Chapter 3: I Know Why They Left.
The phone rang several hours later as Mulder was pouring over more files and photographs pertaining to his newest case, as well as some older ones. The file seemed very empty, considering the number of murders they were dealing with, and there were many holes that seemed to appear through it, as the different investigations continued. There was really nothing in it for him to profile because so many things had gone missing or were just not recorded. He even began to wonder how the cases were related to each other until he saw the still shot of the girls that had been murdered. They all looked different, nothing appearance wise tied them together. All were young and healthy and looked to be fairly athletic, but that might have been the only physical similarities. Their eyes were different; hair was different and none of them working in the same field. But aside from the difference between the girls there was nothing but eating of the fleshy parts of the fingers and the taking of the girls hair by scalping them along the hairline that made the connections between them. It was no wonder that the case has been passed around the bureau and finally landed on his desk, there really wasn't a case here at all, and Mulder would have to develop his own case from years of nothingness.
The phone rang a second time before Mulder answered it.
"Mulder, it's me," the voice on the other line said as Mulder picked up.
"What have you found, Scully," Mulder asked.
Scully sighed into the phone, it was clear she was on her cell and she was probably still in the autopsy bay at Quantico, "it is an X-file," she sighed again, "you should probably come and take a look at this Mulder, I really don't know what to think right now," she added.
"I'll be right there," Mulder said and hung up the phone.
He rushed as he passed through his office, the incomplete file in his hand and his suit jacket swinging widely over his shoulder as he ran past piles of mysteries sending them flying all over the disheveled room.
Mulder had become very uncomfortable every time he had to go to the training grounds of his youth; especially when Scully called him in on a case that he had passed off as something else. He knew that the professors and students that watched him fly through the halls, knew him by reputation and that they were teaching and being taught by his example, or rather how to not work by his example. They stared at him and whispered as he passed them; they called him Spooky but it was more spooky of them and the way they acted. He knew that his life's work wasn't accepted in many circles but he had seen so much already that he just didn't understand how they could not take his example, and at least keep an open mind as to the mysteries of the universe and the challenges that they may be faced, "I'm not going to be around forever," he whispered to himself as he passed classrooms and students, "some one better teach you how to deal with this shit or we're all screwed."
He walked into the autopsy bay to find Scully standing over the corps. She looked young, lean and beautiful in her light green scrubs, her hair pinned up and held in place more by her mask than the hair clips that hung loosely in her hair. She stared blankly into the nothingness of the dead girls eyes until Mulder broke her meditative state.
"What am I looking at Scully," he asked coming around to stand on the other side of the body.
"An empty cavity of a young woman who died way too early," Scully sighed.
"There were no organs?" Mulder asked looking into the bloody expanse that greeted his gaze.
"I had to lock them up," Scully said
"Why…" Mulder asked surprised to hear Scully's response.
"Because they'd walk right out of here," She said and looked up at him finally, "Before we go any further lets just have a little chat, shall we, before I tell you why this is an X-file," she added.
"Alright," Mulder answered and looked down at the body again.
"Well, cause of death was asphyxiation. The girl was battered and assaulted while she was still alive, then she was strangled by the killer and his bare hands, as you can see from the marks around her neck. Trace was gathered off the body including semen and a partial rape kit," Scully said showing Mulder the x-rays and other tell tale signs off the young woman's body. "There were epithelia's found all over girls clothing and she was raped profusely antemortem, perimortem and postmortem. The eating of her fingers happened postmortem; approximately an hour after death and the most disturbing act by our killer is that he performs the scalping antemortem with an indentified tool. I've sent castings of the tool makings to trace to see if we can determine what kinds of instruments he uses other then his teeth, but I really do believe that he bites off their hair, as well as their fingers."
"Seems pretty straight forward to me," Mulder said having dealt with many cases of the same variety while he was still serving with the behavioral unit.
"Straight forward?" Scully asked shock in her voice, "Mulder this man is a sexual predator. He tortures these women, performs intercourse on them numerous times and tears off their hair with what I can only speculate are his teeth, and you think this is straight forward?"
