Title: The Answer Is Out There
Disclaimer: I have just three words for you guys and gals out there: THEY'RE
NOT MINE!!!!!!
Ch.5
To say their investigation was unsettling was an understatement, Scully groaned inwardly as Mulder removed the yellow police tape to enter the Heart O'the City Hotel. They had asked for an evidence kit from the Chicago police, which had been obligingly delivered to them only ten minutes after Mulder had placed a call. Chance had placed a forensics van at a house across the street from their hotel. The lead investigator had complied with their request, giving them a kit as soon as the papers were signed, and he had even offered to have their evidence bumped up if it were a priority. After such a happy beginning, they had ended up here, stymied as to what evidence they would actually be collecting.
Scully had made sure to put on two layers of sterile latex gloves while Mulder opted to only don one pair with a promise that he wouldn't touch anything terribly important. She had known better than to argue the point. Knowing her partner only too well, Scully fully expected he would only observe and point out evidence while leaving the collection in her capable hands.
"So," Mulder whistled as he illuminated the musty darkness with his flashlight, "Where should we begin?" Scully thought about it for a moment as she poked around in the dust at the meager indentations that were not-so-recent footprints.
"I'd say we start here and go up. I want to get at least one picture of these footprints." Mulder gave her the blank look that signaled he didn't understand the significance of the footprints in the dust. "For reference, Mulder. Look at the size of these prints." Scully took out a tape measure for added effect. "They have to be the policemen's prints."
"How do you figure?"
"They're close to one another, suggesting a sweeping cover pattern. If they were Trinity's, she would have been alone, according to our report from Frohike." Mulder's face blanked out even more than was his wont as he also tried to recall the data from what they had jokingly dubbed "the Frohike file".
"Okay, so let's get one of those and work our way up." Scully nodded and reached to remove the Polaroid camera in their evidence box. As they slowly climbed the stairs, Scully took two more pictures, one of the staircase between the first and second floors, and one of the staircase between the next two floors. Upon lighting on the third floor, Scully immediately snapped ten more pictures before she let Mulder pass her to do a more thorough examination.
The hallway alone was a find. Even with only the weak light provided by their flashlights, they could see a large bloodstain on the wall and the reflections of several shiny objects scattered on the floor. Mulder walked up to the side of the stain and kept the beam of his flashlight on it for Scully to garner a better picture. She held a ruler next to the shot to have a size ratio for later comparison. Pictures finished, Mulder left Scully to collect samples of the blood and the neighboring paint for comparison. He walked into the room directly across from the stain, room three-oh-three.
Just inside the door were two empty shells. Mulder walked back into the hall to retrieve the camera and ruler to record their positions before he picked them up and dropped them into separate clear plastic baggies marked 'EVIDENCE' on the outside. Dropping color powder in the spot where the shells had been, Mulder stood and walked around the rest of the room. In one corner, a broken chair lay askew on the floor. On a table in the center of the room, he found a telephone cable, splintered in a fashion to be usable for a modem, something he had seen once or twice at the Lone Gunmen's workshop. But there was no computer, and no scuffmarks to indicate that a computer had been removed. Unless it was a laptop, Mulder nodded, accepting that theory for the moment. Next to catch his interest were gorges in the wall behind the table. He took the picture and lightly poked at the holes with his index finger. Bullets, which had possibly been removed as evidence, as had the laptop, could possibly have made the holes, or so he assumed.
"That doesn't make any sense." Mulder muttered as he returned to the two bright orange powder circles that marked the positions of the shells. In the wall, there had been several shots, possibly an entire clip's worth, but at least three as best he could tell by the large gouges. So, why would there only be two shells? Why would the shells be left behind at all? Mulder walked around the room trying to piece together the evidence.
Scully didn't look up at her partner's muttered confusion; she was too engrossed in discovering every clue in the bloodstain in front of her. The stain was darkened, being dried out and exposed, but some spots were still discernibly brighter than others. That suggested whoever had been wounded had bled both arterial and venal blood. The size of the stain suggested that the wounds had been made to major organs or blood vessels. The pattern was also a combination of splattered and pooled blood, and that, combined with the neatness of the surrounding area, suggested a gunshot wound. As best as she could tell with her preliminaries, the victim would have been shot from a short distance from the wall, causing the splatter; from there, the victim had either been shot again while leaning on the wall or he/she had been shot again and then collapsed against the wall and blood from one wound had covered more of the splatter.
