| “Erin Pierce?” Scully questioned remembering the girl’s name. “Yea, she’s Piper’s best friend. Piper called her after you guys interviewed her to talk about it. I guess she was pretty upset. Anyway, Erin called me to be ready for you guys.” Anna said. “Why would she need to warn you?” Mulder asked. “I know you must be thinking I have something to do with this, but I didn’t.” “Why did you tell Tom, Rose had gone home with a friend?” Scully asked. “I was in the bathroom when Rose walked in. She told me she wasn’t feeling well so she told me to tell Tom she was going to get a ride home. I just did what she told me to do.” “What was Rose doing when you saw her in the bathroom?” Mulder asked. “When she came in she looked a little pale but the flu is going around so I didn’t think anything of it. She just said she felt hot and she needed to get away from the action of everybody else.” Mulder opened the door of the car and got inside. They weren’t getting anywhere and Anna didn’t know anything about it. Mulder wasn’t sure if anyone knew what was going on. He knew Scully thought it was a murder but he wasn’t sure if he believed it. “We’ll contact you if we have any further questions.” Scully said. Anna nodded and headed back into her house. Scully made her way to the car and opened the door. She sat down and fastened her seat belt. “So what do you think?” Mulder asked. “Are you still thinking it was a murder?” “I think that’s a plausible answer. That or an accident or a suicide.” Scully answered. “I was thinking about suspects we have.” “What suspects?” Mulder asking trying to figure through the list of people they had spoken to. “Thomas Urwin.” “Her boy friend?” Scully questioned. “When I told him Rose was murdered he didn’t seem too emotional. How could a young fourteen-year-old boy not notice his girlfriend had been missing for three days? It just doesn’t fit right.” “Isn’t it possible that he was in such a state of shock that his emotions couldn’t take control over him. Mulder, when you first learn someone has died you don’t immediately start to bawl.” “That still doesn’t explain why he hadn’t asked about her or tried to see her. Nor does it explain why Rose’s parents hadn’t told him.” “Well, then maybe we should talk to her parents.” Scully said. Chapter 3 7:40 PM Mulder and Scully sat on a large white couch in Rose’s parent’s home. Her two parents sat across from them holding a box of tissues. Rose’s mother had tears streaming down her face. Mulder was looking around staring at all the pictures around the room hanging on the walls. They were all of sheep and a large, old barn. Scully held a cup of luke warm tea in her hand. She sipped it quietly. “Mr. and Mrs. Young, I know this is difficult to talk about but we’re trying to find out what happened to your daughter. Is there anyone you know of who might have wanted to hurt your daughter. Maybe a friend she had a fight with or an enemy.” “I just don’t know.” Mrs. Young said. “We didn’t think she had any enemies. She was so nice to everyone and she had lots of friends. Who would do such a thing?” Mrs. Young leaned against her husband’s shoulder. She began to cry more hysterically now. Her husband stroked her hair. “I’m thinking this possibly might not have been a murder.” Mulder said. “Are you suggesting she committed suicide?” Mr. Young asked. “No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Mulder paused knowing that if he said one wrong word he would push Rose’s parents over the edge. “Agent Scully and I specialize in unexplained cases, we’ll find out what happened.” Mulder continued to look around at the many pictures on the walls. He was mesmerized by them as if they came alive. “Excuse me, but where did you get all those pictures of the sheep from?” Mulder asked. “Um…my mother, Isabel, Rose’s grandmother, was a sheep herder. She worked and lived in that old barn that you see there.” Mrs. Young said while pointing to a picture. “She used to make wool sweaters. She had a whole line of her own but then she died and they discontinued it. She painted all those pictures herself. She’s even in one of them.” Mrs. Young pointed it out to Mulder. “You don’t look like her.” Scully observed. Mrs. Young remained quiet. Something about what Scully said bothered her. “What happened to this one?” Mulder asked pointing to a painting with a large, fuzzy white spot on it. “I don’t know.” She answered staring at the picture. Mrs. Young was silent. Scully looked into a long hallway when she heard little foot steps. A young girl walked into the living room. She had short blonde hair and looked to be about five years old. She crawled onto he mother’s lap. Mulder smiled at the outfit she wore. It was a small, purple tu tu with a matching body suit underneath. The girl looked at what Mulder was still pointing and staring at. “Mommy, what happened to the sheep?” She asked. “What sheep?” Her mother said. The girl jumped off her lap and stood on the couch between Mulder and Scully. She pointed to the exact spot Mulder was staring at. “There used to be a sheep here. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and the eighth one is gone.” She said. “Are you sure?” Her father asked. “Of course. Rose used to count them with me when I couldn’t sleep. There was eight and now there’s only seven.” Mulder thought about what the little girl said. He looked over at Scully who was obviously not buying the story. The girl jumped off the couch and sat back on her mother’s lap. “Why are you all dressed up?” Her mother asked. “We’re going to be late for my rehearsal.” The girl said. Rose’s mother looked at her watch and sighed. “Oh, I completely forgot. Go get your coat, honey.” The little girl slid off her mother’s lap and went back down the hallway. Scully and Mulder stood up knowing they were no longer wanted. “I’m sorry, Rachel has an important dress rehearsal tonight. I forgot all about it.” Rose’s mother stood up and walked out of the room with her husband following. Mulder and Scully found their way to the door and walked outside. Scully got into the driver’s seat of the car and started the engine. Mulder sat down next to her just as befuddled as she was. “Mulder, I don’t know where to go on this.” Scully said pulling away from the curb. Mulder nodded thinking about the little evidence they had gathered. “There could be and there probably is a very simple explanation to all this. If it was a murder, someone standing behind Rose could have set her clothes on fire, possibly Anna. If it was an accident maybe she wasn’t as clean as we think and she was smoking.” “That would be the plausible explanation except for one thing.” Mulder said. “What’s that?” “Her torso was the only thing burned. I keep thinking about what Piper said.” “What did Piper say?” “A sweater was attacking her, choking her.” Mulder answered. “Maybe she made that up.” “Why would she make something like that up? Nothing in this case makes since. You know I was thinking about what that little girl said. There was a blank white spot where she said a sheep used to be, that’s a little more than odd.” “Mulder, she could very well have been mistaken. She’s eight years old.” “Don’t you think the mother would have noticed if there was a large white spot in a painting she’s probably had hanging in her living room for years?” “I don’t know, Mulder.” Scully tuned the car into the hotel parking lot. She parked and got the key to her room from Mulder. She went to her room and closed the door behind her. Later that night, Mulder was unable to sleep. He didn’t know where to turn. He didn’t have any leads, and the one witness’s story was weird. Mulder was even having a tough time believing everything that was going on. He turned on the TV and started flipping through channels. He sat on his bed and just stared blankly at the TV. Next door, Scully was having the same problem. She was fingering the plastic bag, that held the strand, in her hands. She took out the piece of fabric she found in the bathroom and compared them. She had run a lab test on both of them and they both appeared to be wool. The computer said they had a ninety percent chance they were the same fabric but Scully couldn’t be positive. In his own room, Mulder had finally found something semi-interesting. It was on the animal planet and it was a show about sheep. It explained the raising of domesticated sheep, the way to shear them, and how to make sweaters. It was vaguely interesting but at least it was educational. |