.
Hence the creepy fingernails.
They put me off manicures, I can tell you that.
You know, what ties her actions together
could be impossible for us to know
until we talk to her. Or maybe the killer just thought
that Stephanie McNamara
was investigating her brother's death
and killed her because she was getting too close.
Incoming.
The Deputy Director?
He never comes down here.
You want a breath mint?
Breath mint? No.
Mm.
Agent Booth. Yes.
Ms. Julian.
Uh, Dr. Sweets.
I'm a profiler.
Of course. Dr. Sweets.
Just wanted to tell you we understand
the importance of this case.
We'll offer you
any support you need.
Because the McNamaras are involved, right?
I'm sure Agent Booth merely meant
that since Stephanie McNamara was...
I know what Agent Booth meant. And I appreciate his honesty.
That's why you're on our short list for the...
I'm not in it
for a promotion, sir, I just want to catch the murderer.
Of course.
And you're right about the McNamaras.
They were a very powerful family.
Wealth has its privileges.
Yes, it does, Ms. Julian.
And there are people more powerful than I
that want this resolved. Quickly.
It'll take as long as it takes, sir.
I want to give Ms. Julian a case that sticks.
I would expect nothing less.
Glad you're running point on this one, Booth.
Thank you, sir.
Hey. It took a while,
but I retrieved the other nails from the crime scene.
At least pieces of all of them. Great.
I'll check for DNA under them,
in case the victim scratched her assailant.
And I'll look at the rope used for the noose.
Some of the killer might be on that, too.
Dr. Hodgins?
Yeah. I'm sorry,
by the way. I know you knew the family.
Oh, yeah.
The truth is, the family was always strange, you know?
Like they were living under a cloud. A very wealthy cloud.
Yeah, tons of money,
and all that's left is murder, sadness and secrets.
I'm telling you, I'm doing a hell of a lot better broke.
Well, got the blood results.
Wait a minute-- she tested positive for alkaloid cytosine?
Which is what? It's also known as sophorine.
It's part of the Fabaceae family,
like peas, beans, legumes.
Hey, if sophorine is mixed with dimethyl sulfoxide,
it becomes an anesthetic.
So, she was drugged?
It's probably how she was abducted.
Is there any way to trace
where the killer got the anesthetic from?
No.
It has to be homemade.
Homemade and, therefore, untraceable.
There's a reason why we call the killer a ghost.
So, the gardener at
the McNamaras' compound was the last person
to report seeing Stephanie McNamara alive.
You think she could have made that anesthetic?
I imagine she'd need a science background.
Well, she dropped out of high school to work for the McNamaras.
You know, I wrote seven pages on your problem-solving skills.
Wow. Seven. Which I said were excellent.
Thanks, Bones. Although, I admitted
to being skeptical about your reliance on your gut.
But I explained it... Huh?
...by referencing studies showing that
gut instincts are merely highly-developed
observational powers.
So it's probably your eyes more than your gut.
You know, you're amazing, you know that?
Yes.
However, I'm not sure what exemplary quality
you're referencing-- my intellect, or...
Your support.
Your... Thanks.
Thanks.
How could I not support you?
You believed in me, even when there's no tangible evidence
the Ghost Killer existed.
I guess it was my gut.
The tack room was the last place I saw her.
It was Sunday.
Stephanie left at 10:00 a.m. for her morning ride,
and she never came back to the house.
Why didn't you report her missing?
I'm just an employee of the McNamaras.
I don't know her schedule.
Sometimes she'd be gone for weeks on a trip.
You just, uh, tend the garden.
That's right.
Do you have any plants in the Fabaceae family here?
Yes. Peas and beans. Why?
Well, she likes to garden, too.
Look at this, Booth.
What's that?
Scratch marks.
Stephanie?
I don't think so.
This dried blood is highly oxidized.
This happened a long time ago.
What's that?
Fragment of a fingernail.
A fingernail.
Okay, looks like somebody was trying
to claw their way out of this.
Do you know anything about this?
No.
