Donning her lab coat and goggles, Scully prepared to perform her first autopsy of the day. The FBI agent sighed as she snapped on her elastic gloves; she'd been forced to wake up early in order to board a plane to the scene of the crime, and considering she didn't get home until late last night, she must have only had five hours sleep under her belt. On top of all this, Scully hadn't even had enough time to grab a coffee that morning. Despite her exhaustion, she was determined to power through, and silently willed herself to stay focused as she picked up a scalpel.

However, just as Scully began the incision in the cadaver's chest, she heard the morgue door swing open as Mulder strolled in. Pausing, she threw him an irritated glance.

Raising his eyebrows, Mulder decided not to comment on her look. In one of his hands was an evidence bag, which he waved encouragingly at his partner. "I come bearing evidence. A piece of coal was found at the crime scene, I figure you could swab it for prints," He held up a file which was in his other hand. "I also brought you the file on the victim; his name was Nicholas Jarrett, 43 years old, he ran his own business selling cars. Mr Jarrett wasn't entirely clean though – when I interviewed a few of his neighbours, they told me he'd been scamming customers out of a lot of cash, but most people turned a blind eye to it. I'll leave it here if you wanna take a look. How's the autopsy going?"

Scully lifted her goggles off, placing them on top of her head as she turned to speak to Mulder. "Well, from what I can tell so far, it's likely that the victim died from a heart attack. He suffered severe lacerations to the back and shoulders, probably from some kind of whip. I can't tell you anything else until I've completed the autopsy."

"A whip, huh?" Mulder frowned, seemingly distracted by a sudden thought. "Hey Scully, have you ever heard of Krampus?"

"The, uh, goat-like creature from European folklore?"

"Yeah, like evil Santa Claus – instead of giving presents to good children, he punishes the bad ones. In some versions of the tale, he carries around birch branches which he uses as a whip." Mulder explained.

Scully caught on that her partner was beginning to formulate one of his wacky theories once again, and refrained from rolling her eyes. "Mulder, are you saying a mythical creature killed this man?"

"No… Just pointing out the similarities, that's all." The FBI agent may as well have said, that's exactly what I'm saying, a demon goat is the murderer; there was no way he was fooling Scully with his beating around the bush. "This isn't the first murder either. Three other men have been killed around this area starting on the fifth of December, and it turned out that they weren't exactly cornerstones of the community either. One had cheated on his wife, one was found with drugs in his apartment, and the last guy had a hoard of jewellery stashed in his basement from the local store."

"That certainly gives a motive for murder." Scully commented.

"You think? What's your theory?" Mulder asked, his tone slightly patronising.

"I'd say our suspect lives in the neighbourhood, and is angry at the injustice of these men getting away with committing crimes. He thinks of himself as a vigilante, doing people a favour by eliminating criminals from the community. It's been seen many times before." The FBI agent speculated.

Mulder nodded, but it was obvious he hadn't been completely listening. "Okay, well, I'm gonna have a chat with the sheriff about the locals, see if we can figure out who might be next."

"Sure. I'll let you know if I find anything here." Scully pulled her goggles back on and picked up her scalpel once again.

"See you later, Scully." Mulder strode out of the double doors, his mind whirring excessively as he contemplated the facts of the case so far. He was going to speak with the sheriff like he said, but he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that was telling him to consult a particular file back in his office.