John Marsden. Mulder shuddered at the name. Once upon a time he had gotten inside of this monsters head. John Marsden raped, tortured and killed six or more women. He was convicted on six but Mulder always knew there were more – they had just never recovered their bodies.
"Mulder, are you okay?" He looked up to find his partner staring at him from across his desk. She had pulled a chair up but he had to look down to meet her eyes. Scully was such a tiny person, short and petite. Sometimes he felt the overwhelming need to protect her – even in situations where he knew she could handle herself. She may be small, but she was definitely no pushover.
"Yeah, I just can't believe he's out." Less than an hour ago he had entered Assistant Director Skinner's office to be told that one of the men he had put away when working in the violent crimes unit had escaped. It appeared he was aided by a prison guard… but no one actually knew for sure.
"Do you have any theories?" She asked seriously.
"Any spooky theories you mean?" He responded with a grim smile. She shrugged, also at a loss. They literally had no clue where John Marsden had gone. "Marsden stalked and obsessed over his victims. This should give us enough time to catch him before he kills again."
"You think he will kill again then?" He reached across the desk and put a hand over hers.
"I have no doubt he will at least try again, Scully."
"I trust your instincts, Mulder. As much as I hate that you have to get inside a monsters head again. I know you will figure this out." Inside his head. Something niggled in the back of his mind. He remembered finding out after the arrest that Marsden's mum had basically mind-fucked him – to put it mildly. She had mental issues and had manipulation down to a fine art. She had died more than a year before they caught Marsden…
"We need to find out if his mum owned any properties." He jumped to his feet.
"Let's go," she told him and they headed to the elevator. Unfortunately they couldn't do much of a search from their own computer so would have to head up to the records department where they could search for any properties owned by Elizabeth Marsden, the monsters mother.
..
"She owned a lot of properties," Scully frowned down at the list. "We will have to get the team together and split all of them between us."
"This one," Mulder didn't bother answering her. She looked up in surprise.
"How do you know?"
"I just know." He grabbed a pen and noted down the address. He was about to leave when she grabbed his arm.
"You are not going alone, Mulder." He shook her hand off. Time was of the essence, he needed to get out there right now.
"Agent Gordon," she called over her shoulder. "See that Assistant Director Skinner gets this list." Gordon took the paper from her and raised an eye brow. "We will call for back up if we need it." She assured him. Gordon had obviously been listening in on their conversation. He was probably confused as to why Scully would believe Mulder when he had no clear reason for believing Marsden was at the address.
"Okay Mulder, let's do this." She followed him out and he should have slowed down for her as she had to jog to keep up but all he knew was that he had to hurry. He couldn't pinpoint himself why, but he was used to following his gut – and he was usually right.
TBC.