"Oh my God," Scully whispered as she gently rubbed her finger over six slight scuffs in the wall that were almost invisible under the bloodstain. So the victim was shot again here, Scully congratulated herself for her correct reconstruction as she cleared the scuffed portions and photographed them. As she did so, she looked at the strange smearing pattern that formed the grain of the bloodstain. Whoever had been bleeding had fallen or possibly slumped over to her left. The wall showed the blood being smeared over an extra foot or so from the center of the pooled portion of the stain. Scully followed the stain, looking for any other traces of blood. There weren't any more smears, but she did discover another small pooling. Scully pulled out the camera once more to get close ups of the pool and background shots that included a reference to its distance from the larger bloodstain.
Once the photographs were finished, Scully retrieved a notebook to scratch down her information. She jotted down distances, sizes, detailed descriptions of the evidence, and lastly, the labels on the test tubes containing the blood and paint samples. Absorbed in recording the data, Scully nearly flew out of her skin when Mulder suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.
"Sorry." His smirk belied just how not sorry he was. "Find something interesting?"
"I'll say. Mulder, whoever was wounded here was practically murdered. I can't find any signs of struggle here. Whoever was shot was killed without any chance to return fire. Why, I can't tell you."
"Then take a look at something, see if it fits whatever theory you've got running with your data." Mulder took a few steps to be standing just inside room three-oh-three. Scully stood out of her crouch, painfully stretching out the cramps in her legs, and walked over to stand across from him just outside the room. Her attention followed the beam of his flashlight that shone on the two orange powder circles.
"I found two shells where those circles are, but there are more bullet holes in the wall...over here." Mulder walked back to the wall to illuminate the imperfections in the wall. Scully carefully stepped over the powder circles to stand next to him. "There aren't any shells nor are there any bullets. They were obviously removed. The question is by whom? And why were the shells I collected missed?" Scully nudged at the wall and shook her head.
"Okay, then look at this," Mulder reached over to pick up the cable lying on the tabletop. Scully held the separated wires closer to her face.
"I've seen this before, Mulder. There was a case where some kids were running around ripping out payphone cords to hook them up to their laptops so they could escape detection by the police when they committed computer felonies."
"Yeah, I've heard that too, but as far as I know, neither Trinity nor Neo is a kid. Why would they have this wire set up like this?"
"For the same reason, Mulder. To escape detection."
"What if it wasn't for a modem? Remember the cell phone Neo gave me? That is an expensive little toy for him to just be flinging around. If they can afford to toss away equipment like that, they can afford to use a cell phone for their modem connections." Scully had to concede that point, and she shrugged to allow her partner to continue. Mulder didn't speak, though. He didn't seem to have any sure theory to explain the condition of the room beyond that.
"Were there any bloodstains?"
"What? Why would there be?"
"If there had been someone in here, using a computer, who would that person be?" Mulder thought about it for only a second before the answer struck him.
"Trinity. She was here, that's right." Suddenly, new avenues of possibilities opened to Mulder as he listened to Scully continue.
"One of the officers arresting her was shot. There should be some blood somewhere, unless the forensics team cleaned it up. It's even possible that the man was shot out in the hall, and that's his blood." Mulder shook his head.
"There were two times people were here in the past year, correct?" Scully nodded. "The first time, the Chicago police were here to do clean up. I doubt they would have left this building in this kind of state. If they really wanted to make sure that Trinity couldn't escape being charged for the murders, they'd have taken it all. So, let's assume they did. They dug out the bullets that missed either her or the officer who was shot, cleaned up the blood, and took any and all equipment she had with her at the time. That's a safe assumption, right?"
"It's logical, so I guess so, but logic is out of fashion of late. Go on, what's next?"
"The next time this building is in our records, Neo is supposedly dead. What if he was trying to make it back into this room, maybe to retrieve something Trinity had left behind, follow me?" Scully gave him another nod, and Mulder walked over to the orange markers. "The report said he had been shot in the chest at close range. Maybe he got just inside the door and met one of the agents. Then, well, boom!" Mulder gave a weak laugh as Scully rolled her eyes. "What do you think? Does that explain the phenomena we have here to your satisfaction?"
"Your logic is sound, so I'll say yes. Let me take it from there, Mulder." Scully walked out into the hall and gently nudged aside some debris. As she had expected, there were several shells hidden by various pieces of broken ceiling tiles. "I think you may have gotten us on the right track, now I can finish."
"Go ahead."
"So, okay, Neo arrives here and meets up with an agent. This agent, or even possibly agents, shoots him right about here," Scully pointed to the orange markers and then walked over to gesture to the splatter. "That would explain the initial splattering on the wall. Then from there, he staggers back to the wall where he is shot again, as the pooling, the scuffing, and the shells all indicate."
