Jersey State Park

Saturday, 13.50 hours

"Not you again." Detective Calhoun looked very annoyed when he saw Scully arrived at the scene.

"I told your partner here what happened in the hospital and asked him not to interfere with our job."

"We don’t mean to go over your jurisdiction, Detective. But as I told you, Agent Scully here is experienced in doing autopsy on corpses with strange conditions such as this one. We just wanna help."

"We have our own coroner, Agent Mulder. Thanks for your offer, though. Now, if you excuse me, I have jobs to do." Detective Calhoun went away as quickly as possible. He was obviously pissed off.

"Come on, Mulder. He’s right, this is not our case. Let’s go." Scully was about to move her foot to step, when she heard Mulder calling out to two men and ran towards them.

"Hey, you. Wait up." He called out.

Scully came after him. The two men waited for them. Scully noted that one of them was tall and quite attractive. When she got closer, she realized that he was not an american. Both of them were not.

Mulder showed them his badge, "Can I asked you a couple of questions, Gentlemen?"

The tall man, shrugged, "Sure." When he noticed that Scully was joining, and showed them her badge, he nodded to her and smiled.

They were asking standard questions which were already asked by the cops, so Ardeth and Iwan answered quickly.

"Did you notice something very odd to the skin?" Mulder asked the question to Iwan. Ardeth shot him a quick glance.

Scully noticed this and she watched Ardeth’s movement more closely.

"Yes, we did." Iwan answered.

"What do you think happened to him, Agent Mulder?" Iwan continued.

Ardeth turned his back and faced Iwan, "Come on, Iwan. Let’s not keep the good Agents for your stupid questions. They have works to do. Let’s go back to the hotel."

"Where are you staying, Mr. Bey, in case we need more information on this case." Scully asked.

"We’re staying at The Galaxy Gateway, probably until Tuesday."

Mulder and Scully looked at each other as the two men walked away.

"Galaxy Gateway, eh? What a coincidence." Mulder said. It was the same hotel they were staying.

"Mulder, I think they know something we don’t." Scully said as they were walking back to their rented cars. "That Ardeth Bey is acting strange, as if he doesn’t want Iwan to say too much."

"You watched him that closely, huh?" Mulder commented as he entered his car. Before Scully could say anything he closed the door.

Scully smiled and walked to her car. Mulder car passed, and he opened the window.

"I have to go on an errand, I’ll meet you at the hotel."

"I need to check up on Jenny too. See you then." Scully

Santa Anna General Hospital

Saturday, half an hour earlier

Dr. Catherine Hetfield watched the scene from afar. The police detective was in an argument with an FBI woman. She had been caught digging Ronald’s file. The FBI left and the detective received a phone call. She decided to follow her.

Dr. Hetfield, was a young doctor of 28. She was not only very attractive, but also very smart. At her relatively young age she had qualified to supervise medical researches. True, her father owned the hospital chain, but she was chosen not because of nepotism, but for her talents and expertise.

She was concern for Ronald, her trustee partner at work. Seeing an FBI Agent digging his patients files was enough to alarm her. Yet, she had other reasons for following her. Reasons that could not be exposed to anyone…. Otherwise, she would probably ended up like her partner.

She was driving behind Scully’s car, following it at a safe distance. When she realized where the agent was going, Cat turned left and parked at the corner of the street. She waited patiently there, until the Agent’s car reappear from the State Park. She would follow her everywhere if necessary. All she needed to know was where she was staying.

Scully drove her car to Jenny’s house. She wanted to give her good news about her baby, but she didn’t have any. To be frank, her investigation had stuck. She would visit the city coroner later on to learn about the cause of death of the doctor, but it seemed to her that she was chasing a different case. Nothing led to Molly, as if the earth engulfed her leaving no tracks.

Scully glanced at her rear-view mirror and realized that the car behind her had been following since Jersey State Park.

When Jenny opened the door for her, she noticed that the car went passed the house and turned right. Well, it was not following her after all, Scully thought. She went in and saw a mess. Flour and bowls and pieces of broken glass were everywhere.

"What happened?" She asked Jenny.

