I'm supposed to be on vacation. You know, spending time with Sully.
That's a good lesson for Sully. Next time he actually takes you away on vacation,
you should go away, leave town.
- You had a vacation and never left. - It was a suspension.
- Plus compulsory therapy. - Don't knock therapy, OK?
Dr Wyatt helped me realise that there are certain pressures that build up on the job.
- I need ways of dealing with them. - We do everything together.
What do you contend with on the job that I don't?
- You. You don't have to contend with you. - We got a trunk.
It's been wrapped with chains. Battered up pretty good.
Most likely came through the sloughs upstream.
- Is it locked? - Not any more, it isn't.
- Is there a body in there? - Sort of.
Beats me what the deal is with this one.
The head looks flat, as if the skull's been totally pulverised.
- Maybe she got run over by a steamroller. - She was killed by Wile E Coyote?
I want the whole kip and canoodle transported to the Jeffersonian.
Kit and caboodle. Why don't we just wrap this up fast so we can get you back on vacation?
Thank you. I'd appreciate that.
You have got to be kidding.
- What's with the tone? - You want me to take this and build a skull?
- Can you do it? - No.
You take skulls and put on faces. Can't you reverse the process?
- No. - Why not?
Because I am a human being.
- She's missing every bone in her body? - Her skeleton was removed.
Oh! All right.
Leaving the Third Circle of Hell, but, before I go, I think she's Asian.
Don't base that on skin tone. She was boiled, which is why we can only get partial prints.
I'm not going off skin tone. I'm going off her hair.
I have an idea for the face, if you can remove the head from the rest of the skin sac.
Please, God. I am not out of earshot yet.
The victim was boiled. Incisions were made from the top of the skull,
around her right ear and down her right side,
then from her left foot along the body to her left hip.
- Someone with medical training? - Definitely not, but a very sharp instrument.
- Boiled? - The entire skeletal structure removed.
Then the skin was sewn back around the organs.
Doesn't fit any ritual killing I've ever heard or read about.
The organs are damaged due to the cutting,
but everything's there, except the brain and the eyes.
It must have been difficult to remove those smaller bones like the phalanges.
It's all gone. I didn't find one bone.
The algae in the trunk is cyanobacteria called Microcystis aeruginosa.
The size of the scum colony indicates eight days' submersion.
Dr Brennan?
Have I offended you in some way?
Dr Saroyan said no bones, so you know what that means? I'm back on vacation.
No bones, no Bones.
I was the second bones.
That's very witty.
Essentially all we have to do is refill the empty head.
- Like a balloon. - Which is literally what we did.
- Oh, no. You did not. - Put a bladder inside and inflate it slowly.
This is...
It's...
- absolutely... - Brilliant?
Useless. You need the exact shape of a skull to get a likeness, not just a... This is...
Turn that off.
Oh, my God! You guys are perverse.
Dr Brennan was right. Bone people should only do bone things.
Hello?
Hey. Dr Brennan.
Agent Sullivan, I presume.
- So, what do you think? - I think you're very dirty.
Ooh!
- You've got something... - Oh. Oh.
Come aboard. I didn't think I'd see you for a couple days.
I know it's strange, but I'd actually rather spend time with you than work.
Well, I'm flattered.
So, um, are you renting it?
Well, uh... I'm thinking about buying her.
Wow. Can you afford it?
If I liquidate everything and borrow heavily, not at all.
- So you'd live on it? - Her. You know, live on her.
But before I commit, I wanna spend the night on her with you.
- What would that prove? - Call it sexual feng shui.
- I don't think that's a real thing. - If it doesn't work, I don't want this boat.
Wow. Apparently you do think it's a real thing.
I can't find anything on how to estimate the height of a body without bones.
Does the skin stretch or contract without a skeleton?
Boiled leather immersed in water would tend to stretch, then contract as it dries.
- Maybe the principle applies. - I'm finding bruising on the torso.
I'll subject the tissue to spectroscopy
to get an idea of when blows were sustained and whether they were fatal.
Dr Saroyan, the face debacle taught me a lesson. I'm a bone guy, like Dr Brennan.
Which is exactly why I called for you, bone boy.
