Chapter 12: Shooting Range.
The next morning, bright and early, having slept very little as the question pertaining to the case continued to build in her mind, Scully walked into the basement office and found Mulder hunched over and drooling on his two day old suit sleeve.
"You seriously stayed all night again?" Scully asked as she shook him awake.
"We have to solve this case," Mulder said groggily.
"Not at the risk of our own health," Scully countered. "Go home Mulder, sleep, eat, and shower because you are starting to stink!" she added as he moved and she could smell him.
"You've dealt with worse smelling things in your life," Mulder said nonchalantly and moved to his printer for a print out he had forgotten to take from it when he dozed off.
"You're right, I have," Scully sighed, "I'm heading back to the lab for some more tests. I'm not sure what I am going to run, but I will try and find something."
"I'll finish with this surveillance and then come and get you." Mulder said once again staring at his computer screen.
"Alright," Scully stated and turned and left the office.
Scully paced the lab, her lab coat trailing behind her. The trace evidence, in their case, had come back. Nothing conclusively could be said about the hairs, the fibers or the miniscule amounts of gold that have been found. The forensics teams determined that whatever trace evidence was left at the scene of the crime, they were certain it was the scene of the initial murders, had been cleaned up and it had been done incredibly well.
"All we have is a burry photo of a guy and the hope that we might get a hit off some hairs the forensics investigators found that do not belong to the victim," Scully said out loud as she paced. "What does it all mean?" she asked the empty room, "and how are these girls connected?"
Having found nothing, and not having heard from Mulder in several hours, Scully decided to try and clear her mind and, while her weapons evaluation was coming up, she decided to spend some time in the shooting range waiting for Mulder and trying to organize her thoughts. She wasn't worried about passing or failing her evaluation, she used her weapon enough that she knew that her shooting practices were sound, but it was protocol to be tested yearly and so Scully hung up her lab coat, gathered her files, and headed off, a full box of ammunition securely stored in her purse.
Mulder waited, his hands in his pockets, as he watched his partner empty her weapon and waited for the go ahead from the supervisor. Scully hadn't realized he was there until he tapped her on the shoulder once she had placed her weapon on the shelf before her and picked a few more bullets up out of the box at her side.
"Remind me not to piss you off," Mulder stated as the target Scully was shooting at zipped toward them and he admired the concentrated grouping of holes in the target. "No doubt in my mind your evaluation will be a pass." He smiled.
"You changed," Scully stated as she rolled the bullets over in her hands.
"And showered," Mulder stated with a grin, "I didn't think it would be appropriate to question a suspect smelling like crap."
"We have a suspect?" Scully asked.
"Indeed we do," Mulder stated and pulled a blurry photograph out of his folder.
"Who is he?"
"I'm not sure but my gut feeling says we should go to the porn shop." Mulder answered.
"Are you sure it's your gut talking?" Scully asked sarcastically.
"Ha, funny," Mulder laughed, "but in all seriousness, I think we should take this photo and this one," he added handing her another burry shot, this time of the same guy with the second victims car, "and we should go back to the bank and see if Mrs. Cole can ID this guy."
"Sounds like as good a plan as any," Scully stated as she reloaded her gun and placed it in her side holster before placing her un-used ammunition back in its box.
"Can I keep this," Mulder asked as he pulled the target from its clip and waved it before Scully. "It will make good wall art in our office."
"Why?" she asked eyeing him suspiciously.
"It's a good reminder not to piss you off," he smirked. "Just look at how accurate you are!"
"There are other things I can do to remind you not to piss me off," Scully added saucily.
"Oh don't I know it," Mulder winked and they walked out of the shooting range together.