The X-Files s03e14 Episode Script
Grotesque
All right, everyone.
We've run out of time.
That's all for tonight.
If you haven't finished, you'll have more time with Peter next week.
- Hey, man! - Excuse me.
- F.
B.
I.
! - Stay where you are! - Keep the light on him! - John Mostow, we have a warrant for your arrest.
You have the right to remain silent.
If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you.
- You have the right to an attorney.
- You're hurting me! Do you understand each of these rights that I have explained to you? Do you wish to give up your right to remain silent? Aah! God! He bit me.
The son of a bitch bit me like a dog! - Get him out of here! - You okay? - Yeah, yeah.
My God.
John Mostow.
Unemployed housepainter.
Divorced.
No children.
He came to the U.
S.
from Uzbekistan during perestroika.
He failed to mention on his I.
N.
S.
application that he spent the better part of his 20s in an insane asylum.
He was arrested last week for the serial murders of at least seven men.
You thought all they produced were great hockey players.
The crimes took place during a three-year period.
All the victims male, age 17to25.
Was there a signature or a defining M.
O.
? Well, according to the M.
E.
, there was no evidence of any sexual assault.
Death was caused by massive blood loss due to facial mutilation.
He also reported that the wound pattern on all the victims was identical.
It's all there on page three.
" Both eyes punctured.
Signature gashes from the corners of the mouth to the ears.
" The level of violence and overkill here would suggest the work of a very angry individual.
Or individuals, if you count the spirit Mostow says possessed him during the murders.
Possession is a common claim by criminals who have dissociative disorders.
It's how they distance themselves from their actions.
That was the operational opinion until last night, when a 19-year-old male was found dead six miles from here with an identical set of facial wounds.
- A copycat? - According to Assistant Director Skinner, who asked us to look into this, the details of the mutilations were never released.
Only members of the crime team would have had that information.
And Mostow's been in custody for five days.
Ah.
Please! The light hurts my eyes.
Leave me alone.
You have a nice, soft bunk.
Why arent you using it? 'Cause he's been working- havent you, john? What is it? What is this thing? - It killed those men.
- Does it have a name? - Does it have a name to go with that face? - All men know its name.
What do you call it? Satan? The devil? - Or maybe its just the name of your accomplice.
- I had no accomplice.
You killed all those young men yourself? It killed them.
How many times do I have to tell you? Well, its fingerprints weren't on the murder weapon.
Yours were.
And it won't be tried for seven murders under the death penalty.
Which is why it laughs at fools like you.
And you.
Fools who would pretend evil can be brought to heel like a brindle bitch or be held by your pathetic gulags, while, with a snap of its finger, it makes men lick the greasy foor of hell just to see its refection.
Is that what it did last night, John? Snapped its fingers and let another young man die? It killed again? Yesterday? It's found somebody.
Somebody new.
just like it found me.
Agent Mulder, can I see you two outside? So what is it, Mulder? Little green men? Evil spirits? Hounds of hell? Scully, this is Bill Patterson.
He runs the investigative Support Unit out of Quantico.
I know.
Behavioral Science.
You wrote the book.
It's an honor, sir.
Is that what you think too? That the suspect is possessed by some dark spirit? No.
Not at all, sir.
Strange company you keep, then.
That's what always amazed me about you, Bill - how you never fit your own profile.
No one would ever guess how really mean-spirited you are.
The arrest of John Mostow is the result of three years of hard work by my unit.
Three years.
You can imagine that we were awful upset by this latest murder and by the suspect floating this possession theory.
You think he's got an accomplice, then, even though your own profile of Mostow says that he's most certainly working alone.
My profile led to his arrest.
No.
He acted alone.
And that murder last night was done by a second killer, and he acted alone too.
What about these drawings of Mostow's? These gargoyles? - You know why he draws those? Did you ask him? - I didn't get a chance to.
He says he draws them to keep this demon of his away.
That would make sense.
Historically, that's what gargoyles have been used for- to ward off evil spirits, like on the eaves of Chartres and Notre Dame.
