| “Well, usually they would stop us when we would be walking down the street, looking for the other team. If they asked if there was a lot of noise going on, we usually said either there wasn’t any noise or it wasn’t us.” Piper explained. “But that would be a lie.” Scully said. “No, not really. A lot of times the police would come and say they got a call for somewhere down the street which is off bounds for us, so it couldn’t have been us. There are another group of kids who play somewhere down the road.” Hannah said. “Basically, if police see a group of teenagers walking down the street in the dark, they think it’s trouble.” Erin explained. “What about neighbors? Do you know which neighbors called the police?” Scully asked. “Well, if it was in my neighborhood than it could be a person who lives like three houses down. His wife just had a baby so he’s spoken to us once before to keep it down. After that, we did around that house. He’s a pretty nice guy, though, so I don’t think he would have called the police.” Hannah said. “The school has warned us before. Actually, they said there were various alarms around the school, so they were warning us to be careful. We usually don’t play too much around the school. Actually, when we do play, we never really play hide and seek. Usually, the people don’t hide and the others don’t seek, so we’re never that loud.” Piper said. Mulder leaned over and whispered in Scully’s ear. “I think we should go find out who made that phone call the other night while we were playing manhunt with the kids.” Scully nodded. The two agents excused themselves from the teenagers and explained where they were going. They walked upstairs and Piper listened, as the front door slammed shut. * * * * “Can I help you?” A man asked. He turned around in his swivel chair and faced the two agents. A pair of headphones were wrapped around his bald head. A set of controls were in front of him, and phones lined the walls. His uniform showed that he was a police officer, though he wasn’t a high rank. “Agents Mulder and Scully, FBI.” Mulder said, showing the man his badge. “Federal Agents, really?” The man questioned. His eyebrows raised and a huge smile spread across his face. “Are you from Providence or Washington DC?” “DC.” Scully responded. The man jumped out of his chair and grabbed the nearest piece of paper. He handed Scully a pen and gave her a sympathetic look. “Can I have your autograph?” Scully looked over at Mulder, who gave her a quizzical look. “On one condition, if you give us the information we need.” Scully said. The man nodded and Scully signed the paper. He took it away from her and held it against his chest. Scully smiled to himself about the man, knowing he saw something in Scully. “What is it that you need…Dana.” The man said looking down at Scully’s signature to find out her first name. “We need to find out who called the police about an hour ago to come to a location near the St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. It was a probably a call for too much noise in the neighborhood. If it’s possible, we’d like to know either the name and/or the address of who called the police.” “Sure, that should be easy.” The man said. He turned towards his computer and typed something onto it. Mulder stood back, letting Scully take care of the entire process. The man found information and Scully moved closer to the man. He seemed to squirm when Scully put her hand on his shoulder. “This should be what you need.” The man said. His voice squeaked as if he was flattered. “Can I get a print out of this?” Scully asked. She stared into the man’s eyes and flipped her hair with her hand. The man blushed and turned back towards the computer. He printed the page and handed it to Scully. “Thanks.” She said. “You know, if you’re looking for someone to give you a tour around Rhode Island or someone to show you a restaurant or movie theater around, just give me a call.” The man quickly scribbled his phone number onto a piece of paper. Scully took it, brushing his hand slightly. The man blushed again and smiled. Scully walked out of the room, reading the paper. Mulder lingered behind and began to follow her when the man called out his name. “You know, if I were you, I’d watch out for that red head.” He said. “Oh, and why’s that?” Mulder asked. “She’s pretty nice looking, is she single?” The man asked. “No, she’s taken.” Mulder answered. He was taken aback by his own answer. It was certainly a lie that she was taken, but it could it possibly be that he wished she was his girl friend. Mulder shuddered and wiped the thought from his memory. Mulder left the room, and found Scully standing in the hallway outside. She was looking down at the paper with a strange look at her face. Mulder tapped her on the shoulder and she looked up, startled. “So, since when am I not single?” She asked obviously having overheard his conversation with the man. “He just didn’t seem right for you.” Mulder said. Scully ignored his comment. “Mulder, three guess on who called into the police.” She said. “Um…Barney the Purple Dinosaur?” He asked. “I don’t know, Scully, who was it?” “Mr. Robert Almond, English teacher at Gorton Junior High School in room 106.” Scully explained. Mulder didn’t seem surprised, and Scully didn’t know why. “Do you think he’s connected?” Scully asked, understanding the look that Mulder had on his face. “I think he’s the only one that’s been at every single one of the crime scenes.” Mulder answered. “Well, what do you think we should do about it?” “Go to Piper’s house and get some sleep.” “Do you realize how bad he was flirting with you and how bad you were flirting back?” Mulder asked walking into Piper’s house. She had shown them where the hidden key was, so they wouldn’t have to ring the doorbell. “Who was flirting with who?” Hannah asked. Mulder and Scully walked into Piper’s living room and saw the three girls sitting together on the couch. The lights were turned off and the television seemed to be the only light. Mulder recognized the show quickly as ER, a hit drama show that seemed to win awards often. “Some guy was flirting with Agent Scully and she acted right back on it.” Mulder answered. “Oh…so Scully found a guy. Was he cute?” Ashley asked. Mulder shook his head and Scully glared at him. “I merely used my charm to get the information we needed to carry on with the investigation.” Scully said, defending herself. “What kind of information?” Piper asked. She muted the television and Mulder turned on the lights. The three girls blocked their eyes for a moment, for their eyes weren’t used to the harsh lights. Mulder and Scully walked to the other couch and sat down. “We found out who called the police on you guys this evening.” Mulder explained. “Well, who was it?” Hannah asked. She, as well as the other girls, were getting impatient to move forward on the case. Their friends were dying and there was no evidence to suggest a murder, nor was there any to suggest a suicide. “Mr. Almond.” Scully answered. “My English teacher?’ Piper questioned, wondering if it was the same person. “That’s who it appears to be, unless he has a brother with the same name and same occupation..” Mulder joked. “I didn’t even know he lived around there.” Erin said. “Yea, neither did I, and it’s my neighborhood.” Hannah said. She felt weird not knowing who her neighbors were. She was afraid he might live closer than she expected. It could possibly even be her next door neighbor. “Why would he have called the police on us. Obviously, after all those times I wrote in my journal about playing manhunt, he would know it was us who was playing.” Piper said. “That’s another thing we’re considering. Mr. Almond told us that you wrote about a murder happening while you guys were playing manhunt.” Mulder said. “Wait, you guys don’t think I did this, do you?” Piper asked. When no one answered she became scared. “Hannah wrote about the same, thing. Sort of.” Scully looked over at Hannah. “I was asked to write a story for my own English class. I chose to write about real things that happened when playing. Such as Ian getting stuck up in a tree, and Piper spraining her ankle. Melanie being almost hit by a car.” Hannah explained. “It’s true, all those things did happen.” Erin confirmed. “That doesn’t mean I did it.” Piper said. “No, but there’s also evidence of you arguing with Nick and James Guild over English projects, both people who are now dead.” Scully said. “So you do think I killed them.” Piper said. She sighed, unable to believe what she was hearing. |