Mulder: (on phone) Yeah, in the time that you worked with . . . Ms. Ermentrout did you find her to be a trustworthy person? (very bored) Punctual. Punctual is good.
Scully: (on phone) No, no, ma'am. This is just a routine background check. Mr . . . Mr. Garber is not in any legal trouble whatsoever. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for your time.
Mulder: (hand over the receiver) Hey, Scully, maybe if we get really lucky next time they'll let us clean toilet bowls.
Scully: You ready to quit?
Mulder: No. That would make way too many people way too happy.
(As Scully leaves to go see Kersh.)
Mulder: Just you? (loudly calling out after her) Don't forget your toilet brush. (then quickly into the phone which he hadn't covered) No. No, ma'am, not you.
AD Kersh: I would say he has a promising career ahead of him. So did you . . . at one time.
Scully: Agent Mulder and I will begin immediately.
AD Kersh: Agent Mulder's a lost cause. I'm taking the chance you're not. It's you and Ritter. Do not let me down.
Scully: Mulder . . .
Mulder: Hmm?
Scully: What are you doing?
Mulder: Being nosy. (looking up at her wistfully) Eating my heart out. They're sending you on an X-File.
Scully: It's not an X-File.
Mulder: That's not what I'm reading. I'm thinking murder by telekinesis. I'm thinking maybe a shamanistic death touch. I'm thinking about the Muslim superstition that to photograph someone is to steal their soul.
Scully: Thank you. All very helpful.
Mulder: So they're splitting us up, huh?
Scully: No.
Mulder: No?
Scully: This is a one-time thing.
Mulder: Who told you that? Obviously, if you do a good job they're not going to stick you back here.
(They look at each other. Scully sees Agent Ritter enter the room.)
Mulder: Right?
Agent Ritter: Alfred Fellig -- what can you tell us about him?
Desk Sargeant: What's to tell? He's one of about 10,000 people in town who have an official license to piss people off.
(Scully looks down at the large blood stain left by Fellig's wounds.)
Scully: What's this?
Ritter: A whole lot of blood.
Scully: Yeah. I got that.
Ritter: You're a photographer. I've seen, uh . . . seen some of your work. You, uh . . . specialize in some pretty dark subject matter. You're, uh . . . you're around death a lot. It must . . . it must fascinate you. (Fellig stares at him, waiting.) Am I . . . boring you, Mr. Fellig?
Fellig: Ask me a question already.
Ritter: (to Scully, confrontational) Hey, I'm confused. I thought we were trying to bust this guy not look for reasons to let him go.
Scully: I thought we were looking for the truth.
Scully: Scully.
Mulder: (disguising his voice Thurston Howellishly - very cute) Hi. My name is Fox Mulder. We used to sit next to each other at the FBI.
(They both smile.)
Mulder: How's your X-File coming?
Scully: Mulder, it's not. We haven't made much headway. We arrested Alfred Fellig and we just released him.
Mulder: You can't hold him? What about the stabbing?
Scully: How do you know about that?
Mulder: I told you I'm nosy.
Mulder: But you still think Fellig's a murderer, huh?
Scully: I don't know what to think. He's, uh . . . unusual.
Mulder: As in he, uh, plugs up like a cork when you stab him?
Scully: Mulder, where are you getting this stuff?
Mulder: Well, young man Ritter has been sending progress reports to Kersh. My computer may have inadvertently intercepted a few of those. He's got nice things to say about you, though . . . mostly. Why don't you let me do a little background check on Fellig for you?
Scully: Mulder . . .
Mulder: Come on. It's, you know . . . it's what I do now. I'm getting good at it.
Ritter: He said he would have come in on his own but he said he was afraid we wouldn't have believed him.
Scully: He's right. Tell me, Ritter, did he have any help concocting that story?
Ritter: You know, Kersh warned me about you.
Scully: Uh, he did?
Ritter: Yeah -- you and your partner. God knows his reputation precedes him so I guess I should have seen this coming. You muck up my case, and Kersh'll hear about it. Are we clear, Dana?
Scully: (coldly correcting him) Scully. And we're done with this conversation.
Mulder: Hey, Scully, uh, how's that X-File coming? And before you tell me that it's not an X-File . . .
Scully: It is.
Scully: Alfred Fellig seems to know an awful lot about death.
Mulder: Oh, yeah? Well, that's not surprising, given that he's reached the ripe old age of 149.
Scully: But Mulder, that must be some kind of a mistake.
Mulder: You think? Because this Henry Strand does not exist before 1939. However, one L.H. Rice is on record as having sat for the New York State civil service exam. Now, the records don't show whether he passed or not but his thumbprint? Fellig's. Want to know what L.H. Rice's birthday is? April 4, 1849. I'm not good at math, but I'm figuring that's a whole lot of candles on the cake.
Scully: Mr. Fellig, I know . . . that you know more about photography than I do but this is just a lens flare.
Fellig: You're right. I do know more about photography than you do.
Scully: Okay, I mean . . . for the sake of argument why bother? I mean, why . . . why take a picture of Death?
Fellig: So I can look into his face. So I can die. Pills don't work. Razors . . . gas . . . bridges --- I can't tell you how many bridges I've jumped off of. All I get is wet.
Scully: You know I don't believe you.
Fellig: Yes, you do. That's why you're here.
(Mulder is at his desk quickly stuffing files into a case.)
Mulder: Agent Ritter, it's Agent Mulder. Is Agent Scully there with you?
Ritter: No, she's not. Nobody seems to able to find her.
Mulder: Me neither, and DC Cellular says her phone is turned off.
Ritter: What can I do for you, Agent?
Mulder: Well, you can find her for me.
Ritter: Listen, Agent Mulder, I'm on my way to arrest Alfred Fellig.
Mulder: Good, because that's where I think she is. And you were right, Fellig is a murderer. Under the name of Louis Brady, he suffocated two patients in a Connecticut hospital. He says he meant to catch up with death. One year into his prison sentence he walked off a work detail. The manhunt never officially ceased.
Ritter: When was this?
Mulder: 1929.
Ritter: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa -- when?
Mulder: Look, Ritter, don't sweat the math. It's him. Just get there and find Agent Scully.
Ritter: All right. I'm on it.
Scully: You know, most people want to live forever.
Fellig: Most people are idiots. Which is one of the reasons I don't.
Scully: I think you're wrong. How can you have too much life? There's too much to learn, to experience.
Scully: What about love?
Fellig: What, does that last forever? 40 years ago I drove down to the city hall, down to the hall of records . . . record archives, whatever they call it. I wanted to look up my wife. It . . . bothered me I couldn't remember her name. Love lasts . . . 75 years, if you're lucky. You don't want to be around when it's gone.
(Mulder stands outside Scully's hospital room watching Agent Ritter talk to her. Agent Ritter comes out of the room.)
Mulder: (flatly) You're a lucky man.
(Mulder enters Scully's room, smiles warmly, and takes her hand for a very intimate handhold.)
Mulder: Coroner's report came back on Fellig. Says he died of a single gunshot wound. That's all it said. (sits on the bed beside her) Well, I, uh . . . talked to your doctor and . . . he says you're doing great. You're making the fastest recovery he's ever seen.
Scully: Yeah, Mulder, I don't even know how I entertained the thought. People don't live forever.
Mulder: No, no, I-I . . . I think he would have. I-I just think that . . . that death only looks for you . . . once you seek its opposite.
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