July 18th, Mathers' Residence...
As Monica and Phoebe got out of the car Monica was alarmed at how calm she was. This was her first time in the field without John by her side in over eight years. A new case, and he wasn't there to meet the victim's family, or to give her his theory. But she was ok, she knew that she could do this, and she knew that she had to have faith in Agent Carmichael. They walked to the front door and knocked softly and they were soon greeted by an elderly looking woman who stared at them without saying a word.
"Hi, I'm Agent Carmichael this is Agent Doggett, may we come in and speak with Mr Mathers?"
The woman didn't move or show any signs that she had even heard what Phoebe had said to her. A man appeared behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. The woman turned to look at him and frowned.
"Mom it's ok, they're here to help find Luke, it's ok."
The woman moved away from the door and the man stepped forward to invite them in.
"I'm Patrick, Mathers. You're from the FBI?"
"Yes. Mr Mathers we're apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, we just want to help find your son. Now his name is Luke Mathers?"
"That's right."
"And the local PD have been looking for him since Monday is that correct?"
Mr Mathers just nodded his head slowly and then he turned to look at Monica. She hadn't said a single word since she arrived. And she knew that it was hearing that name that was making this so difficult. Luke. She had investigated a case with a young boy named Luke missing; she had no desire to help in another one.
"Are you from the FBI too?"
"Yes sir."
Phoebe looked at Monica and didn't know what was wrong but she knew that she would clearly have to continue with Mr Mathers as if she were alone.
"Mr Mathers, when did you last see your son?"
"Sunday night, I put him to bed, like I always do, and then Monday morning when I went to wake him for school he was gone."
"And you heard nothing through the night, any kind of disturbance, or unusual activity?"
Mr Mathers shook his head.
"And what about Luke's mother?"
"Marg and I have been separated for two years. She hasn't seen Luke since just before
Christmas. You think she could have done this?"
"I'm afraid we can't speculate sir. But we do need to speak to your wife, does she live in the area?"
"Yeah. I'll, I'll get you her address."
Mr Mathers walked out of the room and Phoebe turned to look at Monica.
"You ok?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry, I just seem to be getting hit by all these signs that I shouldn't be back at work."
"What are you talking about?"
"John, he had a... he had a son, with his first wife. He was killed when he was eight years old, his name was Luke."
"Oh God, I had no idea."
"No reason to. But um, why is this even an x-file?"
"The note the kidnapper left."
Phoebe handed Monica a photocopy of the kidnappers note and Monica read it quietly to herself: 'we have your son, wait for our instructions or he'll die, no police, no FBI, just you and us, God intended for us to walk this path, for this to be how we resolve our situation. The Devil takes all those that cannot be saved, he will take your boy if you do not do as we say. God and Satan said it will be so.' Monica finished reading the note with a chill running down her spine. Why hadn't she been shown this right away? Why hadn't the FBI got involved as soon as the case was opened? Something was very wrong with this whole thing.
"Agent Carmichael, why hasn't the FBI been here already?"
"Because of the note, they though it might be a prank, someone the family know playing a trick, so they left it to the PD, then the note found its way to the X-Files office and I opened a case because of the religious undertone, this has more to it than we're seeing. The way the kidnaper uses words like 'us' and 'our' suggests that the kidnapper and Mr Mathers know each other, the FBI didn't want to get involved."
"Well you're certainly getting the hang of the job if you're already opening cases that every other agent at the bureau deemed not worthy." Mr Mathers walked back into the room and handed them a small piece of paper.
"This is her address."
"Thank you Mr Mathers. We'll be in touch."
The two women walked out of the house and Monica got into the drivers seat.
"Where are we going?"
"To speak to Mrs Mathers."
July 1st, X-Files Office...
Monica picked up the phone as it rang with an energy she hadn't experienced in a long time. Her weekend with John had been wonderful, and even now she was back at work and faced with their usual routine things couldn't have been better. John had taken the day off to stay with Anna instead of her being sent to Mulder again. They agreed he could use a break from her, so Monica was working alone for the day but had no intention of doing anything but paperwork. She picked up the phone and put on her slightly more professional voice.
"Monica Reyes."
"Agent Reyes, this is Detective Alan from Silver Springs, there's been a development I thought you'd wanna know about."
"What is it?"
"We had to let Adam Davies go."
"What?"
"He has an alibi for the time he wasn't with the Gooding girl that night."
"Who?"
There was a long pause and Monica knew what name he was going to say before he did.
"Mia Dukes. She came forward last night and said she was with him at the time of the murder. We pulled some more prints off of the murder weapon, it could have been handled by anybody in that house."
"Well can't you tell which prints are the freshest?"
"We're working on it, but the hammer was in the pond for days after it was used."
"That wont remove prints."
"No, it just makes out job a little more complicated. Anyway, I thought you'd wanna know what was happening, and if you feel like lending your FBI expertise to us on this we'd welcome you back here."
"Gimme an hour."
Monica put down the phone and rushed through the paperwork she had made a start on. She had known all along that this case was far from over. And now they were back at the beginning with nothing but six kids word of mouth. Somebody had to know what happened that night and she was going to find out whom. As she threw down her report and put on her jacket the phone rang again and she quickly answered it with a less polite tone than in her previous phone conversation.
"Reyes."
"Hey Mon, how's it going?"
"John, good. Everything's fine."
"You sound a little frustrated, you sure nothing's happened?"
"Nothing. What's wrong John?"
"Oh, umm, Anna wants to make us dinner tonight, and I promised I'd call and ask you if she'd go and brush her teeth."
"At ten am?"
"I know, I know, but I can't tell her what to do without bribing her, she's too sweet."
"John that girl has you wrapped around her tiny little finger."
"She does not... Anyway, what do you want for dinner?"
"Umm I don't know, you decide."
"But Anna wanted to know what you wanted."
"Well then make something up and tell her I said it, look John I gotta go ok, I'll see you tonight."
Monica hung up the phone and even as she was swiftly walking out of the office all
she wanted to do was run back and call John to apologise. But her head was already in Maryland.