Part Two It would have been impossible to miss the crime scene, as Mulder and
Krycek drove up, they could see the lights from at least a dozen police
and other official vehicles blinking in the early morning fog. Alex parked
amidst the rest, then climbed out, he didn't turn to see if Mulder followed
sensing the other man's presence to one side of him instinctively. Watching
the behavior Mulder wondered if the younger agent was even aware of it,
and did he show as much trust to his real partner? Somehow, the older agent
didn't think so, his suspicions were confirmed as they made it to the area
where several men stood studiously not looking at a tarp covered something
laying on the frost-covered ground a few feet from them.
One of the men, a blond probably ten years older than he was saw them
and stepped forward to meet Alex.
"Krycek," the blond said coldly. The man was as tall as Mulder, shorter
than Alex by an inch, but he was built the same as the younger agent. His
gray eyes were as cold as the sky above them as he looked first at Alex
then at Mulder.
"Williams," Krycek nodded to the older man just as coldly, he turned
to Mulder, "This is my partner, Chris Williams.
"And he is?" Williams demanded.
"Fox Mulder."
Without waiting for his partner to say anything further Krycek walked
away heading toward where the body lay.
Mulder smiled somewhat apologetically at Williams, his intent to follow
Alex, but the older man, stepped in his way.
"Why are you here? I heard you have your own team. This is our case."
Mulder looked at the man and wondered how much of Krycek's attitude was
a direct result of having to work with him. He didn't let any of that show
on his face though as he answered, "I'm in town on another case true, but
my team as you say is more than capable of handling what needs to be done
now. I asked Krycek if I could come, it's okay with him, and he's the agent
in charge, isn't he?"
Williams didn't have an answer for that quickly, which was exactly as
Mulder hoped. He brushed past the man to go to where Alex was squatting
by the body. He hadn't lifted the tarp yet, he was apparently listening
to another man who was also squatting beside him talking. As he got closer
though Mulder could see that Alex's eyes remained fixed on the tarp as
if he was anticipating what it concealed. The emotion in his eyes as he
noticed Mulder and looked up wasn't anticipation however, but dread. There
was such pain and weariness in the younger man's eyes that Mulder had to
stop himself from grabbing him and pulling him away from here, away from
whatever that tarp concealed and the bitter partner that was making it
all worse.
The man sitting on his heels next to Alex stood and walked towards the
new arrivals as Mulder approached, "Agent Mulder. I'm Joe Henderson, I've
read all your early cases."
Mulder smiled at the man, "Not all of them I hope. I made plenty of
mistakes back then."
Joe Henderson grinned, "We all do. Still not too many of us can claim
as much success or accuracy as 'Spooky' Mulder."
Mulder winced inwardly, but he managed to hide it with a half smile
at the other profiler. Henderson looked like the kind of agent who rarely
went into the field, someone who was more comfortable behind a desk. He
was short, a bit on the dumpy side, exercise clearly not something he practiced,
his rumpled suit and shirt enhancing, rather than hiding this.
His too long, mouse brown hair, was graying but did nothing to hide
a receding hairline. Mud brown eyes partially hidden behind thick lenses
stared owlishly up at Mulder. His entire image bespoke the kind of guy
who could quote chapter and verse of most psychologically studies but whose
actual experience, was in all likelihood practically nil.
"You've probably seen a lot of things," Henderson continued, following
Mulder to where Krycek still squatted next to the covered body. "But this
is the first time we've seen anything like this."
Mulder just nodded his attention for the moment focused on Alex, he
smiled grimly at the younger man and moved to lift the tarp.
"You don't have to do this," Krycek spoke finally.
"I know," Mulder told him. "I told you I'd help if I could." Krycek
nodded and his fingers brushed Mulder's slightly as he reached and pulled
up a corner of the tarp.
For a split second Mulder wondered if the contact was as accidental
as it appeared, then he forgot about it completely, his attention wholly
drawn to the corpse.
The body had been arranged so that the head was pointing East, the feet
West. Mulder had joined Krycek on the right side, as the tarp was lifted
Mulder's first thought was that it was a female. He frowned when Krycek
raised the covering further, something that was far from normal, his frown
deepened when he saw why.
"Jesus!" Mulder hissed.
Uncovered it was easy to see that it wasn't one corpse but two. The
bodies of a man and woman had been dismembered, and bisected then actually
sewn back together. The head, or heads, Mulder corrected himself, had been
cut in half as well. The right side was the female's, the left side the
male's. His eyes traveled down the portion of the body now exposed and
he could see that the torso had also been similarly treated, only the sides
reversed, male on the right, female on the left. The clothes on each portion
of the body were for the opposite sex.
"Where's the other one?" Mulder asked, standing up.
Krycek let the tarp drop, hiding the gruesome sight again, then stood
as well. It'll be close. All the other's have been."
"How many is this?"
"With this one, nine sites, eighteen bodies," the younger agent told
him.
"We've been able to keep the true circumstances from the press, but
we don't know how long that's going to last. So far the families of the
victims have all agreed to keep quite and to have closed casket funerals,
but...."
"Yeah only takes one, and it'll be on the front page," Mulder nodded.
"I'd like to be at the autopsy if possible?"
Krycek nodded as well, "We should have the other body soon, and then
we'll clear out. They've never been..."
"Over here!" One of the uniform cops at the sight yelled. Krycek's partner,
was the first to begin moving in the direction the voice had come from.
"Don't let them touch anything, Williams" Alex called, hurrying to catch
up to the other agent.
Mulder let him go first, following, Williams was already resentful,
and having Mulder acting like Krycek's new partner wasn't going to improve
his disposition. Henderson followed behind the three field agents. The
other body, or, Mulder corrected himself the other halves of the bodies
in the large open field, lay in a small hollow formed by the roots of some
of the large trees which encircled three sides of the field. Joining the
men already surrounding the second corpse, Mulder paused, looking back
at the first body he frowned, although separated by over a hundred yards
the bodies appeared to lie parallel to each other, though this one's head
pointed west, the feet east.
Krycek noticed the frown, "What is it?"
"It's a straight line," Mulder said looking back, "An almost straight
line, I'd say."
"Yeah, I've noticed, there's one other thing," he broke off and gestured
to the second body.
