Chapter 3

Mulder woke with a start. He sat half way up in bed and, when his eyes adjusted to the faint light streaming in through the sheer curtains, he saw her there…her silhouette looking both angelic and drained.

"Scully…Scully what are you doing? It's…," he looked at the bedside clock; "…it's only six o'clock. We don't need to get up yet. Come back to bed …please."

"I couldn't sleep." She didn't move.

"Dana…."

She turned then. She looked at him for several seconds and then moved towards him. She lay across the bed and rested her head on his chest, felt the rhythmic beating of his heart, and heard him sigh.

He stroked her head and ran his fingers through her hair. "I don't…..know. Maybe…maybe it would be better if you went home. I can handle this with the sheriff and his deputy. Maybe call in another agent."

She reached for his other hand and brought it to her lips. "No, I'm not going home. I have to face this, Fox. I can't fall apart every time some child reminds me of William. I don't know…it's different at the clinic and hospital. I'm so busy and consumed with trying to find a cure or perform an operation or some other course of action to save a child that….well I don't have time to fall apart… right then anyway."

He knew all about the "right then". How many times had he caught her crying over seemingly nothing, at any given hour of the day or night? Only it wasn't nothing. It was William. Always William.

She reached up then and kissed him full on the mouth, drinking in the morning scent of him…sharp and spicy from last night's cologne. It was warm and familiar and acted as a balm to her disquiet. He wrapped his arms around her and started caressing her back, and she sank into it.

"So you're not going home, are you?"

"No."

And nothing more was said about that.

Elias Farrell looked out through the grungy steel bars that entrapped him. His right eye was swollen shut from the blow the man had delivered as punishment for taking too long in the bathroom. He and the other boys were taken one at a time for a once daily trip to do their business, or wash the grime off their face or whatever else they could manage to do in the approximately ninety second time slot their captor allowed. Which is why the dank, dirty basement always smelled like feces and urine; not many of the boys had learned the art of pooping on demand. To say nothing of peeing your pants out of the sheer terror that plagued them most of the time. He wondered what had become of the boy who had managed to escape. That was several days ago and he hadn't returned so Elias assumed he had either made it…or was dead.

And last night, the man took away a boy named Patrick who had bit the bastard's hand, but hard. He howled and almost dropped him. But then he got a roll of duct tape and put it the whole way around Patrick's head, covering his mouth. Several of the boys had cried themselves to sleep.

Most of the time, they all sat in silence…what was there to talk about anyway? The majority of them felt they were doomed. The chance of escape for anyone else seemed slim to none now that that creep had secured all the cage doors with those big locks. Elias had no idea just where they were being held, but he figured it must be somewhere hidden due to the fact that no one's parent, or the cops or… somebody hadn't found them yet. Surely someone must be looking!

And then there was that...that thing! The weird shaking and rocking the house did sometimes and everything got all fuzzy…and that awful buzzing. The first time it happened he thought maybe it was an earthquake, but it wasn't.

He knew his only chance of survival was to come up with a plan. If no one was coming to save him, he would have to figure out how to save himself.

Scully sat in a chair at the end of Jaime's bed and waited while the nurses finished giving him his meds and changing several bandages. Mulder was out trying to dig up anything more he could about Jaime's existence and this bizarre case they had found themselves embroiled in. When the nurses were finished, Scully pulled her chair closer to the boy.

"Good morning, Jaime. Do you remember me? I am Special Agent Dana Scully? I was here last night with Agent Mulder. How does your leg feel today?"

"Yes, I remember you from last night. And my leg's not too bad. Probably because they give me medicine for it."

"Yes, we don't want you to be in pain. Now, do you feel up to talking about your time with the bad man?"

"I suppose. I'm not really sure what more to say though."

Dana gave the boy a smile and continued. "Just start at the beginning. Where were you when the man took you? You said you thought you had seen him before, do you know where?"

Jaime became visibly upset and Scully, took his hand. "It's okay to tell me. We need all the information you can give us so that we can catch him."