Hold up a second.
These markings look recent.
Someone kicked out, was trying to get away.
This is probably where Stephanie McNamara was abducted.
I've finished cataloguing Stephanie's perimortem injuries.
In total, 16 sharp force trauma injuries,
most of which were concentrated on the torso and neck.
Based on the striae, the weapon had an irregular serrated blade.
Any idea what was used in the assault?
Not yet. I'm having Dr. Hodgins swab the wounds for trace.
If there are plant particulates,
it could help point to the McNamara's gardener.
So far, we've found nothing that ties her
to the abduction or the preparation of the anesthetic.
No.
Dr. Brennan...
I just have to say how much I appreciate
how accepting you've been
about me working with you on this case.
Yes.
That is rare for me, isn't it?
Yes, it is.
And I know Pelant told you you would never be able
to catch this Ghost Killer without his expertise.
I'm determined to prove him wrong.
I appreciate that, Clark.
And the nails?
Oh! Well, that's actually the most interesting finding.
Oh. Next time, please lead with the most interesting finding.
Well, I guess I like the build.
I'm more of a crescendo kind of guy.
Now...
Notice the nail beds?
They're torn and remodeled. Any new nails
Stephanie grew would have been irregular at best,
if not totally deformed. And look at the remodeling.
These nails were torn away
at least 15 years ago. Bent back and torn out.
From clawing at something.
Stephanie might have been the one who was
locked in that stable.
It was her.
The nail fragment you found
in the wood of the stable door matches Stephanie
McNamara's DNA. What about
the other nails Dr. Hodgins found?
None of the DNA matches Stephanie.
I'm going through the nails now,
to see if I can find any matches. So, the Ghost Killer might
have glued the nails from her other victims onto Stephanie.
But why?
The SEC?
Yeah. The McNamaras had billions.
I want to know who benefits from Stephanie's murder.
The Ghost Killer doesn't care about money, Booth.
She's fulfilling an emotional need,
not a financial one.
What if the gardener killed her? Wouldn't that give you both?
None of the other victims fit the money profile.
Lana Brewster, Chloe Campbell--
neither one was rich. I don't care, okay?
When it comes to fortunes like the McNamaras', okay,
murders like this-- it's always about the money.
I'm still not entirely clear on
how the SEC can assist with
a murder investigation, Agent Booth.
Oh, the McNamaras-- they have been investigated
by you in the past.
Eight times to be exact.
Eight. Those cases are sealed.
As are the settlements we reached.
I know there's always a turf war
between agencies. Just remember,
we're gonna win this one. So why don't you be
a good girl and help? I can tell you that the
formal investigations launched
over the last 18 years have included allegations
of insider trading, accounting fraud,
market manipulation and disclosure violations.
One of those cases involved
$132 million in tax violations and missing funds.
But you didn't recommend prison time.
As a prosecutor, that makes me want to slap someone silly.
The responsible entity received a cease-and-desist
and paid a fine.
Wait a second. Entity.
Okay, Giles McNamara is an entity now? We try to avoid prosecutions.
They're time-consuming and difficult to prove.
Well, it didn't take us long to prove
that McNamara used one of his shell companies
to pay off a medical examiner
in the tune of, what, two million dollars?
In the Madoff case, we were looking
at missing funds in excess of $65 billion,
so excuse me if two million didn't raise a red flag.
We're going to need access to the McNamara
financials over the past 18 years.
Corporate filings, disclosure documents,
regulatory examination reports, penalties...
That is all confidential, proprietary information.
I would like to help, but... All right, you know what?
You really don't want to push me right now, Ms. Kent,
'cause I will get Ms. Julian here
to get the DOJ to issue a warrant to put you
in jail for impeding a murder investigation.
See how easy that was, cherie?
Hey. Hey.
Booth and Caroline forced the SEC
to send over their investigations
of McNamara and his holding companies,
his offshore entities, the works. That's great.
Well, there's three hard drives worth.
There's over a million and a half pages covering 18 years.
It just feels like we're being buried in paperwork.
