Scully frowned as she donned her gloves. She'd known that she was going to have to perform an autopsy, so why was it that she found it so hard to concentrate? Her thoughts kept going to Mulder, and the slight haunted look he had in his eyes. Something about the case hit close to home for him. But what? Scully couldn't figure it out.
There was no way that she could find out on her own, either. Looking back at the date of the case Mulder had taken years before, she realized that it was during the time that she had been missing. The case was also still labeled as Unsolved, which really wasn't at all uncommon with Mulder's work.
She shook her head. She really needed to finish, or start, rather, the autopsy. Mulder had gone to Harris's office to read the police report and get the whole story on what evidence had been found. Looking through the small window of the door, she could see the closed door of the deputy's office. She actually wished that she were in there, instead of doing this.
Scully sighed. This was her job, she thought as she began the Y-incision.
Meanwhile, Mulder sat uncomfortably in his too-small chair in the deputies office. Everything in the man's office seemed to be very short. The desk itself seemed to only come up past their knees. Mulder shook his head in irritation then turned back to the deputy.
"So, you guys just found him in the hotel?" he asked the deputy.
"No, actually it was the owner of the place who found him. She was going out there to tell them that it was way past check-out time. Said the door was partially open, so she just went in." Harris laughed slightly. "Poor woman's probably still in the hospital from shock."
"Did you check for fingerprints, DNA?"
"Geez, man. This isn't D.C. We just don't have all of that technology out here." He pointed a finger at Mulder. "But we did dust for fingerprints. But do you see a problem with dusting for prints in a hotel?"
Mulder thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Too many people could have used that room, leaving their prints behind. The landlady, cleaning crew, other customers." Mulder shook his head. "So all we have is a body."
"We also have a description of a woman that the victim's friends gave us. According to them, Mr. Williams left the club with a woman." The deputy dug through a drawer for a moment, then pulled out a file. "We did manage to get a sketch artist to draw up a sketch of the woman, according to the friends' descriptions."
He handed the file to Mulder, who stared at it for a moment before opening it. There were dozens of other, useless papers in the file, but the last one took Mulder's breath away. He covered his eyes with his hand for a moment. A rough sketch of a beautiful black-haired woman stared blankly up at him. Dark memories suddenly flooded Mulder's memory, memories he'd pushed away since Scully's return.
"Mr. Mulder? Mulder?" the deputy asked, confused about the agent's reaction. "What is it?"
Mulder looked up at him, his eyes lost in the past. "The Unholy Spirit," he said quietly.