"I think I saw him outside of the school a few times. I thought he was somebody's dad 'cause he was waiting were the rest of the parents wait. The day he took me I was walking home from school. I was cutting through the park across from the school. I...I kind of remember that somebody…that man I guess, grabbed my face. I think he must have knocked me out or something because then…then I …I was in this… cage. And there were other boys in cages, too. The place was dirty and smelly. I figured it was somebody's house…that man's house, because there was a washer and dryer in one corner."

"Did you know any of the other boys?"

"No, I didn't know anyone."

Someone entered the room and Scully turned. It was Sheriff Barman.

He tipped his hat. "Agent…and hello Jaime, how are you feeling today?"

The boy did not answer but looked to Scully.

She answered. "Jaime and I were just discussing what happened. Jaime, if we had a sketch artist come do you think you would be able to give him a description of this man?"

The boy nodded.

Scully addressed the sheriff. "Do you think you could arrange that sheriff? That would be a big help."

Dan Barman wisely took that as a hint that she'd rather talk to the boy alone and answered that he would see what he could do. He'd probably have to call one in from the next county. He left and Scully continued.

"Jaime, do you know what day it was when you were taken?"

"Yes, it was June first. We only had three days of school left."

Scully blew out a long breath. It's July seventeenth, so…that was over six weeks ago. No wonder he's in the shape he is.

"And you never were allowed out of the cage?"

"Yes, to go in the bathroom. Once a day…well, usually. Sometimes not that even. Some day's he never showed up to feed us or anything. Sometimes just to bring a new boy…or take one away."

"Did you talk to the other boys?"

"Not much, everyone was too scared."

"And you've never lived anywhere else besides the address you gave the sheriff?"

"No. Agent Dana Scully?"

"Yes?"

"How come nobody can find my dad and mom? Where am I? I just want to go home."

"I…um…."

The words caught in Scully's throat. How the hell do I answer him? That according to anything we can come up with you don't exist? That the people who you claim are your parents say they don't know you and you don't belong to them? She closed her eyes and put a quick prayer out to say the right thing.

"Jaime, I don't want to scare you, but I don't want to lie to you either. Something…kind of…funny is happening. I really can't explain it to you right now and I'm sorry about that, but you need to believe that I, Agent Mulder, Sheriff Barman, and others are doing…going to do… all we can to make sure you get home. I'm just not sure exactly when that will be."

His tears came then and Scully's heart broke for the child. And, try as she might, she could not shake the notion that William might have felt much the same way when she never showed up to take him home again. Of course, he was just an infant when he went to live with his new parents, but still…

Did you cry at night? Did you wake up and then wonder why it wasn't me who came to you to soothe away your fears? Did you wonder why I wasn't there to rock you to sleep for your nap or sing to you when your tummy hurt? Did you look around for Grammy Maggie? My god… will this pain never go away?

"Agent Scully?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Am I going to have to stay in….this place until I can go home?"

"Um, I…I don't know. Maybe I could talk to Ms. Blanski and see if she could find somewhere for you to stay for a while. Do you remember her?"

"Yes…but…."

"You're…you're not sure if you want to do that?"

"I…ah, couldn't I just stay with you?"

Scully felt the breath freeze in her throat. She hadn't wanted to voice it, but she had been thinking the same thing. Yeah right, Dana, you're staying in a hotel room. With Mulder. And who would be with the boy while you were out investigating? It just wouldn't work. Still…

"Jaime, I'll tell you what. I can't say for sure that we can do that, but I will talk to some people and see what can be done. Can you agree to be patient with me while I find out?"

The boy gave her a smile and shook his head. "Yes…yes I can do that."

After breakfast in the motel's cafe, Mulder took Scully into Stillwater to rent another vehicle. If they were going to be exploring different avenues with this case, they would both need a means of transportation. Mulder gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"I'm going to have a chat with Sheriff Barman. There are a few more bases I'd like to cover with him and then I'm taking a walk through those woods."

"Mulder, there's over twenty miles of woods out there. Do you really think you should be going out there alone? Maybe the deputy can help you out."