So show 'em you can't be buried.
Hey, I may have found a link to the gardener for Booth.
So, look at this.
I found phosphorous, nitrates,
chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium, Flumetralin,
as well as organochlorides.
Oh, I know that one!
It's a pesticide.
I use it for our vegetables. Yeah.
That's right. Well, Stephanie actually had it on her clothes,
so, it's enough for a search warrant to match the chemicals
that the gardener uses as well as any potential weapons
that Steph was stabbed with.
Well, but couldn't Stephanie just have had that stuff
on her clothes just by being on the estate?
Yes.. Yes, but the Flumetralin and the pesticide
was inside the stab wounds that I swabbed.
They were on the murder weapon.
It's always the help, right?
The butler did it?
We found trace of the Flumetralin you use
within Stephanie's injuries.
"Flumetramin." Right. What?
Right. Translation is, you stabbed her
- with your gardening tool. - My colleagues at
the Jeffersonian are testing your tools now.
Can you turn your head to the side, please?
What? No.
Okay.
I didn't kill Stephanie.
I grew up on the estate.
Stephanie and I played together as kids.
What is she doing?
I don't know, but, uh,
you know, if you have nothing to hide,
why would you be nervous? Why would I kill her?
The McNamaras were good to me.
Even if the estate sold,
I still have a pension and severance package.
Maybe you felt you deserved more.
May I feel your mandible?
It'll just take a second.
Do I have to?
I would.
Fine.
Hmm.
You felt you deserved more
because you're Stephanie's sister.
What?
Half-sister probably,
but she has the same slight prognathism
as Stephanie, although
hers was more prominent.
She's a McNamara?
Yes. I am sure that a DNA test will prove
that Giles McNamara was her father.
What? You're wrong and crazy.
I assure you I am neither. I wouldn't call her wrong and crazy.
And it was common knowledge
that Giles McNamara wasn't a faithful husband.
And your mother worked on the estate.
Why don't you do the math?
As the last McNamara left alive,
even as an illegitimate one,
you stand to inherit a significant amount of money.
Billions of dollars, Bones.
Billions of reasons why you would want to kill Stephanie.
I ran the DNA on each individual nail
that was glued on Stephanie. Mm-hmm.
You were right.
They match all the other victims you identified.
Chloe Campbell, Lana Brewster, Carla Hopkins,
Timothy Monroe, Michael Windsor, Heather Mendez,
Alex Webber and Trent McNamara. And since Stephanie
was wearing Trent's nail, I can confirm that Trent is
one of the victims of the Ghost Killer. And the gardener
would have had contact with Lana Brewster,
Trent and Stephanie.
We should have her check the other victims to determine...
Angela already has.
Hey, so, these are the locations
where each of the Ghost Killer victims were murdered.
Once Cam got me the names, I was able to create
a timeline of who was killed where and when.
The McNamara family
expense accounts and travel records
were on the hard drives the SEC sent over.
I was able to place Stephanie
- at each of the murder sites. - Stephanie?
Yeah.
Heather Mendez, California, November 2004.
Stephanie was in Los Angeles
hosting a McNamara Foundation
charity event.
Timothy Monroe, Texas, May 2012.
Stephanie was in town for the wedding
of her college roommate.
So Stephanie put those nails on herself.
Stephanie McNamara
was the Ghost Killer.
But who killed Stephanie?
The McNamaras are American royalty, for God's sake.
I mean, so what the hell prompts a princess
to go on a killing spree? Her father's megalomania,
for one thing. Giles McNamara had
a pathological need to dominate and control
every aspect of his life, including his family.
We found DNA
and blood evidence that indicates
that Stephanie McNamara was abused as a girl.
When we pressed the gardener, she admitted
that McNamara used to lock his daughter in the tack room
if she did anything wrong. And Stephanie
- tried to claw her way out. - Poor child
tore her nails up so badly
that eventually she had none left, to speak of.
Which is why she took the fingernails from her victims.
