To the Bone

Adeline felt like there was no air left on the planet as Spencer smiled softly at her. He seemed like he wanted to say something, but obviously changed his mind as he cleared his throat.

“Well I should um, I should let you get some sleep.” He said finally.

“R-right.” She stammered. They both watched each other for a moment longer before Spencer nodded, starting towards the door. Adeline wanted to tell him that she didn't want him to go as she bit her lip harshly. She then saw the bust on the table, jogging over to it.

“Spence, wait!” She called. He stopped, smiling widely as he turned back. But as he saw the small statue in her hands, his smile fell slightly.

“Oh, right.” He whispered. He took it from her, his fingertips brushing hers and making Adeline’s heart pound. He pressed his lips together tightly, nodding again.

“Goodnight Adie.” He said.

“Goodnight Spence.” She murmured as he walked out the door, closing it behind him. She sighed, walking over and flopping down onto her bed. She looked up at the ceiling, wishing that, just for once, she could be confident. She sat up, running a hand through her hair before she heard her phone buzz. She jumped up, wondering if it was Spencer, but saw that it was her grandmother. She quickly answered, knowing upsetting the matriarch was a very bad idea.

“Hey Grandma.” She greeted. She heard Nuna huff on the other end of the phone.

“What is this I hear about you working with the feds?” She asked steadily.

“Grandma-”

“My sight may not be what it was, but I know a photo of my granddaughter with FBI agents when I see it.” She heard a newspaper rustle. “And you’re grabbing onto one of them so tightly too. You are your mother's daughter, aren’t you?”

“I’m helping them with a case.” Adeline explained. “They needed a forensic anthropologist-”

“They need a grave robber disturbing spirits’ rest.” Nuna corrected. Adeline sighed, letting her head fall into her free hand.

“It’s not like that, grandma. Someone is hunting the Native women up here. There are anywhere between twenty to thirty victims-”

“It’s not your place to disturb the dead.” Nuna interrupted. “There are other ways to help besides you using their remains like puzzle pieces.” Adeline was too exhausted to argue as her grandmother continued. “Now not only has my daughter run off with an outsider, my granddaughter is working with the people who stripped us of our home. I told your mother that the white men are devils-”

“You can’t blame Spence for what people did hundreds of years ago.” Adeline snapped. She then froze, covering her mouth. “Grandma, I’m so sorry.”

“So the devil has a name.” She muttered. “And it looks like he’s already turning you against your own blood.”

“I have to go, grandma.” Adeline said. “Please. I have a lot of work to do tomorrow. I have to stop who’s doing this.” She heard Nuna clicking her tongue.

“Never forget who you are, Alsoomse.” Adeline was surprised by the use of her traditional name as her grandmother sighed. “Don’t let us die out.” With that Adeline heard a click and knew her grandmother had hung up. She let out a shaky exhale, dropping her phone to one side as she sat up. She looked at the door, biting her lip harshly.

She couldn’t get over the fact that Nuna had called her a grave robber. That even though Adeline’s passion was discovering the secrets of the dead, her grandmother thought she was some sort of sacrilegious monster. She wiped her eyes, feeling tears brewing as she heard the word grave robber over and over in her mind. She knew Nuna was just disciplined in her traditions, but Adeline started to wonder if maybe she was right.

Adeline decided she needed to sleep and quickly crawled into bed, not bothering to change as she clicked off the lamp. With the exhaustion from her full day and still suffering from jet lag, Adeline quickly fell into an uneasy sleep.

She was standing in the lab, holding the skull in her hands. She sighed, running her thumb over the bashed in cheekbone. Suddenly, the jaw began to move, an eye appearing, the same dark brown as Adeline’s, and staring up at her. The skull laughed wickedly before repeating Nuna’s words over and over.

Grave robber!

Grave robber!

GRAVE ROBBER!

“Please stop.” Adeline whispered, shaking the skull, but the skull didn’t stop laughing. “Stop calling me that, I’m trying to help you!” The eye rolled back before flesh began to grow over the bone until Adeline was holding her own head in her hands.

“It’s too late for me.” The skull said. “Get out before he gets you too.”

Adeline shot up out of bed, trembling violently. She gripped the sides of her head, trying to get the image of the laughing skull out of her brain. She rocked back and forth, struggling to remember where she was as she looked around the dark, foreign room. Finally she awoke fully, realizing where she was as she caught her breath.

Adeline knew she couldn’t stay here, she had to do something, help somehow. So she shot out of bed, grabbing her phone and lab access pass before jogging out the door. She remembered the short route to the police station as she walked into the crisp Washington night, hailing a passing taxi.

As she walked into the station, she was surprised to see the blonde from earlier. She recognized J.J. from photos Reid had sent, smiling as she remembered that Spencer was her son’s godfather. J.J. caught her walking in and her head fell to one side.

“I thought you and Spence called it a night?” She asked. Adeline shrugged.

“I couldn’t sleep. I just… I feel like I have to do something.” J.J. stood, smiling.

“I completely understand.” She promised. “I just put on a fresh pot of coffee.” Adeline beamed.

“Thanks.” She said softly. J.J. was quiet for a moment and Adeline knew J.J. wanted to ask something else. So Adeline relaxed her normally stiff posture, trying to keep her arms at her side and not crossed tightly over her chest. “Was there anything else?” She asked.

“Can I ask you something?” J.J. asked finally.

“Of course.” Adeline promised.

“When you guys identified the first victim as being Native American, I tried to reach out to the Snoqualmie tribe, but they won’t return my calls.” Adeline sighed.

“You want me to talk to them.” She guessed. J.J. nodded.

