Chapter 9 The Bones in the Burnt-Out Village

Parker was in Alaska helping an archaelogical team excavate the site of Kake, a Tlingit village burned in 1869 by shelling from the American army's gunboat USS Saginaw. When a US soldier killed Tlingits visiting Sitka, the Army had failed to admit the wrong or compensate the tribe's loss. Tribal law required the retaliatory deaths of individuals from the offending group, so the Tlingit killed two trappers, and the village was destroyed in return.

The Tlingit people carved the massive trunks of Thuja plicata trees into intricate totem poles to represent their cultural heritage and family lineage. These western red cedar monuments, though extremely rot-resistant, eventually did fall prey to the wet rainy coastal Pacific Northwest climate, and toppled when their bases decay. Parker was fascinated by these enormous artifacts. His digging had yielded spear tips, broken salmon traps, silver nose rings, and fish bones, lots of fish bones. The colorful Chilkat blankets and tightly woven cedar baskets and hats made by the Tlingit did not survive the nearly 150 years since the village's destruction.

Midway through the three month summer dig, human bones were unearthed among the detritus of tribal life. Although the Tlingit had mostly evacuated their village during the Kake War of 1869, some members were killed. When the dig director Dr. Harvey Callahan called Parker's attention to the condition of the human remains they'd found, he inquired whether Dr. Temperance Brennan might be interested to join in analyzing them, since she had participated in several First Nation and many Native American digs. When Booth was promoted from Deputy Director to full Director of the FBI, she had retired from crime scene consulting, but still kept an active schedule of forensic research, teaching at the Jeffersonian and lecturing at several other universities in the area.

Knowing Brennan had never studied any Tlingit sites, Parker grinned at the prospect and wasted no time in grabbing his cell phone to place the call to Washington DC. It didn't take much explanation on his part to arouse Brennan's interest. She had plenty of unused vacation time and agreed to make flight arrangements to join their efforts. She mentioned that Christine would be arriving for a visit in a few days and wondered aloud if his sister might accompany her to observe Parker's work.

Christine had followed their dad into government law enforcement. She had joined the Philadelphia FBI office staff to partially finance her education. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and Quantico, she became an agent there. All the Booth children were keen to make their own way without relying on their famous parents' influence; and having married 'baby' Andy Taylor her junior year, Christine was known among her colleagues by her married name. A few senior Philadelphia agents knew the connection, but she never mentioned that her father oversaw their organization. That evening the phone rang at the Taylor residence.

"Christine, I have a suggestion for your week off, slightly different than spending it with your dad and me in DC. Parker is currently involved with a dig near Kake, Alaska and asked me to come help. I know you came with your dad when I was working in South Africa, but you've never seen Parker's work, and you might find it intriguing. They'be been searching for, and believe they have recovered bones of the Tlingit victims of a fire ignited by Army shelling during a dispute in 1869."

Smiling as her mother unconsciously launched into what Booth called her 'professorial mode', Christine listened to the facts Brennan recounted enthusiastically. "The Tlingit people were known as a strong powerful tribe who encountered and challenged both European and American explorers entering their territory. Sir Francis Drake is supposed to have been the first to travel there in 1579. The fur trade and later the fishing and canning industries encroached upon the tribe's domain and threatened their way of life."

"Sure, Mom, I'm game; when do we leave and for how long? I only scheduled a week off. I have more vacation time available, do I need to request to be off duty longer?"

"No, honey, I can only stay a week. I'm presenting a lecture series on advances in de-fleshing techniques at American University in three weeks. I'll check the flight schedule into Juneau. There is a small airport in Kake, so our travel time can be minimized. I'll call you back tonight. Will Andrew be able to take care of Lisa, as young as she is?"

"Yes, Mom, he's taking her to see Carol and Jimmy. They are as crazy about her as you and Dad, so they'll be fine. I wish Andrew could see the dig, but I'm looking forward to having a little one-on-one time with you, all to myself. What about Dad, though? I don't want him to feel neglected."

"Who knows, maybe he'll come too," Brennan thought out loud. "I'll ask him at lunch."

