Bones continues to have frequent nightmares related to Pelant's final warning concerning a female serial killer known only as "The Ghost Killer". Meanwhile, remains of a young girl appear on Booth and Brennan's doorstep with a request to solve her murder, but Brennan's poor performance (combined with a growing obsession with the case) leads Cam to hand the remains off to Clark Edison.
Tropes
- Call-Back: In the previous episode, Brennan told the victim's father that if he killed himself, his daughter's murderer would go free because everyone would assume his suicide was an admission of guilt. This episode, Trent's suicide is taken as an admission of guilt.
- Catapult Nightmare: The episode with Brennan waking up from one. And then human remains are delivered to her home.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The primary suspect, Trent McNamara, had emotionally neglectful parents, such that when he slept over at Hodgins's home one night and his parents came in to hug them good night, Trent asked if there were something special going on. However, in defiance of the typical result of this trope, Hodgins concludes that Trent would never kill someone who finally gave him the love he had so long been denied.Hodgins: I don't think you killed her, Trent.
Trent: You're the only one, Jack. - It's Personal: The victim, killer, and primary suspects all moved in the same circles as Hodgins did as a young man. He goes from resenting Trent for being a bully as a child to pitying him and showing him care and comfort as an adult.