"So, the evidence does match the report Agent Jones handed us?"
"As far as I can tell? No, not completely."
"What's wrong?"
"Mulder, there's another pool that would suggest Neo, if it was him, slumped over. You don't slump over unless you're dead or dying or unconscious. And that's not the only thing." Scully pulled Mulder over to stand up against the wall to the right of the bloodstain. Compared to his six plus feet, the stain only came up to his lower abdomen. "Neo's just about as tall as you, Mulder. This stain is too low to be caused by a chest wound." Mulder backed away from the wall to crouch down with Scully and look at the stain.
"Well, he could have been bent over, that's possible right? You've looked at the stain, so you tell me. Could this be the blood from a chest wound?" Scully stopped to consider that possibility. It could actually be a valid story then.
"Chest wounds could cause the simultaneous arterial and venal bleeding I've observed. Yes, it fits the evidence so far, but the rest of Agent Jones' report doesn't. All the signs point to Neo being killed, if indeed it was Neo. We have to ask why his body was abandoned...again." Mulder gave a low groan at that thought.
"Thinking like that will give you a bigger headache."
"Then there's not much else we can do here, Mulder. Let's just take the samples to the lab, and we can use the pictures and notes to reconstruct at our hotel...over a really big pizza. You're buying." Mulder laughed and kicked at some of the debris. A loose piece of the ceiling revealed a small metal object, one of many that had originally caught the glare of the flashlight. Scully snatched at the camera, clicking off two pictures before Mulder could even begin to bend over to pick it up.
"It's a bullet?" Mulder didn't believe his own words as he turned the undamaged projectile over in his hands. The tip was pointed, factory perfect, but the bullet was missing its shell. Dropping the bullet for Scully to retrieve, Mulder walked over to the other end of the hall, kicking over more debris until he found the matching shells. Scully nodded when he whistled and grabbed some more evidence bags. Mulder helped her stuff the bullets and shells in separate containers.
"So, tell me, Agent Scully, why are these here?"
"Mulder, put it in the bag. You're not going to weasel out of buying pizza. We'll drop it off as a priority and know in a day." Mulder had to laugh at his usually serious and straightforward partner's cranky impatience. Nodding in assent, Mulder threw the last bits of evidence into the box and, with Scully leading with her flashlight, carried the box back to the car. All the way to the lab, Mulder couldn't shake a strange image of a pair of sunglasses he thought he'd seen in the hallway. He couldn't remember seeing them, but the image was there, all the same.
*****************
One hour later, Mulder was pulling into the parking lot of the hotel while desperately fighting to keep the grease from his pizza off of his clothing. Scully, having finished her own slice, was sorting the various photos. Just as they turned into the space directly in front of their room, Mulder sat up rather straight in his seat.
"Shit." Scully followed his line of sight to rest her eyes upon Agent Jones standing at the doorway to their room.
"Relax, Mulder, he's probably just got more for us. You should be grateful he's given us as much as he did." Her partner shrugged.
"I don't know, the guy just gives me the creeps." Scully wouldn't allow herself to nod, but secretly, she agreed with him. Agent Jones gave off an unspoken menace, nothing she could describe, but definitely something she didn't care to investigate any further than absolutely necessary. They gave a mutual sigh and climbed out of the car.
"Hello again, Agent Jones." Scully held out her hand, and once more Agent Jones ignored the gesture. "I'm hoping you have more for us?"
"This tape was just sent. It has been verified that it is your subject. You will need it to finish your analysis. I will return to collect your evaluation of this man as soon as it is finished." Saying nothing more, Agent Jones dropped the tape into Mulder's hand and walked around the corner and out of sight. Mulder fingered the tape curiously as Scully fished for her room key.
"Okay, so maybe I'm a little glad he showed up." Mulder grinned as Scully opened the door.
"So, you're admitting defeat? Just going to write up that profile and say 'good riddance' to this case?"
"Not hardly. I'm going to write it up, and then I'm going to find out who wants that profile more, Neo or Agent Jones." Mulder's words were inundated with intent. Scully knew he meant it.
*****************
"I know you're out there. I can feel you now." Mulder replayed the first to sentences to begin his notes.
Paranoid convictions about superior forces in the world, possibly even in his own life...believes that he has some kind of connection to those forces, most likely an antagonistic connection...sees these puppeteers possibly as infectious and believes he can sense their infection...possible mental instability issues...most likely paranoid schizophrenia...
Mulder stopped jotting down notes to listen to the next line of Neo's manifesto.
"I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change."
