Gathering Shadows (June 18th 2012)
1
Scully pulled on the rubber gloves and turned towards the gurney. There was Vicks smeared below her nose, but the sickening stench still came through. A sheet was still pulled up to cover the badly decomposing remains. Dana Scully paused for a moment than put the tape recorder to her mouth.
"This is Special Agent Dana Scully. The date is Wednesday June 20th, 2012. The time is, 1:19 pm. Subject is Katha Louise McCallister, 16 year old Caucasian female." She set the recorder on a counter and pulled the sheet back, and couldn't suppress a slight gasp. Katha had been missing since late on April 12th, when she failed to return home to her foster parents after work.
Dana had seen plenty of horrors during her time at the FBI. Messy murders, terribly decomposed bodies, and more unexplainable phenomena than she cared to acknowledge, but there was something that rocked her to her core when it came to the autopsies of children. It was difficult for her to reconcile the bloated, rotting body on the table with the pictures pinned to a board across the room. Inevitably, Dana's eyes flashed to them.
The pretty blonde-haired blue-eyed teenage girl in a cheerleading outfit had been provided by Katha's foster family and was the most recent photograph of her, the way she had looked when she died. She had been a tall, well-built girl of rather exceptional beauty. Another photograph from the foster family dated some three years earlier and was taken around when Katha was placed in their home, showing a girl of 13 or 14 with significantly darker hair, suggesting the paler blonde in the most recent photo was a dye job. This younger girl is solemn with guarded eyes. Several other photos, provided by Katha's biological family, show a professional photo of a baby around 6 months with large brilliant blue eyes, a photo of a little girl around 6 or 7 posing playfully in a purple skirted bathing suit, and another of a girl about 12 years old smiling broadly while holding up a black t-shirt with a band name on it Scully didn't recognize and a concert ticket. A tree in the background suggested they were Christmas gifts.
Dana's eyes drifted back to the sad remains of the little girl that were now laid out on the table. It had been two and a half months since she had gone missing, and the weather had been relatively warm. But still, there were a few things Dana could see that struck her as odd. For one, something had been, at, the body, something larger than what you'd expect to find in a modest sized city in Maine. She continued speaking to the recorder.
"While the body is in an advanced state of decomposition, there are what appear to be large bite marks on the face, neck, torso, and thighs. I can't identify what caused the bites, most likely due to misshaping of the wounds due to decomposition and bloating." What Dana didn't say on the recorder was that the bites seemed to change as she examined them, some aspects appearing primate, humanoid even, and others appearing canine. Some parts of the wounds suggested flat molar-like teeth, other parts sharp pointed incisors like a dog or cat might have, though larger, and other parts suggested sharp serrated teeth, like a shark. This information she marked down on a small yellow tablet she kept in her pocket, to go over later with Mulder.
2
Emily Mulder sat on the steps out front of the Derry Townhouse, bored out of her mind. Cell phone service was essentially non-existent, and her internet wasn't working either. Her NOOK sat next to her, a teen romance novel still displayed but forgotten for the time being. She didn't want to read, she didn't want to be in Maine at all, and she certainly didn't want to be in this shitty little town. A mountain cabin was bad enough, as was sharing a room with Sam and Kody. But sitting here while her kook parents worked a case was unbearable. They refused to let her stay with her Grandmother, and when her best friend Anise Jackson's Mom offered to let her stay with them they even turned that down. It was supposed to be quality family time together, and that required the whole family. Emily made a disgusted noise in her throat as she thought about it. Family time, right. Her Mom was performing an autopsy on whoever they had found in the river, and her Dad was talking to the police and the locals. Sam and Kody had their game systems glued to their hands, and Uncle John and Aunt Monica were getting rooms and settling them in. Apparently they were going to be stuck in Derry for at least a couple days. Emily grumbled under breath and crossed her arms as she stared out into space.
3
Special Agent Fox Mulder was extremely frustrated. He had been met with resistance to assistance by local law enforcements plenty of times during his career as an FBI agent, but even the worst of them seemed like happy and enthusiastic compliance compared to the reaction he was receiving from the Derry Police Department. They had effectively completely cut him out of the investigation at the moment. The girl recovered from the canal had been identified as a teenager from Derry who was in foster care a few townships over. She had been employed by the Green's Farm restaurant as a waitress for about six months prior to her death, and had been reported missing on Thursday, April the 12th, after failing to return home after a shift at the restaurant.
