| “Piper, I know the last three days have been hard for you but…” Scully began. “Don’t you see, it’s not just the last three days. Ever since I first saw the dead body of Shaina, in the woods in July, I almost died. I was so frightened then, but I thought everything would change. I was wrong, nothing can ever change. Once you look death in the eye you see it for the rest of your life.” Mulder stood up and tapped Scully’s shoulder. She followed him into the corner of the restaurant. Piper sat at the booth staring at her half eaten hamburger. It looked vaguely appetizing but she knew if she didn’t eat or sleep she would drive herself to exhaustion and possibly depression. “Mulder, what are we going to do with her? If she goes back to that jail she’ll end up killing herself.” Scully whispered. “I feel the same way which is why I think we should take her with us back to the hotel. She can sleep in your room until we can clear this matter up.” Mulder said lowering his voice. “The police would never go for that. It’s obvious they thought they had a good reason for arresting Piper, or they wouldn’t have done it.” “Their reason is because they had no other way to go on this case. There were no other immediate witnesses and there was no other explainable reason for where this girl when or how she disappeared.” Mulder said. “Mulder, the fact remains that there is nothing to tie Katie down to the murder. There’s no body, no weapon, no fingerprints, no evidence of anything. Even if she did kill her what would be the motive? Where would she have stashed the body?” “I didn’t kill her and I didn’t stash the body.” Piper said while coming up from behind the two agents. “I don’t feel so well.” She said. “We don’t think you did this, Piper. We’re on your side.” Scully said. “We’re going to take you back with us to our hotel so you’re not in that jail.” Mulder said. Piper wasn’t at all enthusiastic. She knew the guards wouldn’t want her to go with Mulder and Scully but she hoped they would. She was lonely and needed someone to talk to. She wanted to call her house and here the voice of her parents or even her sisters. She wanted to talk to Erin about how crappy her life was, but she knew even that wouldn’t make her happy. “They won’t let you take me with you.” Piper said quietly. “We’ll make them.” Scully persisted. Piper followed Mulder and Scully out to the car and finally back to their hotel room. Piper sat down on one of the beds in Scully’s room and realized how tired she was. She leaned back and rested her head on the pillow. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep. Scully looked over at Piper and gave a look to Mulder. He picked up his cell-phone and dialed the jail Piper was being held in. After a few minutes of arguing, Mulder hung up. Scully sat at the edge of Piper’s bed. She managed to un-tuck the bedspread from underneath Piper’s body to cover her with it. She stood up and walked over to Mulder. “What did they say?” Scully asked. “They’re not to keen on the idea of us taking Piper but I managed to convince them we’ll take care of her. They don’t want us to let her contact her parents or friends.” Mulder explained. “Mulder, we can’t deny this girl the privilege of speaking to her parents. If we don’t help her soon I’m afraid she literally will kill herself. She’s depressed and we need to do something about it.” “We need to investigate the crime scene.” Mulder responded. Scully nodded and walked back to Piper’s bed. She shook her slightly to wake her. Piper opened her eyes and looked around. She quickly scrambled off the bed and tumbled onto the floor. She backed against the corner holding her legs tightly to her chest. “Piper it’s okay, you’re safe now.” Scully soothed walking towards her. She bent in front of Piper and looked her face to face. “I know you’re afraid but you don’t have to be. We’re going to help you.” Scully looked back at Mulder as he walked out of the room. Obviously, he was going to his own room to see what he could find. After an hour or so, Scully finally was able to get Piper back into bed where she could have a good night sleep. Chapter 3 December 21, 1999 8:12 AM Mulder surveyed the large area. He put on a pair of latex gloves and shifted around a few pieces of glass made by broken ornaments. He pushed the Christmas tree aside from the large burnt spot on the ground and ran his fingers over it slightly. He looked up when he heard something behind him. “Where’s Piper?” Mulder asked Scully as she walked in. “Still sleeping. I thought it was best to leave her alone for a while and see if she could straighten