"I… I… lost control, I guess." Jenny said whispering.

Becky appeared from the kitchen, she was obviously cleaning up more mess in there. She was wearing an apron.

"That’s OK, Jenny. We sometimes do. Just don’t worry too much, I’ll clean up everything." She smiled to her and waved to Scully.

"I’ll wash my hands and be right with you." She said.

Jenny smiled and motioned Scully to sit on the couch, "We were baking cookies and suddenly I just felt hopeless, and I shouted at her. She tried to calm me down but then I threw the bowls and flour towards her. I don’t know what got into me. What would I do without her, Dana? She’s my best friend."

As if realizing something, she looked at Scully, "Is there any news about Molly? Is that why you came here?"

"Well…as a matter of fact there was an unpleasant development on the case. I’m here to te….." Scully didn’t have time to finish her sentence for Becky came and sit beside her.

"It’s good that you came to check on us, Agent Scully." She said, looking at her with a silencing glance.

Scully knew the look and understood what she meant.

"Yes, Jenny. I’m here to check up on you. How are you feeling?" She said.

"All right, Dana. Thanks. You said about unpleasant development, what do you mean?"

Scully quickly answered, "Nothing, Jenny. What I mean is that I don’t have anything yet to follow up with the case. No more clues as to where to find Molly. I’m sorry."

"Oh….." Jenny looked disappointed and she began to cry. And went into her room without saying anything more to Scully.

"I think I better go." Scully said. Becky walked her to the door.

She shut the door behind her, and sighed.

"I’m glad you didn’t tell her anything. You can tell me though. What’s the unpleasant development?" She looked at her worriedly.

"Well, Becky, I was going to inform her that dr. Mitchum was found dead."

"Oh… I thought so……I heard it on the news too. I just had a bad feeling about all this and I don’t want her to know, Agent Scully."

"Just call me Dana." Scully smiled and asked once more, "Why can’t she know about it, Becky?"

"Well, Dana… Jenny is not particularly honest with you about Molly’s sickness." She looked nervous now and scratching her hair, "How do I put this?"

Scully waited until she found the right words to tell her about Molly’s sickness.

"Dr. Mitchum is treating Molly as a research subject. He said that Molly suffered a rare disease that has no cure. Believe me, Dana, I’ve seen weird things with Molly before we went to see Dr. Mitchum. So, Jenny made a deal with Dr. Mitchum. Molly will get treatment but she can’t see other doctors but him. She told me that she met many parents who did the same about their children, Dana. They were as happy as Jenny. She doesn’t care if the research is illegal and that the drugs were never tested to humans before, as long as her child can grow up normal. Dr. Mitchum is her only hope. And now he’s gone… I can’t let Jenny know about this now. Even though you found Molly, without dr. Mitchum, she’s gonna lose all hopes. To tell you the truth, I never approved the deal she made with him. I don’t trust him. Yet, so far nothing bad happened to Molly…… until now."

Scully was surprised. "You said you saw weird things with Molly. What?"

"Well, one night she was crying hard, and Jenny thought she needed a new diaper. But she found Molly’s mouth was covered with thick mucus or saliva, I don’t know. She called me and I ran over here and I saw it, Dana. She was almost choked to death. Another weird thing was when she was 2 years old. She was upset with me because I didn’t let her eat all the cookies, so she cried and then, then…. hissed on me. I was surprised so I backed away from her. You know Dana, the apron that I wore that day was burnt. That very day, I knew that something was definitely wrong with her."

"Are you saying she spit out some kind of acid on you?" Scully asked in surprised.

"Yes, maybe. I don’t know what it was, Dana. Look, I gotta go back now before Jenny suspected anything."

Scully smiled and nodded, "I’ll let you know if I have a new development. Thanks for all the information, Becky."

"No problem." She hurriedly went inside and closed the door.

The Galaxy Gateway

Saturday, 15.00 hours

Ardeth and Iwan were sitting inside the hotel’s restaurant. They were having their belated lunch. Their table was located by the window, where they could see people outside but could not be seen from the outside. They had been eating in silence for quite a while, both were drowned in their own thoughts.