Mulder nodded, "The positions are reversed."
The younger agent nodded, looking down at the corpse. Mulder looked
as well, he was struck first by the small amount of blood around or on
the body, there was scarcely any on the weird clothes. Also for corpses
that had been so obviously butchered there was a curious lack of smell,
as if killer had cleaned them before leaving them to be found. With this
one being fully exposed Mulder could now see that the strange substitution
of body parts extended to more than the head and torso. The female side
of the torso, now on the right side, had the male's right arm and leg attached
but the hand and foot on that side were female. Mulder also noticed that
the hair on both heads had been cut to match and he thought died as well,
since it was normally very unlikely to see two people with the same exact
hair color.
"There should be more blood," he commented.
"Sometimes there is," Krycek answered, his gaze still locked on the
corpse.
"Most of them have had a lot of blood around them and on them, soaking
the clothing, the ground whatever. But this makes the third I think," he
looked at his partner, "That right, Williams, this is the third isn't it
without much blood."
"Yeah," Williams answered shortly. "Not that it makes much difference."
It might tell us something, Mulder thought but didn't say. Surely Williams
had been an agent long enough to know that every detail could have some
significance, especially one like this. Aloud he said to Krycek, "I'd like
to know exactly how far apart they are as well."
Krycek didn't seem to hear him for a moment, Mulder looked over at him
and saw that the younger agent was still staring at the body, his eyes
raking it from head to toe as if memorizing every detail.
Mulder moved closer to him and touched his arm slightly, "You okay?"
"What?" Krycek looked at him sharply then briefly closed his eyes and nodded,
"yeah. You wanted to know how far apart they are. I'll have someone check
it out. We should leave, not much to see. The others can gather whatever
evidence there is. Not that there will be anything.
There hasn't been."
The older agent agreed, he could already tell that little to nothing
would be found here. Both places the bodies had been left were as undisturbed
as possible, if anything they'd been cleaned up by who ever had left the
grisly remains. There weren't any cigarette butts, papers, cans, bottles
or other trash. Something which in and of itself was suspicious, the hollow
was even almost empty of leaves even though it was fall and there were
plenty elsewhere. This was a fairly used part of the park, had been for
over twenty years when the hippies of the 60's era had taken it for their
own. Hence the name Hippie Hill which was still used by the natives of
the city. Teenagers and others still came here for picnics and less legal
drinking and consuming of other substances. The wooded areas surrounding
the hill were used by the same for other less public activities and there
should have been evidence of previous visitors. The fact there wasn't pointed
to some other reason, a reason that had something to do with the careful
placement of the two mutilated bodies.
Krycek moved away to speak to one of the forensic specialist combing
the ground for evidence. Williams waited until his partner was out of ear
shot then said, "He's losing it. If you're a friend of his maybe you should
try and get him to back off, maybe ask to be reassigned."
"That would leave you as the agent in charge," Mulder said looking at
the older man.
"Well, yeah. It would. That's not why I'm telling you this, he's not
holding up under this one. I know he's drinking more than normal and for
him that's saying something. He's been drinking more and more over the
past few months and since this started.... Well, let's just say, it's not
interfering with work... yet."
"Then there's nothing to worry about, is there," Mulder said tightly.
"No bureau rule against drinking as long as it doesn't interfere with the
job.
I think you're right he's affected by this, who wouldn't be? I also
think you're wrong, he'll hold up and solve it as well."
"Look, I'm just telling you the way I see it," Williams said. "It's
no skin off my nose whether he loses it or not. I just don't want to go
down with him."
"Somehow, I don't think you will," Mulder commented looking at the other
agent. "No matter what happens, I think you'll come out of this just fine."
Williams was smart enough to catch Mulder's meaning and smiled thinly,
"Damn straight, I will, Mulder." With one last glance at the visiting agent
and then at his younger partner he began walking away from the scene toward
the parked car. The profiler Henderson, who'd been standing behind him,
during their conversation, went with him. Mulder was annoyed that the older
field agent hadn't done anything to hide his thoughts from the other agent.
"What was all that about," Krycek asked coming back to stand beside
Mulder.
"Your partner... "Mulder looked at the younger agent and for a second
couldn't decide whether or not to tell him everything, then some newly
protective instinct rose up and he decided that the younger agent didn't
need to know that his partner lacked confidence in him. "He's ambitious,
isn't he?"
Krycek looked at him, dark green eyes narrowing a bit as he frowned,
"I've noticed. What did he say to you?"
"Just a warning about his take on things," Mulder told him, evasively.
"Are they going to get the distance for us?" He asked changing the subject.
"I'd also like to know the distances between the other bodies as well.
You said they were never far apart."
"That's right, and I think most of the distances were measured, it should
be in the reports."
Mulder nodded, "Come on, I'd like to take a look at those reports before
the autopsies. I have to call my team as well and let them know where I
am."
"If any of them show up here, Williams is going to... "Krycek began.
"Don't worry, I'll just let them know I'm helping with a mundane boring
everyday serial killing and they won't come anywhere near. They're convinced
such things are beneath them... and me as well." Krycek chuckled, "Well,
I'm glad you don't feel that way. I... I need the help." Mulder could feel
the truth behind the admission; he was curious as to Alex's reasons. He
had his own reasons for wanting to help. Krycek continued, "I think all
of us have been on this case too long, we're missing something obvious.
Something that's right in front of us." "New perspectives sometimes help,"
Mulder agreed. "Let's go. Maybe we can grab some breakfast on the way back
to the FBI building." At the mention of food Krycek looked less than enthusiastic
but nodded proceeding Mulder out of the trees going back to their car.
As they passed the place where the first body had lain, the two agents
could see that it had been moved away already. A second coroner's wagon
was just pulling up amongst the other official vehicles as the two agents
moved to Krycek's car.
"I've already left word that we want to be there for the autopsies,"
Krycek said climbing into the drivers seat. "We'll get a call when they've
been scheduled."
"Good," Mulder said, getting into the car himself. "I should stop by
my hotel and change. We can eat there if you'd like. You can tell me what
you remember from the other sites, the other victims."
"I'll take you to your hotel. I'll tell you what I remember, but I'm
not hungry," Krycek said.
