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Oooooooooooooooooo

The previous evening, while they had all dined at Dean-O's, Joe Richard had explained some of the things he'd done to try to help Booth in his investigation. "There are 52 teams for this cook-off. I have a list of the teams and I made a couple of copies for you, Agent . . . Buck . . . sorry . . . anyway, before we came I printed copies of the teams that attended the cook-offs where . . ." His gaze flicking around the room at the other patrons busy eating pizza and sandwiches, Joe decided to be cautious. "Where the problems occurred . . . so you may be able to whittle the teams you're interested in down to who you need to talk to." Handing the copies to Booth, Joe smiled. "If you trust me, I've already looked through the lists and highlighted the teams that were at the other cook-offs that were attended by Jason, Price and Gary. I wrote the names down for each crew . . . well the names I could remember. I don't know everyone . . . You said there were two more guys that disappeared, so the lists may narrow it down even further for you."

After he took the lists from Joe, Booth looked through them. "So 18 teams attended the same cook-offs as our missing guys . . . good that will help a lot." Once he was done looking at them, he handed one copy of the lists to Aubrey and the other copy to Brennan. "At least we don't have to worry about 52 teams now, 18 is workable. The less people we have to do background searches on and interviews the better."

Joe explained the competition. "Tomorrow is Thursday so there won't be very many people there at first. We came early because we have our RV and we wanted to sign up for the best spot and we wanted meet up with you before you start doing whatever it is you do. We can set up our canopy tent in the morning and we'll unload our gear tomorrow afternoon and set everything up for the competition. On Friday we need to make sure everything is ready to go for an inspection. That's usually done between 9 and 11. When they do the inspection, they'll check our equipment and the meat we're going to use. It's for safety reasons and to make sure that we don't cheat and use pre-cooked meat or unqualified meat. The meat has to be kept around 40 degrees before you start cooking it, so if your meat is warmer than that you're disqualified. After lunch there's a cook's meeting and we'll receive our turn-in boxes. After that we'll start our meat preparation. After dinner we'll start cooking our brisket and pork shoulder. Those take a long time to cook properly. You'll have plenty of time to talk to folks, so don't worry. There won't be a lot of fraternization on Saturday, so you need to talk to as many people as you need to on Thursday and Friday . . . okay?"

Impressed, Brennan shook her head. "I never realized there were so many rules for a barbeque competition. It's fascinating."

Cheerfully, Carla patted Brennan on the back. "Goodness . . . there are so many rules and believe me if we break any of them we'll be disqualified. They're real sticklers, but then they have to be. We don't want people to get sick eating our food and we don't want cheaters ruining our fun."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

The day started out warm with a promise of hot temperatures later that afternoon. After breakfast, Booth and Brennan drove down to the used book store to look around at what was available. Curious, Aubrey went with them. "I love old books especially old science fiction books. The cover art is fantastic on those."

After spending an hour in the store, purchases were made, the store cat was petted and fawned over by Aubrey and Brennan and they left to go back to the hotel. Once they were at the hotel, they met in Booth and Brennan's room. Copies of the lists had been sent to Angela the previous evening, so she could do background checks on the names of the people Joe could remember and to see if Angela could come up with the rest of the names on the teams.

While that was happening on her end, Booth and Brennan jotted down the names of people they wanted to talk to. They gave a copy to Aubrey. As he talked to people on the list, Aubrey was to let Booth know so they wouldn't have an overlap. They didn't have a lot of time and they didn't want to step on each other's toes.

Once that was done, Booth and Brennan decided to join Joe and Carla across the street in the parking lot to help set up the open faced tent and begin the process of talking to other competitors as they arrived for the competition.

Since Aubrey wasn't part of the team, he decided he'd wait until later in the morning before he walked over to the parking lot. He wanted to mingle with the other contestants and see what he could pick up from them, but before he did that he wanted to do some research. He planned to log onto the FBI database and go through the lists and see if he could find anyone that might raise an alarm and then seek those suspects out first. He hoped he could narrow down their suspects, if there were suspects.

