Chapter Six - You Can Run But You Can't Hide
Scully spent the entire day looking over the shoulders of the agents running tests and otherwise analyzing the evidence they had collected from her hotel room. She was a very good forensic scientist, but she knew that the people in the room with her didn't need her skills.
She was just in the way.
So instead of hovering about, she walked into an empty office and turned on the computer. Within minutes she was looking at the case file of Robert Holton.
She paused, took a deep breath and began to read.
Because of her personal involvement and subsequent injuries due to the case, Mulder had written up the case file. Mulder had a tendency to rush through case reports for those cases he found boring.
He must have found this case very interesting for the file was very detailed and outlined every aspect of their case, Holton's attack and the resulting trial and conviction. Scully read the entire case file, twice, before turning off the computer and heading back down to Mulder's office.
There was something about this case that struck Mulder as odd all those years ago. At the time she thought nothing of it - Mulder managed to find oddities in the most mundane of cases - but now she realized that Mulder's little oddity might be the key.
Federal Prison
It took a bit of persuasion, but Mulder managed to convince the prison officials to give him ten minutes alone with Robert Holton. Or at least relatively alone, two guards would be posted right outside of the room weapons drawn in case of trouble.
He paced around the dull gray room waiting for Holton to arrive. Wondering exactly what kind of information Holton would give him.
For despite the fact that Holton had been 'safely' locked up when Scully's room was broken into, Mulder was positive that he had something to do with it.
Holton appeared in the doorway shackled around his ankles and wrists. He gave a small nod of acknowledgement to Mulder before sitting down.
Mulder sat across from him and just stared at him for a moment waiting to see if he would speak first.
He did. "How's that pretty little partner of yours these days Agent Mulder?" he said leering at Mulder. "Not a day goes by when I don't think of her and how she felt lying underneath me. Have you gotten to experience that for yourself yet?"
Mulder pushed that thought of punching Holton out of his mind. "Funny you should mention her Holton - she is the reason I'm here."
Holton seemed to brighten at this. "Yeah, why?"
"Her hotel was broken into last night and someone left her a message. Whoever did it was pretty sloppy about it and I figure left plenty of fingerprints behind."
"So, what does that have to do with me?" Holton tried to look bored at the entire conversation although Mulder could pick up on the undercurrent of energy that pulsed from him every time Mulder mentioned Scully.
"If I were a betting man Holton, I would say that those fingerprints belong to you."
This comment got Holton's attention. "And how are you going to explain that?" he asked "since I was here last night?"
"I was hoping you could explain it to me and save us all a bit of time and energy" Mulder said this last word with just a bit more emphasize.
"Sorry Agent Mulder, but I can't help you."
Mulder ignored this comment and went on. "I imagine it wouldn't be all that hard for you to get in contact with someone on the outside and have them pull this little prank."
Holton just shrugged so Mulder continued "and when I find out who it is, not only will I make sure that person goes to prison but I will make sure to pull the plug on your little obsession with Agent Scully."
With that Mulder walked over to the door and banged on it twice indicating his desire to leave. "When you are ready to tell me what's going on - call me."
And with that he left convinced that Robert Holton was indeed involved.
Mulder's Office
It took awhile, mainly due to Mulder's bizarre way of filing things, but Scully was able to find Mulder's case notes on the original Robert Holton case.
She took the folder and without thinking walked over to her former desk and plopped herself down already immersed in her reading. Here instead of the structure of a formal report, Mulder had just scribbled down his thoughts as he had profiled Holton and put together the pieces of the case in a way only he could do.
Scully was fascinated by all the seemingly random words Mulder had jotted around the edge of the page. "Power" "Energy" "Force" were just some of them.
He had been on the verge of putting together his own theory of what made Holton tick when Holton had attacked Scully. The final version was not down in the folder, but Scully knew that it would still be locked up somewhere inside Mulder's perfect memory.
Scully was so involved with her reading that she didn't even notice the sound of approaching footsteps. Mulder stopped in the doorway overtaken by an incredible sense of deja-vous as he saw Scully sitting where she had sat a thousand times before.
"Fascinating reading?" Mulder asked walking into the room and making Scully jump.
"Goodness Mulder" she said after she caught her breath "don't sneak up on me like that."
"What have you got there?" Mulder said walking over to where she was sitting and perching himself on the corner of the desk.
"Your notes on Holton." She said without emotion. "I thought it couldn't hurt to look over them again to see if anything pops out at me."
Mulder frowned at the thought of Scully revisiting something that was so painful for her but shrugged it off noticing she was deep into her professional mode now.
"So does anything pop out at you?"
"Not really but then again that was always your specialty not mine. I was curious, though, about why you wrote all these words."