Mulder didn't say anything, but he was determined to get the younger
man to eat something. Alex had admitted to not eating at all yesterday
until they met in the restaurant, now with this loss of appetite as well
as Williams' comments the older agent felt concerned. It was evident that
Krycek was taking this case hard, just how hard was becoming more and more
apparent.
They didn't say much to each other during the ride back to Alex's apartment
where Mulder picked up his rental. Both men had time to think as they drove
to Mulder's hotel.
Mulder found himself thinking about the case, a familiar excitement
was coming over him. The excitement that a puzzle had always given him,
a puzzle, a twisted maze that began in some ones mind. At once he was fascinated
and repelled by that mind, as he had always been and he cautioned himself
against falling too deep into that which fascinated him.
Patterson had gone that route, a route Mulder had felt himself sliding
into as well before he found the X-Files. Strange, he mused, that cases
that drove most over the edge had actually saved him.
Alone in the car he chuckled, "and just what does that say about you?"
He knew that Scully and Skinner had more than a few reasons to wonder about
his sanity many a time, after all one or both of them had actually had
him committed twice. But in spite of those times, or perhaps because of
them, he'd been able to bring the evidence he'd sought for nearly ten years
to light. He'd proven everything and those who had conspired to cover it
up, those who had been behind the abduction and later death of his sister
as well as so many had been brought to justice. A justice which most of
the American people would never see, true. Even he realized that it was
better that way. But the bastards were gone from their positions of power
and influence. After more than fifty years they had been pulled from the
shadows which had held and protected them into the bright and garish light
of exposure where like weakened old gargoyles they turned to stone and
then to dust. Their lives crumpling away a long with all they held dear.
Unlike all those other times, even unlike the current case he'd come to
San Francisco on, there was a new factor... Krycek. Alex. Mulder frowned
slightly thinking of the younger man, it was plain for anyone to see that
Alex was walking a tightrope over this case. His partner, Williams, was
bitter and obviously not too happy about being junior agent to a younger
man. He also wasn't really that interested in solving the case, more interested
in looking good. He'd let Alex or anyone else do most of the work as long
as he got most of the credit. Mulder had seen his kind around for years,
and he didn't like them. He realized that his dislike for Williams went
beyond the usual though, and he had to wonder at the feelings he was experiencing
around a certain six-foot green-eyed agent, who just happened to be sexy
as hell.
"Well, Scully, you told me to get a life," he laughed aloud. "I wonder
what she'll make of this?"
Alex Krycek found himself gripping the steering wheel of his car so
tightly his hands began to cramp. He came to a stoplight and pulled his
right hand away, flexing it and momentarily rubbing it against his thigh.
A second later he balled it into a fist and pounded the wheel.
"Damn. Stupid. Incompetent..." he snarled. "What were you thinking,
you've got a case to solve. You should have been working last night but,
no, you were... were off living some idiotic juvenile fantasy with Fox
Mulder. And what was the rest of the fucking world doing while you were
begging for a cock up your ass? Well, nothing much. Just one sick fucking
low-life butcher was hacking up two more kids! So now you have the pleasure
of finding and telling two more sets of parents that their children won't
be coming home again. Christ!"
The light changed and he pulled away, tempted to turn off and head to
the FBI building instead of Mulder's hotel. He almost did, except he remembered
that Mulder was good, very good at what he did. Alex admitted to himself
that he was at a loss with this one. He was a good investigator, but there
was so little to investigate, eighteen dismembered and bisected, hell,
he corrected dissected bodies, and almost nothing else.
The crimes didn't fit with any known group or person, anywhere in the
world. The victims had nothing in common. The truth was he wasn't any further
along on this case after this last pair than he had been after the first.
When he'd been first assigned to it, he'd been intrigued a little, appalled
surely; it was so gruesome, so vile. Like something from some gory chain
saw and axe horror movie, or even like those weird cases of Mulder's. Now,
though after over two years, he felt drained, he was going in circles,
hell they all were, none of it made sense. So, even though his guilt over
the night before was making his stomach turn to acid and giving him a headache
which would be with him for the rest of the day, he kept going. He needed
Mulder not for... companionship; a loser like him didn't deserve that.
He did need Agent Mulder for this case. He hoped Mulder would at least
try to understand and not just leave in disgust, going back to Washington,
leaving him with a town full of butchered kids.
Phoenix Inn, San Francisco
Mulder pulled his rental car into the Hotel's underground garage. Alex
pulled in a few minutes later parking in the visitor's area. Together the
two men rode the elevator to Mulder's floor.
They were quiet as they walked, the younger agent searching for a way
to end what he'd started with the personal ad. Placing the ad had been
irresponsible, answering Mulder's email, stupid. He'd ignored all the other
emails generated by the ad, not, thank God, that there had been many, he
thought. Suggesting that they meet at the restaurant, he could almost attribute
to being drunk; showing up had been insane. He shook his head in disgust
at himself, sighing aloud.
Mulder glanced at his companion, Krycek had been overly quiet since
they'd arrived at the hotel. The older agent had already surmised that
this case was troubling the younger agent a lot, but something else was
too. It didn't take a profiler to notice that the sparkle that had been
in those green eyes the night before was missing now. Mulder decided to
wait until they were in his room before trying to draw the other man out.
The two men reached Mulder's room and the older agent opened the door.
He moved to the phone on the writing desk, saying, "I'll order breakfast,
then change. Then we can eat and get over to the Bureau. What would you
like."
"Just coffee. I'm not really hungry."
"Okay," Mulder said softly. Picking up the phone he called room service
and proceeded to order breakfast for two, completely ignoring what the
other agent had said. Then he called his young associate Meyers, Roberts
answered and Mulder smiled, the two were amazing where one was, the other
wasn't far behind. They'd only been out of the academy for a year and a
half and had worked together for the entire time, even deciding to work
the X-files together. It was uncanny, they were uncanny, and their presence
had even Scully, calling the team the Spook squad.
Mulder listened as Roberts briefly summarized what he and his partner
had found the day before on the case they'd come from Washington to investigate.
When the younger agent was done, Mulder said, "There's an autopsy scheduled
for this morning. Two bodies found in Golden Gate park, when is it scheduled
for?"