They still didn't know if they were dealing with a murder or murders, but they had no choice but to treat it like a murder investigation. Something had happened to those missing men and they needed to make sure no one else disappeared.

oooooooooooooooooooooo

Carla and Joe met Booth and Brennan in the Cajun Dome parking lot. The barbeque cook-off was being held at the end of the parking lot and Joe had managed to get a spot near the Betrand Drive exit, facing a strip shopping mall across the road. Pleased with himself, Joe smiled and pointed at the grocery store across the street. "If we need supplies we can run across the street for them. There's a pharmacy on the corner too." Shifting his stance, he then pointed at the large building down the road. "And the hospital is across Congress Street . . . you know just in case you barbeque bits of yourself . . ." Chuckling, Joe laughed at his own joke.

Carla rolled her eyes. Once you've heard that joke a few dozen times or so, it just seems painful. "We're real careful Agent . . . Buck so don't worry about it." Turning towards Brennan, Carla smiled. "I know you're a vegetarian and that's not a problem. We can go across the street and buy some vegetables to grill for lunch. I have a little grill I use to cook our meals with that's separate from the grills we're going to use for the contest. We have to set up our equipment this afternoon, but once that's done we can do whatever we want. A lot of the contestants will be here by tonight. Some come early like Joe and me, but we're retired and can afford to do it. Most competitors will be here by sundown because they don't want to be tired for the competition and it's a pain in the posterior to come in on Friday morning and try to set up everything and have your inspection in time. I'll introduce you to as many folks as I can, but if you have the names whittled down that will help."

Pleased with Carla's plan, Brennan let her know it. "Your plan is excellent Carla. We do have the lists you gave us, but we have our techs working to trim the list down to people that we need to interview . . . Aubrey will be here later. He's researching the names on the list as well."

Ooooooooooooooooo

After Joe's tent was set up, Booth opened a lawn chair placing it against Joe and Carla's RV and sat down. "Phew . . . it's hot for June."

Amused, Joe pulled open a chair and sat down next to Booth. "Ha, this is Louisiana. We'll be even hotter by late this afternoon. I have a fan I can plug in and run for us. I'll do that after lunch and when we're setting up the equipment . . . look that's Jim Riley. He and his team were at Gary, Jason and Prices' competitions. He's a nice guy, but I don't like his brother-in-law. The damn fool is always hitting on Carla and that just pisses her off. She thinks he's creepy."

Shifting his chair, Booth watched as Jim parked his RV, stepped out of the vehicle with a man and waved at Joe. A lovely woman with long blond hair stepped out the RV behind them and smiled at Joe. "Hey Joe, prepare to lose your ass this time."

"Yeah . . . yeah Tiffany." Joe waved at her and then turned towards Booth, speaking softly. "She loves to flirt, but it's all show. She loves that husband of hers . . . the other man is Tiffany's brother, Clyde Baker."

After awhile Joe walked into his RV, turned on the air conditioner and lay down for a nap. Brennan, who had spent the time exploring the area, came back and sat down next to Booth. As time moved along so did the sun and Booth and Brennan moved their two lawn chairs to be more in the shade. Sitting side by side, they held hands and talked quietly to each other. Occasionally, they would lean towards each other and kiss enjoying a bit of quiet time before more competitors showed up and they had to start working.

oooooooooooooooooo

As competitors started to arrive, Booth or Brennan would leave for awhile and introduce themselves to the competitors. After a short conversation they would return to Joe's tent and make some notes. They wanted to wait until they heard from Aubrey or Angela before they concentrated on any specific suspects.

Carla used the time to read a novel she had wanted to start and Aubrey who finally arrived, had a quick talk with Booth and Brennan. Some of his research had paid off a little and he handed a list to Booth. "A couple of interesting names on these lists, but nothing serious. One guy has a record, but it was for joy riding in college and there's a Marsha Spell that served two years for beating up her boyfriend after they got into a fight. She broke his arm and the guy ended up in the hospital. Not someone to cross I'd think . . . no one else has a record besides speeding tickets and one drunk driving."

Disappointed with the short list, Brennan took the list and checked the names. "Well, that's not what I was hoping for."

