Chapter 4

Thursday Afternoon at 12:30 p.m.

Booth and Brennan sat on the plane as it leveled off in the air. There had been a hold up on the tarmac, which caused the plane's takeoff to be delayed fifteen minutes. Booth had expected to have to pull the information out of his partner but she uncharacteristically spilled the beans about what was bothering her.

The FBI Special Agent had thought about calling in some favors to take over her case but he thought that might be giving away too much about their relationship. As of yet only Angela knew about them and that's the way things had to stay for now. Right now he had to focus on helping her in other ways. Booth knew some civil suit lawyers and promised to get in touch with them after their current case was solved. Now the focus shifted to the body in Florida.

"So why were we called to Florida?" Brennan asked.

"Well of course there is a body. The local PD called the FBI after going to the scene and realizing that they had no way to ID the person." Booth told her in a hushed tone.

"Why did they call the FBI? I mean the police down there are competent I'm sure." Temperance seemed to be getting annoyed at why this was happening. Booth rolled his eyes and handed over the case file.

"As you can see this was no ordinary alligator attack." Seeley continued to keep his voice down. Brennan stared at the crime scene photos. Despite their graphic content, she didn't look as though they bothered her.

"According to the local police, they believe this person was fed to the gators." Booth told her.

"Fed?" Brennan asked quietly. Her eyebrows rose at the insinuation.

"Yup, fed." Booth answered, continuing to whisper.

"What makes them think that?" She wondered.

"Well for starters a call came in from some members of the Miccosukee tribesmen called the local cops because they had found the body floating in the Everglades while they were hiking through." Booth stopped as the stewardess asked if they wanted something to drink. Both answered "no" and she continued on.

"What the Miccosukee don't call the police?" Brennan asked.

"Not usually. But then again they don't usually find bodies out there. Anyway, the Miccosukee men wouldn't speak to the police after showing them the body. Something about how there is a curse. Anyway with the men acting like that and the fact that the victim's wrists and ankles were still bound together, the local PD decided to call the FBI." Booth explained.

"Well what about dental records?" Temperance asked. He leaned over and pointed at one of the pictures.

"There's also reason to believe that the murderer pulled the victim's teeth out before feeding him to the alligators." Booth said. At this, Brennan's eyes went wide.

"Someone either didn't like this person or they knew something they shouldn't." The FBI Special Agent told her. However, she was too busy digging through the case file and reading anything else she could find.

Miami International Airport 1:30 pm

The two stepped out of the terminal and were immediately met by a Miami-Dade police detective.

"Hello, I'm Detective Rollins." He introduced himself, his southern accent was only slightly pronounced.

"FBI Special Agent Booth and Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian." Booth did the introductions.

"We're glad you could make it down here. Do you want to stop at your hotel or do you want to head to the coroner's office?" Detective Rollins asked.

"Well we have to get our bags." Brennan said.

"All taken care of, ma'am. We're having a uniform picking them up." He replied.

"I need my kit." She told him.

"No problem." Rollins smiled and grabbed a walkie-talkie from his pocket.

"Officer Howard have Dr. Brennan's kit delivered to the police station."

"Yes, sir." Came the reply.

"All right, now that that is settled." The detective continued to smile and Brennan made a mental note that she didn't like him.

"Let's get to the coroner's office then. We need to have the body shipped back to the Jeffersonian as soon as possible." Booth pulled the right side of his face into a half-smile. Detective Rollins nodded and the three headed out of the large airport.

To Be Continued…