It took Roberts a few moments to find the information, while he was
looking for it, Mulder watched Krycek slump into a chair and stare out
the window.
After a moment the younger agent brought his hand to his forehead rubbing
briefly at the bridge of his nose, then his temples.
Roberts came back on the line and told Mulder that the autopsy was scheduled
for later that morning. The older agent thanked him, told him he'd be there
in an hour and hung up.
After setting the receiver back into it's cradle he looked over at Alex
who was still massaging his temples then Mulder went into the bathroom,
seconds later he was standing at the younger man's side a glass of water
in one hand, two bottles in the other.
"Tylenol or Advil?"
"What?" Krycek looked up at him, eyes narrowed slightly. "Which works
better for you Tylenol or Advil?" Mulder asked. "I've got both."
"Umm, Advil, actually. Unless its Tylenol 3?"
"Nope. Sorry." He handed the younger man the bottle of Advil. "One of
the disadvantages of not being concussed on a regular basis is being reduced
to using over the counter medications. No exotic prescriptions, I'm afraid."
Krycek looked up at him, a faint grin touched his face as he opened
the bottle. "That's one disadvantage I don't mind having.'
Mulder chuckled, "Neither do I. Don't tell Scully though, I've got her
convinced that I really do miss it."
The younger man chuckled softly as well, opening the bottle he shook
out three of the tablets then popped them into his mouth washing them down
with water. He handed the bottle back to Mulder, then laid his head on
the back of the chair and closed his eyes.
Mulder watched for a second, then reached out and gently kneaded one
shoulder, not really shocked to feel how tense the other man was. "Rest
for a moment," he told him. "I'll go change, breakfast should be here soon."
The younger man nodded slightly, not opening his eyes, and with, a final
squeeze to the shoulder under his hand, Mulder walked away. He quickly
found clean clothes and changed, he was knotting his tie when there was
a knock on the door. He opened it to allow room service to wheel in a cart
with two trays on it. The young man pushing the cart placed the trays on
the table, along with a full coffeepot, two mugs, cream and sugar. "Will
you be needing anything else, sir?" the server asked. "No, looks good,"
Mulder handed him a tip and closed the door behind him.
Turning back into the room, he saw that Krycek hadn't moved. "Alex,
it's time to eat. Then we should be going."
"Go ahead. I'm not hungry," the younger agent said. The dishes were
covered but the smell alone was making him queasy.
Mulder walked over to stand beside him again, "Alex?" he waited until
the other man looked at him then continued, "You're pushing yourself and
probably beating yourself up about it. Neither of which is going to catch
the killer. Running on adrenaline, caffeine and guilt won't do anything
but give Williams the chance to push you out. Which may mean this is never
solved, I don't think he can do it. I also don't think he cares one way
or another. You do, and that's both a blessing and a curse."
"A blessing....? For who?" Krycek asked.
"To the ones that won't die when the killer is found." Mulder told him.
"Come on, let's eat." He wrapped his hand around the younger man's upper
arm and pulled him from the chair over to the one at the table where the
food was.
Krycek let himself be led to his seat, once he sat he uncovered the
plate in front of him. Mulder had ordered light breakfasts of scrambled
eggs, toast and a small portion of mixed fruit. Still, it was hard for
the younger man to pick up his fork and begin to eat, he sat playing with
it for several minutes, not aware that Mulder was watching him. Mulder
reached over and laid his hand on the younger man's, "Alex?" "Yeah, " Krycek
stared at their hands, wondering how he could pull away without offending
Mulder. The problem he found was that he didn't want to pull away, he welcomed
the contact, rather than lessening it what he really wanted was to deepen
it. Which he knew they couldn't do at the moment, still the desire was
there.
"We're not leaving until you eat," the older agent told him, surprising
himself by sounding like Scully at her most sheltering.
"We need to get to the autopsy," Krycek said. "You'll need to see the
reports of the others first... We don't have time...."
Mulder interrupted him, squeezing the hand he held slightly, "We have
time, the autopsy isn't scheduled until 11:30 which gives us," Mulder glanced
at his watch, "gives us about two hours. It will also be better for me
to review the reports on the others after the autopsy. Then I won't be
expecting anything. We have plenty of time, so eat, alright?" He stroked
the younger agent's hand with his thumb, then released him. Krycek gave
him a wan smile and picked up his fork. By concentrating on nothing but
eating, he managed to finish his breakfast. Once he had, he realized that
his headache was receding. His stomach had also stopped trying to burn
a hole through his body. Finishing his second cup of coffee he looked up
to see Mulder watching him with a smile on his face. "What?"
"Nothing," the older agent said, smiling. "You ready?" When Krycek nodded,
he continued. "Let's go."
The two men picked up their jackets and left, Mulder managed to touch
him several times as they made their way back to their cars in the hotel's
garage. Before getting into his vehicle Mulder stopped him with a hand
on his arm, "I have to meet with Meyers and Roberts first, that won't take
long then I'll come to your office, all right?"
Krycek smiled then nodded, slightly nervous from the intent look Mulder
was giving him, "Sure, sounds good."
Mulder continued to gaze at him, then leaned closer and kissed the younger
man's mouth. Alex stood frozen for a moment, then reluctantly responded.
The kiss was gentle, as if the older man were trying to soothe him.
It was over in an instant, Mulder was still smiling at him as he drew away,
"It's okay, Alex. It will all work out. We'll make it work out, okay? Not
sure what to say, Krycek simply nodded, then said, "I'll see you at the
office."
"See you there, " Mulder answered, with a final smile he turned and
walked to his car. The younger agent watched then got into his own vehicle,
starting the engine he drove out of the garage. Fortunately, the Federal
building wasn't too far from Mulder's hotel and he didn't have too much
time to think on the way there.
As he pulled into his spot he saw that Mulder's rental was already there
and parked. He found himself smiling; Mulder still drove like a bat out
of hell. He remembered their one case together and how many times they'd
fought over which of them drove the best or worst, depending on who's point
of view you were looking at.
He was smiling faintly as he entered his office, the smile faded when
he saw that Williams was already there waiting for him. The man was sitting
in Krycek's chair and made no move to get up. Krycek's eyes narrowed, "What
have you found out?"