I don't need a history lesson.
And I don't need anyone indulging this guy's story.
I was asked to look into this case.
If youve got a problem with that, you take it up with A.
D.
Skinner.
So youre not gonna tell me when your love affair with Patterson ended? - Patterson never liked me.
- I thought you were the fair-haired boy when you joined.
- Not by Patterson.
- Why not? Didn't wanna get my knees dirty.
Couldn't quite cast myself in the role of the dutiful student.
- You mean you couldn't worship him.
- Something like that.
Yeah.
Well, from what I hear, there were a lot of men who did.
A lot of men joined the F.
B.
I.
because they wanted to be him.
Yeah.
Patterson had this saying about tracking a killer: If you wanted to know an artist, you had to look at his art.
What he really meant was if you wanted to catch a monster, you had to become one yourself.
in this case, Id say it served him pretty well.
This guy is definitely some kind of monster.
Its just a cat.
I thought it was one of these pictures coming to life.
Our guys must've locked it in here.
Psst, psst.
No.
He's obviously got his own key to the place.
There's air coming through here.
Must be something on the other side of the wall.
I've got some light.
See anything? More gargoyles, Scully.
Lots of 'em.
Sculpted in clay.
Why would he keep 'em in a secret room? Mulder? Mulder, what is it? What do you see? Mulder.
Can you tell me what's going on in there? - We're monitoring him very closely, Agent Nemhauser, but I'm not too encouraged by what I'm seeing.
- The man is lucky to be alive.
- Thank you, Doctor.
Agent Scully.
We've turned Mostow's studio upside down.
There don't appear to be any more bodies.
- How many were recovered? - Five.
All of them dismembered.
All young men whose faces were mutilated-just like the latest victim, I hear.
At least this one's still alive.
Same signature facial mutilation, right down to the weapon, by the look of it.
- What does Patterson have to say? - I haven't spoken with him yet, but I bet he's gonna come to the idea it's someone working with Mostow.
Well, I'd have to agree with that theory.
What's Agent Mulder think? He thinks our finding Mostow's secret gallery isn't gonna do him any favors with Patterson.
Between you and me, I think Patterson went to Skinner and requested Mulder on this case.
- He requested him? - I've been working with Patterson for three years on this, and this just about killed him, until we finally got a break and arrested Mostow.
But then this first copycat murder really threw him for a loss.
Mulder's under the impression that Patterson never thought too highly of him.
Thats just Patterson.
Late night, a couple of beers in him, he starts telling me Mulder stories, how he's some kind of crack genius.
- Stitches.
What happened? - Tsk.
Mostow bit me during the arrest.
How's our victim? Has he been able to I.
D.
his attacker? Doctors say it's still too early to even try- not in the condition he's in.
- They're not even sure if he's gonna make it.
- Where's Mulder? - He was gonna go see about those drawings of Mostow's.
- What's he looking for? - I think the same thing you are, sir: a second killer.
- I think you should take this conversation outside.
Stay with us.
The name is from the French "gargouille"- the name of a medieval dragon which prowled the river Seine, whose horrible image became a symbol of the souls of the condemned turned to stone or of the devils and demons of the underworld spared eternal damnation.
The embodiment of the lesser forces of the universe who inspired dread and the threat of our own damnation.
Ushers into hell or into the realm of our own dark fears and imagination.
For over 1,200years, the grotesque image has found its expression in stone, clay, wood, oil, and charcoal- born again and again, as if resurrecting it self by its own will through tortured human expression.
Almost as if it existed, haunting men inwardly so that it might haunt mankind for eternity as it must've haunted John Mostow.
But what impulses moved him to kill? Could this be the same dark force at work, its ultimate expression the destruction of the flesh, of the very hand that creates it? Is this evil something born in each of us, crouching in the shadow of every human soul, waiting to emerge, a monster that violates our bodies and twists our will to do its bidding? Is this the monster called madness? They're closing up in a few minutes.