"So, what do we do next?" Iwan broke the silence.

"Hmm?" Ardeth didn’t quite catch the question.

"What do we do next." Iwan spelled the question out slowly.

Ardeth smiled and put down his fork. "I don’t know. Let us see what we know so far, my friend. We have the address of the dead doctor. We know how he died. We know he worked in Santa Anna General Hospital. We know that Santa Anna is managed by A&H Corp. So far, that’s all we have. What can we do here, Iwan? We’re foreigners, and worse, we found the corpse. If we do anything, the cops will suspect us. I just don’t know what we can do about the…." Ardeth left his sentence hung as he looked out the window.

Iwan followed his gaze and was equally surprised.

"That… is… Agent Mulder." Iwan said.

"What does he want with us, Ardeth?" Iwan asked worriedly. "Do you think he comes for us?"

Ardeth shook his head.

Iwan frowned, "If our old enemies knew that we found the body, they could use this to trap us in a murder case. Iwan, this corporation is big and has influences everywhere. Who knows if this Agent has been bought by the corporation, eh?"

Ardeth sighed heavily, "No, Iwan. We’re not that important. We don’t have any evidence to support our accusation. We can’t accuse them of doing illegal medical research and killing people without solid evidence. We are a couple of blind mice, my friend. They won’t bother killing us, because we won’t be able to steal their food."

"Speaking of food, I’ve done eating. I’m going back to my room. I could use a little nap." Ardeth raised from his chair and waved to Iwan.

Iwan smiled, "I think I’ll stay here a little longer." He said.

Iwan was still looking out the window from the hotel’s restaurant. He was beginning to get bored and sleepy, but too lazy to stand up from his seat. So, he looked out the window watching people come and go… not many people after all, he thought.

Suddenly his sleepy eyes widened. He saw Agent Scully walking out of her car and entering the hotel. This time he got out of his seat and peeked out from the restaurant to the reception area. He saw her taking keys from the receptionist.

"Ah… those Agents are staying in this hotel." He murmured to himself and started walking towards the reception to take his keys. Once again he stopped dead at his tracks and hid himself behind the restaurant entranceway. He peeked and saw Dr. Catherine Hetfield talking to Agent Scully. He could see them, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. After a few minutes, they both left. It seemed that the doctor was going with Agent Scully to her room.

Iwan ran as fast as he could to Ardeth’s room. He almost slipped in front of the door.

"Ardeth! Ardeth! Open up!!" He banged on the door. He waited two second, and started banging the door again.

"Ardeth, for God sake, open up!!" He yell louder.

The door was open a second later and Ardeth disturbed face showed up. His beard was newly trimmed and he was wearing a T-shirt and short pants. A towel hung around his neck and his hair was damp, indicating that he was just out of the shower.

"What’s that banging for? I’m not deaf, Iwan." He was just finished his sentence when Iwan suddenly came in and closed the door, panting.

"You won’t believe whom I saw." He went to the bed and sat down.

"I have…."

"Dr. Catherine Hetfield!" He cut Ardeth’s words.

Ardeth frowned, "Here, in this hotel?"

"Yep. And now she’s talking with the FBI Agents."

Ardeth didn’t respond to his statement and seemed to be thinking.

"Ardeth, my theory is true after all, eh? She’s buying those agents and we are dead meat."

"She’s bribing those agents, you are probably right, my friend. But I do not think she’s here to trap us. How can you be so sure that she knew about us being here?"

"Listen Ardeth. Your logic is not working when it comes to that doctor. I know you used to have feelings towards her. But hey… she’s a murderer. And she is…."

"My logic is working fine." Ardeth said slowly with a deeper voice. He was angry, Iwan knew it well.

"I don’t like guessing, Iwan. If we want to know for sure, we need to ask her."

"Are you crazy? We can’t just come in to the agents’s room and…"

"Not here. We will talk to her in private." Ardeth started taking off his shirt. He threw the car keys to Iwan. "Now hurry go and wait for me in the car. I’ll change first and be right with you in a minute."

