The Bump in the Road

The Bump in the Road is the eighth episode of the seventh season of Bones.
== Synopsis ==
With the help of Genny Shaw, the Jeffersonian team identifies the remains of a discount shopper and "extreme couponer" who was dragged along the road by an 18-wheeler. Meanwhile, Brennan is adjusting to her first day back at work after giving birth, and Cam disapproves of her daughter's romance with Finn Abernathy.
== Summary ==
While Brennan is preparing to leave Christine for the first time to go back to the lab, a family is on the road for a vacation. Suddenly, the car hits a bump and the luggage on the roof falls onto the roadway. The family gets out and starts gathering the fallen luggage. They start screaming once they realize that the bump was due to a corpse on the road.
Meanwhile, Cam and Finn get breakfast at the diner. Cam tries to convince Finn to have some fun and not just work constantly. But first, he has to get the lab ready for a case.
On the road, the FBI collects the remains of the corpse. Brennan tells Cam that she has instructed the Jeffersonian day care center to send her pictures of Christine every half hour. Brennan notes that the victim is an African-American female whose skull is missing. However, the head had already been removed when the body was placed on the road. Brennan takes a photo of the remains to send to Finn, but mistakenly sends it to Christine's day care center instead.
In the lab, Hodgins and Finn find out that the victim's head was torn off and the rest of the body was then dragged across the street. Brennan discovers bone spots, which were caused by diesel. Also, the clothing is covered in grease. Finn puts two and two together -- the victim was dragged by a truck. FBI Agent Genny Shaw tells Booth that she can identify the truck that dragged the victim. The victim was found between two weigh stations, and indeed, a truck weighed 122 pounds more at the first weigh station than at the second. It must be the vehicle that dragged the victim.
Meanwhile, Hodgins and Angela are analyzing the papers found in the victim's pocket. Hodgins believes the papers may be important, but they turn out to be 10-cent coupons for pudding. In the autopsy room, as Cam perfoms a tox screen, Finn comes in, followed by Michelle who drops in unexpectedly to visit Cam. Finn and Michelle share a mutual attraction, which doesn't please Cam.
Booth and Brennan interrogate Alan Bates, the driver of the suspect truck, at the charging station. Bates claims he doesn't know anything about the body. But when Brennan examines his truck's drive shaft, she finds the victim's head. Bates swears he didn't kill the victim. However, Brennan finds female underwear in his truck. An embarrassed Bates explains that he wears them when he drives his truck because they're more comfortable on long trips. He agrees to let Booth see his log book, so that he can see his deliveries, but only under the condition that the investigators not tell his wife about the underwear.
Back at the lab, Hodgins, Cam and Angela cause the dead head to sneeze. Hodgins thinks he can use the pollen from the victim's nose to determine where she took her last breath. This could tell them where she was picked up by the truck. While Angela is incredibly excited about Finn and Michelle's date, Cam has her doubts. Booth and Brennan visit Christine at day care. Brennan says that the hair of the victim was caught in the drive shaft, which eventually led to the skull damage that caused her death. But it's still not clear why the victim was crouching beneath the truck. Booth thinks that she was hiding from someone. Hodgins identifies the pollen collected from the victim's nose as being from the Chestnut Farm in Hagerstown, Maryland. Bates didn't make a stop there, but Booth believes that someone there knows the victim.
Booth and Brennan go to Chestnut Farm and meet the husband of the victim, Dale Berquist. He is shocked when he learns that his wife, Barb, is dead. After Booth notes that coupons were found in her clothes, Dale takes him to the basement and shows him Barb's inventory. The entire basement is filled with food purchased with coupons. Barb was an extreme couponer, so she was always collecting or shopping with coupons. The last time Dale saw Barb was when she went to the Fields Market in Frederick. At the Fields Market, Booth speaks with the manager, Chad Fergus. Barb was his best customer. Their discussion is cut short when Chad must help a cashier. The cashier, Crystal, is extremely busy with a coupon collector, who is trying to redeem expired coupons. Fergus is marking the coupons with a purple pen from his clipboard. Brennan has meanwhile found several bone fragments in the parking lot. Fergus shows Booth video from last night -- Barb and Crystal apparently had a heated argument. Booth and Brennan bring Crystal into the interrogation room. Crystal explains that she counted the night's receipts after the fight, while Fergus took care of the mess. To Crystal, it doesn't matter that Barb's dead, because she and her coupon club have ruined Crystal's life. Barb has been telling everyone in the club to go to Crystal's register, because she's the fastest.
At the diner, Brennan tells Sweets that collecting coupons is like an addiction. Also, Angela hacked into the email account of the victim and found angry emails from someone who calls themselves the "Deal Diva." She also finds out that the Coupon Club has a meeting tomorrow.