So, is this how youre looking for the second killer? Tell me, Mulder, what do you really expect to find here? I'm not sure yet.
But you must have some idea, some kind of theory.
I've got a few theories.
I'm trying to stitch them together right now.
- With your face stuck in a library book? - You said it yourself.
If you want to know the artist, look at the art.
- I'm finally agreeing with you.
- I know where youre going with this, Mulder, because I've been there myself- so I can tell you you're wasting your time.
Maybe you could tell me why this man was compelled to draw and sculpt the same face again and again, why he's still doing it now.
Because he's insane.
This is nothing but the scrawling of a madman.
He said this thing wants to see its own refection.
Mostow has said everything but what I need to hear - the name of his accomplice.
- Unless he's telling the truth.
- About being possessed? I have to tell you.
I am really disappointed in you.
Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint you by not disappointing you.
After all this time, I thought maybe you'd finally put your feet on the ground.
Clearly, I was mistaken.
Mulder? Mulder, its me.
Mulder? You weren't at home, in your office.
I was scared, Mulder.
I didn't know where you were.
I kept trying your cell phone, but you didn't answer.
It was turned off.
You turned your phone off? Why do you even bother carrying it? You're all set.
You'll want to see a doctor tomorrow in case of infection.
- Thanks.
- Sure.
Mulder, you still haven't told me what you were doing in Mostow's studio.
- I was working.
- At 3:30 in the morning? Mulder, I haven't seen or spoken to you in almost two days now.
- You haven't been returning my phone calls.
- This thing exists.
It's real.
"It"? What are you talking about? - Whatever keeps killing those young men.
- Mostow killed those men, and out of some sick alliance, some other person is continuing where he left off.
- Whatever attacked me wasn't a person.
- Well, did you actually see it? Mulder, maybe you've just seen what you want to see.
What makes you think I would want to see that? I didn't imagine it, Scully.
Listen to yourself, Mulder.
Listen to what youre saying.
You're starting to sound like M- Look, when I couldn't reach you, I went to your apartment.
I saw your new wallpaper.
Dont you realize what is happening here, Mulder? He is testing you.
He is the reason you were brought on this case in the first place.
Patterson? He requested your involvement through Skinner's office.
I checked that 302 myself.
Mulder, where are you going? So, how's Mulder holding up? - Sir, can I have a minute? - Of course.
In private.
- What's this about? - Maybe you can tell me.
I'm curious about what youre doing concerning Agent Mulder.
- I'm afraid I don't know what youre referring to.
- I think you do, sir.
I think you knew exactly how Agent Mulder would respond when you brought him on this case.
You did request him, didnt you? If youre concerned about Agent Mulder's conduct or behavior, maybe you should take that up with him.
- You know I already have.
- Then what do you expect me to do? I want you to be honest with me about what youre trying to do.
Is this some kind of payback for what happened eight years ago, because Mulder quit the I.
S.
U.
? - My motivations aren't that petty.
- Then why? I asked for Mulder because I wanna close the book on this godforsaken case once and for all.
And you knew that he could help you solve it.
My advice to you, Scully: Let Mulder do what he has to do.
Don't get in his way and don't try to hold him back because you won't be able to.
Why didn't it kill me like it killed the others? Why did it let me live? Even if I could tell you why, you would not understand.
Then help me to understand, John.
- Please.
Go away.
- No.
You have to help me go deeper, help me get inside its head Like it got inside yours, so I can understand what it wants.
You have felt its hunger, felt your bones rattled by its frozen breath.
So you know nothing can be done.
- Unless I find it.
- Then what will you do? - Just tell me how to find it, John.
- No.
just tell me how to find this thing.
You can't find it.
Only it can find you.
Maybe it already has.
First time up, I struck out.
All three pieces were clean.
But on my second try, I got lucky.
- I dusted the blade with red wop.
- I'm sorry? " Powder" spelled backwards.
It's what we call the fluorescent lycopodium.
Ah.
Looks like a partial index.
And on the left half of the handle, almost a full thumb.