"Psychopaths and serial killers usually have a tendency to take trophies to keep the bodies close to them," Mulder recited the textbook teaching on behavioral profiling, "probably a young man, loner, Caucasian, and either worked close to the victim or lived in the same area. He probably saw her every day."
"Yes I am aware of that," Scully said, "but now we get to the good stuff," she said and led him across the room to a padlocked cabinet.
"What is in here?" he asked.
"The organs," she answered.
"Keeping them in a cabinet; is that wise?" he asked, "They are going to stink."
Scully didn't answer him; she just opened the door and stepped aside.
Mulder gasped as he saw what was in the cabinet. Lying on the shelf on a stainless steal tray were the heart, the lungs, and all the other primary organs; shining like the sun in the sky and taunting him.
"That's why the file is so bare," Mulder said staring at the golden organs, "how did they become gilded?"
"Not gilded, Mulder, they are solid gold," Scully said.
"That is why the agents left the bureau without a trace," Mulder laughed, "to live in the lap of luxury far away from here because that is tampering with evidence but it would be so worth it!"
"That is exactly how I thought you would react," Scully said watching her partner.
"Wanna take the money and run?" Mulder asked jokingly as he looked at Scully.
"No, I want to know how, without any punctures to the body and without any traces of the gold on the skin, her organs became solid gold," She answered. "On the outside this looks like a Psychopath on the inside it's unbelievable."
"Well ancient mythology tells the story of King Midas," Mulder said still looking at the golden organs.
"Midas had to touch the objects to make them gold," Scully said, "if that were the case this whole body would be gold."
"That would be very James Bond," Mulder said.
"Seriously Mulder, I have never seen anything like this," She said feeling irritated by his lack of interest in this X-file.
"Neither have I," Mulder said, "but at this moment the allure of all that gold is making me rethink the truth. Who needs the truth when you are a millionaire Scully?"
"I can't believe you," Scully gasped.
Mulder raised an eyebrow to his partner, "ok we'll solve the case, and then we take the money and run."
Scully sighed, rolled her eyes and locked the cabinet again, "let's not think of the gold and deal with what really matters."
"Yeah, how does he do it?" Mulder asked. "My profile is all out of whack now. He's probably a millionaire who just chooses his victims at random then jumps on his private jet and flies off to where ever it is millionaires go to have fun."
"If that were the case then there are probably more victims," Scully said, "but I don't think you are right on this one."
"I am never right with you," Mulder said.
"We're not going to get into that right now," Scully said as she covered the corps once again and pulled off her rubber gloves, "this murder was fast and inexperienced, and yet it meticulous and he takes his time, spending it with the body for what I can only guess is hours. I can't definitely give you a time of death, because I can't get a liver temp because it's solid gold. I think your first profile is probably more correct. It is most definitely a crime of passion. It's kinda got me freaked out."
"It's all going to be fine Scully, don't worry," Mulder stated.
"Famous last words coming from you." she stated rolling her eyes. "I hate it when you say that Mulder cause I always end up in compromising circumstances or you end up shot."
"We're going to be fine," Mulder smiled, "and rich."
Scully rolled her eyes again.
"So we are looking for a young man that lives and works near his victims," Mulder said, "and can turn things into gold!"
"Stop thinking about the gold," Scully yelled.
"This is your fault you had to show me the gold and now I am a little obsessed," Mulder said with a laugh.
"So I have to start censoring my finding for you, is that what you are telling me?" Scully asked with a sigh.
"Unless it's alien, I guess so," Mulder laughed.
Scully shook her head and walked out of the autopsy bay leaving Mulder behind laughing giddily like a school girl as his eyes continued to wander to the cupboard that held the solid gold organs.
"Come on Scully, come back," Mulder laughed as she left, "let's talk about this."
"No," She stated from down the hallway causing him to run after her.
"I promise I won't talk about the gold anymore," he called after her.
"No," She practically sang as she walked into the ladies locker room to change and left Mulder to wait for her at the door.