Michelle and Finn walk home after a concert. Finn asks her if they still can spend time together this weekend. Michelle kisses Finn and says yes. Cam is angry that Finn has not yet reassembled the skeleton. Finn asks whether she's really angry because he's spending time with Michelle, but Cam denies this. At that moment, Finn discovers a tear on one of the bones and deduces that the victim received a blow to the head before being dragged by the truck. In Angela's office, Brennan discovers that her friend is hiding something. Angela has smuggled her son, Michael Vincent, into the office. Angela explains her need to be with Michael. Brennan makes it clear that despite her love and commitment to baby Christine, she also feels that her expertise is needed at the lab, but that she can still visit Christine in day care.
Sweets and Booth attend the meeting of the coupon club where a bunch of women are noisily fighting over coupons. Booth asks about the "Deal Diva" and Rhonda Fitzgerald comes forward with a metal coupon box. Sweets immediately registers that the box could be the murder weapon. Booth asks if he could see the box, but Rhonda resists. Booth grabs it, causing coupons to fly out of the box. The rabid coupon collectors immediately pounce on them. Booth and Sweets interrogate Rhonda and discover that she was Barb's best friend and introduced her to coupon collecting. Afterwards, Barb turned into a monster. Rhonda says that when she refused to give Barb a coupon two weeks ago, Barb hit her in the head. But Rhonda has an alibi for the night of the murder. She hands Booth and Sweets a shopping list, proving that she wasn't in the vicinity of Fields Market on the night of the murder.
Michelle brings Finn lunch in the Jeffersonian. Cam tells Michelle that she doesn't want her and Finn to meet. Michelle replies angrily that she's eighteen and can make her own decisions. Agent Shaw has found out that Barb's husband, when Barb was out shopping, has used his credit card in expensive restaurants. Booth finds found out that Shaw is a single mother. Brennan finds a piece of metal in the bones and Finn notes that the metal is aluminum. This rules Rhonda's coupon box out as the murder weapon. Barb's husband finally admits that he cheated on his wife. He'd had enough of his wife's obsession with coupons. He admits to Booth that he wanted to come clean to Barb about his affairs, but Booth didn't seem to believe him.
Finn tells Cam that because of his deep respect for her, he will stop dating Michelle. He's already discussed this with Michelle. Finn informs Brennan that the murder weapon wasn't found on the Chestnut Farm. However, he has found blood on the skull. Hodgins examines it more closely and realizes that the substance is not blood but violet ink. Brennan now knows who the killer is. Booth and Brennan go back to Fields Market to visit Chad Fergus. Brennan recalls that Chad used a purple pen to mark coupons. When they confront Chad, Brennan realizes that his clipboard is the murder weapon. Chad admits that he attacked Barb because he'd had enough of coupons, he wanted his store to have a good reputation as an upscale, organic supermarket.
At the Jeffersonian, Michelle argues with Cam about Finn. Then Finn comes in and tells Cam that he can't stop seeing Michelle, even if it means that he will lose his job at the Jeffersonian Institute. Cam grudgingly accepts the budding relationship, while allowing Finn to keep his job. Michelle and Finn kiss and Cam, somewhat disgusted, tells them to take it outside. 
Booth and Brennan meanwhile enjoy spending time with a sleeping Christine. Brennan tells Booth that it's hard for them to be separated from Christine. She knows that her career is important and Christine should know this as well. But it's probably true that Brennan will also from time to time smuggle Christine to work. Booth supports this attitude.
== Cast ==
=== Main Cast ===
*Temperance Brennan - Emily Deschanel
*Seeley Booth - David Boreanaz
*Camille Saroyan - Tamara Taylor
*Angela Montenegro - Michaela Conlin
*Jack Hodgins - T.J Thyne
*Lance Sweets - John Francis Daley
=== Intern of the Week ===
*Finn Abernathy - Luke Kleintank
=== Recurring Cast ===
*Michelle Welton - Tiffany Hines
*Genny Shaw - Tina Majorino
*Waitress - Wendy Worthington
*Christine Booth - Patience Kemper
=== Guest Cast ===
*Dale Berquist - David Andriole
*Rhonda Fitzgibbons - Missy Doty
*Crystal Jones - Mary Pat Gleason
*Chad Fergus - Mark Saul
*Alan Bates - Brandon Molale
*Lily - Jillian Nelson
*Mrs. Noonan - Karole Foreman 
*Moaning Extreme Couponer - Jenny Rainwater
*Couponer # 1 - Maury Morgan
*Barb Berquist - Janell Inez
== Notes ==
*Despite being handcuffed by Booth during his arrest, Chad is seen only holding the handcuffs and not wearing them as he walks down the baby aisle with Booth and Brennan.
Category:Season 7
Category:Episodes