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"The Baby in the Bough" is episode twelve of season three of Bones, the forensic drama television series loosely based on the novels and life of anthropologist Kathy Reichs. In this episode, a baby is found in a tree above a car that has been run off the road and set on fire.
Looking at Tax Shelters
This episode opens with Booth and Brennan talking about the Cayman Islands. She's thinking of visiting them because her accountant has suggested that she sets up a tax shelter there - she's getting seven figures for her next book. Which means she's much, much wealthier than Booth.
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The Crime Scene
The crime scene is a convertible which was run off the side of the road, doused in gasoline and then set on fire. Someone really wanted the driver, a woman, dead. As Brennan examines the corpse, Booth hears something. It's obviously a baby - there are baby things in the car and Brennan says that the woman has given birth - but Brennan says that the noise sounds like a cat. There's a baby in a child seat wedged in the tree above the car. It seems the child seat was thrown out of the car during the crash - with the child in it. Brennan is not a baby person. Inside the baby bag is a key which was apparently hidden in the lining. Booth leaves Brennan with the baby - and she puts the key next to the jacket. The baby has swallowed it. The key is evidence - so the baby stays with them until they get the key back. Brennan is not impressed.
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Brennan Gets the Baby
Brennan is registered as a foster parent - her brother Russ asked her to do it when he went to prison, for the benefit of his girlfriend's daughters - so she gets the baby. A scan with a metal detector shows that the baby has swallowed the key.
The Car Was Scrapped
The destroyed car belonged to a dead guy and the car was sold as scrap to a junkyard. Said junkyard then sold cars to people who wanted to get off the grid, but the operation has been shut down for some time. Which means that the mystery driver is probably out of the system. So they have to track down where she was from.
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A Dying Town
The trail leads to a fairly impoverished town where almost everything has shut and business has moved away. So what could a young, poor mother from an out of the way town have done, or know, that could get her killed and torched? It must be connected to the key - which looks like an old bank or safe deposit key. And the baby had been prescribed a fairly powerful drug. The mother seemed to be in some sort of trouble, but what?
Brennan Dealing with a Baby - Amusement Ensues
The primary source of amusement is, of course, Brennan - not exactly known for her maternal instinct - dealing with a baby. She does get very protective of the baby though. Booth also starts giving her financial advice as to what to do with her money. His suggestions seem to be more geared to him than her.
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