It's the placement of the prints that struck me.
Not oriented where someone would have gripped the knife.
Which is why I thought I had your guy, except I wasn't as lucky as I thought.
I ran the prints against the N.
C.
I.
C.
database.
- Your message said that you identified them.
- I did.
- Turns out, he's one of our own people.
- An F.
B.
I.
agent? - Your partner.
- These are Mulder's prints? - Are you sure? - I double-checked.
Why? I assumed he must've been the one that recovered the knife at the crime scene.
Excuse me.
- There's that table up front.
- That's okay.
You can put it on the foor.
I need to get that.
Evidence room.
Yes, she is.
Excuse me, Agent Scully.
Assistant Director Skinner's asked to see you right away.
Come in.
- You wanted to see me, sir? - Yes.
Sit down.
I heard they found you in Evidence looking for the weapon in this Mostow case? - Yes, sir.
- Did you find it? No, sir.
Is it your opinion the missing evidence is the same weapon you found at the crime scene earlier today? I'm not absolutely certain.
But Agent Mulder's prints were found on it.
Yes, sir.
- Have you seen Agent Mulder or spoken to him about this? - No, sir.
Do you have any insight into Agent Mulder's current disposition or mental state? I know Agent Mulder is working very hard on this case at your request, sir.
Are you worried about him, Agent Scully? No, sir.
Off the record.
So am I.
Yeah.
This is Greg Nemhauser.
Please call me right away at 555-0143.
- I need to talk to you right away about a po- - Hello? - Mulder? - Scully? - Where are you? - I'm in Mostow's studio.
- Are you with Nemhauser? No.
Should I be? That's who I was calling.
He left his number on my answering machine.
He said he had to talk to me.
- Mulder? - Yeah? Do you know where he is? I'm not sure.
Mulder, that knife that we recovered from the crime scene- I think it's the same one that Mostow used.
- What makes you say that? - Because Mostow's was stolen from Evidence.
- When? - I was hoping maybe you could tell me.
Your prints were all over it.
Yes, I examined Mostow's knife yesterday in the evidence room.
- Why? - Because I wanted to hold it.
I wanted to see what it felt like in my hand.
- But why? - Look, Scully, I didn't take it.
Okay, Mulder, listen to me carefully.
I want you to stay exactly where you are.
I'm gonna be there in a few minutes, and we're gonna work this thing out together, okay? - Mulder? - Yeah.
- Mulder.
- What are you doing here? What are you doing here? It's Nemhauser.
- But you already knew that, didnt you? - What is this? You killed him, Bill.
When he suspected it was you, you killed him.
- Are you out of your mind? - Not me.
Not now.
- Put that gun down.
- Not until you tell me what youre doing here.
What I'm doing he- Look at your hands.
Now ask yourself what youre doing here.
I'm not sure.
You're here because John Mostow stole three years of your life.
Every day and every night for three years you lived and dreamed the horror show that was in his head, and I'm sorry.
Imagining everything he imagined.
Sinking deeper and deeper into the ugliness, just like you taught us to do.
But when you finally caught him, it didnt just go away, all that violence.
It stayed alive inside you 'til it had to come out.
But you didn't want to do what you were doing.
You wanted to stop, but you couldn't.
Not by yourself.
That's why you called on me in the first place, why you couldn't kill me.
- Mulder, what are you doing? - Scully, get that light off me.
- First put the gun down! - You don't understand! Help me understand why you have a gun on Agent Patterson.
It's him, Scully.
Mulder! You okay, Mulder? You should call an ambulance.
His pulse is still strong.
This is Agent Mulder with the F.
B.
I.
I have a man down with a gunshot wound.
Oh, God! God! Are you listening to me? For God sakes! Isn't someone listening to me? I didn't do it.
It wasn't me! I didn't kill them! Please! We work in the dark.
We do what we can to battle the evil that would otherwise destroy us.
But if a man's character is his fate, this fight is not a choice, but a calling.
