Chapter 18: The Porn Shop.
The proper documentation was easily obtained and picked up. The warrants issued by means of their superiors and Mulder and Scully set off in search of the man whom they knew to be their killer. Feeling confident enough that they would find Max before he killed again, Mulder sped through the streets and back toward the familiar shop he knew all too well, although he didn't visit as often since he and Scully had come to a certain agreement. The shop was quiet as they walked in and found Jim, the store manager, standing behind the desk yelling into his phone.
"Spooky, I can't deal with you right now," Jim said angrily as he saw the agents walk in.
"You're going to have to," Scully stated flashing her badge.
"I know you're a G-Woman, but I got my own problems, Sweetie," Jim stated fumbling with the phone and his address book.
"Where's Max," Mulder asked impatiently.
"Hell if I know," Jim said slamming the phone down onto the counter. "He was supposed to open today. We had a major delivery arriving this morning, but did the little ass hole show up? Now I have to pay the late charges and the transport charges to have the trucks come back and I need to get one of my other good for nothing employees to come in to work in Max's place while I go over to that little shits apartment and rip him a new one!" Jim stated fuming with anger.
"Not a good idea," Mulder said. "Give us the address so we can pick him up."
"Don't you have better things to be doing than helping me out?" Jim asked angrily.
"Not when he's wanted for murder," Scully stated and watched as the man's face went white.
"Murder? You gotta be kidding Beautiful, he's no murderer. A useless third tit maybe but not a murderer," Jim stated his tone changing, his manner changing and his all together composure failing him.
"Sorry pal, but we have enough evidence to take him in," Mulder stated.
"So are you going to give us that address or not?" Scully asked.
"Sure, whatever you need," Jim said handing his address book across the counter and waiting as Scully took down the address. "Should I be worried if he does show up here?" he asked after a long silence, the colour leaching out of his face with every passing moment.
"I wouldn't." Mulder stated. "If he does show up, keep him busy, bitch him out for being later or whatever you need to do to get him to believe that you know nothing about this, and then find a way to call us and we'll come back."
"He probably won't show up," Scully added hoping to make the man feel better. Her professional medical opinion was that the perverted porn shop manager was about to faint and she was not looking forward to having to be the first responder if he did, "he's probably onto us by now, or was as soon as we left yesterday. He's probably gone underground to get away with what he's done, but we're on it, and he's not going to get away with this anymore."
"How bad is it?" Jim asked eying Mulder. "Am I going to be in trouble for having him around here?"
"No, you had no idea about his deviant behaviour." Mulder stated. "We can't discuss the particulars in the case, but it's bad."
"Man, Spooky, this is too much for me," The manager stated as he fell into a chair. "You know, aside for the taboo against the sex market, its one of the most honest professions. Everyone knows what you do, they see right through the façade and most of the time we don't put up a front. So people think we're perverted, but at least we're honest about it. It wouldn't surprise me if you came in and told me that I was selling my shit to felons and the worst of society cause I know that, but one of my employees. That kid never bought a single thing here. He worked hard, did his job, and didn't complain. I didn't suspect a thing." He explained his breathing returning to normal but his composure was still very shaken by the turn of events.
"I'm not surprised." Mulder stated trying to comfort the guy and Scully agreed with him. "If you were in our position, this wouldn't surprise you. We've seen some messed up shit in our years on the job. This guy fits into the profile though. He's a psychopath and most of the population would never know it."
"Well you had better go, G-man, and get that scum off the streets before he hurts someone else." Jim stated taking a deep breath and placing his phone and his address book back into the desk. "I never would have said this before, Spooky, cause I don't really believe in the FBI or what they stand for, but sometimes it's good to have pros like you on the job."
"Thanks Man," Mulder smiled and led Scully out of the porn shop.
"I wasn't expecting him to take it that badly," Scully stated finally voicing her surprised at the reaction of the store manager.
"You'd be surprised," Mulder laughed, "he's a good guy. Married, two kids, church going, gives to all kinds of charitable organizations and volunteers twice a week at a local soup kitchen; like he said, he's honest and people know what his profession is. But that doesn't mean he's a bad guy. He just falls under the taboo."
"I never would have guess," Scully stated in utter shock.
"You can't always read people I guess." Mulder laughed.
"Did you expect to find the guy still here?" Scully asked as they got into the car and she pulled her cell out of her pocket.
"No, but I knew we'd get the guys information from Jim, so it wasn't a waist of time. Now we can call for back up, put his face all over the boards and get this guy into custody." Mulder stated.
"I'll get right on it," Scully stated as she dialed the bureau and then the local authorities and began her sweep to put the name and face of a killer out there for all to see.