Symbolically, she was replacing
something that she felt her father had stolen from her.
But you still have one nail you haven't I.D.'d.
We're working on it now. Yes, and we have
to assume it's another victim we don't know about.
My God. And through all of this,
no one at the McNamara estate ever called in the abuse
to the authorities?
The gardener was around Stephanie's age.
She probably thought if she said anything, she'd be next.
So far this half sister's our best suspect, though?
Yes, sir.
The whole damn country believes
the government lets people
like the McNamaras get away with murder,
and for the past 18 years, we have.
I want this put to bed, Booth.
I want convictions.
No loose ends.
Yes, sir.
So, I was compiling the results from the pollen and particulates
I found on Stephanie...
To match them to what's grown on the McNamara estate.
Yeah, but in the stab wound, I found traces of Nicotiana tobacum.
Tobacco? Wait a minute, wasn't Stephanie a smoker?
Well, she was, but there was no other tobacco
or traces of cigarettes found on her.
So why is there tobacco residue on the murder weapon?
I don't know, I don't know. I'm gonna run everything
through the mass spec again, see if I missed something.
The last fingernail
gave me a DNA match on the unknown victim--
Maya Zinkow.
15 years old. Died 20 years ago. Well, that's by far
- the youngest victim. - Wait a minute.
Maya Zinkow? Well, she lived in the same town
that Stephanie and I grew up in.
I mean, they were classmates.
Apparently, the murderer was found and convicted.
Well, yeah. He was a teacher at the school; I remember this.
I mean, everyone said he was the nicest guy.
Well, he might have been. Dr. Brennan's
having Maya's exhumed so she can link Stephanie to the murder.
You mean she started killing at 15?
I guess she was a prodigy.
Dr. Herman Kessler-- served 20 years
for killing that girl.
He was her biology teacher. No prior record.
He was accused of rape, too. No, that wasn't proven.
It only took the jury four hours to find him guilty.
No juror wants to be responsible for letting a monster go free.
Kessler was released six months ago.
It sounds like he had good reason
to want revenge against the person that actually
committed the crime.
So he killed Stephanie McNamara
to set the record straight.
But how did Kessler know that Stephanie
killed this girl? We just found out ourselves.
Well, it looks like the casket's made of wood.
Depending on how it's sealed, we may have
a viable set of remains that could give us answers.
Pull that bolt out of there.
Hang on, there's one more.
All right.
Mummified, so she wasn't embalmed.
I might be able to get
tox results from the tissue. These injuries
seem to be stab wounds-- violent,
like the wounds on Stephanie. Bones, are you satisfied
that this is, uh, Maya Zinkow?
There's an excellent chance.
All right, let's get her back to the lab, ASAP.
Um, is Caroline having
the medical examiner's report sent over?
It's gonna be at your office when you get back.
I'm gonna get Sweets; we'll try and locate Kessler.
The M.E. report indicates
that the victim was placed inside the casket
at the coroner's office and then taken straight to the cemetery.
Explains why she wasn't embalmed.
But it raises more questions than it answers.
Standard procedure is to release the remains
to the family and have them go through a funeral home.
None of the stab wounds have been catalogued.
Just the injuries to the C3 and the clavicle.
Well, even cursory looks indicate that there's
12, 13, 14 wounds to the ribs, sternum...
As well as the avulsion fracture where her fingernail
was ripped off. These look like
almost the same injuries we found on Stephanie McNamara.
This report is as incompetent as any I've seen.
Who would sign off on a job like...
Oh, God.
What?
'Cause that sounded like a bad "Oh, God."
The M.E. who signed off on Maya's autopsy,
it's the same one who worked on Lana Brewster's body.
The one Giles McNamara paid off.
Could he have known that his daughter was killing
all these people and not done anything about it?
Oh, God.
How did Kessler get this information?
Like I said, I haven't seen Kessler in awhile.
What's "awhile"?
Four or five days. Could be longer.
Kessler, he's a quiet one.
Isn't that what they always say about psycho killers,
"He was a real quiet one"?