Mulder looked at his scribbles and smiled at her. "Just some random thoughts I had about him, that's all. You know me always trying to make every case into an X-file."
Scully smiled at this and gestured to the file folder. "Was this an X-file Mulder?"
"I don't know if it was then but I think that it may be now." Mulder said the smile fading from his face.
"How so?" Scully said not knowing if she really wanted to know the answer.
"I am not quite ready to say yet Scully" he said then seeing her look of disappointment "but when I am, you will definitely be given the first chance at shooting holes in my theory."
Scully laughed at this. "Barkley and Jones have finalized the lists of people in the courthouse yesterday and at the DA's office. They are running background checks on them and will be emailing you the results."
"Excellent." Mulder said. He was about to continue when there was a discreet knock on the door. Mulder and Scully looked up to see a messenger standing in the doorway holding two envelopes.
Mulder stood up and got them thanking the messenger and waiting till he had left to speak to Scully.
"They are both addressed to you." He said handing over the envelopes.
"Must be the test results" Scully said opening the larger envelope first "although I can't see why they wouldn't put them both in together."
She split open the envelope and took out several sheets of paper. They were, as she expected test results the most interesting of which were the fingerprints.
"This can't be right" Scully said looking at the results with a rather large frown on her face. "It says that the prints belong to Robert Holton"
"Knew it" Mulder said under his breath.
"How could you possibly known that Mulder for it is impossible that they are his" Scully spoke to him impatiently as she opened up the smaller envelope. "How could he have possibly."
Scully stopped speaking abruptly and Mulder looked up from the fingerprint report to see why. Scully just stared at a small photograph she was holding in her hand.
She looked at Mulder with huge eyes trying desperately to hold back tears. She handed him the snapshot.
It was a picture of a small Victorian house complete with picket fence and roses. On the front was written "I know where you live"
Mulder looked at her questioningly. Scully closed her eyes briefly determined to get her emotions under check. "It's a picture of my house."
Mulder's Apartment Building As soon as he understood the implications of the picture he was holding in his hands, he knew it was time to get Scully out of the FBI and somewhere safe.
"Let's go" he said grabbing the file folders, test results and picture. "We can finish this discussion elsewhere."
Scully looked quite puzzled with this announcement but allowed herself to be taken by the arm and led out of the building and to his car. She got in never noticing the dark figure lurking in the corner of the parking garage.
He noticed her though and smiled to himself. "Having fun yet Agent Scully?" he said as he slowly walked over and got into his own car.
Mulder said very little as he drove to his apartment thankful that he had thought to drop off Scully's belongings earlier that day. The last thing she would need right now was to worry about such things.
His mind was racing now. He was beginning to formulate an idea. An idea which even when Scully was hip-deep in the X-files she would have trouble believing.
Even though she was personally involved in this case, Mulder knew he would have to tell her what he thought - just in case he was right.
Their silence continued as they entered the building and rode the elevator to Mulder's floor. As they were walking down the hall, they both noticed a large white envelope lying against his door.
Mulder picked it up. The envelope was blank except for two words "Agent Scully."
Scully took the envelope and went to open it but was stopped when Mulder put his hand on hers. "Let's get inside first" he said opening the door. "Would you like me to open it?"
She glared at him in annoyance "Don't be ridiculous" she said ripping the envelope open.
Mulder watched as the color slowly drained from her face as she scanned the pages. She began to sway and Mulder barely reached her before she collapsed into his arms dropping the papers all over the floor.
He carried her to the couch and seeing that she was already coming around, went to the kitchen for a cool cloth and a drink of water.
Mulder pulled a chair over to the couch and softly placed the cloth on her forehead and stroked her hair.
"Hey" he said when he saw her focus on him.
"Hey yourself" she answered back automatically. "Did I actually faint?"
"Yeah you did. How are you feeling now?" he said anxiously searching her face.
"I'm fine Mulder" she saw him frown at this response and took his hand in hers "Really. I haven't eaten since breakfast and the shock of the pictures was just a bit too much for me."
"The pictures?" Mulder said suddenly remembering the envelope and its contents.
He picked up the pieces of paper and quickly saw why Scully had fainted. On the first sheet of paper was a simple message "You Can Run But You Can't Hide". On the second and third pages were about a dozen pictures of Scully taken since her arrival in DC.
Some were taken in public places, like the airport and the Italian restaurant where she had dined the Mulder and others were taken during some of her most private times.
One showed her taking a bubble bath in her hotel room, another showed her fast asleep and yet another showed her reading Holton's file down in Mulder's office.
Outside of Mulder's apartment a man sat silently in his parked car picturing her reaction in his mind and savoring every last minute of it.
