The Crack in the Code

The Crack in the Code is the sixth episode of the seventh season of Bones.
== Synopsis ==
A cryptic message penned in human blood is discovered at a national monument. As the Jeffersonian team embarks on a scavenger hunt to solve the case, they realize their tech-savvy suspect remains one step ahead of them. Meanwhile, Booth and Brennan search for the perfect home for their new family.
==Summary==
A supervisor at the American Heritage Museum is providing a walk-through for new staff. The group is horrified by the discovery of a bloody skull and spine, sitting at the base of a statue of Lincoln. "Where is the rest of me?" is written in blood on the statue.
While driving to the crime scene, Booth and Bones discuss their continued struggle to find the perfect new home. At the scene, Bones discovers that the spine has been dissected and reassembled in an incorrect order and believes the killer is sending them a message.
At the lab, Bones identities the victim as a female in her early 20s. Wendall announces that the blood on the statue wasn't from the victim, it's actually from five different people.
Sweets and Booth review museum security footage in Booth's office, finding that somebody used laser pointers to blind the cameras before depositing the remains on the statue. Sweets posits that the killer likely has a high IQ and likely has prior offenses.
Booth investigates an extermination team that was on-site at the museum the night before and discovers that one staffer, Sam Sachs, has an extensive criminal record including car theft and assault. Booth has him brought in for questioning where Sachs claims to be reformed. However, addicted to nicotine, he has been using blindspots in the museum security to smoke. Booth promises his silence about Sachs' smoking habits in exchange for the man's knowledge about the museum's off-camera hiding spots.
Booth arrives at the Hoover building to find desperate reporter, Ezra Krane, seeking a comment from Caroline. He shoos the man, but not before the journalist spells secret details about the case not yet divulged to the press: there is either a leak at the Jeffersonian or FBI or the killer is in contact with the press.
Sweets and Bones meet at the diner, where he pressures her to stay out of the field. Booth arrives, stating that the five FBI agents whose blood was found on the statue are alive and well, they had each donated blood during a recent blood drive. Meanwhile, Hodgins, at the lab, is still struggling to crack the vertebrae code, revealing that his grandfather was a code-breaker on the enigma machine during World War II.
Booth has discovered a homemade laser pointer hidden inside a mint tin, a used to blind the security cameras. "So we're looking for a tech savvy guy who hates the FBI," Caroline observes.
At the Jeffersonian, Bones discovers that the victim was from Denmark using isotopes in her tooth enamel and orders Angela's facial reconstruction be sent to the embassy.
One potential suspect is computer hacker, Christopher Pelant. Booth and Sweets visit Pelant, who is currently under house arrest for hacking into government systems and wears a location-tracking ankle monitor. Pelant mentions that Ezra Krane, the reporter, recently called to ask about the murder case. Though Pelant is not allowed access to computers, Booth and Sweets notice he has an old non-functioning computer on his desk.
Meanwhile, back at the lab, Angela and Hodgins realize the vertebrae numbers are a coded address pointing to the Justice Departments' archives building. Booth and Sweets visit the archives, and spot blood on the floor between the archives' rolling racks. He opens the racks and body parts spill out. The bones are removed for examination. They examine the surrounding files, finding they are suspended criminal investigations of criminal informants. Sweets tells Booth that he bought Daisy a powder blue Vespa for her birthday from the US Marshals' auction.
Bones finds pitting and microfractures on the front and back of the victims' ribs. Hodgens states that particles from the bones contain chemicals found in fireworks.
Caroline is furious because Ezra, informed by an inside source, has found out about the remains in the archive. Sweets, having reviewed the CI files, says the worst offender was Daniel Cassutto, a real estate scam artist. One of the man's victims committed suicide in front of his daughter, Sophie Berman, now an IT specialist at a local hospital.
