Chapter 19: Escape.
After a long day of searching, and frustration at not finding Max, Mulder and Scully found themselves back at her apartment. It was a lot of leg work. They tracked Max as far as they could, but his apartment was deserted, everything was left in a shambles and they had to call in forensics once again to investigate the disaster of an apartment that their meticulous killer had left behind.
"He left the porn shop yesterday, went back to his place, trashed the join and then split," Mulder stated as he fell into one of the arm chairs in Scully's living room.
"This pisses me off, Mulder, we were so close!" Scully stated as she slumped onto the couch across from him.
"We can't do anything else," Mulder stated, "we did our best, now it's up to the local and state law enforcement to find him. They have everything that they need. His picture was all over the local news; if he has split he had better leave the state and even if he does his face will be all over CNN and the country will know about it."
"I still have a horrible feeling about this," Scully stated as she stood and began to pace. "He flew under the radar for so long, what if there are more cases out there that we don't know of because of dirty cops who just wanted the gold that they found. This guy has pulled the wool over our eyes, and just fell through the cracks again. If he just disappeared it's going to cause us more trouble. What if he gets far enough to get out of the country? What then?" She asked.
"Don't worry, they'll find him," Mulder stated watching his partner and seeing in her a determination and nervousness that he had seen before. This case had really gotten to her and she would not be easy again until she knew that this kid, this murderer, was behind bars. "Come on, Dana, you have to calm down. There isn't anything else we can do until we catch the guy. Tomorrow we'll retrace his steps through our file and see if we can build a pattern for the police. We'll do all of our research, find out where he was born, where he lived and what he's done all his life. We'll find him, he won't get away."
Scully sighed as she paced, her mind was working quickly, painting pictures and scenarios that she had already been through, and making herself even more uneasy with every passing moment.
"What is it, Dana, what's going on?" Mulder asked finally feeling uneasy himself and standing to pace with her.
"Man Mulder, this guy has gotten under my skin," Scully stated almost fearfully, "he is Donnie Pfaster, and he is Eugene Toombs, he's even Duane Berry."
"You think he's going to come here?" Mulder asked.
"I don't know, but this feels like those times." Scully stated.
"You want to go back to my place?" He asked taking her hand.
"No, I'm not a coward and he's not going to chase me out of my apartment, but I don't want you to leave," She stated finally raising her eyes to meet his.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said and pulled her back to the couch. "We're not going anywhere and I'm not leaving until we know that this guy is safely behind bars."
"Thank you," she smiled.
The evening passed in a strange and almost uncomfortable passing of time. Scully, though Mulder had kept his word and stayed, was still uneasy. She tried to sit with him and watch the baseball highlights but she couldn't settle herself. She cleaned, she cooked, and she even dismantled her weapon, cleaned it, oiled it and reloaded it. It was never far from her the whole evening. She jumped when the sports news was interrupted for the crime bulletin and the forensic sketch of Max flashed across the screen.
"See, everyone knows that ugly mug now," Mulder stated as she came and sat beside him again.
"I've seen quite enough already," Scully sighed.
Once the sports news resumed and Mulder was content with what he had seen and the results of his office sports pool, one of the only inner office activities he participated in, Mulder convince Scully that they should try to get some rest, as they would have to show up at work the following day like nothing had happened. Scully agreed with his assessment of their current situation and they took themselves off to bed. Mulder could still feel Scully's insecurities as she crawled into bed beside him and though the woman with him could always bring the sparks and arousal that he needed in his life, he could tell that this moment, this embrace she brought to the relationship was nothing more then a plea for comfort and protection. They drifted off to sleep tangled in an embraced that Scully needed and the night passed them by.