Yet sometimes the weight of this burden causes us to falter, reaching the fragile fortress of our mind, allowing the monsters without to turn within.
And we are left alone staring into the abyss into the laughing face of madness.
We've run out of time.
That's all for tonight.
If you haven't finished, you'll have more time with Peter next week.
- Hey, man! - Excuse me.
- F.
B.
I.
! - Stay where you are! - Keep the light on him! - John Mostow, we have a warrant for your arrest.
You have the right to remain silent.
If you give up that right, anything you say can and will be used against you.
- You have the right to an attorney.
- You're hurting me! Do you understand each of these rights that I have explained to you? Do you wish to give up your right to remain silent? Aah! God! He bit me.
The son of a bitch bit me like a dog! - Get him out of here! - You okay? - Yeah, yeah.
My God.
John Mostow.
Unemployed housepainter.
Divorced.
No children.
He came to the U.
S.
from Uzbekistan during perestroika.
He failed to mention on his I.
N.
S.
application that he spent the better part of his 20s in an insane asylum.
He was arrested last week for the serial murders of at least seven men.
You thought all they produced were great hockey players.
The crimes took place during a three-year period.
All the victims male, age 17to25.
Was there a signature or a defining M.
O.
? Well, according to the M.
E.
, there was no evidence of any sexual assault.
Death was caused by massive blood loss due to facial mutilation.
He also reported that the wound pattern on all the victims was identical.
It's all there on page three.
" Both eyes punctured.
Signature gashes from the corners of the mouth to the ears.
" The level of violence and overkill here would suggest the work of a very angry individual.
Or individuals, if you count the spirit Mostow says possessed him during the murders.
Possession is a common claim by criminals who have dissociative disorders.
It's how they distance themselves from their actions.
That was the operational opinion until last night, when a 19-year-old male was found dead six miles from here with an identical set of facial wounds.
- A copycat? - According to Assistant Director Skinner, who asked us to look into this, the details of the mutilations were never released.
Only members of the crime team would have had that information.
And Mostow's been in custody for five days.
Ah.
Please! The light hurts my eyes.
Leave me alone.
You have a nice, soft bunk.
Why arent you using it? 'Cause he's been working- havent you, john? What is it? What is this thing? - It killed those men.
- Does it have a name? - Does it have a name to go with that face? - All men know its name.
What do you call it? Satan? The devil? - Or maybe its just the name of your accomplice.
- I had no accomplice.
You killed all those young men yourself? It killed them.
How many times do I have to tell you? Well, its fingerprints weren't on the murder weapon.
Yours were.
And it won't be tried for seven murders under the death penalty.
Which is why it laughs at fools like you.
And you.
Fools who would pretend evil can be brought to heel like a brindle bitch or be held by your pathetic gulags, while, with a snap of its finger, it makes men lick the greasy foor of hell just to see its refection.
Is that what it did last night, John? Snapped its fingers and let another young man die? It killed again? Yesterday? It's found somebody.
Somebody new.
just like it found me.
Agent Mulder, can I see you two outside? So what is it, Mulder? Little green men? Evil spirits? Hounds of hell? Scully, this is Bill Patterson.
He runs the investigative Support Unit out of Quantico.
I know.
Behavioral Science.
You wrote the book.
It's an honor, sir.
Is that what you think too? That the suspect is possessed by some dark spirit? No.
Not at all, sir.
Strange company you keep, then.
That's what always amazed me about you, Bill - how you never fit your own profile.
No one would ever guess how really mean-spirited you are.
The arrest of John Mostow is the result of three years of hard work by my unit.
Three years.
You can imagine that we were awful upset by this latest murder and by the suspect floating this possession theory.
You think he's got an accomplice, then, even though your own profile of Mostow says that he's most certainly working alone.
My profile led to his arrest.
No.
He acted alone.
And that murder last night was done by a second killer, and he acted alone too.
What about these drawings of Mostow's? These gargoyles? - You know why he draws those? Did you ask him? - I didn't get a chance to.