At the lab, Wendell and Hodgins assemble an experiment, overseen by Cam. They covered a skeleton in processed meat and a scuba suit to replicate soft tissue and skin to determine if an internal explosion could cause the damage to the ribs seen in the victim's skeleton.
Booth and Sweets visit Sophia Berman who she says she knew Daniel was an FBI informant because she was called by the reporter Ezra Krane. Booth receives a call from Angela. Her facial reconstruction has been identified the victim as a Danish woman working as a house sitter. At the house, where Booth and Sweets discover the hot tub filled with blood and tissue. Written in blood on a nearby fence is the message: "This won't stop".
Caroline urges Booth to bring the reporter Krane in for questioning, he refuses to give up his sources and has no alibi for either the day of the FBI blood drive or the night the bones were left at the museum. Booth suggests that the reporter killed the girl in order to get a juicy news story.
At the lab, where Wendell and Angela scan the victim's skeleton and run it through a program that suggests causes of death. But before the program can show them anything, the screen glitches, flashes and the computer catches on fire. Malware caused her computers' fans to fail and catch fire. The virus originated in Angela's computer and had to come from something she uploaded. The only thing she'd uploaded, however, were the bone scans. Upon examination of the bones, Angela and Bones find fractal patterns on the bones, the malware was written into the bone. Hodgins, meanwhile, has determined the woman was killed with a bang stick used by divers to repel sharks. The shock from the stick literally produced an explosion, explaining the scattered nature of the remains.
Booth is called to a new crime scene by Caroline. Ezra Krane's body has been found, hung from a flagpole. He has also been killed by a bang stick. Ezra's body fails to make it back to the Jeffersonian for examination, somebody manipulated the paperwork to have the body rerouted to the coroner's office and DC Memorial. It was declared having infectious tissue and was immediately cremated. Hodgins' skull swab also found traces of a chemical found in old computer tubes - like the kind in the computer at Pelant's home.
Pelant is brought in for questioning by his parole officer. Booth has had Pelant's old computer examined and they've found that there is an vacuum tube missing. However, his ankle monitor gives him a clear alibi. As Sweets explains, Christopher Pelant did it but there is no way he could have done it. Still, Booth swears to nail the hacker at some point.
A montage follows, contrasting the teams' continued investigation with Christopher's dissection of household goods for their electrical parts. Articles about Booth and Bones, as well as crossed-out photos of Ezra Krane are shown on Pelant's walls.
The episode ends with Bones and Booth visiting their new home, which Booth bought at the US Marshals' auction. It has been blown apart during their raid, however, Bones declares that it is perfect because she can see through to the bones of the house and imagine it whole. The baby kicks in approval and Bones and Booth embrace.
==Cast==
===Main Cast===
*Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
*Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
*Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
*Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
*Camille Saroyan - Tamara Taylor
*Lance Sweets - John Francis Daley
===Intern of the Week===
*Wendell Bray - Michael Grant Terry
===Recurring Cast===
*Caroline Julian - Patricia Belcher
==== Guest Cast ====
*Christopher Pelant - Andrew Leeds
*Ezra Krane - Robert Cicchini
*Sophia Berman - Alla Korot
*Sam Saches - Bambajan Bamba
*Lisa Tollison - Lisa K. Wyatt
*Security Guy - Franco Vega
*Docent Trainer Lisa - Lisa K. Wyatt
*Docent Trainee - Vivek Shah
==Featured Music==
*"Be Invited" - The Twilight Singers
==Notes==
*In the scene where Cam is waiting for the body of Ezra Krane there is a in rememberance of Vincent Nigel-Murray who was killed by Jacob Broadsky in the season 6 episode The Hole In The Heart on the wall of the Jeffersonian.
*When Hodgins, and Wendell discuss their grandfathers, Hodgins mentions, that his served unter Admiral Nimitz, one of the most distinguished leaders of the american military. Wendell's, on the other hand, "worked for Colonel Chicken", referring to the founder of the KFC fast food chain,
Category:Season 7
Category:Episodes