"Not much yet," Williams said slowly. "We have a tentative ID on the
female." He gestured to a file which was lying on Alex's desk, still making
no move to give up the younger agent's chair.
Krycek had never killed in cold blood in his life, in fact he'd only
killed once so far in his career, but his partner made him think of pulling
his gun and putting a slug through his thick skull almost daily. Williams
seemed to delight in pulling some sort of macho bullshit every time he
got the chance. The younger agent was sick of it, he'd been ignoring it
for the most part but it was becoming harder and harder.
His voice was lower than usual when he said, "Williams, get out of my
chair."
"Sure, Krycek," the other man smirked. "All you had to do was ask."
The younger agent's fists balled up unconsciously, and he had to force
himself not to just start swinging. He took his jacket off and hung it
up then sat down, opening the file on his desk, he saw that the female
victim had tentatively been ID as Sarah Hamsen, 19, a student at U. C.
Berkeley who'd been reported missing a little over a month before. Krycek
read the missing person's report, Sarah had actually been reported missing
after failing to make a weekly call to her parents in Irving, California.
When the Berkeley police had questioned her roommate on the U.
C. campus, they hadn't learned much, only that Sarah was a good student,
that she'd gone out that Friday night and that she failed to come back
to campus. By Monday morning her parents and the roommate were all worried
and had called the police. The problem was that no one knew with whom or
where she'd gone out. The roommate thought it was a rock concert in San
Francisco, but there were only so many ways to check that or to see if
anyone had actually seen her there. The police had a little luck and found
a young woman who'd been working in the souvenir counter who remembered
selling a T-shirt and jacket to Sarah. The two women had talked about the
band, which was why the vendor remembered her so well.
Krycek read the report then looked over to his partner who was now sitting
in the other chair, "so, we got lucky and someone actually saw her at the
concert. But after that we have no idea where she went, or who she might
have been with?"
"That's about it," Williams nodded. "The vendor told the police that
she didn't seem to be with anyone, or as she put it anyone male, but that
there were a lot of women in the audience that night, there either together
or alone, just to see this show. Bunch of stupid little fools, should have
been home where they belong."
The younger agent didn't even bother acknowledging the remark, he'd
been listening to Williams disparaging remarks about the victims for two
years.
He wondered why the guy had become an FBI agent in the first place.
From all Krycek had learned about him, he didn't feel anything for the
victims and wasn't really keen on catching the perps. Williams just didn't
seem to care one way or another. Krycek didn't understand why he was in
the bureau and how he'd managed to stay as long as he had.
He put aside his questions about his partner's motivations and continued
reading the file. His silence irritated Williams who finally said, "look
if you're going to sit there and read the whole damn file, I'm going to
get something to eat."
"The autopsy's at 11:30, " Krycek said. "I've invited Mulder to come."
"What? Why did you invite that... that weirdo to an autopsy on our case?"
"Because," Krycek's voice was tight, "We're no farther along now then
we were when this started two years ago. We have three profilers with six
different profiles on the perp between them and none of them match or agree
with each other. We have no other evidence, just eighteen cut up young
people who have nothing in common, except they're all good kids, from good
homes, doing nothing wrong and now they're dead. My main reason for asking
Mulder to help us is that he is good, very good. I think we need him.
If you have a problem with that, take it up with the AD."
Williams sat and glared at him for several minutes, then rose abruptly,
"I just might do that. I won't have him taking credit for our work." "Go
right ahead," Krycek snarled. "The AD might see it my way, though."
"We'll see, we'll see," the older agent left the office slamming the
door behind himself.
Krycek stared at the door, thinking of all the reasons he shouldn't
follow the other agent out and pound his head into a wall. Closing his
eyes against his returning headache, he turned back to the file in front
of him trying to see if the Berkeley police had missed anything in their
missing person's investigation. He was pretty sure they had, it was after
all only a missing person's case, something which police departments nation
wide tended to place little significance upon, unless it involved a child.
He was reading the file for the third time when there was a soft knock
on the door, and Mulder came into the office. Almost against his will,
Krycek felt himself smiling at seeing the other agent.
Mulder smiled back, watching Alex's face light up, the younger agent
had at first looked like he was ready for a particularly unpleasant confrontation.
"You ready?"
"Yeah," Krycek reached for his jacket, straightening his tie as well.
"They've tentatively ID'd the woman as Sarah Hemson, nineteen. A student
at U. C. Berkeley."
"That was pretty fast," Mulder commented.
"She was reported missing over a month ago, so there was a file on her,"
Krycek picked up the file from his desk and handed to the older agent.
"This is all we know now."
Mulder took the file and began scanning it, he glanced at Krycek as
the two of them walked, "Is Williams meeting us?"
The younger agent shrugged, "I don't know. He might be waiting to see
the AD instead."
"Why?"
"He's... He's unhappy about you being involved in the case," Krycek
told him truthfully. "We had a... a disagreement about it when I got here."
"He came to see you about it when you got in?"
"Not exactly," Krycek gave him a humorless smile.
Leading the way to the elevators, Mulder waited for the younger man
to elaborate, after a few moments of silence he prompted, "what did Williams
do?"
"He was waiting for me," Krycek's shoulders slumped slightly, "he's
taken to baiting me every chance he gets. This was just one more of his
little games."
The older agent glanced at him, Alex's admission was disquieting. Partners
often disagreed, but rarely went out of their way to annoy each other.
That Williams had resorted to such tactics was an indication of a serious
problem. "Did he just start this?" he asked Krycek.
"Yeah," the other said, "although we've never been a good team." Glancing
at Mulder he admitted, "I'll be glad when this is over and one of us can
be reassigned."
Mulder made a noncommittal sound, but filed the information away to
be looked at later. He was already reading the file the Berkeley police
had provided on Sarah Hemsen the female victim. Apart from the fact that
she'd last been seen paying a lot of money for a souvenir jacket she didn't
seem to be the kind of young woman to end up the way she had. In his years
with the bureau however, Mulder had learned that anyone could be a victim.
The elevator doors opened and he followed Krycek down the corridor to the
pathology labs. The younger agent led him to a room and the two men entered.
