| “We don’t have all the answers.” Mulder said trying to explain that as much as they wanted to know, no one really knew the truth. “Then at least come in and talk to us. Tell us what’s happening. What you’ve found.” Erin said. “We want to know everything.” Scully knew there wasn’t much that she had found but she nodded and opened the car door. She got out and the rest of them followed. Piper led them into her house and she realized no one else was home. Her parents knew she and Erin needed time alone to think over exactly what was happening. Piper led everyone down into her basement. She felt the most comfortable down there and it was the only place that could calm her down. “Girls, we don’t know what happened.” Mulder said. “But you at least have to have a theory.” Piper said. “Tell us what you think happened.” Erin pleaded. Piper took a seat on the floor. She covered herself with a baby blue blanket and leaned against the couch. Erin sat on her blow up chair comfortably tucking her legs under her body. Mulder and Scully sat on a large couch facing the young, frightened girls. “I think Rose’s grandmother is doing this. Her ghost wanted to kill all of Rose’s male friends so she wouldn’t end up like her mother. The man you think is Rose’s father, isn’t. Rose’s grandmother had Rose’s biological father killed.” Mulder explained. He continued. “Since Rose’s grandmother’s ultimate fate was to die with her sheep in a barn, which caught on fire, she wanted to kill people in the same manner. So, she remade her line of sweaters, which were sent to burn and kill the people who wore them.” “Well, that was one theory.” Scully said. “I think that the wool used to make those sweaters was given a chemical that made them spontaneously combust or something like that.” “Doesn’t that appoint Rose’s parents then? Didn’t they give all three of the victims their sweaters?” Erin asked. “No.” Piper responded. “Tom gave Rose her sweater as an eighteen month anniversary present. The other two were given by rose’s parents.” “Well, there’s no suspect, hardly any evidence, we’re the only witnesses so that can’t be very credible.” Piper observed. “No, you’re right. This case is very difficult and I can’t even promise you we’ll solve it. Some cases do remain unsolved but we’re trying our best.” Scully said. “We know.” Erin and Piper said together. “Do you think there could be more murders?” Erin asked. “We don’t know. If my theory is correct, we can discontinue the line of sweaters which killed Rose, Will, and Tom.” Scully said. “How do you know what sweaters they were wearing?” Piper asked. “I found a scrap of the sweater in the girl’s bathroom where Rose died. I found a matching strand on Rose’s body. We could figure out the manufacturer and stop the sweaters from being made.” “If my theory holds true, I believe the killings are done. Unless there is a male friend Rose had that we don’t know about.” “No, those were her only two very close friends.” Erin said. “We’ll stick around in case something else happens.” Scully said. “Well, we should let you girls get some sleep. School’s going to be canceled tomorrow but we’ll probably end up contacting you.” Mulder said. Piper nodded and Mulder and Scully stood up. They let themselves out of the house and went back to their hotel. Chapter 6 49 Stone Avenue May 24, 1999 9:45 PM In her basement Piper boosted herself onto the couch. She laid out her sleeping bag and put her pillow at the top. Erin had already set up on a mattress on the ground. They both laid there in the dark unaware of what to say to comfort each other. Three hours later, Piper still was lying on the couch with her eyes wide open. She realized it was already the next day. It was past midnight. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to sleep again. Erin was doing the same thing. The silence was too quiet and it scared her. Were the murders going to stop? Was the school going to hide it from the people who already didn’t know? How long would it take to forget the last week, or would they ever forget? These questions raced through the girl’s minds. “Erin, are you still awake?” Piper finally said breaking the silence. “How could I not be?” Erin asked though not expecting an answer. “I’m scared.” Piper confessed. “Me too.” “We don’t know what killed them. Erin, they were our friends. How can we let the case just go? I know it’s going to remain unexplained.” “It’s like a giant 100 piece puzzle when 90 of the pieces are missing.” Erin said. “That’s an interesting way to look at it.” Piper looked over at the radio. She knew neither her nor Erin would be able to sleep for a long time. Piper crawled out of her sleeping back and put in her favorite CD. A familiar song filled the room. “Here we go one more time, Mr. Haming’s feeling fine.” Erin began to sing. Piper stood up and began to dance. It was a dance Erin, herself, and their friends had made up just the past weekend. Erin stood up, as well and turned on the light. “Here we go now.” They sang together. “Science lab here we go, Mr. Haming’s got the flow. Move the flame to the beat, got to distribute the heat, here we go now.” The dance went perfectly with the music and it looked interesting. Piper jumped on her couch, which was substituting for her bed, and began to dance. Erin jumped up with her and they danced together. They began to laugh and sing. Piper knew her parents were probably upstairs trying to sleep but this wasn’t going to stop her from having a good time. “Greene knows the parties here, come along and have no fear, Lukey is here, to make you people learn, now is the time for us to reunite, come on honors students there’s a post lab going on tonight.” They continued to sing. They both looked at each other and knew they would be okay. The things they had seen would haunt them for a while but it would get better. They knew they had to stick together and talk it through but everything was going to be okay. That day, neither Mulder nor Scully contacted Piper or Erin. Three days later nothing else unusual had happened. No one else had been murdered and school was back in session. Mulder and Scully sat in their plane thinking about what had just happened. How did a little state like Rhode Island turn up to have such an unexplained murder. No one ever thought something like that could happen there. Scully stared out the window looking at the clouds. It was a beautiful day but she knew Piper and Erin would probably never see a beautiful day as long as they lived. The images they saw had permanently imprinted in their minds. Mulder sat next to Scully thinking the same thing. He felt bad for the poor young adolescents. They had so much life in them but half of it had probably been drained out. Scully looked over at Mulder who was sitting there silently. Usually by now Mulder would be listening to his headphones but he just sat there. “Mulder?” Scully said rather more as a question. “I feel like we let these girls down, Scully. They looked to us for help and we couldn’t help them.” Mulder said. “I feel the same way but we did what we could, Mulder. We’ll contact the girls when we land in DC.” Three hours later Scully sat in front of her computer. Her typing was the only sound in the air. She thought about Piper and Erin as she spoke. Case File number X113467. Agent Mulder and myself were unable to determine a clear cause of death for either of the three victims, Rose Young, Thomas Urwin, or William Colon. There are no signs of murder, suicide, or natural cause. Two eyewitnesses, Erin Pierce and Piper Alexander, claim a sweater attacked the victim but their statement has not been taken into consideration due to unknown credibility. Agent Mulder believes the victims died due to the involvement of the deceased grandmother of Rose Young. He believes the spirit of the woman killed the victims in order to seek revenge on any male who made contact with her granddaughter, Rose. His theory cannot be proved or substantiated due to its bizarre nature. Because of accounts that were witnessed of each of the victims wearing a wool sweater before they were murdered, I have come to the conclusion that the wool held a special chemical. The exact name and nature of the chemical is undetermined but nearby farms are still being investigated. After running many lab tests on the thread found on Rose Young’s body I cannot find a sweater matching the exact material. The line of sweaters supposedly doesn’t exist. This case remains virtually unsolved due to lack of evidence and is open for further investigation. Well, that's it there's no more. Thank goodness! Now for all of you who know what I'm talking about I wrote this story before the whole three bean salad thing appeared. Now the "relationships" have changed a bit but we can forget about that for now. And for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, don't ask. I don't have much else to say! All I can think of is if Chris Carter can bring a character back from the dead then I can have killer sweaters! E-mail me your comments and suggestions! |