Iwan fled to the carpark and waited for Ardeth. He saw him came running out of the hotel three minutes later. He was dressed in black. He was wearing black shirt and black pants. His long black hair was still damp from the shower he just took. Damn, Iwan wished he had that dashing look to conquer girls. Ardeth was never a playboy type, although he had the good looks every woman would want. On the contrary, Iwan, with his funny and charming words often found it difficult to get a date. Probably because I’m broke, he thought.

Ardeth climbed into the car, "Is she out, yet?" He asked.

Iwan shook his head, still looking towards the hotel.

Saturday, 16.00 hours

Becky Jenkins was taking a shower, she had just finished cleaning the kitchen. Jenny had helped a little and went inside her room crying after watching the news on TV about dr. Mitchum. She had tried soothing her to no avail. She realized that Jenny might needed a professional help. All she did was rocking her body to and fro, while sitting on her bed, whispering Molly’s name over and over again.

As she was taking her shower, her mind wandered back to her brief conversation with Agent Scully. She had never given a serious thought about the deal with Dr. Ronal Mitchum before. But now, she felt that the responsibility for Molly had just shifted from Jenny’s shoulder to hers. She dressed up quickly and went to Jenny’s room. She had cried herself to sleep.

Becky caressed her forehead and covered her with a blanket. She stood there looking at her friend for a brief moment. She was sleeping so peacefully, almost like a baby. A drop of tear fell on her cheek. The feeling of hopelessness surrounded her. She sighed and wiped the tear with the back of her hand.

On her way out of the room, Becky glanced at the bathroom. An idea flashed inside her head. She went inside and opened the cabinet. She checked the container one by one. She found one container with no label and checked the capsules inside it. No marks, no labels. She took two capsules and returned the container where it belonged. Twenty minutes later, Becky was on her way to Philips Pharmacy.

She quickly entered the place. A middle-aged woman greeted her.

"Hi Becky. How are you. I didn’t see you in Church last night."

"Hi Mrs. Philips. I’ve been … busy. Is Emma here?"

"Yes, yes, I’ve heard about what happened to Jenny’s daughter. You must be busy helping her. I’ll go get her." She disappeared behind the counter to another room.

Becky waited impatiently. Emma Philips was her friend at the Church choir. She was a pharmacist and with her mother, they run a small pharmacy in the neighborhood.

"Hi Becky, what’s up?" Emma walked towards her.

"Can I talk to you in private, Emma? I know you’re busy, but it only takes a minute, I promise." Becky looked at her with pleading eyes.

"OK, let’s go outside. I could use some fresh air too." Emma led the way out, opening the glass door for her.

"Becky, is everything all right?" Emma asked with a concerned tone. She had never seen Becky acting so unsure before. They had been friends for years and she was a very dynamic and cheerful person. She was popular in the community not only for her beautiful face and figure, but also for her kindness. She helped everybody.

"No, Emma. Nothing is all right." Becky looked at her with wet eyes, she was about to cry.

"Is this about Jenny? What can I do to help?"

"I found these pills." She handed Emma the capsules. Becky didn’t want to tell her that the capsules were Molly’s medicine.

"Can you find out what these capsules are. There’s no label on the container." She continued.

"Jenny took this capsule?" Emma asked.

Becky smiled wryly, "No… not at all. It’s just… well… (Damn, I’m not a good liar)… she was not feeling good lately, you know… so I don’t want her taking the wrong pills .. you know … while she’s depressed. These are sleeping pills, right?"

"Hey… wait a minute there. I can’t be sure what these are unless I test them. Listen, Becky, you just go home, take a rest and take care of Jenny. I’ll check these things, and I will call you, OK?" Emma smiled and squeezed her arm lightly.

Becky smiled back, "OK, Emma. Thanks for your help."

"No problem, Becky. Will you tell Jenny I said hello? I do hope the police will find Molly quickly."

Becky nodded, "I’ll tell her. Bye Emma, and thanks."

She walked back home alone. The sun was setting fast and her surrounding was beginning to get dark. Across the street, a pair of eyes watched her every move from inside a dark blue GMC.