Since Scully had performed the autopsies on the four victims from Mulder's
own case he hadn't met the local pathologist. Who it turned out, was a
young man, with black hair, dark eyes and a natural tan. "Hey, Agent Krycek,"
the man said. "I'll be ready to start in a minute.
Where's Williams, he gonna skip this one too? And who's this guy?" The
greeting and questions were all said with no pauses and almost no stops
for air. Mulder found himself grinning, he looked at Alex and found he
was smiling as well.
"I don't know if Williams is going to be here or not," the younger agent
said. "This is Special Agent Fox Mulder, Hector O'Brien." Mulder looked
at the young pathologist a question clear in his eyes, as he offered him
his hand to shake. "Pleased to meet you....." "Dad's pure black Irish,
Mom's Mexican-American, third generation," the young man said taking Mulder's
proffered hand. "It was a meeting and marriage that could only happen in
California. Frankly I think they both saw West Side story one too many
times, but hey I'm here. So, you're Fox Mulder, huh? Are you as Spooky
as they say? Man, you are, like, a legend at Quantico."
Krycek cleared his throat, "You can ask Mulder all about his hero status
later Hector, now I'd like to see what we can find out."
"Huh," O'Brien looked startled. "Okay, sure, no problem Krycek. We'll
get started now. I had them brought in just a bit ago. Follow me." The
two agents followed the pathologist through another door into the examination
room proper. This one was larger than most having two steel tables, instead
of the normal one. A young woman in green scrubs was already there laying
out a tray of instruments.
"This is my new assistant Robbi," O'Brien said. "Robbi, this is Agent
Krycek, and Agent Mulder, they're going to observe this one." "Okay, I
think we're ready, doc." The auburn haired woman said. "Then let's get
to work and see what we've got here." O'Brien said. He pulled the covering
from one of the bodies.
"What the....!" the assistant said then stopped.
"I thought you got things ready?" O'Brien looked at him. "The bodies
were brought in by Thomas," the young woman admitted. "I just got the instrument
tray ready. I didn't see them. Is the other one the same?"
"Probably," the pathologist frowned slightly. "You gonna be okay with
this?"
"Yeah, it's just a shock that's all," she told him.
The pathologist just nodded, taking his assistant at her word, with
a final glance at the young woman, he turned on the mike above the examination
table and went to work. The first thing he had to do was dissemble the
bodies from the cruel method in which they'd been joined. For all his nervous
chatter before the actual autopsy, Mulder could see that, while he was
younger than Scully by several years, he knew what he was doing and did
it in a completely professional efficient manner. When he had the chests
of the first body open, he removed the heart and then motioned to Krycek,
"It's the same as the others, the heart's been removed and joined like
the body, probably the lungs have been reversed as well. I won't know that
until I've removed them both.
Alex standing with Mulder leaning against one of the walls, nodded,
but didn't say anything.
"The hearts are..." Mulder asked.
"In all the other victims," Krycek explained. "The two hearts are also
bisected and then rejoined, one half from the male victim, the other half
from the female victim. The lungs are also removed and switched. In the
earlier victims there was some attempts to do the same with the rest of
the internal organs but it didn't seem to please the killer as much and
that stopped after the third one. Other things started though." "Like what?"
the older agent wanted to know.
"Let's wait. If it's been done in this instance, O'Brien will tell us
soon enough."
Krycek's words proved to be true, but not until the heads of the victims
were being examined.
"Damn," O'Brien exclaimed, "hand me that magnifying glass would you?
His assistant handed him the glass, and the pathologist bent closer to
examine the sinus cavities of the male victim. "Who ever is doing this
is getting better at it. Come take a look."
Krycek, followed by Mulder moved closer to the table, Alex pulled on
a pair of latex gloves before taking the glass from O'Brien.
"Do you see it?" the pathologist asked.
"Small chips in the bones, like part of it's been cut or shaved away,"
the younger agent handed the magnifying glass to Mulder who also bent to
look.
"Yep, that's it. Whoever did this trimmed the bones in the nose to make
the two sides fit together better. I'm willing to bet the same thing's
been done to the wrists, ankles and other bones as well. I saw the same
on the ribs and vertebrae. This person is into making these bodies as close
to the same as possible."
"The dude is seriously sick, man!" Robbi said.
Mulder grinned at the young woman's assessment, but didn't really agree
with her, although he kept that to himself. He knew better than trying
to explain to most people that someone who did this might well be completely
insane in some ways but in most others would appear to be totally rational.
He looked at Krycek and saw that the younger agent was thinking the same
thing.
"What about the hair?" Alex asked. "Is it the same as the others too?"
"No way to tell for sure with out the lab analysis," O'Brien said.
"But I'd bet it's the same. Her hair has been cut to match his and it
was dyed for both of them to match."
Mulder frowned, "We can see what's been done to the bodies, I'm assuming
that all this was done after death. What caused death in the first place?
I don't see any wounds, no signs of trauma, of course with this much
damage..."
"We won't know for sure until the lab results but I'm betting it was
the same as the others, an ingested poison, probably one of the nightshade
families, belladonna or the like. Although this particular poison has been
refined to be extremely lethal, so lethal in fact I'm not sure how whoever
using it is coming into contact with it and not killing himself." "How
potent, are we talking?" Mulder asked sharply "Every pair of victims has
been poisoned by an increasingly higher potency," the pathologist told
him. "The toxic levels in the last pair were fifty percent higher than
what is usually found from ingesting this type of poison...."
He was going to continue but was interrupted by the late arrival of
Williams.
"Well, what do we know about this pair?" he demanded, "Other than she's
was a worthless little tramp and he's probably some cock-sucking runaway
little faggot."
"All we know at the moment is that it looks like they died the same
way," Krycek said slowly.
"And that who ever is doing this is getting better with his surgical
technique," O'Brien added. "Other than that we'll have to wait for the
lab results. I was just explaining to Agent Mulder the probable cause of
death."
"Well, yeah," Williams sneered. "If Agent Mulder is supposed to be such
a hot shot maybe he can tell us who's doing this already?"
Mulder had been looking at the body, but he turned and looked at Williams,
if any of the men in the room had known him better they'd have seen the
expression for what it was. Fox Mulder didn't like having a challenge thrown
in his face, especially by someone he could see had all the imagination
of a tube worm.
