Chapter Two:

Scully sat staring at the photos, feeling a pain in her chest at the thought of how terrified this mother and her child must have been. She could not, for the life of her figure out why the medical examiner hadn't determined a weapon yet. It was obviously a knife wound, how else would you slice someone like that?

She read the case file, and apparently there were five stab wounds, post mortem and her uterus had been removed – though it hadn't been determined whether she was alive or not at the time. Once she'd finished reading the case file, she sat staring at the words, letting them blur as her mind raced over possibilities. Nothing strange or outrageous like Mulder would come up with, no this was just a typical serial killer. She turned all the photos over, unable to look at them anymore.

She was glad that the little girl hadn't suffered as much as her mom, but disgusted that anyone could kill a child, let alone an innocent human being. The little girl seemed to have no wounds on her; she had been suffocated by the pillow. A terrible death in itself, but it seemed the mother had bled to death. How could anyone do this? She felt tears prick her eyes, and she closed them tightly, willing images of the victims to disappear.

--

"Scully, you okay?"

"Mulder…! Don't creep up on me like that." She admonished, clutching a hand to her chest in fright. She'd been resting her head in her hands waiting for him to return from lunch so she could give him the case to read over.

She silently handed it over, and he dropped himself heavily into his chair. She moved hers a little closer, and watched his reaction. If he was annoyed she was staring, he said nothing. Though after a minute or so of reading, his jaw muscle twitched once, twice, three times – he was definitely agitated.

He slammed the case file down, and looked at her, with horror in his eyes – she was sure her eyes matched his at this moment. "Four woman and four children already…? No weapon, no forensic evidence whatsoever?" He rubbed his eyes, and stood abruptly. "I guess we're going to… The town of-" he checked the file. "-Trinity."

"I guess we are," she agreed and gathered up the case file and photos. "I already spoke to AD Skinner. He say's we can leave whenever." She waved the bureau credit card in his face. "It seems it's not only us who are disgusted over this case."

"It's always worse when it's children." Mulder said, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, and grabbing the things he would need. "Should we go in the morning? I don't think we'll be able to get a flight tonight."

"Is there even an airport in Trinity? Even an airfield…?"

"Oh, good point." He took out a book, and searched for the town. "Wow." He looked up surprised. "It's a small town too…" He locked his eyes onto hers, and he didn't have to say anymore. So many deaths in a small town, over only a couple of months, case was going to be very stressful. She looked at the map over his shoulder.

"I think we'll be driving then," she followed a road with her finger, and he nodded grabbing her hand when she pulled away and squeezing it, he looked into her eyes again, searching her eyes to make sure she was going to be okay with this. She did the same thing; and then released his hand with a smile that said 'I'll be fine,' and she left the office, knowing he would call her when he'd organised everything.