Nobody said anything about a killer, sir.
I read the papers.
So what are we looking at here?
It's gruesome, right? Like, Dahmer gruesome?
Just open the door.
Give me one detail. Something juicy.
Now, look, you're familiar with the term
"obstruction of justice"?
Feds, you're always such hard-asses.
Okay, take care.
Hmm.
File boxes and nothing else.
No personal effects.
He really did not care
about building a life after prison.
Look at this, huh?
Information about McNamara.
Hmm... It's like he made a hobby collecting stuff about him.
I'd say...
it's safe to call it an obsession.
Obsession? I bet all these boxes are full
of stuff about McNamara.
Look at this.
What do those blueprints say?
The McNamaras' estate.
Oh, my G... So Kessler used that
to plan Stephanie's abduction.
What about that other set?
This is from another house.
Kessler's going after someone else.
So, Angela's looking through the Hall of Records
for a house that matches the second set of blueprints.
Yeah, we now know that most of this was obtained
while he was in prison.
He planned on filing an appeal,
so that gave him access to everything
even remotely related to the case.
He never filed for an appeal.
Yeah, that's 'cause it was never about exoneration.
It was always about revenge. You're saying
that he knew the McNamaras were involved this whole time?
It's the only thing that makes sense.
Kessler knew that he couldn't fight someone as powerful
as them in court.
So the man spent 20 years in prison
finding a way to even the score.
In his mind, it was the only way
he could get justice-- but here's our biggest find.
Those are the crime scene photos of Maya Zinkow.
Wait a second. I thought these never existed.
According to the local police
and the FBI, they don't exist.
Something about the original negatives being "damaged."
I can only assume someone was trying to bury them
for McNamara.
McNamara must have someone working on the inside.
But how did Kessler get them?
You devote every waking hour for 20 years,
you uncover a lot.
Yeah, well, I want to know who hid all this stuff.
The bone defects on the distal ends
of the right radius and ulna suggest
the implement entered with a left-to-right trajectory.
I'm noticing the same thing
on the anterior surface of the manubrium.
The directionality on the report showed
a right-to-left trajectory.
We could go through this all day.
The M.E.'s report is a complete fiction.
It was clearly written to set up Kessler.
Yes, but what's most interesting is what's left out.
Stephanie McNamara's wounds mirror almost exactly
the wounds suffered by Maya Zinkow.
And as far as we know, Kessler's the only one
that had access to these photos.
Which leaves little doubt
that Kessler killed Stephanie McNamara.
There was a rape charge in here.
Yeah, the charge was dropped.
Because they didn't want the body to be examined.
The flesh is desiccated, but I found some evidence
of damage to the cervix,
and microscopic sections show
associated tissue disruption and hemorrhaging
which is consistent with having been raped.
There was no rape kit in evidence.
And how would Stephanie be involved?
I mean, she certainly didn't rape Maya
before killing her.
Well, it appears that someone did.
You're going to retrieve a sample from the victim?
It's been 20 years.
Seminal DNA yielding a complete pattern
after 20 years of decomp is a long shot,
but it's not impossible.
And we don't have any other options.
Hey, Cam,
I think I found something
that you might want to see.
I'd been searching the Hall of Records
and Building and Safety for DC
and Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware,
and I finally found a match
for the blueprints Booth sent over.
515 North Alfred Street, Arlington, Virginia.
Who lives there?
Congressman Steven Palter.
Why would Kessler be going
after a congressman?
Turns out that Congressman Palter
used to be Judge Palter.
He presided over the Maya Zinkow case.
Two years later, the McNamaras helped fund congressional campaign.
Uh-huh-- through shell companies.
Of course it was through shell companies.
Cam got a viable semen sample from Maya Zinkow's remains
and she got a DNA match.
Well, I'm guessing it's not Kessler.
No, it was Giles McNamara.
Stephanie's father raped Maya Zinkow?
Wait-- why would Stephanie want to kill Maya?
It's sick, but the victimology
makes perfect sense. Stephanie had
an abusive relationship with her father, right? - Right.