Narrowed hazel eyes glared directly into cold gray ones, "No, Williams,
I don't know who did this. I don't know why they did it. I am going to
find the answers, that you can bet on."
"This isn't your case, Mulder," Williams warned.
"It is if I want it," Mulder told him. "For the moment, it'll stay Krycek's
and yours. However, I'm going to work it, if you try and interfere with
that you'll find that I have more authority than you imagine."
Mulder didn't give the other agent a chance to answer, he turned to
Krycek, "Let's go, I want to get started on those reports." He nodded at
O'Brien and his assistant then stalked to the door.
Krycek started to follow, but Williams caught his arm, warning, "You're
making a big mistake siding with him."
"I don't think so," the younger agent snapped, pulling away from the
older man. "I just want to solve this. Frankly, if the devil himself offered
to help, I'd take him up on it. After we bring this monster in I'm sure
we'll both be reassigned. For now I just don't want to spend another year
looking at something like that," he gestured to the two bodies now lying
in pieces on the twin steel tables.
"You're losing it, Krycek," Williams sneered at him. "If you think old
Spooky Mulder can help, you're really losing it."
"Maybe," the younger agent answered tiredly. "But if I am you'll be
the one to get the credit when it's solved, and I'll take the blame if
it's not. Either way you come out a winner. That is what you're after isn't
Williams?"
Eyeing the man up and down, Krycek left the examination room, hurrying
to catch up with Mulder. He found the older agent standing by the elevator
waiting for him.
"Sorry about that," he said. "I don't like him and his attitude got
to me in there."
"Hey," Alex told him grinning. "You didn't shoot him, I've been considering
that on a daily basis. It's good to see that I'm not the only one who loses
it around the jerk."
"He's that all right," Mulder grinned back. "I meant what I said, though.
I want to find this person as much as you do."
"I know," Krycek told him. "Don't worry about it, I don't care who's
case it is or who gets the credit as long as this person is stopped." Mulder
nodded. "Then let's get to work."
The two men took the elevator back to Krycek's office where, Mulder
began going over the first eight crime reports as well as sixteen previous
autopsy reports. Krycek concentrated on the newest one, trying to put a
name to the face of the male victim. A task made more difficult by the
post-mortem plastic surgery which had been done.
Mulder read through the reports one by one, the victims were only remarkable
in their ordinariness. Williams was wrong, not a tramp or runaway among
them. Most of the sixteen victims had been college students, although two
had actually been younger, that pair of victims had still been in high
school. They'd been victims three and four, he'd been reported missing
first, a student from Richmond, he'd last been scene on his way into San
Francisco for a job interview. The girl that time had only been reported
missing a few days before, she was from Oakland and had been on her way
to a overnighter at a friend's. When she failed to show up the friend had
called her parents. Two days after the missing person's report was filed,
her body had been found, along with that of the male victim. The first
two bodies had also been sewn together, as had every pair since, however
the degree of sophistication in the process had been a lot less.
As Mulder read the reports he saw that each subsequent crime showed
a growing ability. The clothes the bodies were dressed in also changed
each time. The first time they'd been dressed in short white unisex robes,
the terrycloth material soaked with blood.
As the pathologist had said, an attempt had been made to switch all
the internal organs of those first victims. It hadn't worked very well,
and compared with the photos from those first several places the bodies
had been found, that morning's site had almost looked peaceful. Reading
the autopsy reports Mulder began to notice something else, something which
he'd seen on the case he was investigating himself. "Alex," he said suddenly.
"Yeah," the younger agent looked up. "Have you found something?" "Maybe,"
Mulder told him. "I need to have a some files brought over from my case."
"Haven't you and your team been given one of the conference rooms to
work out of?"
"Yeah."
"Why don't we take these over there, if you need to compare them?" Krycek
said.
"There's more room, you get three people in here and it'll be a bit
crowded."
Mulder thought there might be another reason behind Krycek's suggestion,
but he didn't comment on it. The two gathered the files and headed down
the hall to one of the smaller conference rooms. Mulder walked in to find
his two younger associates deeply immersed in the reports they were writing.
"Agent Mulder," one of them said.
"Hey guys," the older agent greeted, smiling easily at the two.
"Good morning, Agent Mulder," one of the men said.
Krycek found himself suppressing a smile, he wondered if the bureau
sent this pair out as recruiters, or, more likely they were probably used
as FBI poster boys. He'd never seen two agents who looked more like the
so-called bureau ideal then these two. They both had the almost same shade
of medium brown hair. They were average height, average weight, with the
same average shade of brown eyes. Neither of them was remarkably handsome
nor noticeably unattractive. The most extraordinary thing about them was
their ordinariness.
"Alex Krycek, Agent Scott Meyers and Agent Kevin Roberts," Mulder made
introductions.
Alex shook hands with the two agents, then Mulder continued, "Agent
Krycek is working on a serial murder case. I've decided to help him with
it. Going over the reports from his case so far, I discovered something
we've seen on this one. Meyers, do you have the report handy from the victims
last month?"
Meyers moved to one side of the room where a file cabinet was and opened
the top drawer, he searched for a few minutes then came back to the table
where the other three men stood. He handed the file to Mulder who handed
it to Alex.
"Take a look at the description of the weapon used," Mulder said, half
sitting on the edge of the conference table. He was watching Krycek and
didn't see both Meyers and Roberts scrambling to move files and reports
away from where the older agent sat.
Krycek saw though and smiled briefly at the two other agents before
opening the file that Mulder had given him. He briskly flipped through
the pages until he came to the section describing the weapon used on the
victim. He scanned the two-page report quickly, then sat on the table beside
Mulder and read through it again, slowly.
When he was finished he looked at the older agent, "It's the same kind
of weapon. From what this report says, it's also been treated the same
as the ones used in my case."
"Yep," Mulder nodded. "Read the rest of the report, Roberts, Meyers,
why don't you each read one of the reports from Agent Krycek's case. Tell
me I'm not imagining things. I'm going to get us all some coffee, be back
in a bit."
Alex moved off the table, nodding at Mulder offer, "Sounds good, thanks."
He sank into one of the conference room chairs already deeply immersed
in the report.
