In my tale 'The Four Body Problem', Mulder refers to an earlier case. This is the story of that case.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, DC.
FBI agent Fox Mulder was starting to hate working alone. Hidden away as he was in the windowless room of a back basement accessible only via a corridor lined with dusty storage racks, he often felt both unappreciated and as forgotten as many in the bureau would like the X-files themselves to be. He sometimes went days without seeing another living soul between the time he entered the J. Edgar Hoover Building in the morning, and the time he left it in the evening. On days like these, Mulder wished he had never met Arthur Dales, that the ex-FBI agent who worked on the X-files back in the Fifties had never alerted him to their existence.
Once he knew about them, however, and realized that here might be a way of getting a line on his sister's abduction all those years ago, he was lost. Diana Fowley had been with him at the beginning, but now even she was gone. As the best analyst in the violent crimes section he had had the respect of his peers. Now, his colleagues from those days called him 'Spooky' and avoided him. He knew what he was doing was important, that it was vital someone did this work, but sometimes it got awfully lonely.
As if on cue, the phone rang. It was his boss, Section Chief Scott Blevins, and he wanted to see Mulder in his office.
"I have a case for you," said Blevins, as Mulder entered his office, "a possible X-file. Have you heard of a man named Damon Kelly?"
"Yes," said Mulder, "though I've never met him. If he's involved, this won't be an X-file."
"Really?" said Blevins, surprised by Mulder's certainty. "How can you be so sure?"
"Because Kelly is a conman. He's well-known to those communities associated with the types of things that warrant X-files. He should be, since they've formed the basis for many of his cons. He's also a risk-taker. The riskier a con, the more he gets off on it. What has he got himself involved with now?"
"Rejuvenation," said Blevins. "He's set himself up in business just outside DC in Silver Spring and has been offering to turn the clock back for famous models, actresses, and the wives of the rich and powerful."
"I'm sure this treatment doesn't come cheap," said Mulder, dryly.
"No, it doesn't. That hasn't stopped those women flocking to his clinic, however. They swear his process works."
"People believe what they want to believe," said Mulder, "but we've always had the gullible and those happy to take advantage of that gullibility. Snake-oil salesmen are as American as apple pie. What makes this particular grifter worthy of our time?"
"One of his clients is Margaret Gorman, the wife of Senator Robert Gorman. Kelly claims to be able to turn the clock back up to five years, and that certainly appears to be what happened in the case of Mrs. Gorman." "If what you say is true, and he's somehow found a way of doing what he claims, why would that be a problem?" asked Mulder. "Isn't that what she wanted?"
"Yes," said Blevins, "but she wasn't expecting the return of the tumour she had removed five years ago."
"A tumour?" said Mulder, his interest suddenly piqued. "That is unusual. Have the FDA or the AMA had anything to say about this?"
"Since Kelly uses no drugs on his clients, and his 'medical procedure' involves little more than old clothing and the laying on of hands, it's beyond the regulatory remit of both," said Blevins. "I want you to find out what's going on, and whether it warrants further action."
He slid a thin folder across his desk to Mulder. It contained addresses, various contact details, and reports on Kelly's known associates and recent activities. There was a press photo, taken at a party two weeks earlier, showing Kelly in the company of various other people. These were all identified on a sheet clipped to the photo, with their ages noted alongside their names.
"Well, the bureau's researchers have obviously been busy, what with nailing down who everyone in that photo was, and how old," said Mulder, "but do we have any reason to think any of these people are in any way involved with any scam Kelly might be running? They appear to be a random collection of celebrities he just happened to be talking with when that particular photograph was taken. Fairly high-profile, admittedly, but then Kelly always did like glamour and associating with famous people. He's allegedly had affairs with celebrities of both sexes at various times. So I doubt this photo means anything."
"You may be right, Agent Mulder. You probably are. But we have to look at every possibility."
Blevins indicated the briefing was over, so Mulder gathered everything back into the folder, tucked it under his arm, and left.
As the office door closed behind him, a figure with a deeply lined face emerged from a room off Blevins' office and lit a cigarette.
"Do you think this investigation will provide Mulder with the required distraction?" he said.
"It had better," said Blevins. "Lately, he's been getting too close to matters it would be best he steered clear of."
"Indeed he has," said the Cigarette-Smoking Man, "Indeed he has."