Transfer of personal fears upon enemy...subject is afraid of his opponent and seeks to weaken the adversary to boost his own confidence...repeat of the word 'afraid' signifies his own fears are very close to this battle...confrontation will not be made lightly or without risk...repetition of 'you're afraid'...also could be his hopes to make enemy doubt himself...reference to 'us' also meant to intimidate 'you'...
"I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin."
Admission that he is not necessarily in control of all events...recognition of chance being a factor in his fight...signifies that he is not hopelessly delusional, but rather able to coherently accept and acknowledge his crusade is not invulnerable...uncertain over the final outcome, does not have religious conviction to this fight...repetition of verb 'tell'...subject intends to dictate the fight...possible messiah/God complex...believes himself to be the commander...believes he holds something over his enemy that allows him dictatorial powers...
"I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you...a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries...a world where anything is possible."
Subject is engrossed in own paranoid tenets and feels assured that he can force others to believe them as well...repetition of 'world' indicates subject had confused sense of reality, can't mesh what his vision tells him and what he sees...has trouble blending the various layers to his life...twisted realities, possible sign of paranoid delusions that are strong enough to confuse but not dissuade him from present course of action...stresses desire to eliminate limitations to freedom, may see himself as liberator, not belligerent or victim...as liberator, will ignore certain cruelties and crimes for sake of 'salvation' and 'freedom'...highly dangerous attitude suggesting subject will continue committing violent crimes...sense of morality adapted to focus on larger goals, minor sins no longer a plague to him...'show' is repeated and stressed, may imply highly sensational attack or act of terrorism, one that subject feels can not be disguised...
"Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you."
Last admission, giving enemy forewarning of possibly difficult choice to be made in the future...last throw away to opponent to encourage him/her to not give up on the fight...sentence is made to keep adversary hopeful that a compromise or victory may still be attainable...despite fears, subject tries desperately to keep his enemy interested in the fight...has trouble imagining future without this struggle, so cajoles to keep the conflict brewing...tone is almost condescending, like the choice is being allowed...patronizing enemy, more to deflate the opponent's abilities.
"Mulder? How's it coming?" Mulder leaned back from the legal pad he had scratched the notes onto.
"I've pulled all I know to look for from his words. This guy is nuts, which is the only easy part of this profile, I'm sad to say." Scully smiled at her partner as he stretched out the kinks in his upper back. Lifting up off the bed, Scully walked over to give Mulder a slight massage as she read his notes over his shoulder. "Mmmmmm, if I finish the report, do I get a full session with the master masseuse?" Mulder kept 'mmm'-ing until Scully gave him a pinch for his comment.
"Grow up, Mulder. Looks like you've got the tape pretty well covered. Now all you need to do is work it together with the other evidence, and you're set." Mulder groaned, making Scully laugh. "Okay, well, if you're real nice, and you do all the arranging, I'll do the typing."
"Gee, that sounds fair." Mulder gave her a look, which Scully returned with an innocent smile. Rubbing his eyes, Mulder collapsed against the table with his legal pad.
"Mulder?"
"Hmm?"
"Were you serious about what you said before? About seeing who was more interested in your profile?" Mulder sat back on his chair to give his partner a stubborn glance.
"There are too many questions here, Scully. Neither Neo nor Agent Jones seems to be telling the complete story here, but I'm sure they both know it. To find the answer, therefore, I have to see which man wants this information bad enough to fill us in on what we don't know." For a moment, they mulled that over in silence. Scully thought back to their meeting with Agent Jones. When asked the right questions, he might reveal the truth, but she was sure he wasn't always straight with them. He had given them a cover story about Neo...lies, lies, and more lies...by this time, she was prepared for it, but it still rankled.
And what about Neo? How had he done all those impossible things...sound like Mulder, meld that car and a lamppost, disappear without a trace? He had at least made an effort to relate to Mulder and to herself by mentioning their own work against higher authorities. A little leather and a few murders later, and Scully could almost see herself believing as Neo apparently did. But what did they believe in, and why did it make them so invulnerable?
"Who are you going to approach first?"
"I'm guessing Neo."
"You guess?"
"Scully, this is my work. I'm not handing it over to some guy in a suit who resembles every other hired hand for the secret government, a government that has tried to kill us more than once." Mulder shook his head vehemently. "No, we find Neo again, we share it with him. If Agent Jones plans to use this the way he should, then showing it to Neo won't matter because a person's character can't exactly be amended overnight. If, however, Agent Jones has an ulterior motive for wanting this information, I figure I can use this report to weasel that motive out of Neo." Scully smiled and nodded. It could actually work.
"Sounds like we've got a plan."
End of Chapter 5