Hodgins and Clark look through Paul's invention book and find that one was marked with a star. They get it operational and find that it is a garbage sorting device. Bones walks in and almost gets hit with a bottle that was ejected from the device. Clark tells Bones that he investigated the grate she brought in earlier and found that it was not the object that hit the victim's face. He says they are looking for a heavier object.

Booth meets his brother, who had called him, and finds that he was in an accident. Jared says that he fell asleep at the wheel, but Booth can tell that he was drinking. Colonel Wolchuck asks Booth if he wants to go with the truth in this matter and take his lumps. Jared says that his career will be ruined if he is arrested for DUI. Booth tells Wolchuck that he will make a deal with him.

Booth and Bones return to Paul and Lily and tell them they found Jim's body for real. They ask if they know why Jim would have written a check to Anthony. The detectives think that Jim and Anthony may have been working together to profit off of one of Paul's inventions. They ask Paul if they can see some of his things and while looking at a device, Booth uncovers a paper bag with $20,000. Paul and Lily are surprised and ask if they get to keep the cash.

Booth watches Wolchuck give a press conference where he takes full credit for closing the Rico case. Booth turns off the TV. Camille stops him and asks what happened with the case and why he didn't get the credit he deserved. Booth doesn't want to talk about it, then finally admits that he gave up his credit to help out his brother.

Sweets finally meets Jared. He notices that Jared has tickets to a Capitols game. Jared says that he's giving them to his brother as a thank you gift. Jared then tells Sweets that having a big brother is like having another dad, only his brother protected him from their father and everyone else.

Clark examines the remains of the real Jim. He says that Jim was shot 4 times at close range. Clark believes Jim was being tortured. Bones tells him that he is just guessing, but says that his guess has merit. Booth and Bones find out that Jim and Anthony had a third partner for their con named Steve Jackson. The find out that the partners ratted Steve out and landed him in jail. Steve was recently released and they think he may have wanted revenge.

Booth brings Steve in for questioning. He says that Jim was a good guy, but he hated Anthony and he's glad he's dead. Steve then shows Booth his ankle monitor and says that his moves are tracked so there's no way he could have committed murder.

Bones asks Booth why he didn't get credit for the Rico case. Booth doesn't want to tak about it, but Bones persists. She says that Jared told her that Booth is afraid to be successful and sabotages himself. Booth gets angry and asks Bones if she thinks he is a loser. Booth then gets a call from Camille. She says that she found Lily's fingerprints on the cash. She explains that Lily works with kids so her prints are on file.

Booth and Bones ask Lily about the money. She tells them that a few days ago a package arrived addressed to Jim. After they hadn't heard from him for a few days, she thought maybe he wanted them to open the package. She says that she saw the cash and thought it was for them because they needed money. She shows them a note that was with the package and they see that it was signed P. Lily tells them that she didn't say anything because she hadn't told Paul yet. She then says that there was $150,000 more which she put in a safety deposit box.

Booth and Bones figure that Jim wrote a check to Anthony, who in turn mailed the cash to Jim who said he was staying with his son. When Anthony discovered that Jim was dead, he probably stole his identity to try to recover the cash. Camille then calls Bones and asks her to meet her at the lab.

Bones arrives and is confronted by Sweets and Camille. They tell her that they are concerned about her relationship with Jared. Sweets says that Booth had an abusive, alcoholic father and he always had to protect Jared. Sweets explains that Booth always bailed out Jared, which made Jared look good and caused Booth to make sacrifices. Camille tells Bones that she thinks Booth didn't get credit for the Rico case because of Jared. Bones says she needs more evidence. Camille changes the subject and tells her that they have more evidence about Jim and Anthony. She says that both were killed by the same gun.

Bones meets Jared for lunch and asks him why Booth didn't get credit for the Rico case. Jared realizes that he sacrificed his credit for Jared's protection, but tells Bones that the matter is between them as brothers. Bones yells at Jared for making her think that Booth was a loser. She calls Jared the loser then walks out.

Booth tells Bones that the money that was mailed to Jim was actual police evidence from a crime and it went missing during a transfer. They realize that Anthony was pretending to be the driver for the transfer. They think about who else would have known about his scheme and Booth remembers that he told the sheriff about the cash. Booth thinks that he might try to collect the rest of the cash. He turns the car around and they see the sheriff holding Lily hostage. Gunfire ensues and Bones gets hit. She tells Booth she is okay, then the sheriff drives off and crashes.

Later that night, the team celebrates Booth's birthday at a bar. Bones makes a toast to him saying that she thinks that he is an alpha male even though he isn't flamboyant like anthropologists always say alpha males are. She promises never to be tricked by shiny alpha males again. She then takes Booth aside to talk. He won't say anything about Jared, but Bones tells him that Sweets told her that if he keeps protecting Jared it will prevent Jared from taking care of himself. Booth finally tells her the truth about Jared's DUI. He tells her that his protecting Jared is no different than her getting her dad cleared of murder charges. Bones points out that Jared might drink and drive again and Booth realizes she's right. He then takes Jared outside and tells him he has to stop drinking. Jared refuses and walks away. Booth punches a bus stop, then sits down. Bones brings him some cake and he starts to open up about his father.