Chapter Text
“We should stop for lunch. And we might need to get some gas soon.” The sound of Mulder’s voice breaking the silence after so many minutes of quiet driving startled Scully, prying her eyes off of the autopsy report she had been immersed in for the past fifteen minutes.
“Hm. Are there any rest stops nearby?” She hadn’t really been paying attention to the road, since that was usually her partner's job, but Scully couldn’t remember the last time they saw anything but trees, shrubs and lampposts.
There had been a constant drizzle falling ever since they landed in New York, and it showed no signs of stopping any time in the near future. The radio’s weather channel predicted that the rain would only get worse in the next few days, which normally would annoy Scully to no end, since rain almost always proved to be an inconvenience. But now she didn’t seem to mind so much- they were expected to stay in the place they were going to for some time, and the way the humidity made Mulder’s hair flop onto his forehead always made her heart go a bit warm and fuzzy. Not that anyone had to know about that last part.
“We just passed a sign a few miles back saying there’s an inn with a diner a few minutes away. We can stretch our legs a bit, eat something.” He spared a brief glance at the folder laying on Scully’s lap. He had barely gotten the chance to look it over yet. “And then you can catch me up on what you’ve been reading.”
Scully nodded in agreement, fiddling with the dials on the console to change the station. “I think this is going to be a tricky one, Mulder.” She added.
“What gave that away?” He laughed, trying to keep the conversation as light as possible given the circumstances. “Was it the fact that Skinner barely briefed you, or the fact that I had just gotten to the office and you were already pretty much dragging me by my tie to the airport?”
Mulder had arrived at the office, given the world’s quickest explanation about a series of murders in a small town outside of New York, and then was informed that they would need to go undercover at the local highschool. He didn’t know much else, and to make matters even more intriguing, they hadn’t been able to discuss the case during their short plane ride- the old lady sitting between them wouldn’t have appreciated such colorful topics of discussion before noon.
“There’s no time to act when kids are dying. Besides, it’s your fault you picked today of all days to come in late for work.” God, they were about to walk into such a mess. A series of three murders so far, all high schoolers. And Scully had a sinking feeling there might be more to come.
Their conversation died down after that cheery remark. Thankfully, it only took a few more minutes for them to reach the little inn. There was a sign in the front indicating that they also had a restaurant available for all customers, not just the guests. Mulder carefully parked the car near the building- there were no formal parking spaces, just a beaten stretch of land where a few other cars were scattered about.
“Oh, this place is lovely. Like something out of a story book.” Scully observed while gently slamming the door behind her. Mulder made a sound of agreement while making his way around the car, casually looping an arm around her shoulders before they walked in together.
The place was fairly empty, so they managed to get a booth near the window. It was a bit colder than in the rest of the restaurant, but the view of the rain droplets falling against the trees made up for it. They placed their orders almost immediately, eager to finally discuss the case at hand. Mulder ordered a burger, and Scully a salad that probably couldn’t even satiate the hunger of a child. Upon hearing what she ordered, Mulder started to think of ways to employ his best manipulation skills to at least trick his partner into taking a few of his fries.
“Look at this.” Scully was saying, ready to get straight to business as she carefully extracted a series of pictures from the depths of her manila folder and turned them in Mulder’s direction. “Three victims in the span of just a couple of months. All of them go to the same school, are roughly the same age-“
Mulder randomly selected one of the pictures to pick up and take a closer look at- not that the other ones were any different. This was the kind of crime scene that if he saw in person, he would probably go a bit green in the face. “And all of them murdered in what can only be described as a ritualistic way, by the looks of it. Maybe even sacrificial.”
Scully nodded, unable to take her eyes off the photographs. The gruesome part didn’t bother her so much. No, she was a medical professional. She could handle the blood and gore. But the pentagrams, the candles, the way the bodies were positioned. That was perverted. Her hand went to the crucifix necklace resting upon her neck almost on its own accord. Who could do such a thing?
“All of the victims were found in the same place. At the local high school. And all of them had different parts of their bodies taken. Eyes, tongue. One of the victims even lost both their hands. Whoever this killer is, Mulder, I’m sure they’re going to strike again.”
“And I’m sure you’re not wrong. Can you pass me the folder? I want to read the full thing.”
Mulder lost himself on the accounts of the crimes as soon as he got his hands on the documents, leaving Scully to stare at the photos still left on the table. She had most of the details memorized by now, since they were all so alike. The only thing different, really, was what was taken from each student. But the rest was astonishingly similar. No real signs of struggle, nothing taken but the one specific body part chosen. All of them appeared to have been unconscious before death, but without any traces of sedatives in their systems. The whole ordeal seemed to have been done with almost graceful amounts of precision.
Their waitress chose that exact moment to arrive with their dishes, letting out a small gasp when she saw what the photos on top of the table were. Scully was quick to collect them, shoving the small pile down the inner pocket of her trench coat. Mulder was still fully focused, seeming to refer back and forth between the same three pages a few times before closing the folder to start eating his meal.
“None of these kids showed signs of a struggle. That must mean they knew their attacker. Trusted them, even.” He observed in between bites.
“I was just thinking about that. Skinner didn’t have much information to share, but he did say there’s no solid suspect so far. It could be a member of the staff, or someone from the student body. There’s no way of knowing. And there’s something else, Mulder. The autopsy report didn’t find anything in their systems- no tranquilizer drugs, nothing. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“Clearly, because if they were conscious they would have fought back to some capacity. What does the local police think happened?”
“They’re stumped. That’s why we’re here.”
“We’ll figure it out. But something has been bothering me about this case. If the killer truly is someone who frequents this school, in whatever capacity, they’ll be suspicious that two new teachers will be arriving at the same time- during an ongoing investigation no less. How come the school even has two spots open in the first place?” Mulder questioned, surreptitiously sneaking some of his own fries onto Scully’s plate.
“The English teacher you’ll be taking over for had a planned maternity leave that got scheduled before the murders even started.” Either she was so distracted by the case at hand, or she really wanted the fries- it didn’t matter. She started to eat them the second Mulder placed them on her plate, which constituted a great success in his books.
“And the biology teacher you’ll be taking over for?”
“Ah. That-well… His son was the first victim. The boy who lost his eyes.” With the fries gone, Scully was just pushing lettuce around her plate with a fork now. They weren’t exactly having the kind of conversation that did wonders for the appetite. “He moved out of town soon after it happened.”
“What, they just let him skip town like that?”
“Read the whole file after you’re done eating. You’ll see he was at home with his wife when the murder happened. Besides, his son's death broke him. He did the right thing, moving away.”
“Well, I guess that’s one less possible suspect.” Mulder reached for a napkin, having finished the last of his burguer. The leftover fries, he pushed toward Scully along with some lame excuse that he was too full but didn’t want to waste any food. She knew better, but still accepted. “I guess we can also cross out the pregnant English teacher.”
“You never know. It’s always the ones you least expect.” Scully smiled, trying to lighten the mood. They were both aware this would not be an easy case.
“Well, Agent Scully, I think the second we get to town we should see about interrogating her newborn baby, then. That would be her main alibi.” He reached for one of the slightly greasy menus, perusing the available dishes again. “But before we do that, I say we should order some pie.”