- A patella? - Yes. X-rays showed it in the tissue of the leg.
A bone. Something we can work with.
- It's a kneecap. Don't get too excited. - To you, it's a kneecap.
To Dr Brennan, it's the best part of a human being.
Good to know.
Hey.
- Ahoy, the boat? - Booth?
Yeah. I need Bones.
Permission to come aboard, or what?
- Hey, man. Uh, is this important? - Yeah. We got a bone.
- Tell me about it. - It's from the boneless girl.
What kind of bone?
- Here and here. - Frontal spurring.
- What's that mean? - A lot of time spent on the knees.
- She's either a nun or a prostitute. - No.
Tendons inside of the patella also suggest squatting, which is not nunlike behaviour.
You didn't need to interrupt my vacation.
You said to call if a bone showed up and... this is a bone.
The density of secondary osteon structures
suggests the victim was in her early 20s at the time of death.
See? Zack is capable. You don't need me.
- An interesting shape. - Square. Classic Nail Patella Syndrome.
A genetic defect, also known as Fong's Disease.
Fong's Disease. Right. What's that?
Angela said the hair suggested Asian.
Our victim may have grown up in a nonindustrialised, rural environment.
Early 20s, Asian, rural area - I'll check with Immigration.
Zack will do an osteological profile, see if we can focus geographically,
while I get back on vacation.
Wow. Dr Brennan really likes that boat.
You said you couldn't make a face.
Did you hear about Zack and the balloon in the head?
- Is it as bad as it sounds? - Yes.
The least I could do is try to give her a face, poor woman.
So, a boat, huh?
Oh, Sully? Yeah. Last month, he wanted to live in a tree house.
Mm. He's like me.
Yeah. I don't see that.
He's not really made for all this murder and corpses and empty-eye-sockets crap.
- He's a romantic. - Unlike me?
No. You're a romantic of a narrow kind.
You live to catch bad guys.
Sully lives wide.
I got a hit off the Homeland Security database.
"Li Ling Fan."
She's here on a fiancée visa from mainland China.
- Fingerprints. It's a match. Print this off. - Yeah, this is the victim.
I'll go visit her fiancé tomorrow.
You know, I live wide, too.
Far and wide. All right?
There's nothing wider than Seeley Booth.
OK, then.
My bad.
Ling Fan is dead? Are you certain?
- When did you last see your wife, Mr Harper? - Fan wasn't my wife.
She emigrated here on a fiancée visa.
You're listed as the fiancé.
We called it off. Mutual thing.
You see, I don't believe that.
A poor girl from China travels thousands of miles away from her family
to be with the man that she loves.
It's not like she has many options.
- So when was the last time you saw her? - A month ago. How did she die?
We're still looking into that.
Foul play, right? The FBI wouldn't be asking so many questions if it was an accident.
So, you get off on all this...
...Asian stuff, huh? Martial arts and weapons.
- I've dedicated my life to it. - She had some bruising, your fiancée.
I don't know anything about that.
These weapons here, are they genuine?
- Knockoffs. I can't afford the real thing. - Really?
Since when does a fence worry about affording things?
Details like a criminal record tend to come up during a murder investigation.
- Murder? - Homicide.
See, I've dedicated my life to it.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Hey!
I've been on Arab dhows this size, but I don't think I could handle one all by myself.
This is a lot more hi tech than a dhow.
Why didn't you ask me to go out with you? I'm a good sailor.
I've gotta be able to handle her by myself. I'd much rather have a crew. You, in fact.
But what if you got conked on the head and ran off with a pirate?
- Ahoy, the boat. - Oh, Booth.
- Don't tell me. You found another bone. - I got a Chinese book that needs translating.
Maybe you got somebody at the Jeffersonian we could talk to?
- No. I'm on vacation. - He'll just keep showing up.
Might as well pitch in and get the case solved.
- It's a ledger for buying and selling weapons. - Illegal weapons.
One entry refers to this. It's a jian - a double-edged sword.
- Dergu... This fellow's not Chinese, correct? - How can you tell?
His characters are laboured, overly formal.
Professor Shi Jon Chen is a respected anthropologist who specialises...
Yeah, he's one of you. I get it.