things out inside her mind. She was so frightened last night, Mulder. What’s happened to this poor girl?” Mulder didn’t know how to respond. He felt bad for the poor teenage girl and he couldn't help but feel he had contributed to what she was going through now. “Hey Scully look at this.” Scully kneeled down and looked what Mulder was looking at. There was a whole in the floor boards. Mulder stuck his finger threw the whole and began to pull. He could hear the wood begin to crack but he knew his strength alone couldn’t break the wood. Scully stood up and walked into another room. She came back holding a screwdriver, which could possibly help in plying off the wood. Scully walked back to where Mulder was and handed him the screwdriver. He took it in his hands and began to pry the wood. They both listened as the wood split and came off of the floor. Scully looked down and gasped. A body was under the floor. Mulder continued to take out the wood until the entire body was uncovered. The body was cut and bleeding with several parts of the clothing burned. “Oh my God, Mulder. It looks as if her entire body has been mutilated.” Scully said. Mulder nodded. He picked up his cell-phone and dialed corners to pick up the body. They waited for the men to arrive before they went back to the hotel room to question Piper. Scully unlocked her door, expecting to see Piper still in bed but she wasn’t there. Scully checked the bathroom but she wasn’t in there either. “Where’d she go?” Mulder asked. “She’s running away. She’s afraid.” Scully tried to explain. “Afraid that the police might find the truth because she did murder that girl?” “Piper didn’t do this, Mulder.” She paused not knowing how to respond. “We have to find her before the police do.” At that instant, Mulder’s cell-phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered. Scully tried to fill in the other end of the phone conversation but it was difficult. Mulder hardly said anything but instead just nodded. He hung up his phone and sighed. “There’s been another murder.” He said. “Who?” Scully asked. “Erica Drear. She was one of the ones at Judy’s party. Piper was there and found the body.” Scully followed Mulder to the car and they drove to the crime scene in silence. Scully didn’t know what to think anymore. Was Piper the murderer? Had Scully stuck up for her just because they were friends? Was she unwilling to see the true person Piper really was? The thoughts raced through her mind but she didn’t seem to have any of the answers. Mulder and Scully made their way up the front steps of the house in unison. They walked under a strip of yellow police tape and showed their badges to a police officer. They walked to a room where Piper was sitting. Her hands were handcuffed together and she looked just as miserable as the last time Mulder and Scully had seen her. “Well Agents we seem to be seeing quite a lot of each other.” The detective said. Mulder recognized his voice as the man who he had argued with over keeping Piper with him and Scully. He was also the man whom he had spoken to about the murder. “How did it happen?” Scully asked. “We got a 911 call from a girl, who turned out to be Piper. She claimed the Christmas tree was attacking the girl when she came in. The body had remained unfound but there’s a burnt spot under where the Christmas tree seemed to land.” The officer explained. “What did Piper say happened?” Mulder asked. “I don’t know. She won’t talk.” The officer answered. “Maybe you just don’t know how to talk to her.” Scully said. “Maybe you two are too good to her.” “What she needs is protection. She needs someone to talk to. She needs her family and her friends.” Mulder argued. “This girl doesn’t need anything but how to know when to tell the truth.” The officer said. “As far as I can tell, you haven’t helped her any. So as of right now I am no longer allowing this girl to see or talk to you. So, I suggest you investigate the crime scene and leave." Scully opened her mouth to argue but Mulder pulled her arm. She walked with him to the exact scene of the crime. Scully put on a pair of latex gloves and searched around and under the Christmas tree. On the ground was broken glass from the tree lights being shattered. The angel from the top of the tree remained intact on the floor. “Hey Mulder, why wouldn’t the angel have shattered or at least broken?” Scully asked picking up the angel. Mulder walked over to Scully and took the angel out of her hands. He looked it over and noticed it was in perfect form and there wasn’t even a scratch on it. “Maybe it was just lucky.” Mulder said. |