Chapter 7

Miami Hotel 9:30 pm

Booth sat on his bed, in the hotel flipping through local channels on the television. His dress shirt, tie, and undershirt lay discarded over a chair in the corner. Separate rooms had been booked for the FBI Agent and forensic anthropologist, so as not to raise any questions. Brennan had promised to be over after grabbing something from her room.

After flipping through all the channels and finding nothing good on, Booth turned off the tube and got up off the bed. It was now ten o'clock and he was beginning to wonder where Bones was when there was a knock on his door. He thought about putting on his shirt but then he thought better of it and checked the peephole. Brennan stood on the other side of the door waiting for Booth to answer. When he opened the door, the first thing that caught her attention was his bare muscular chest and stomach.

"You ok, Bones?" Booth asked.

"I'm fine. I just got off the phone with Angela." She answered, blinking her eyes a few times.

"Girl talk or something about the case?" He asked.

"Girl talk?" She wondered. Booth shook his head and inquired,

"So what do they have on the body?"

"An ID and a criminal record." Brennan answered flipping through the tiny notebook in her hand.

"How did they know about the criminal record? I thought that was my job." Booth smiled.

"Apparently, whoever "fed" the victim to the alligators didn't realize he had his DNA in the system." She said.

"Our victim was a rapist?" He asked.

"The man's name was Frank Horner. He was convicted two times of forcible rape and released about two years ago. However, just recently he and an accomplice, by the name of Max Smith, were arrested for the rape and murder of a Susan Wove." Brennan stopped.

"That's not all is it?" Booth asked.

"The charges were dropped on a technicality." She answered.

"So now someone is doing the job of the justice system. We'd better…" he didn't get to finish as his cell phone rang. Quickly, the FBI Special Agent picked it up.

"Booth." For the first few minutes all he did was nod and then he grabbed the notebook from Brennan's hand and a pen from his pocket. He scrawled down something and said goodbye to the person and closed the phone.

"Who was it?" Brennan asked.

"That was Special Agent Jackson of the Baton Rouge FBI office. They found another body that looks as though it's been fed to alligators in a bayou south of Baton Rouge. I guess we're heading to Louisiana." Booth explained putting his phone down on top of the television.

"When?" She asked.

"According to Agent Jackson, we've been booked on the 8 am flight to Baton Rouge. We'll meet him there." He said. Brennan sighed. They would have to be back at the Miami airport by 6:30 am.

"Good thing we didn't unpack." Booth gave her a charm smile.

"Well I guess this makes the case slightly easier. I mean there are no Miccosukee in Louisiana so they definitely didn't have anything to do with the murder. I just wished we could have talked to them. Maybe they could have given us something." Brennan said.

"Well even if this had been an isolated incident, I doubt the Miccosukee would have been very forthcoming. Besides the Everglades have tons of tourists walking the trails and boating around in the swampy areas, someone else might not have found him. My guess is that where Frank Horner was, was well off the beaten path and that's why only the Miccosukee found him. We were just lucky they told the police at all." Booth told her.

"In fact, I bet that our torturer and murderer was banking on that." He continued. Quickly, he picked up his phone from the top of the television and pressed one of his speed dial buttons. The person on the other end apparently wasn't too happy.

"I know what time it is and I know you're not at the office Sam but I need you to do me a favor." Booth said. More words were exchanged.

"I need you to look up about the family of a Susan Wove and I need to know if any of them has extensive knowledge of Native Americans, especially the Miccosukee or any tribes near the bayous of Baton Rouge, Louisiana." Apparently Sam still was upset and it took some more coaxing before he agreed to do the late night chore for Booth.

"Thanks, Sam. I owe you." The FBI Agent hung up and turned to Brennan.

"We'd better get some sleep. It's already eleven o'clock and we've got to be up by five thirty." He said.

"All right, I'll see you in the morning." Brennan smirked and headed toward the door. Just then, Booth grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"Booth, what the…" she didn't finish. His lips had pressed themselves to hers. Their tongues found their way and something inside Brennan screamed for him to take her but she quickly pushed those thoughts from her mind. There was too much going on in her head to be completely focused and she wanted to be sure that she was ready. Pulling away, from Booth she smiled.

"Good night, Seeley." The FBI Agent didn't want to stop there, they hadn't been able to have much alone time since the case started but he also didn't want to push her. There was work to be done and they had to be professional.

"Good night, Temperance."

To Be Continued…