She would do anything to gain his attention.
So... she was jealous that he raped someone?
Right. To her, someone else was getting her father's attention.
It could've easily triggered a psychotic break,
leading to the first murder. Right, and McNamara
paid off the M.E. and the judge to make all this go away.
Yeah, except he didn't care about protecting Stephanie,
only himself.
No wonder Kessler wants revenge.
Congressman, uh, Palter is next in line.
Tell Stark, will you? Okay.
Geez! There's no answer at Palter's.
I hope he's out playing poker or something.
How did the Deputy Director react when you told him
that there might be someone at the FBI
who protected McNamara? Well, he wasn't surprised,
which was surprising.
But he gave me a blank check. Told me to find out
who was behind it. Whoever it is
let nine people die.
Looks like a struggle.
Locked.
Booth? Yeah.
All right, stand back, will you?
So any particulates from the weapon
will be on the shirt as well as on the wounds.
The left external carotid was severed.
Yeah, after he was stabbed in the chest and spine.
Well, Kessler clearly wanted him to suffer.
There are clean incisions
in the third costal cartilage as well as the clavicle.
And C3.
One long slash from the neck,
across the chest to the abdomen.
I see a total of 16 wounds.
It's the same number we saw on Maya Zinkow and Stephanie.
More vengeance from Kessler.
This wound track is deeper and more definitive
than anything we ever saw on Stephanie.
Dr. Hodgins, can you swab the wound?
Then Clark can make a mold.
I'm not done examining the... We don't have the time.
Finally getting a weapon I.D. could lead us to Kessler.
Okay, I'll cut away the tissue.
You were supposed to handle this, Booth.
Now I got a dead congressman on my hands.
Look, I'm willing to take full responsibility, sir,
but I'm more concerned about who's next.
Next?
You got to be kidding me. If Kessler
sees this as a conspiracy... Which it is.
You don't know that, Ms. Julian. McNamara gets away
with paying off a judge and a medical examiner
to protect his daughter,
frames Kessler for murder,
he escapes prosecution by the SEC,
somehow he gets the FBI
to lose vital pieces of evidence.
Do I have to go on, sir? Because I think I'm on a roll.
You really think this Kessler guy is gonna kill again?
We have to assume that, sir.
I've been through almost 1,000 pages Kessler compiled
on the murder case, as well as McNamara's
business dealings, all right? Kessler suffers
from post-traumatic embitterment disorder, dysthymia,
as well as a comorbidity... Okay, okay,
the guy's a sick bastard-- I get it.
Who's next on his list?
No idea, sir. We're trying to find him.
And? Well...
he's too smart to run, so he's got to be hiding someplace.
I'm guessing you have no idea where that is.
No. Which is why we should get back to work.
Then go. Get the hell out of here before Congress hangs me
from the Capitol Building.
You wanted to see me, Dr. Hodgins? Yeah, more tobacco, Dr. B.
It was in the wound
and on his shirt where it was cut by the weapon.
Was he a smoker like Stephanie? No, as a matter of fact,
his last piece of legislation was an increase
in the tobacco tax.
So the tobacco was transferred from the murder weapon.
No other explanation.
I'm also seeing methoxychlor. It's a pesticide.
Something the gardener used? No, methoxychlor was banned.
It hasn't been used in decades, so... Hey, any luck
with the murder weapon? The mold gave us kerf marks
on the blade-- they're bent and irregular.
The weapon seems to be quite old.
Well, that would explain the pesticide.
All right, I got to get back to work-- I'm also seeing
some fibers embedded in the wound that might help us.
I'm doing MRI scans on both sets of remains.
We don't have time to clean the congressman's bones,
but this should give us a clear view of the damage done
to both victims.
Kessler had more information than the FBI.
All right, look, McNamara might be dead
but whoever protected him could still be alive.
Unless that's who Kessler's going after next.
I want to know who McNamara bought. From all the information
Kessler got, he knows. Look, Stephanie
and Palter were killed within ten miles of each other,
so he should be close. I agree.