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Five days later, Brennan, Booth, Christine and Jack Hodgins were winging their way toward Kake in the Cantilever corporate Learjet 45. Having heard about Parker's dig, Hodgins had begged to come along for a chance to study the preserved particulates and environment of Kake. Dr. Callahan was delighted by the offer of more scientific expertise, and Hodgins' jet meant they could maximize their time onsite. Booth came along just because he could. Being Director of the FBI had its advantages.

By the time the newcomers reached Kake, Parker and Dr. Callahan had an additional puzzle to discuss with them. A set of remains had been found on the edge of the excavation grid. These bones were newer, showed signs of blunt force trauma and had not been exposed to fire like those of the Tlingit tribesmen. After a day of her particularly thorough scrutiny of the Caucasian skeleton, Brennan confirmed Parker's premise that the 'owner' of these particular bones had been murdered as well, but over a century after the fiery demise of his Tlingit neighbors in the unintended cemetery they'd unearthed.

In addition to examining the soil surrounding the ancient Tlingit artifacts and bones, Hodgins spent two days happily collecting particulate samples from the murder victim's resting place to analyze, and reported his assessment that the young man had been dead some twenty-eight months prior to being discovered. The two Jeffersonian colleagues shared their findings on this recent murder victim's bones and surrounding grave particulates with the nearest Sheriff's Office, since any further investigation of the apparent crime was beyond the scope of their authority.

After some discussion, Booth placed a call to Mary Rook, agent in charge of the Anchorage FBI field office. She had succeeded Andrew Hacker upon his retirement from government service the year before. While it was not yet clear that the murder of the latest Kake victim involved interstate issues, Booth wanted to inform the the Alaska field agents of their findings in case that possibility materialized.

She and Parker spent three absorbing days examining and analyzing the older bones recovered during the dig. Dr. Callahan realized he had met Brennan previously at a forensic conference in Montreal six years before she encountered Booth. The trio thoroughly enjoyed exchanging observations, ideas, and theories regarding the Army shelling of the ancient Kake settlement and how the resulting fire had affected the bones they had found.

The Tlingit tribal elders were so pleased by Parker's and Dr. Callahan's work finding and validating the remains of their ancestors that they invited the team and their visitors to a potlatch dinner at the small white village church. While not as lengthy or extensive as a traditional tribal potlatch, it was similarly held in gratitude for their significant contribution to the tribe; restoring the bones of ancestors to their families for proper burial and enabling their spirits to rest in peace. The two men were presented with Chilkat blankets in recognition of their work. The Tlingit presented Brennan with a miniature totem pole and ceremonial mask, while Booth, Christine and Hodgins were given traditional conical woven cedar hats. Booth and Hodgins declared happily that they'd make good use of the hats doing yardwork to avoid sunburn. Christine was delighted with the traditional rain hat, which she would appropriate for use at the beach.

During the feast, the tribe's chief told Booth and Brennan about Mackenzie Howard, a 13 year old Tlingit girl found killed in the church's entry, directly across the street from her home in Kake, after she had helped with a memorial service for a tribal elder a few years earlier. She had been the light of many lives in the tribe and her murder by a 14-year old local boy shocked the small community. The lack of any law enforcement professionals stationed in the remote village delayed her autopsy and apprehension of her killer. Although the FBI has no jurisdiction on tribal lands unless a crime occurs across state lines, Booth promised the old man he would investigate the matter, and try to improve police presence and protection in Kake and 75 Alaskan Native villages like it.

The week sped by much too quickly and the DC travelers boarded their jet for the flight home. Parker was thrilled his parents and Christine had come; they were as mesmerized by Alaska as Zach had been with Africa, though the locations could not have been further apart. Christine relished the opportunity to observe Alaskan justice, and Booth and Brennan beamed with quiet pride over the accomplishments of their eldest son. For Parker was a child of Brennan's heart, as beloved as if she had borne him instead of Rebecca. With many hugs and tears, the family resolved to come again with Zach, Andrew, and Angela in tow.

A/N: This crime actually occurred in February, 2013. Some readers might recall another gripping fan fiction in which Andrew Hacker was re-assigned to the FBI field office in Anchorage after harassing Booth unfairly. The Tlingit tribe served as the fascinating subject of our daughter's senior capstone college research project, which I was tasked to proofread. Their culture is intriguing; bearing both striking similarities to, and drastic differences from other Native American tribal traditions.