You definitely didn't get all the weapons, including this - a xing suang.
- A flying horse. A very rare ornate dagger. - What do you think, Jon Chen?
Obviously he has a fetishistic slant towards all things Asian.
A mail-order bride would've been a thing to him.
What about the ritualistic removal of the bones? Could it be minghun?
- No. Definitely not. - What's that, huh?
It's an ancient belief in rural China
that if an unmarried male dies, his family reburies his bones with bones of a woman.
- A bride for the afterlife. - Like a "buriage" or a "marrial".
"Deading"?
But I've never heard of anyone committing murder to get these bones.
We should pursue this avenue of investigation.
If you come across a minghun in which the origin of the bride's bones is unclear,
you let us know.
Of course.
All right, Sully. Look into buying one of those ancient Chinese weapons - leaping donkey?
- Flying horse. - See if Harper surfaces to make the sale.
Homeland Security says the fiancée visa was expedited by a lawyer on a retainer
to a smaller bride agency here in town:
- "The Perfect Wife". - That sounds archaic.
In therapy, I learned that superlatives like "perfect" are meaningless.
Not in science. A perfect number is a number whose divisors add up to itself, as in 1+2+3=6.
In therapy, I learned definitive statements are, by their very nature, wrong.
Isn't the statement "definitive statements are wrong" definitive, and thus wrong?
- You hate psychology. - You haven't changed my mind.
This is exactly why sometimes I do things like shoot up an ice-cream truck.
It's a good thing you had therapy.
We talked about you in therapy.
- You did? - Mm-hm.
- What did you say? - Well...
Since it was my therapy, I don't have to share the details.
Sorry.
So you specialise in bringing brides over from Russia, Romania, China and Thailand?
I've had over 500 marriages since I opened shop.
I match the happy couple using an empirical system of reciprocal attributes.
You can't match humans empirically. The variables number in the tens of thousands.
I never recommend a match with less than 200 points of compatible commonality.
Tens of thousands is way more than 200.
- Were Drew Harper and Miss Fan... - Miss Li.
- In Chinese nomenclature, last name's first. - And the first name is last.
- Great. Were they a good match? - I'm sorry to say, in the end, no.
- They decided not to marry. - What happened to Miss Li after that?
On a fiancée visa, the couple has 90 days to marry,
and if they don't, the bride is required to return to her country.
So if Ling Fan is missing, it's probably because she went back home.
Miss Fan is...
Li Ling Fan is dead, Miss Burroughs. She was beaten.
Drew Harper may have killed her. Did that possibility show up in your 200 points?
Uh...
This is my background check on Drew Harper.
You'll find that my screening process exceeds the minimum set by the Marriage Broker Act.
Thank you, Miss Burroughs. You can leave.
Harper provided a completely false background.
- Is that possible? - Career criminal, fence.
He could bring a whole identity based on false documents.
This is definitely not a match made in heaven.
I've been worming my way into observing the ceremony through the groom's family.
- The dead groom. - Overtures are made by the groom's family.
I hear they will pay $25,000 for a bride.
- That would be the dead bride. - Booth, you're being very judgmental.
I apologise. I just think it's a little...
- Apparently they found a bride. - Who is she, or was she? She's dead.
- My sources know nothing about the bride. - Who got the $25,000?
- Most likely the bride's family. - Most likely?
My understanding is that before the minghun, the bones are spread throughout the family,
- then brought together for the ceremony. - That's correct.
If you could get me a sample of the bones, I could check DNA, see if it's Li Ling Fan.
Do you know where any of these bones are, Professor Shi?
I might know where maybe one bone is being kept.
If you could get me to a place where I could look at the bone,
your subjects will never know I was there.
All right, but you'll have to pretend to be my girlfriend.
And her brother.
Yeah, right.
- What did she say? - Just hospitality stuff.
I don't need to speak Chinese. She don't think Bones is good for you.
- You made that up. - Nail on the head.
Hah.
- She said your face has character. - Yeah, well, all the older ladies like me.
What are you doing?
- These are traditional storage boxes. - Please. You promised not to disturb it.
No, I promised not to disrupt your study. Oh!