“I’ll go with you, since you’re our associated scientist and not an agent, but I’m hoping maybe you can get them to open up.” J.J. said. Adeline sighed, remembering her grandmother’s lecture. But at the thought of all the women in those buckets, Adeline knew she had to do something.

“Yeah, let’s head out no later than ten.” J.J. smiled.

“Sounds perfect.” She then extended her hand to Adeline. “I don’t think we were officially introduced. I’m Jennifer.”

“J.J. I know.” Adeline chuckled, shaking her hand. “You’re Henry’s mom, right? Spencer’s godson?”

“Yeah.” Adeline pulled her hand away, shoving it into her pocket.

“You made a good choice. Spencer’s a great man.” She then blushed, turning away. “I mean, of course you know that. You work with him all the time.” J.J. chuckled at Adeline.

“You know, Spence talks about you, a lot.” She mentioned. Adeline’s eyes shot back to hers as she smiled.

“Really?” She asked.

“Yeah, he tried to keep it from the rest of the team, but he told Gideon and I about you.” Adeline beamed, running her fingers over her pass. “You know, he has some time off coming up. Maybe he could come help with your dig.”

“Why wouldn’t he just ask me?” Adeline asked. J.J. giggled softly.

“Have you met Spence? Not exactly the forward type.”

“Unless he’s correcting you about something.” Adeline said. Both women laughed as J.J. nodded to the break room.

“Want to grab a cup before you get started?” Adeline could hear the skull again, echoing in her mind, bringing her back to the grim reality of the case as she sighed.

“I’ll take a rain check. I really need to get to work.” She apologized.

“No problem. I’ll probably be here all night too.” J.J. promised. “I’ll let you get to it.”

“Thanks. It was good to meet you, officially.” Adeline said. J.J. smiled brightly.

“You too, Dr. Foxley.”

Adeline forced herself to focus, getting suited up before walking back into the lab. She pulled over the first victim, looking over the knife marks again. Something had been bothering her as she looked around, trying to find a magnifying glass. She went over to her satchel, pulling one out and walking back over. She turned the pelvis to one side, glancing in and looking at the details of the knife wounds. She froze, gently setting the pelvis back down before grabbing her notebook. She wrote frantically before going back to the massive box labelled A4, starting to put together the next victim.

As Adeline heard the door creak open a few hours later she jumped, turning around to see Spencer. He had his hands held out in front of him as a sign of good faith and Adeline relaxed. He walked in hesitantly, looking over all of Adeline’s work and gasping softly.

“Did… did you stay here all night?” He asked. Adeline shrugged, turning towards him but keeping her eyes on the ground.

“I couldn’t sleep.” She whispered. “So I came back.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up? I could have helped.”

“Spence-” She started.

So the devil has a name.

Nuna’s cruel words rang in Adeline’s skull like a bell. She grunted, touching her temple tenderly. Spencer was beside her in two steps and reached out, touching her hand with his and obviously concerned.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

“Yeah, just a headache.” She said. “I think drinking six cups of coffee and not sleeping did me in.” He chuckled at that before smiling softly at her.

“Well come on then, let’s get breakfast and you can take a break.”

“I can’t leave them, Spence.” She whispered. “I found something.” She took his hand, leading him over to the second, mostly assembled victim. “I thought it was a fluke on the first victim, but I noticed t with this one, and” she turned pointing to a third assembled pelvis, “I saw it on her too.”

“Saw what?”

“Hesitation.” She whispered. She picked up the second pelvis, which was broken in half. “See how these wounds are clean? There’s no pause, no nerves. They’re determined.” She then pointed to a second, messy slice. “But this one was nervous. Like he didn’t know how hard to strike the victim, or maybe didn’t want to.”

“There’s two of them.” He whispered. Adeline nodded.

“Not just that.” She ran her gloved finger over one of the more confident strikes. “The amount of pressure it takes to pierce a bone like this means we’re looking at a fully grown adult. My guess would be a male, or a very strong female.”

“And the other one?” He asked. Adeline pointed to one of the shallower cuts again, handing the pelvis to Spencer. “There’s not as much force. Which could be hesitation or…”

“Or we’re looking at a father and a son.” She whispered. They looked back at the tubs and Adeline shook her head. “And a really fucked up family tradition.”

Tim's Bar and Grill, 2:37 AM

Mary sighed as she walked out to her car, the music from the bar still thudding loudly behind her. She was exhausted from picking up an extra shift, and just wanted to go home and collapse into her bed. She turned the key, unlocking her car before hearing a distant scream.

She froze, unsure of what to do as the person screamed again. “Please help me!” It pleaded. Mary trembled, reaching into her car and grabbing a can of mace before hurrying over.

“Hello?” She called, walking into the woods. “Are you there?”

“I’m over here! Please help me!” She grabbed her phone, debating calling 911 before the voice screamed in agony. “Oh God it hurts!” Mary raced over, her sneakers sinking into the dirt as she walked into a clearing.

There was a young man, not a day over eighteen, with his foot caught in a bear trap. He was trying desperately to pull himself free as Mary ran over. She pushed her long, black hair behind her shoulder so she could see as she knelt beside the young man.

“Hey, you’re okay. You’re going to be okay.” She promised. The boy looked at her before smiling widely, pulling his leg free from the broken bear trap.

“I know I’ll be okay, but you won’t be.” He whispered. Mary pulled back, turning only to be met with the butt end of a rifle. She saw two silhouettes moving over her. She reached out as the one with the rifle chuckled.

“Time to teach you the family business, Abe.” He said. The boy laughed as Mary rolled over, trying to crawl away before the man laughed. “Ooh, this squaw has a little bite in her!” He leaned down, looking up at Mary and grinning wickedly. “Don't worry honey, we’ll fix that.”

He cocked the gun back again, and struck down, causing Mary’s world to go black.