OOM: Particles and Pop Tarts

[bugsandslime]

The wood particles that had been recovered from the skull of Zach's John-Doe were pressed pine, chief ingredient of cheap furniture everywhere. Not a lot of help in and of itself. But the chemical markers pointed to a particular limited family of wood treatment that the EPA had gotten banned in the early 1980s. Potentially more helpful.

Hodgins props his feet up on the table, tilting back quasi-precariously in his chair, as he reviews the report in its entirety. In the lab around him, various machines are emitting comfortingly familiar hums, beeps, and whirs. And in one instance, a loud 'clink' as a pair of strawberry pop tarts spring up out of a toaster's slots.

Hodgins had bought the Pop Tarts to replace the ones he'd stolen from Zach. But....well, he'd gotten hungry. He'll stop at the grocery store and pick up more tomorrow.

Comments

[zach-and-cheese.livejournal.com]

...if Hodgins doesn't think it's a conspiracy, some observant part of his mind notes, then the probability that it is one is quickly approaching nil.

Zach doesn't hallucinate, ever. He daydreams, yes--often, and with vengeance--but even when he had fever dreams when he was small they were mostly logical. He would ask Dr. Brennan, and he will if symptoms continue, but he doesn't want her to think he can't handle the pressure of being a real forensic anthropologist.

"Is it your advice that I should?" Zach asks Hodgins, feeling small. If it is not, he will double check with Angela.

[bugsandslime]

Hodgins looks mildly exasperated.

"If you're actually hallucinating, then yeah Zach. That's pretty much a big flashing neon Seek Medical Help sign."

He gives Zach a close look. "You don't look or sound like you've lost it, though. And you don't look sick. Are you sure you're actually hallucinating?"

[zach-and-cheese.livejournal.com]

There was always the chance that it had been a rip in the space-time continuum, as he had noted previously. But it seemed a very deliberate sort of rip, without strange lights or the wobbly science-fiction music, and it hadn't been there later.

Zach just gives Hodgins a vaguely grumpy look. He is not absolutely certain that he is absolutely certain.

"Have you analyzed the wood particles?" He asks, after a moment.

[bugsandslime]

Hodgins stares at him for a moment. But it seems the subject has been changed.

He shrugs and hands over the report.

"Pressed pine bits. Pretty common and nothing exciting in and of themselves. But the chemical cocktail used to treat the wood was limited in use to furniture factories in Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. I'm still trying to see if I can narrow it down any further than that."

If Zach actually is sick or losing his (giant bag) of marbles, they'll figure it out sooner rather than later. Most likely it's just Zach being Zach.

In the meantime, there is a case to be solved.