John Homesley is the biology teacher at Cardiff School, which Brennan attends. The previous year, Brennan had nearly flunked, but Homesley had intervened, teaching Brennan the pleasures of investigating animals—the study of biology. Homesley and Brennan became friends based on this experience. One weekend, Homesley invited Brennan to visit his home, which he shared with his wife, and showed him the basement, which was filled with music equipment. Homesley then taught Brennan how to appreciate the complexities of music. Brennan trusts Homesley implicitly, and when he realizes Homesley can help, Brennan jogs straight to his house.

At first, Homesley expresses shock that Brennan has hidden a skull with a bullet hole in his closet. However, Homesley understands that the skull is at least 200 years old and doesn’t represent evidence for a potential murder investigation. Homesley tells Brennan that, though they can make assumptions about what happened to the skull, they can’t know for sure without bringing it to an expert pathologist. Homesley agrees to bring Brennan to a pathologist friend of his, who happens to work in the local morgue.