- Whoa! What is this? Is that human? - It's an ilium, part of the hipbone.
- Oh. What am I supposed to do with this? - Dr Brennan, quickly, put it back.
Did Bones just speak Chinese?
- Definitely human. No sign of any cut marks. - Is it Li Ling Fan?
No. It's male.
- You got the groom instead of the bride? - Bones stole it.
- Not stole, swapped. - From an old Chinese lady's mantel.
I brought a bunch of chimpanzee bones and pulled the old, uh, switchamacallit.
- Switcheroo. - Whachamacallit.
- Two different things. - Whoever this was died of cancer.
I'll get Zack to find details, but this isn't Li Ling Fan.
- Maybe it's the groom. - Makes sense.
Especially if this is a dead people bone-marriage thing.
Uh, Temperance?
Hey, uh, you got a sec?
Excuse me.
- You bought the boat. - Finalised this morning.
Wait, sailboats have keys?
Uh, no, not really. These are the keys to the marina, but it's symbolic.
Congratulations.
I'm gonna tell you something. I want you to think about it a while before you answer.
- OK. - OK, but it takes you microseconds to think.
This time, I'd appreciate it if you, uh, took a breath, because...
it's big.
Well...
what is it?
I'm headed south in the boat to the Caribbean.
- When? - When this case is done.
- You quit the FBI? - No, not yet.
I'll take a couple of months to get used to the boat, really check it out,
then start running charters, probably for the Turks and Caicos...
You're... you're really talking a lot.
I know, and I haven't even gotten to the main part.
Which is, uh...
I really, really want you to come with me.
You do?
I do.
Look, take a sabbatical. There's more to life than corpses and murderers.
We do this job for too long, we get warped.
I can feel it happening already. Maybe you can, too.
Let... let's run away together.
Well, you know, think about it.
Want a hug? OK, no, cos that's a lot to process,
so, I don't know. Let me know when you think that maybe...
OK.
Stage-three sarcoma, M-1 metastasis.
Like Brennan said, cancer.
Yes. Most likely it spread from prostate or testicular cancer.
- It's definitely a guy. - If this is the groom then he's Chinese.
And, according to Dr Shi, most likely related to the old lady who kept him in a pot.
Which should be enough to identify him through hospital records.
None of Harper's weapons show any sign of being used to dissect a human.
No protein residue, even under ALS.
Is there a way to tell what kind of blade was used?
Only that it was sharp and straight-edged. I did find toxicity damage to the kidney.
Wait, the victim was poisoned? I thought she was beaten to death.
Bruising could be a result of Fong's Disease. The toxin was a root called lei gong teng.
In small doses, it's an anti-inflammatory. In large, it has another name.
Loosely translates as "walk seven steps and die".
I'll have Booth check out Chinese herbalists.
- Want me to bring you up to date? - No.
- I want you to tell me what to do. - About what?
- Sully wants me to run off with him. - Go.
For a year. He wants to run a charter boat around the Caribbean.
- Go. - He says I should take a sabbatical.
Go. What is the downside? He's a great guy.
- This is a great idea. - I'll miss you guys.
We'll meet you in Barbados. You have been working every day since I met you.
It's time to let another part of yourself out into the sun
with a bare-chested man and a tropical breeze.
William Chang. Single, age 27. Died two years ago of metastasizing prostate cancer.
- Great nephew of Mei Zhang. - He looks nice.
Booth will talk to his parents, find out where they got the bones in case it's Li Ling Fan.
Listen to me, Brennan. Go.
There'll still be murder and mayhem when you get back.
They're going to know this came from me. You've ruined my study.
They won't know for sure. Their son's bones are spread all over the city.
They let me in on something very precious to them, and now this.
I broke the first rule of anthropology - minimise your effect on the study.
Do you really believe your study is more important than catching a murderer?
You used to be dedicated to a much larger, timeless truth.
Now you're just a tool for those who have smaller concerns.
So you buried your son William three years ago.
My condolences.
We have come into possession of one of his bones.
You have no idea how this happened?
Maybe you're planning on reburying your son with the bones of a younger woman
to provide him loving company in the afterlife?
We need to know who this woman is because it's possible she's a murder victim.
