Olivia Dunham was sat at the breakfast table sipping her coffee. She smiled as she looked over the brim of her cup and into the eyes of Peter Bishop, sat opposite her, gazing back and matching her smile. The couple were enjoying their meal in a comfortable silence, both enjoying the routine they'd slipped into as their personal relationship had evolved. Bishop finished eating, rose, gathered his plate and walked to the sink, planting a chaste kiss on Dunham's cheek as he passed her, causing her to snigger, her smile widening. She briefly forgot her toast as she touched her hand to her cheek where Bishop had kissed it and she stared into space.
The shrill, insistent tone of her cellphone snapped Dunham out of her reverie, she checked the caller ID, unsurprised to see the word "Broyles" emblazoned on the phone's screen.
"Dunham" she announced by way of greeting, noticing Bishop appear in her peripheral vision.
"Olivia," the clear and measured voice of Philip Broyles began, "a new case has landed on our plate. I need you to get Walter and meet me at Kennedy Park at 10 a.m."
He rung off and Dunham turned to her boyfriend.
"We've to meet Broyles in the west of the state. But first..."
"...we need Walter" he finished.
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The pair arrived at the Fringe scientist's lab, still there from his days as one of the Ivy League college's premier academics. Dr Bishop's assistant, Agent Astrid Farnsworth, greeted them with a quick briefing on the eccentric scientist's latest escapades.
"Hey Walter" Bishop called to him.
"Hmm?" the scientist looked up absent-mindedly, suddenly becoming aware of their presence in his midst. "Oh Peter!" he declared warmly. "How are you this fine morning?"
"Good, Walter" he said, "we've got a body to collect, we need to go."
Dr Bishop rose and followed the pair to Dunham's vehicle and the group set out for the Berkshires.
Kennedy Park, Massachusetts
The team arrived at the site and quickly found Broyles; he was talking to a clearly shaken Walsh.
"At first I thought it was a joke, it's gotta be a sick joke right?" he was stammering.
Dunham and the Bishops walked the few yards to the cordoned-off area; immediately they could see the yellow body glinting in the autumn sun.
"Incredible" remarked Walter, a trace of awe in his voice as he crouched down beside it; the scientist didn't touch the body but gazed at it in wonderment.
Dunham went to speak with Walsh; she and Broyles traded places, the division leader joining the Bishops by the body.
"Dr Bishop" the agent began in clipped tones "Do you know what happened here?"
"I'm afraid I don't know… but"
"But you have a theory" his 'son' cut in drily. "Let's hear it" he volunteered, though his tone suggested that he didn't really want to hear the latest product of Walter's imagination.
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
"Alchemy?" asked Dunham, clearly baffled.
She had just recounted her own interview with Walsh; he hadn't been able to add too much to their knowledge of the situation. He had simply been hiking in the woods and found the statue (he refused to call it a body) dumped there. When he realised what it was, or looked like, he had called the local police; he was amazed when a team of FBI agents had arrived.
"Yes" enthused Walter "the quest has gone on for centuries, how to turn base metal into gold; it spawned modern science in a way."
"And you think someone's done it" Bishop added, scepticism dripping from his tone before a flaw in the scientist's argument presented itself to him; he gestured to the slab where the golden mass was located. "Walter, we're not talking about base metal here, we're talking about a human being IF that is what happened."
"Well we know who he was" said Dunham, wielding a Massachusetts driver's license bearing a likeness to the body's face "assuming it's NOT just a copy."
"It isn't" declared Broyles from the door to Dr Bishop's lab. "We have two more reports, same MO. The bodies are being brought here as we speak."
"Excellent!" Walter clapped his hands in joy. The others turned to look at him and he hurriedly amended "Well obviously not for those poor people turned to gold but… I can get more information from more bodies and start to work out what happened and who did it."
"Walter, why did you undress him?" Bishop asked in exasperation. Dunham and Farnsworth looked at one another with mildly amused expressions as they both noted the statue's anatomical correctness. Broyles coughed and they returned their attention to the case, both still wearing slight smiles.
"Because" the eccentric scientist told him "none of his clothes were turned to gold – only the body. I found that curious."
"Why?" Broyles asked him, puzzled.
"Because it gives a clue as to the method used" he cried. "If it was a touch then the perpetrator would likely have contacted his clothing too but he didn't, it's just the body – and everything about it; hair, nails, skin BUT it's not SOLID gold; look" and he prised the soft metal away from the lips of the statue, shining a torch inside the mouth; its teeth and tongue were gold but the rest of the mouth cavity was empty. "If it was caste then there'd BE no mouth; it would just be a lump of metal. No, this WAS a human and he HAS been turned to gold. I just need to know how… and why."
"Where do we start looking?" Dunham asked.
"Where do we always start when we suspect some cutting edge science?" he retorted.