By the time Mulder had returned almost twenty minutes later, Krycek
had read though half the report on this victim. There were several differences,
but there were similarities as well. Similarities that at first looked
random, but perhaps weren't.
Mulder came into the room carrying a cardboard tray with four large
Starbuck's cups on it. He also was carrying a paper bag also with the Starbuck's
logo on it, with a variety of muffins in it. He sat the coffee on the table
and handing one to Alex who took it absently. Meyers reached for one and
Mulder handed it to him. Roberts actually got up leaving the report he'd
been reading on the table to retrieve his own coffee as well as a large
blueberry muffin.
Mulder sipped his own coffee, watching the three younger men, Alex was
still busy reading, and Mulder suspected, re-reading the file. Meyers was
busily reading, his right hand jotting down copious notes as he did. Roberts
leaned back in his chair, sipping his coffee, his eyes glued to the open
report he'd propped up on the table in front of him. After taking a banana-nut
muffin from the bag and peeling the paper off it, Mulder sat it near Alex,
who glanced at it then up at Mulder. Mulder raised one eyebrow at him,
which Krycek smiled at then went back to reading. Mulder took another one
of the muffins for himself then placed the bag close to Meyers, he could
never figure out which kind the young agent liked, seemed to be different
every time. Picking up another one of Alex's case files Mulder began reading
as well.
Almost an hour passed as the men each finished the report they were
reading, each sipping his coffee as he did. Seeing that all of them were
done, Mulder broke the silence, "Well?"
"It has to be the same killer," Meyers said. "The poison that killed
these people is the same."
"But the victims in Agent Krycek's case are all young, people who someone
is going to miss," Roberts argued. "The victims in our case are older,
most of them no one will miss. Except for some of the men, who were reported
missing by their parole officers."
"That doesn't change the fact that the weapon in this case is the same
as the weapon used in at the last two victims in my case, from the report,
the killer didn't even clean the blade there are traces of those two victims'
blood in your victims. All the sites where the bodies have been found have
had one male victim and one female victim," Krycek said. "Still," Roberts
began. "In your case the bodies are bisected and then joined together in
that bizarre manner."
"While the ones from your case are vivisected and the internal organs
switched," Krycek countered, "Male into female, female into male. Also
there is a lot of blood at all your case scenes. While at mine there is
less and less blood, almost none at all this last time."
Mulder had stood listening to the three and now said, "There is one
more thing, all the victims from our case were killed on the night of the
new moon, from what I've read in these two cases your victims were also
killed on the new moon. Last night was also a new moon, I'm betting that
when we get the autopsy reports we'll find that they both were killed early
last evening."
"So we're dealing with what?" Krycek looked up at him. "A cult? Not
one murderer but two maybe more?"
Roberts and Meyers looked at Krycek then at each other, Meyers said,
"It's the only thing that makes sense."
Roberts nodded slowly, "It sounds incredible, but I have to agree. A
cult and more than one murderer. But why? Except for the weapon, the butchery
and the time dates of the deaths none of the victims has anything in common
with any of the others. Homeless men in their mid-thirties to mid-forties.
Elderly women living also on the street or alone, and college students.
Where's the connection?"
"When we figure that out," Mulder said, "we might have more insight
into the reasoning behind the crimes."
"If there is a reason," Roberts grumbled. "If sickos like these can
have a reason."
"There's always a reason," Krycek told him, smiling grimly at the younger
agent. "It may not make much sense to us, but there is always a reason.
The stranger the crime, the more definitive the reasoning behind it."
"Exactly," Mulder agreed. "These murders are being planned and executed
on a very firm time table, the method of the murder itself is taking a
lot of careful preparation on the part of the killers. That alone suggests
some very clear underlying purpose to these killings."
"So we have to figure that out, to solve them?" Meyers asked. "No, just
knowing it will help," Mulder said. "At this point however we have to find
the connection between the victims, not a connection that makes any sense
to us, but the one that makes sense to the killers." "First we have to
find the identity of the latest male victim in my case," Krycek said. "Without
that we'll never be able to track his movements."
"We should also interview the people that saw the girl alive last,"
Mulder added. "At least in the case of your victims there are people who
saw them, who knew them. That's not the case with several of our victims,
the ex-cons are actually proving to be the ones we can track the easiest.
Most of the women are...."
"They're just elderly women, living alone, most with no relatives and
few friends," Roberts put in.
"Houses filled with cats, birds and in one case fifteen dogs," Meyers
added. "The one commonality among them is that they were all a little...
um... eccentric."
Mulder chuckled, "Nice to see your attitude change, Meyers. I think
Scully will approve. I don't think she appreciated you saying that they
were, "all mad as hatters."
"Yeah, well, she didn't wade through several inches of dog shit, just
to almost become lunch for that pack of mutts either," Meyers said firmly.
"Being pregnant does have advantages," Mulder chuckled.
Roberts and Krycek also laughed, and after a moment so did Meyers. After
a moment the younger agent looked up, "Speaking of lunch, isn't it about
that time? I could use something."
"Sounds good," Mulder said. "We can talk about our next step while we
eat.
There's a McDonald's close by. Come on, I'm buying."
"Great, let's go," Meyers agreed. Grabbing his jacket the young agent
hurried to the door holding it open for Mulder.
Roberts looked at the two of them and shook his head, "Tomorrow we go
somewhere I pick. I always forget I should beg Scully to stay so I have
an ally against the junk the two of you consume."
Mulder grinned at him, "Well, there is a fourth person; what about it
Krycek? McDonald's or something healthy?"
Alex looked from the younger agents to Mulder then dropped his gaze
to the floor, "I'm not really that hungry." He glanced up at Mulder, seeing
the older agent's frown and continued quickly, "McDonald's is okay, I guess."
Mulder itched to question Krycek but knew that now wasn't the time or
place. He smiled, trying to appear more relaxed than he was, "Let's go
then."
The four men gathered jackets and made their way from the building,
joining the throngs of San Franciscans also going to lunch. In fact there
were so many people going to lunch that four suited FBI agents faded into
the people crowded into the nearby McDonald's.
end...
Half Moon Bay and Strawberries
by Nightcloud
Golden Gate Park, Near Hippie Hill
6:17 am
8:53 a.m.