You wouldn't want that, would you?
OK. You give me no choice but to get an order of exhumation.
- Sully bought that boat. - Yeah?
Next he'll be shipwrecked on some island, talking to a volleyball.
He's leaving for the Caribbean.
Really?
Look, I'm... I'm sorry, Bones.
I know that the two of you were kind of hitting it off.
He wants me to go with him.
Oh.
Oh. Yeah.
He says I should take a year off. He says it'll be fun.
Yeah, it would be.
You said he'd be shipwrecked with a volleyball.
He's got you. He doesn't need the volleyball.
You think I should go?
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, what's one year out of your life?
A person's gotta live wide.
I mean, this is kind of narrow.
Oh!
- That the coffin already? - Can't be. We're only two feet down.
Easy. Careful.
Is this fake money?
There's no body in this coffin.
There was a body in here, but it was removed.
- What's with the fake money? - Chinese tradition.
Send a loved one to the afterlife well-funded, at least symbolically.
- How long ago was the body removed? - This little darling is Phaenicia sericata.
Also known as the common greenbottle fly. Chang was buried in January three years ago.
Since the fly's only active in summer months, I contend he was dug up last July or August,
which allowed maggots to be laid in the casket to feast on...
- I got it. - I can be a lot more specific.
No, no. Dug up last summer and distributed to the family - specific enough for the FBI.
He would've decomposed quickly. Buried in a pine box, improperly sealed,
buried only two feet below the surface.
- The Changs should sue the mortuary. - Because of the burial?
Yeah, and the decomp seepage into the fake money is au naturel.
- What does that mean? - The body was not embalmed.
None of this is helping us solve the mystery of what happened to Li Ling Fan.
The funeral home was in on it. They wanted the body to decompose quickly.
Full-service mortuary. They perform funerals and weddings for dead people.
The records show we buried William Chang in a lead-lined casket.
- If you found another casket... - It was a pine box.
It is obvious that Mr Chang was dug up and reburied.
- Who embalmed William Chang? - My grandson and I had that honour.
- You're lying. - He was never embalmed.
You yourself said there was nothing but fake money in the casket, so how can you tell?
We can tell from the residue left in the empty casket.
We cannot help you.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Mr Han, please. Just sit down. Please?
Here's what I think. I think that you have some old Chinese traditions alive
which are illegal in this country.
- Minghun. - I'm not concerned about it.
- I care about it if the bride was murdered. - Murdered?
Our understanding is that Mr Chang's family paid $25,000 for her bones.
And people have killed for much less, so what part of that 25 grand came to you?
- Did the Changs admit to paying that money? - No.
We found a cash withdrawal they can't explain.
But you are not even certain William Chang's minghun bride is this murdered woman.
- No, sir. - We can't know without looking at the bones.
If the bride were not this murdered woman, would you allow the ceremony to proceed?
Grandfather.
What ceremony?
- We're very sorry to disturb you. - FBI. I need to see the coffin.
Sorry. Sorry.
- Take a look, Bones. - OK, OK.
Indications of cancer. I believe this is William Chang.
- Here's the chimpanzee ilium that I left. - What about the girl?
There's lots of score marks on the bones
congruent with flesh being removed from the skeleton with blades.
I believe this is Li Ling Fan.
Where is everybody? I guess we really broke up the party, huh?
Positive ID on both sets of remains. William Chang and Li Ling Fan.
- They go together. - Because they're deceased?
Yeah, but more than that. They're exactly the same level of hotness.
Which is zero - they're skeletons.
Cuts left on the skeletal structure by the removal of soft tissue
match the implements the FBI confiscated from the mortuary.
She was ill and he was ill. It's really too bad they never actually met.
The mortician's lawyer advised him to clam up.
The Changs now say the $25,000 was used to pay off a family debt.
You ever think their spirits actually did meet
and are working to get their bones together here on the physical plane?
You mean, like we're possessed and doing their bidding?
You know what you people lack? Whimsy.
It's a genuine handicap.
Four morticians work at that mortuary and half a dozen assistants.
Any one of them could've removed the bones. Personally, I would've cremated the skins.
- No crematorium at that mortuary. - I am gonna draw them a wedding picture.