+++++++++++++++++++++ End of chapter six. please let me know what you think
Scully spent the entire day looking over the shoulders of the agents running tests and otherwise analyzing the evidence they had collected from her hotel room. She was a very good forensic scientist, but she knew that the people in the room with her didn't need her skills.
She was just in the way.
So instead of hovering about, she walked into an empty office and turned on the computer. Within minutes she was looking at the case file of Robert Holton.
She paused, took a deep breath and began to read.
Because of her personal involvement and subsequent injuries due to the case, Mulder had written up the case file. Mulder had a tendency to rush through case reports for those cases he found boring.
He must have found this case very interesting for the file was very detailed and outlined every aspect of their case, Holton's attack and the resulting trial and conviction. Scully read the entire case file, twice, before turning off the computer and heading back down to Mulder's office.
There was something about this case that struck Mulder as odd all those years ago. At the time she thought nothing of it - Mulder managed to find oddities in the most mundane of cases - but now she realized that Mulder's little oddity might be the key.
Federal Prison
It took a bit of persuasion, but Mulder managed to convince the prison officials to give him ten minutes alone with Robert Holton. Or at least relatively alone, two guards would be posted right outside of the room weapons drawn in case of trouble.
He paced around the dull gray room waiting for Holton to arrive. Wondering exactly what kind of information Holton would give him.
For despite the fact that Holton had been 'safely' locked up when Scully's room was broken into, Mulder was positive that he had something to do with it.
Holton appeared in the doorway shackled around his ankles and wrists. He gave a small nod of acknowledgement to Mulder before sitting down.
Mulder sat across from him and just stared at him for a moment waiting to see if he would speak first.
He did. "How's that pretty little partner of yours these days Agent Mulder?" he said leering at Mulder. "Not a day goes by when I don't think of her and how she felt lying underneath me. Have you gotten to experience that for yourself yet?"
Mulder pushed that thought of punching Holton out of his mind. "Funny you should mention her Holton - she is the reason I'm here."
Holton seemed to brighten at this. "Yeah, why?"
"Her hotel was broken into last night and someone left her a message. Whoever did it was pretty sloppy about it and I figure left plenty of fingerprints behind."
"So, what does that have to do with me?" Holton tried to look bored at the entire conversation although Mulder could pick up on the undercurrent of energy that pulsed from him every time Mulder mentioned Scully.
"If I were a betting man Holton, I would say that those fingerprints belong to you."
This comment got Holton's attention. "And how are you going to explain that?" he asked "since I was here last night?"
"I was hoping you could explain it to me and save us all a bit of time and energy" Mulder said this last word with just a bit more emphasize.
"Sorry Agent Mulder, but I can't help you."
Mulder ignored this comment and went on. "I imagine it wouldn't be all that hard for you to get in contact with someone on the outside and have them pull this little prank."
Holton just shrugged so Mulder continued "and when I find out who it is, not only will I make sure that person goes to prison but I will make sure to pull the plug on your little obsession with Agent Scully."
With that Mulder walked over to the door and banged on it twice indicating his desire to leave. "When you are ready to tell me what's going on - call me."
And with that he left convinced that Robert Holton was indeed involved.
Mulder's Office
It took awhile, mainly due to Mulder's bizarre way of filing things, but Scully was able to find Mulder's case notes on the original Robert Holton case.
She took the folder and without thinking walked over to her former desk and plopped herself down already immersed in her reading. Here instead of the structure of a formal report, Mulder had just scribbled down his thoughts as he had profiled Holton and put together the pieces of the case in a way only he could do.
Scully was fascinated by all the seemingly random words Mulder had jotted around the edge of the page. "Power" "Energy" "Force" were just some of them.
He had been on the verge of putting together his own theory of what made Holton tick when Holton had attacked Scully. The final version was not down in the folder, but Scully knew that it would still be locked up somewhere inside Mulder's perfect memory.
Scully was so involved with her reading that she didn't even notice the sound of approaching footsteps. Mulder stopped in the doorway overtaken by an incredible sense of deja-vous as he saw Scully sitting where she had sat a thousand times before.
"Fascinating reading?" Mulder asked walking into the room and making Scully jump.
"Goodness Mulder" she said after she caught her breath "don't sneak up on me like that."
"What have you got there?" Mulder said walking over to where she was sitting and perching himself on the corner of the desk.
"Your notes on Holton." She said without emotion. "I thought it couldn't hurt to look over them again to see if anything pops out at me."
Mulder frowned at the thought of Scully revisiting something that was so painful for her but shrugged it off noticing she was deep into her professional mode now.
"So does anything pop out at you?"
"Not really but then again that was always your specialty not mine. I was curious, though, about why you wrote all these words."