The Derry Police Department insisted there was no evidence of a kidnapping, and certainly not over state lines, so unless Scully found evidence of a sexual nature to the crime, there was no jurisdiction for the FBI to step in over the death of one girl. But nonetheless, it bothered him. Something was going on here, and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Part of it was the dismissal the police department was giving the death. Instead of a thorough investigation, something that was more likely in a smaller town in Mulder's experience, not less likely, the police seemed to be more inclined to write the girl's death off as an accident. It seemed highly unlikely to Mulder that a sixteen year old girl would get out of work at ten o'clock at night and go for a walk, alone, along a deserted canal in the cold. It seemed even less likely that her body would than remain undiscovered for over two months in a heavily traversed area of a popular local park.
When Mulder had pressed this matter with the Sheriff, Thomas Moravian, he had been met first with cold indifference and than outright hostility that had included removal from the police station. He had spent the last hour on a walking tour through downtown Derry, brainstorming while he waited for Scully's call saying she had finished the autopsy. He was surprised the locals had even allowed her to do the examination. He sat on a bench and gazed up at a large gaudy plastic 'statue' of Paul Bunyan. Though it was meant to appear friendly, there was something unsettling in the plastic giant's leering smile.
Looking away from the uncomfortable statue, Mulder noticed a discarded newspaper sitting on the bench beside him. Facing up was a gritty black and white school picture of a little girl, maybe nine or ten years old. Intrigued, Mulder picked the paper up. The picture was small, the story brief and tucked at the bottom and at the back of the Derry News. As Mulder read, he realized that there was something very wrong in this town, something far beyond anything he could have imagined.
4
From the Derry News, June 15th 2012 (page 13):
WHERE IS LISA LYNN LEVEE?
By Jesse Hanlon
Lisa Lynn Levee of 97 Kansas Street, age ten and pictured above, has now been missing for seven months. She was last seen by her Mother, Anita Levee, on November 15th of last year walking to the Costello Avenue Market at the corner of Kansas St. and Costello Ave. The Levee home is just over 500 yards from the corner market, but in that short distance Lisa disappeared without a trace, never making it to the store. Despite several volunteer search parties combing the surrounding area, no sign of Lisa Levee has yet to be found.
Unfortunately, Lisa's disappearance is only one in a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances of Derry children over recent months. Since early September of last year there have been no less than three unexplained deaths and four disappearances in Derry. The Levee case is particularly reminiscent of the disappearance of Heather Ryker, 8, in September of last year. Heather disappeared less than two months before Lisa, last seen only a few miles from the last place Lisa Levee was seen. Despite the similarities, Derry Chief of Police Tom Moravian persists in his belief that Lisa was abducted by someone driving through Derry who saw a brief opportunity to grab her. The Derry Police Department officially denies any connection between the disappearances and murders.
Those citizens of Derry who have lived here long enough to remember also recall the similarity to the rash of murders and disappearances of children in Derry in 1984-85. Over the course of less than a year no less than ten children disappeared or were murdered in Derry. The mysterious events ended abruptly after the Great Flood of 1985 destroyed most of the city, leading to the popular belief that the perpetrator was one of those killed in the catastrophic destruction. However, perhaps recent events indicate that this monster was merely forced underground temporarily. We can only hope and pray that Lisa Lynn Levee, and the other missing children, will somehow be found alive and safe.
5
Mulder read through the story three times in quick succession. The article was brief, but it spoke volumes. He let his eyes rise and linger over the girl's face. He felt a pang of sorrow in his chest for her, and for her family. He found himself wondering if Lisa Levee had a brother, or a sister. Or if any of the other children mentioned had. His thoughts drifted back to the Sheriff's curt dismissal of the FBI's aid, and wondered why the suspected abduction of a ten year old girl had not been mentioned, nor a possible connection to thirty year old serial killings. In fact, the Sheriff had pushed him out before he could find any possible connection between Katha's death and the other disturbances. What kind of a police officer didn't jump at the opportunity for assistance concerning a rash of missing children?
Mulder scanned the article once more, and his eyes came to rest on the name of the author. Jesse Hanlon. If he wanted more information on what was happening in Derry he would have to go to the source of the news story, because the journalist seemed to be the only one who was willing to talk about it. He ripped the article out of the paper, folded it up and tucked it into his pocket.
6
Mulder was lucky he caught the journalist. He arrived at the Derry News office just before he was able to storm out. Mulder walked in flashing his badge, catching the attention of a middle-aged balding man and a younger blue-eyed biracial man. It was clear that they had been in the middle of an argument, but Mulder pretended not to notice.
"Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI." Mulder showed the badge quickly and put it away. "I need to speak with one of your journalists, a Jesse Hanlon."
The corpulent bald man smirked. "Ah, I see. Well you're in luck, Mister. He was just heading out." He turned and glared at the clearly furious younger man. "I'll see you at the end of next week, Hanlon. And next time you decide to run a crap story like that, you'll be on a permanent vacation." Before the kid could respond the man disappeared into the back.
Jesse Hanlon swore under his breath and shook his head. Than he looked over at Mulder and smiled. It softened his face and he became handsome. Only his brilliant blue eyes, magnified behind wire frames, held the furious intensity that had previously been on his face. He was short but well-built, more reminiscent of his farmer Grandfather in this regard than he was his librarian Father. He held his hand out to Mulder. "Jesse Hanlon. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Agent Mulder."
Mulder shook his hand. He had a hard, firm grip. "Mr. Hanlon. I hope I wasn't interrupting anything too important…?". Mulder wanted to know if the 'crap story' was the one he had read about Lisa Levee.
Jesse Hanlon laughed, a bit bitterly. "Just Jesse is fine, thanks. And no, nothing important, just a bit of creative difference, I suppose you could say." He looked around. "Why don't we take a walk, before I have Sheriff Moravian offering me an escort, shall we?" He led the way out, holding the door for Mulder. "So, what can I help you with, Agent Mulder? I didn't catch which story you were asking after?"
Mulder pulled the newspaper out of his back pocket. "I saw this article you wrote about a local missing child, Lisa Lynn Levee. You mention several other unexplained disappearances and deaths in the area as well, and I wanted to find out what you know about them, and if they might be connected with a case I'm working on."
Jesse eyed Mulder in disbelief. "You're looking into the disappearances? FBI?" He stopped walking. "Have you met the Sheriff yet? Moravian's going to tell you to take a long walk off a short pier." Mulder's expression said everything that needed to be said. "Alright. Come back to my apartment. I'll show you everything I have."
7
Jesse Hanlon's apartment was small, but it had an exquisite view of the Kenduskeag, and The Barrens. It was part of a new development project that took root with the rebuilding that occurred after the flood of '85. Once, two men named Adrian Mellon and Don Hagarty had shared another apartment in almost exactly the same location. That building had been destroyed in the floods of '85, but this building was nearly identical, if not nearly as nice. The floods that year had destroyed Derry almost entirely, but it had been rebuilt, all of it. The Paul Bunyan statue no one liked. Even the Standpipe, despite being nigh obsolete in this day and age, had been rebuilt. The Derry Mall had come back bigger and better than ever. Even the investors came crawling back after a piece. Most of them, anyway.
The walls of the living room looked like Mulder's office during an active investigation. There were maps plastered to the walls with red X's marking the places where bodies had been found, while blue O's marked the last known location of missing persons. A large chunk of one wall had the pictures and names of missing and deceased children, including a picture of Katha McCallister. Folders and paperwork littered a cheap coffee table and sofa, the only furniture in the living room.
Jesse held the door for Mulder. Mulder looked around the room wearing a neutral expression before looking directly at Jesse. "One of the kids yours?"
Jesse shook his head. "No. I didn't know any of them, to be honest. This-" He gestured around the room. "This I inherited from my Father. He grew up here. He was born here in 1947 and lived here until '87 or '88, right after him and my Mom married."
Mulder's face was still neutral, but before he could ask what connection the recent murders and disappearances had with a man who had left the city nearly a quarter century earlier Jesse continued.
Jesse smiled, but it was sour. "I moved here five years ago, after I graduated with my Bachelors. My Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident during my last year of school, and the only thing they left me was a bunch of paperwork from my Dad. It all talked about this place, this city. It didn't make any sense, not at the time, but I came here just the same. I didn't know what else to do; my two older brothers were both married and settled down by than and I didn't have any pressing concerns in my life. I had been planning on moving home and taking care of my parents for awhile after I graduated."
"That's how you discovered that there was another series of disappearances and murders in the 80's." Mulder filled in, remembering it being mentioned in the article. "Did your Father have an idea of who was behind everything."
Jesse glanced at Mulder, holding eye contact for just a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, my Dad had some ideas alright. But you're not going to believe them."
It was Mulder's turn to smile. "Try me."