"Maybe. Anyway, we know where Jaime was found. He can't have walked too far. I'm not sure why they haven't checked that out already. You see what more you can learn from the boy. I'll meet you at one in that cafe in town."

Mulder walked into the municipal building to find the sheriff talking with a small man with curly gray hair who he introduced as Cole Sutton.

"Cole here used to be part time town cop, oh about forty years ago. But when all the young folk started moving away and the funds dried up….well, I guess you could say he retired."

"Or," Sutton broke in, "you could say I got tired of working for nothing. Not that much ever happened around here anyway to warrant a full time and a part time cop. Not counting that one crazy incident anyway."

Mulder looked a little puzzled. "You have a full time cop here in Stillwater, sheriff….besides yourself that is."

Sheriff Barman sat down on the edge of his desk. "Well, yes…and no. Joe Janeski is the town cop. But, at the moment, he's down in Arkansas tending to his mother. She's dying and I really have no idea when he'll be back. But, as the county seats' here in Stillwater, I'm usually around, so we're good…or we were anyway."

"Mr. Sutton, would that 'one crazy incident' have anything to do with this?" Mulder walked over to the bulletin board and indicated the article that Scully had mentioned on their first visit to the station.

"Yep, it would. Rotten business that was. Mind you those Baxter's were a little strange; mostly kept to themselves. Still, when the son went missing a lot of the town folk pitched in to search. Never saw hide or hair of him again."

Mulder slowly traced the outline of the boys' picture that accompanied the article. "What do you think happened to him?"

"Well, there was a little talk that maybe he died in some accident there on that decrepit farm and they tried to keep it a secret and just buried him on the property somewhere. Could be the mother's conscience got the better of her and that's why she went all berserk. Made sense, but…well no body was ever found."

"Naah," Sheriff Barman cut in, "they might have been strange, but they weren't killers. I believe they were telling the truth, someone did kidnap the boy. They just got clean away."

Mulder turned to face the men. "But was a thorough investigation ever done? It wasn't was it?" A vague memory coursed it way through Mulder's mind… "And for this boy Jaime, how much searching has been done in the area he was found in…none, right? That's what I'd like to do today. Mr. Sutton. I'd like you to come with me to comb those woods, at least the few miles surrounding the area Jaime was found. Sheriff Barman, do you think any of the good people of Stillwater and or Blairwood would be willing to help?"

The sheriff looked down and kicked one boot with the other. "Well, now…I' not sure about that. A few would probably."

Mulder shook his head. "Is there a problem?"

"Well, Agent Mulder," Cole Sutton answered, "a lot of folks around here think there's something, oh, haunted, or spooky about those woods. Not sure we could convince many of them to participate."

"Is that why no real walk-through has been done? What are they afraid of?"

"It started back when they were looking for that Baxter boy. People were saying they saw weird…things. Oh, you know lights that shouldn't be there, and heard a strange whooshing sound, and a shimmering that just hung in the air. I didn't see anything myself and I'm not so sure it wasn't just some chain reaction thing with the other folk. One person saw something…and it just snowballed from there. Anyway there's no real reason for anyone to go in there on a regular basis. Most of the lands been posted off and very little logging is done there anymore as most of its private property. You have the occasional people taking a walk and whatnot. Like the two ladies that found Jaime. It really was a stroke of luck for him that they were out there that day."

"Speaking of Jaime, I have my partner spending some time with him this morning. She's good with children and I'm pretty sure she can get him to open up to her and hopefully he'll provide some information that will help us put the pieces of this puzzle together. I'd also like to talk to the people Jaime claims are his parents. Maybe even the ladies that found him."

Sheriff Barman guffawed. "Well help yourself to the French's. I got the feeling Mrs. French really didn't want anything more to do with this. She was told someone from the FBI might be giving her and her husband a call and I gather she wasn't too receptive to that."

Mulder bit the inside of his cheek. "Thanks for the warning, but in my line of work I often find that people don't necessarily want to talk to me. Okay, Mr. Sutton, how about we head for the woods, huh?"