Mulder looked at his scribbles and smiled at her. "Just some random thoughts I had about him, that's all. You know me always trying to make every case into an X-file."
Scully smiled at this and gestured to the file folder. "Was this an X-file Mulder?"
"I don't know if it was then but I think that it may be now." Mulder said the smile fading from his face.
"How so?" Scully said not knowing if she really wanted to know the answer.
"I am not quite ready to say yet Scully" he said then seeing her look of disappointment "but when I am, you will definitely be given the first chance at shooting holes in my theory."
Scully laughed at this. "Barkley and Jones have finalized the lists of people in the courthouse yesterday and at the DA's office. They are running background checks on them and will be emailing you the results."
"Excellent." Mulder said. He was about to continue when there was a discreet knock on the door. Mulder and Scully looked up to see a messenger standing in the doorway holding two envelopes.
Mulder stood up and got them thanking the messenger and waiting till he had left to speak to Scully.
"They are both addressed to you." He said handing over the envelopes.
"Must be the test results" Scully said opening the larger envelope first "although I can't see why they wouldn't put them both in together."
She split open the envelope and took out several sheets of paper. They were, as she expected test results the most interesting of which were the fingerprints.
"This can't be right" Scully said looking at the results with a rather large frown on her face. "It says that the prints belong to Robert Holton"
"Knew it" Mulder said under his breath.
"How could you possibly known that Mulder for it is impossible that they are his" Scully spoke to him impatiently as she opened up the smaller envelope. "How could he have possibly."
Scully stopped speaking abruptly and Mulder looked up from the fingerprint report to see why. Scully just stared at a small photograph she was holding in her hand.
She looked at Mulder with huge eyes trying desperately to hold back tears. She handed him the snapshot.
It was a picture of a small Victorian house complete with picket fence and roses. On the front was written "I know where you live"
Mulder looked at her questioningly. Scully closed her eyes briefly determined to get her emotions under check. "It's a picture of my house."
Mulder's Apartment Building As soon as he understood the implications of the picture he was holding in his hands, he knew it was time to get Scully out of the FBI and somewhere safe.
"Let's go" he said grabbing the file folders, test results and picture. "We can finish this discussion elsewhere."
Scully looked quite puzzled with this announcement but allowed herself to be taken by the arm and led out of the building and to his car. She got in never noticing the dark figure lurking in the corner of the parking garage.
He noticed her though and smiled to himself. "Having fun yet Agent Scully?" he said as he slowly walked over and got into his own car.
Mulder said very little as he drove to his apartment thankful that he had thought to drop off Scully's belongings earlier that day. The last thing she would need right now was to worry about such things.
His mind was racing now. He was beginning to formulate an idea. An idea which even when Scully was hip-deep in the X-files she would have trouble believing.
Even though she was personally involved in this case, Mulder knew he would have to tell her what he thought - just in case he was right.
Their silence continued as they entered the building and rode the elevator to Mulder's floor. As they were walking down the hall, they both noticed a large white envelope lying against his door.
Mulder picked it up. The envelope was blank except for two words "Agent Scully."
Scully took the envelope and went to open it but was stopped when Mulder put his hand on hers. "Let's get inside first" he said opening the door. "Would you like me to open it?"
She glared at him in annoyance "Don't be ridiculous" she said ripping the envelope open.
Mulder watched as the color slowly drained from her face as she scanned the pages. She began to sway and Mulder barely reached her before she collapsed into his arms dropping the papers all over the floor.
He carried her to the couch and seeing that she was already coming around, went to the kitchen for a cool cloth and a drink of water.
Mulder pulled a chair over to the couch and softly placed the cloth on her forehead and stroked her hair.
"Hey" he said when he saw her focus on him.
"Hey yourself" she answered back automatically. "Did I actually faint?"
"Yeah you did. How are you feeling now?" he said anxiously searching her face.
"I'm fine Mulder" she saw him frown at this response and took his hand in hers "Really. I haven't eaten since breakfast and the shock of the pictures was just a bit too much for me."
"The pictures?" Mulder said suddenly remembering the envelope and its contents.
He picked up the pieces of paper and quickly saw why Scully had fainted. On the first sheet of paper was a simple message "You Can Run But You Can't Hide". On the second and third pages were about a dozen pictures of Scully taken since her arrival in DC.
Some were taken in public places, like the airport and the Italian restaurant where she had dined the Mulder and others were taken during some of her most private times.
One showed her taking a bubble bath in her hotel room, another showed her fast asleep and yet another showed her reading Holton's file down in Mulder's office.
Outside of Mulder's apartment a man sat silently in his parked car picturing her reaction in his mind and savoring every last minute of it.
+++++++++++++++++++++ End of chapter six. please let me know what you think