| “Does that mean you’re leaving me home alone tonight?” Piper asked Mulder. “What about Suzanne?” “She’s a at a friend’s house tonight.” Piper paused and then her face lit up with a smile. “I can have a little get-to-gether sleep over thing. I’ll call Erin, Candy, Hannah, Max…” Her voice trailed off as Mulder thought of the damage that Piper and her friends could do. He laughed to himself and then got in his car. Piper got in the back seat, continuing to talk. Mulder started the car and drove off to Piper’s house, listening to her endless talking. * * * * Five hours later, Mulder was sitting in his car chewing a plain potato chip. He swallowed it and took a sip of his soda. He was parked in the front parking lot of Piper’s school, keeping an eye on what was going on. On the other side of the school, in the Gymnasium, a basketball game was going on. A few people innocently came and went through the Gym entrance. Mulder watched the intently, having nothing better to do, though he knew his job was to keep an eye on everything going on around him. He lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes and looked out into the darkness. He turned his head to look out the passenger side window. His eyes grew wide as he saw something big and dark through his binoculars. He lowered them slowly, afraid to see what stood before him. He let go of the breath he was holding when he saw who was there. “God Scully, you scared me.” Mulder said. Scully opened the car door and climbed inside. She held a manila folder in her hands. She handed it to Mulder. “What is it?” He asked, opening it and looking through the papers and photographs inside. “The victim was a 46-year old widow and mother of two named Kelly Turner.” Scully explained as she showed Mulder the pictures of the dead woman. “Did you figure out how she died?” “The same poison as our original victim. I got the tests back from the lab that we took from the first victim. The poison is something called Frazon.” “I’ve never heard of it before.” Mulder said as he shifted in his chair. “Neither had I until now. It immediately enters the blood stream, causing the blood to turn cold and clot so that it no longer flows.” “So it kills people by blocking their blood from flowing throughout their body?” “Well, that’s a part I’m a little shaky on. The poison is relatively new to the scientific world. It’s still being experimented with but it’s said to be used in emergency surgery procedures. It’s supposed to prevent blood lossage during the surgery.” “I don’t understand.” “Well, it’s kind of hard to explain. Wherever its injected, say for example the arm, for a period of an hour no blood will flow through the arm making surgery easier and less bloody. But that’s only when it’s injected into the arm or a leg. When put in the back of the neck, like our last two victims, the entire body gets shut down. Especially when more than the legal dose is administered.” “How much was found in her bloodstream?” “Six times as many as they legal dose. But whoever acquired the poison had to have some specific credentials. He or she must be a doctor or nurse or work in some place where they can have easy access to the poison.” “But if it’s still under experimentation, how can you get it?” “There are a few places in only the states of Rhode Island, Missouri, and Louisiana that is experimenting with it.” “So, we’re looking for a doctor who has the infatuation for the letters PAI and CAP.” “Yea, that narrows the field.” Scully commented sarcastically. She took a quick look around the parking lot. “Why are all those people coming out of the school?” She asked pointing to the Gym. “Basketball game. I went to go check it out. FDR has a pretty good team.” “Anything else going on around here?” Scully wondered. Mulder shook his head. She sighed and reclined her chair slightly. “Looks like it’s going to be a long night.” “Maybe not.” Mulder said as he pointed to the school. Through the dim lights of the school, Mulder saw a shadow walking around. He and Scully quickly got out of the car, holding out their guns. They ran to the entrance of the school and went inside. “Maybe it was a janitor.” Scully whispered. Mulder took the thought into consideration but continued down the dark hallway to find out who was walking around the halls. Mulder pointed to one end of the building. Scully took his motion and walked down the hall where he had pointed. Mulder continued in the opposite direction. Scully walked down a dark hallway with empty classroom lurking around her. She spun around as she heard a loud crash. “Freeze! FBI!” She shouted. Mulder heard her from the other end of the school. He ran towards the sound of her voice. He slowed as he closed in behind the figure, who remained in the shadows. Keeping one hand steadily on his gun, Mulder reached into his pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. He shined it at the figure, who spun around carelessly. Scully walked towards him slowly. “Who are you?” She asked. “Step out of the shadows.” The figure did as told and stepped more towards the middle of the corridor. Mulder immediately lowered his gun as he realized who it was. Though Scully knew from behind, she was a little more hesitant in immediately dropping her weapon. She still felt uneasy about the man who was lurking around the school so late at night all alone. “What are you doing here, Principal Greene?” Mulder asked. Scully walked past the man and next to Mulder. She finally holstered her gun but made sure it was able to slide out easily if need be. “Paperwork.” Mr. Greene answered immediately. “By yourself, in the dark?” Scully asked suspiciously. “Sometimes principals go beyond the call of duty. I should be asking what you guys are doing here.” Mr. Greene said. “Staking out the school and its surrounding vicinities.” Mulder said. “Whoever the murderer is will obviously come back.” “Well, I’m afraid you’ve caught the wrong man. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go back to my office and finish my business.” Mr. Greene retorted. Mulder nodded and walked past him. Scully sighed and stared at the man as he walked away. Something was wrong but she couldn’t tell exactly what it was. “Looks like we’re back to sitting in the car and listening to Lola’s midnight talk show.” Mulder joked. Scully rolled her eyes as they made their way back to the car. Seven hours later, Mulder and Scully trudged up Piper’s front steps. Mulder took out his keys and found the one marked Piper. After spending so many nights at her house, Piper found it appropriate to get them their own keys. Mulder opened the door and tiptoed inside with Scully following. Neither of them wanted to wake up Piper. They began to walk up their stairs to their bedroom when both of them were startled. “You guys have been out late.” A voice said from the other room. They walked into the living room and found Piper sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket watching a muted television. “Piper, it is three o’clock in the morning, what are you doing up?” Scully wondered. She was exhausted and by looking at the bags under Piper’s eyes she knew she was just as tired. “Waiting for you guys. Think I could sleep when my two favorite people are out?” Piper answered sarcastically. “What happened to your little friendship sleep over?” Mulder asked. “Well, Max’s mom said no, Candy is on vacation, Kyla had to pull an all-nighter to finish a report, Erin said she was too tired, and Hannah just doesn’t like you guys.” Piper explained. Mulder looked at Scully strangely. They both took a seat next to Piper as she moved her feet from the couch. “Well, actually her mom has this rule that she can’t sleep over people’s houses on school nights so I didn’t even bother to ask. And now here I am all alone…or at least I was.” “Well, glad we could be company.” Mulder joked. “What did you find?” Piper wondered intently. “Besides the fact that your principal is over committed to his job, and likes to walk in the dark, nothing. Nothing strange happened. A few cars drove by, a few people passed but nothing unusual.” Scully said. “What do you mean, my principal, was he there?” Piper questioned. Mulder nodded. “I always knew that man was up to no good. From the moment I laid eyes on him I didn’t like him. He has very…” “Piper, bottom line he is not a suspect. He was just doing his job.” Mulder cut off. “Well, whatever floats your boat.” Piper said. She yawned. “Shouldn’t you go to bed?” Scully asked. “Nah, I’d just have to get up in another two and a half hours. I have to get to school early to meet Kyla so we can finish working on something. I’ll just stay up and watch TV land or something. Quality television at great hours of the morning.” Piper responded. “Well, you have fun…” Mulder began. “We’re going to bed.” Scully finished. “Good night, Piper.” Mulder and Scully stood up and walked away as Piper said goodbye. As soon as they left, she turned the television off mute and began watching TV. |