Chapter 11: The Connections Between Victims.
It was late when Mulder arrived back at the training facility and walked through the labs to the autopsy bays where he knew he would find his partner. The day had been rough, running from no leads, to a pile of lead and then to dead ends all over again. They needed something or they would continue seeing these bodies piling up, and as he walked into the sterile environment of the medical center and stopped before Scully, waving a file over his head, he wondered what, if anything, she might be able to add to the web of questions that were starting to pile up.
"So are we twice as rich?" he asked as he stopped and looked down at the cadaver before him.
Scully looked up from her work, her eyes telling him just how frustrated and un-amused she had become. Her face was still covered with a medical mask and she was dressed from head to toe in teal green scrubs, but her eyes were bright as they had always been, "if you are wondering about the gold, yes, there is plenty of that," she sighed leaning heavily against the steal tray that held the body.
"Are you almost finished here?" he asked knowing that it would be better to show some compassion before picking her brain with all the questions that were plaguing his.
"I was finished hours ago," Scully stated with a sigh, "but I didn't find anything different that might tell us something so I am swabbing and sampling everything I can think of that might give us something. How about you, find anything that we might be able to use?"
"Well two teams, two apartments, and two vehicles later we have some very minor trace evidence that needs to be processed and this poor girls name." Mulder stated. "But I did get video surveillance from her apartment, because her car was also found in place, and from our other victim's apartment."
"Sounds like you have another long night ahead of you," Scully stated.
"What's got me stumped, though, is how this guy, with all his routines and his actions toward the victim's, chooses one girl from the next. It seems so random. This girl, Emily Clarke, worked at a steal refinery. She was reported missing this morning by her boss when she didn't show up for her performance and safety review." Mulder stated.
"And the other victim's that are in our X-file?" Scully asked.
"We have a jewelry sales clerk, a worker with an automotive manufacturer, and an artist specializing in copper sculptures." Mulder stated.
"And our bank teller," Scully added.
"What do these girls have in common?" Mulder asked.
"Aside for the fact that they were all murdered the same way?" Scully sighed and fell into a chair on one side of the steal tray.
"I just don't get it. I hope I find something in our footage because I don't know what else to go on!" Mulder stated.
"Neither violent crimes, nor the X-files, are helping you on this one, are they?" Scully stated.
Mulder shook his head and sighed.
"I'm glad I'm not the profiler," Scully said sympathetically.
"I'm glad I'm not the doctor," Mulder said with another glance at the mutilated corps on the steal tray.
"I did find something a little interesting," Scully stated, grasping at something that might lighten the mood, "there are traces of gold, like the speck I found, in most of this girls major arteries, I'm going to assume it may be in her veins as well, but I am not going to go about dissecting her entire circulatory system."
"So it travels on the blood?" Mulder asked.
"It would seem so," Scully stated.
"But what is it?"
"I have no clue," she answered with a sigh.
"Doctor McMillan said this is impossible, you realize that, right?" Mulder asked.
"And yet, I believe it because I can see it," Scully stated.
"Do you think her brain is solid gold too?" Mulder asked noticing that Scully had not done a cranial exam.
"If it travels on the blood I wouldn't be surprised to find gold up there as well," Scully sighed. "But I'm not going to ruin my equipment looking for it. My saws and scalpels are already getting dull from dealing with this much gold as it is. Even though gold so malleable, it's killing my equipment."
"And you look really tired," Mulder said compassionately.
"At least I got to sleep last night, you look like crap yourself," Scully stated pulling off her mask and draping the body in a sheet before wheeling it around and storing it in the freezer."
"So I guess I'm not getting lucky tonight then," Mulder whispered seductively into Scully's ear.
"Sorry Mulder, but the friends with benefits clause is null and voice when fatigue is a factor," Scully sighed.
"You could have just claimed a headache and I would have been fine with that," Mulder laughed.
"Sadly I do have a headache, I'm hungry and I need a shower, but I don't think I'm going to make it past my couch," Scully sighed.
"Come on, I'll take you home." Mulder said and followed as Scully left the autopsy bay and headed back into the halls of the teaching facility.