Amused, Aubrey checked his email and saw he had one from Angela. "Angela says to check some guy named Peter Anderson. He made a threat against Jason Wu at the Houston competition, the one that Jason disappeared from. The people running the competition were alarmed at the violence of the threat and they asked Peter to leave because of it. He was at the same competitions as George and Price too."

Booth hadn't met the man yet, but that sounded like someone he wanted to talk to. "Good, that's good. I've made a list of who me and Bones have talked to so far and I emailed it to you. Not too many people here, so we haven't really found anything suspicious yet."

Once their meeting was over Aubrey made a quick run to the store across the street. Soon he was back with two pizzas. "Holy hell, they have a Cajun pizza and some barbeque pizza and I just had to try both of them." Reluctantly, he walked over to where Booth and Brennan were sitting and offered them each a slice. Brennan declined the offer, but Booth took two slices knowing it would probably annoy the younger agent. "Thanks Aubrey." Thankful that Booth didn't take a whole pizza, Aubrey beat a hasty retreat over to the other side of the tent and enjoyed what was left of his snack.

The next hour was quiet and Booth and Brennan spent the time talking to each other. After he'd consumed what was left of his two pizzas, Aubrey sat down next to Carla and talked to her. Unable to keep from sneaking peeks at the couple, Carla whispered to Aubrey. "They are so cute, I could just eat them up."

His eyes rolling, Aubrey sighed and hunched down in his chair. "You have no idea."

Once Jim Riley was ready to set up his canopy tent, Booth walked over and helped his team set it up. He spent the time talking to them about the competition and the people that came to them. Brennan came over once she realized that Tiffany was flirting shamelessly with Booth and diverted the younger woman's attention by asking her about recipes for marinades and sauces. If there was one thing Brennan didn't like it was someone trying to flirt with Booth in her presence. Especially if that woman was blond.

An hour later, while everyone was eating lunch, another RV parked on the other side of Jim Riley which caused Joe to scowl. "That there RV belongs to Bruce Christopher. The man thinks he's God's gift to barbeque and he hates to lose . . . he's on the list too. Him and that son of his Tony are a pain in the ass most of the time. Tony's wife is nice though. Bruce's wife doesn't come to these things."

Booth checked them out and watched as they removed a tent from the RV and started to set it up. Finished eating his lunch, Booth handed his paper plate to Brennan who tossed it in a trash bag. "I'll go and offer my help, Wanda." Standing Booth moved slowly out of the shade of the tent into the bright sun. As he approached the Christophers a young woman exited the RV. Booth smiled at her as he walked past her and over to where Bruce was fiddling with some canvas. "Hey, I thought I'd come over and see if you'd like some help."

Surprised, Bruce looked up and scowled. "What for?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth kept the smile on his face. "Why not? It's my first Barbeque competition and I'm interested in everything that's going on. I thought I'd help you set up the tent and you could talk to me about the competition."

Slowly nodding his head, Bruce held his hand out to shake. "Okay, fair enough. My name is Bruce."

"I'm Buck Moosejaw."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

After Booth was finished helping Bruce, he returned to Joe's tent and told Brennan and Aubrey what he'd learned about some of the other competitors which wasn't much. Apparently Bruce didn't mingle like most competitors. Soon the parking lot started to get crowded with more and more competitors and Aubrey felt it was time to go to work.

Checking his email once more, Aubrey looked over the list. "Well, I guess I'll mosey around and chew the fat."

Puzzled, Brennan shook her head. "Why are you going to chew the fat? That's not very good nutritionally."

"He means he's going to talk to people Wanda." Glancing once more at the list Aubrey had given him earlier, Booth folded it and placed it in his pocket. Taking a handkerchief from his pants pocket, he mopped his forehead. "This is going to be a long day."

For the rest of the day, Booth and Brennan visited the competitors as they showed up in the parking lot. Quite a few of them had RVs and Booth realized that these people were serious about competing.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

I hope I didn't bore you with all of the barbeque information. I do a lot of research when I do my stories so that they are as accurate as they can be. Let me know what you think of my story so far. Thanks.