He's revisiting the scene of the crime, reliving it.
Rewriting it, actually, so it comes out the way he feels it should.
So you're saying that he's home.
Psychologically, yeah.
These "V" nicks on Stephanie's third and fourth ribs,
if we measure the intercostal space,
the distance between the ribs...
It'll give us the width of the blade.
4.19 centimeters.
Now the striation on the right anterolateral surface
of the body, on the sixth thoracic vertebra.
So the length of the blade would have been
20 centimeters.
Please rotate Stephanie's torso.
The scrape on the posterior aspect
of the fourth sternal rib seems to have been caused by trying
to extract something with a hooked end.
As if caught and then someone turned it.
I see where you're going.
The width of that scrape
could give us the size of the hook.
Can you see if the same kind
of hooked blade was used on the congressman?
Yeah, give me a second.
They're an exact match.
He used the same blade on both of them.
Asbestos. The fibers were asbestos.
Tell us why you're happy.
Oh, I understand.
I am also happy.
Okay. now this is not fair. Tobacco, asbestos
and a banned pesticide.
Well, asbestos was also banned in the '50s.
It was used in the manufacture of cigarette filters,
as if cigarettes didn't kill you fast enough.
So the weapon came from an old tobacco factory?
It makes sense. Look at this.
The weapon was a tobacco scythe.
Old Dominion Cigarettes.
They went out of business in '68.
The factory is abandoned.
And it is eight miles from the McNamaras' estate
and 15 miles from Palter's house.
You know what? That's a perfect location
for Kessler to retreat to after an attack.
You guys did a great job, Bones.
I'll only accept that compliment if no one else dies.
Have you called for additional support?
No, no, no. Look, I know guys
like Kessler, all right? The quieter we are,
the better chance we have in getting him.
His light is on.
Don't do it, Kessler.
I did what I needed to do.
I set the record straight. That's what I wanted.
If he jumps from that height, his neck will snap.
We wouldn't have time to cut him down.
You have information that we need-- you can help.
I have nothing.
I've had nothing since they put me away.
You had missing files on McNamara.
On the cover-up. And you think
you can get justice?
The law isn't for people like them.
You've got to try.
We can help.
I'm sorry.
I'm tired.
Why did you do that?
They'll never let me live, anyway.
You'll live.
I promise that.
Hey.
Booth.
Look at that.
Oh, beer?
Well, it's all they had at the convenience store.
And we have to celebrate 'cause we caught the Ghost Killer.
Are you hungry? Because I am pretty sure that...
beer from Missouri goes very well
with leftovers. Eh, just drink the beer
from... Missouri, huh?
Alexander's Famous.
So, um, Stark and Caroline,
they're trying to figure out a deal
so Kessler will cooperate.
He's a killer. Yeah, but who he killed.
In the Old West, they would've made him a sheriff.
So, um, Stark
has finally recommended me for that promotion.
Course, I have to be confirmed by the House subcommittee.
Congratulations, Booth.
This calls for a toast. Mmm.
To you. No, no, wait.
To us, okay? 'Cause I told him
no matter what happens to us,
we're still a team.
Well, that's basically the definition
of marriage, isn't it?
Does that mean I... don't have to finish
filling out this questionnaire?
No, you know what, uh, you should still do it.
The government, they love their paperwork.
Okay. There was one question asking if we had a relationship
outside of work, so...
You should probably just skip that one.
Oh. Um, I wrote all this.
You wrote all this.
Whoa! About our sex life?
Well, are you suggesting that it isn't interesting?
No, no, but... They told me to be thorough.
I also put that you never throw your socks into the hamper.
In case the floor is cold, I put the socks on
so my feet stay warm-- but they don't really care about that.
What if I'm called before Congress to testify,
and they ask why I ignored
the question? Just ignore it for now, okay?
Here's to catching the Ghost Killer.
To Missouri. Beer from Missouri.
== sync, corrected by elderman == @elder_man
What's that mean? 