OK. Well, you do that.
We should find out who poisoned the victim and arrest him for murder.
Probably the bouncing, flying, mail-order husband.
- Does that count as whimsy? - You're handicapped, Zack.
Someone really needs to throw a telethon for you.
- How did Sully find Harper so quickly? - He didn't say. Sully's a nice guy.
You sound condescending.
I'm being nice, complimenting the fact you got a good one this time.
Thereby implying I'm incapable of making my own judgments.
The physicist who couldn't tie his shoes.
The former professor who was jealous of your success.
- Should I stop? - Yes.
The guy on the internet who ended up being a recruiter for a cult.
This is my favourite. The guy who cut off his brother's head.
- He thought he was possessed by a witch. - You made your point.
A guy who wants to take you away from all of this on a sailboat - that's a step up.
Condescending.
- That's our guy. - So when do we take him off?
Down. We take him down when Sully puts his cap in his back pocket.
Now. Freeze!
Freeze! Harper! Jeez, I told you he was fast.
- Are you OK? - Yeah.
Sully, you chase him. I'll head him off.
OK, OK, OK.
- Have you thought about my offer? - Yes.
- What do you think? - This is not the time to discuss it.
- Guy must be on meth. - Martial arts.
FBI! Freeze right there. I said freeze! Freeze!
Dammit!
What is he, on wires?
Argh! Aargh!
He ain't bouncing around any more, is he?
See that?
- I did not kill Ling Fan. - Then why'd you keep running away?
- I'm a criminal. You're police. - She didn't know anyone. You're a suspect.
- Sell her bones for $25,000. - Make up for the loss.
- What loss? - You paid $25,000 to bring her over.
Another eight grand for the round-trip ticket.
- That's a lot of knife sales. - You got it completely wrong.
Chick doesn't work out, you get a full refund or a swap. I took the money-back guarantee.
- Really? - Oops.
I didn't lose a cent. It's the mail-order agency that's out all that dough.
- What was wrong with her? - What?
Why did you send Ling Fan back?
Chick was defective, man.
I'm a very active person. She moved slow, like an old lady.
- Hit me with the flying horse? - Yeah.
That is a very good item. Maybe you still wanna buy it. I'm gonna need bail money.
So, you wanna know what your first mistake was?
- Thinking you wouldn't discover the refund? - No, it was killing Ling Fan.
Your second mistake was keeping the poison you used in your refrigerator.
Third mistake was thinking once we had you, the grandson at the mortuary, Nelson Han,
that he wouldn't cooperate. I mean, not only...
You know, Booth is a really good guy.
- He says the same about you. - Really?
Cos I figured he was the one talking you out of going with me.
No. He told me to go. Angela did, too.
Everyone thinks it's a great idea.
Everyone except you.
But you're not gonna go, are you?
Why, Brennan?
Sailing around warm oceans with someone who loves you.
Please, tell me what is holding you here.
Look, I don't... I don't wanna sound conceited,
but, uh...
I think I'm worth the risk.
You are.
You definitely are.
Well, you're the logical one.
What's your thinking?
Rationally...
Rationally thinking, I...
I want to go.
And I know I should go,
but...
I can't.
What you're doing,
it's important.
But it's not important enough to be your whole life.
# Time to sleep
# Close your eyes
# Go to dreams
# Clouds on walls
# And blue skies
# Mommy's sun
# Her moon, the stars
# And you
# You make me run
# And you
# You make me want to live
# Your smiles
# They make my day
# You don't know it yet
# But you're everything
# This little song, well
# It's for you
# These lovely years
# Here with you
# And you
# You make me run
# And you
# You make me want to live
# And you
# You make me run
# And you
# You make me want to live
- What are you doing here? - I'm waving goodbye. See?
- What do you want? - Breakfast.
- I'm not hungry. - Oh, come on, huh?
What are you gonna vomit when we come across a horrific case?
- I don't vomit. - Give it time, Bones. Give it time.
- Everything happens eventually. - Everything?
All the stuff that you think never happens,
it happens.
Just gotta be ready for it.
# You make me want to live
# For you
What's that mean?
ENGLISH SDH