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Chapter Four: A Break

Author: Gillian Leigh

Summary: I believe the title is self explanatory.

Disclaimer: The X-Files and its characters belong to Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions. I'm only borrowing them, and I promise to return them intact and in mint condition, though I might hang onto Mulder a little while longer. :o)

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            Sitting in the lawyer's office, both Dana and Mulder were nervous and anxious. The only two in the room, they were having a quiet conversation about the autopsy findings.

            "She was pregnant?" he asked. She nodded.

            "About two and a half months."

            "So she definitely knew?"

            "Yes, she did. I checked her medical records, and she'd already visited with an obstetrician. Monica's trying to find out if she had a boyfriend."

            "If her boyfriend killed her, why kidnap Elena?"

            "She was a witness, a liability. He knew he had to make sure she couldn't tell anyone what she saw," she replied.

            "But then, surely he'll k---" Mulder began.

            "That's what we're looking to prevent. If we can find out who he is, we might be able to find out *where* he is," Dana replied, cutting him off. He opened his mouth to speak, but the lawyer entered the room at that moment, and they ceased all talk of the case.

            Dana rose to her feet, as did Mulder, and Jenn's lawyer looked at them over the rim of her glasses and smiled.

            "Please sit down, Mr. and Mrs. Mulder." They sank into their chairs obediently as the lawyer set her briefcase down across from them and opened it, removing several documents. She leaned across the table and extended her hand to Dana first. "I'm Annabelle Milano. It's nice to meet you both."

            "It's nice to meet you too…Do you prefer Ms. Milano?" Dana asked.

            "Call me, Annabelle," she replied.

            "Then you may call me Dana. My husband prefers to be called Mulder," Dana offered.  Annabelle nodded, and readjusted her glasses before speaking again.

            "I wish we were meeting under happier circumstances. As you know, we are here to read Ms. Carver's will, to which only you and her daughter, Elena are the only beneficiaries. I'm aware that Elena is missing, so we will have to reconvene once she returns so that she understands what she is getting." Mulder and Dana both nodded at the same time. "But as for you, Dana… Jenn Carver said, 'In the event of my death, I wish to make it legally known that I leave full custody of my daughter Elena to Ms. Dana Scully.  I also leave her half of my estate and money, with which to best raise my daughter. The other half of my money I leave for my daughter, Elena.'"

            Dana reached for her husband's hand, and he took hers in his and squeezed it. She futilely swiped at the tears running down her cheeks.

            "Why don't we take care of the formalities now so you two can finish your investigation? I don't want to keep you from it," Annabelle said. Mulder nodded, and smiled at her.

            "Thank you," Dana said. "Now where do we begin?"

-x-

            By Midnight PST, Dana's body was telling her that it was three a.m. and that she should be sound asleep, not at the San Diego Field Office working her tail off. They were looking for Jenn's boyfriend, whose name was James Parker. They knew he was their man, because the forensic team's final combing of the crime scene turned up DNA evidence. Saliva and a single hair. The blood droplets affirmed their suspicions. Now they just needed to find him.

            A team was sent to his apartment, as Dana and Mulder sat at desks in the field office reviewing Parker's travel expenses, in addition to Jenn's, hoping to find a place he might have taken Elena. Monica and John Doggett sat side by side at a desk across the room, making calls and talking to friends and family members of both Parker and Jenn, hoping to find something.

            By four a.m. Monica and John had amassed a list of James Parker's "hang-outs"; the places he was known to be. Their search turned up nothing conclusive however, and all of the agents were beginning to lose hope. They found themselves back at the field office by 8 a.m., pouring over any files they had on Parker in hopes of finding something they had overlooked.  It was Mulder who discovered the clue, which had been buried in Parker's travel expenses.

            "Four consecutive weekends in September and October James Parker rented a car from the San Diego Lariat Car Rental Agency. The mileage is almost the same for all of the weekends," Mulder said, looking at his wife. Her eyebrows went up. "My bet is he's going to the same place. We just have to find out where…" She nodded, and shuffled through some papers.

            "Jenn's friend Amy mentioned once when James took Jenn away for a romantic weekend to his cabin in the mountains," Dana replied, her eyes widening. "We just need to find out where it is. He could have taken Elena there…"

            A very tired Mulder knocked at Amy Fitzgerald's door, with Monica, Dana and John Doggett beside him. The young, blonde woman answered the door, wearing her pajamas and bathrobe.

            "Can I help you?" Mulder presented his badge.

            "I'm Agent Mulder; Ms. Fitzgerald, you spoke with my colleague Agent Scully yesterday regarding your friend, Jenn Carver." Her eyes widened in recognition as she noticed Dana standing beside Mulder.

            "Yes?"

            "Ms. Fitzgerald, you mentioned when I spoke to you yesterday that Mr. Parker took Ms. Carter to his cabin for the weekend, and you watched Elena. Do you happen to know where the cabin is, or how to get to it?" Dana asked. Amy raised her eyebrows.

            "Yes, I've been there before. They had a get-together up there once. There's a copy of the directions Jenn gave me in my desk upstairs. I'll go get them for you," she replied. The agents waited patiently on her doorstep until she returned a moment later with the detailed directions to the secluded cabin just over two hours away. The four agents read the directions over and looked at one another.

            "Let's get a team together and get out there," Doggett said. Three other agents nodded in affirmation. This could be the break they were needed so desperately.

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Author's Notes: And so ends another chapter… Thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter; I sure hope it stays that way! As you've probably guessed I'm not going to pull the story, or set a review minimum per chapter, unless the feedback level drops to practically nothing again… So I hope you like this chapter, and I'm anticipating two, possibly three, more chapters for the story. Thanks again for the feedback, and please read and review this chapter so I know how I'm doing!

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