He says he draws them to keep this demon of his away.
That would make sense.
Historically, that's what gargoyles have been used for- to ward off evil spirits, like on the eaves of Chartres and Notre Dame.
I don't need a history lesson.
And I don't need anyone indulging this guy's story.
I was asked to look into this case.
If youve got a problem with that, you take it up with A.
D.
Skinner.
So youre not gonna tell me when your love affair with Patterson ended? - Patterson never liked me.
- I thought you were the fair-haired boy when you joined.
- Not by Patterson.
- Why not? Didn't wanna get my knees dirty.
Couldn't quite cast myself in the role of the dutiful student.
- You mean you couldn't worship him.
- Something like that.
Yeah.
Well, from what I hear, there were a lot of men who did.
A lot of men joined the F.
B.
I.
because they wanted to be him.
Yeah.
Patterson had this saying about tracking a killer: If you wanted to know an artist, you had to look at his art.
What he really meant was if you wanted to catch a monster, you had to become one yourself.
in this case, Id say it served him pretty well.
This guy is definitely some kind of monster.
Its just a cat.
I thought it was one of these pictures coming to life.
Our guys must've locked it in here.
Psst, psst.
No.
He's obviously got his own key to the place.
There's air coming through here.
Must be something on the other side of the wall.
I've got some light.
See anything? More gargoyles, Scully.
Lots of 'em.
Sculpted in clay.
Why would he keep 'em in a secret room? Mulder? Mulder, what is it? What do you see? Mulder.
Can you tell me what's going on in there? - We're monitoring him very closely, Agent Nemhauser, but I'm not too encouraged by what I'm seeing.
- The man is lucky to be alive.
- Thank you, Doctor.
Agent Scully.
We've turned Mostow's studio upside down.
There don't appear to be any more bodies.
- How many were recovered? - Five.
All of them dismembered.
All young men whose faces were mutilated-just like the latest victim, I hear.
At least this one's still alive.
Same signature facial mutilation, right down to the weapon, by the look of it.
- What does Patterson have to say? - I haven't spoken with him yet, but I bet he's gonna come to the idea it's someone working with Mostow.
Well, I'd have to agree with that theory.
What's Agent Mulder think? He thinks our finding Mostow's secret gallery isn't gonna do him any favors with Patterson.
Between you and me, I think Patterson went to Skinner and requested Mulder on this case.
- He requested him? - I've been working with Patterson for three years on this, and this just about killed him, until we finally got a break and arrested Mostow.
But then this first copycat murder really threw him for a loss.
Mulder's under the impression that Patterson never thought too highly of him.
Thats just Patterson.
Late night, a couple of beers in him, he starts telling me Mulder stories, how he's some kind of crack genius.
- Stitches.
What happened? - Tsk.
Mostow bit me during the arrest.
How's our victim? Has he been able to I.
D.
his attacker? Doctors say it's still too early to even try- not in the condition he's in.
- They're not even sure if he's gonna make it.
- Where's Mulder? - He was gonna go see about those drawings of Mostow's.
- What's he looking for? - I think the same thing you are, sir: a second killer.
- I think you should take this conversation outside.
Stay with us.
The name is from the French "gargouille"- the name of a medieval dragon which prowled the river Seine, whose horrible image became a symbol of the souls of the condemned turned to stone or of the devils and demons of the underworld spared eternal damnation.
The embodiment of the lesser forces of the universe who inspired dread and the threat of our own damnation.
Ushers into hell or into the realm of our own dark fears and imagination.
For over 1,200years, the grotesque image has found its expression in stone, clay, wood, oil, and charcoal- born again and again, as if resurrecting it self by its own will through tortured human expression.
Almost as if it existed, haunting men inwardly so that it might haunt mankind for eternity as it must've haunted John Mostow.
But what impulses moved him to kill? Could this be the same dark force at work, its ultimate expression the destruction of the flesh, of the very hand that creates it? Is this evil something born in each of us, crouching in the shadow of every human soul, waiting to emerge, a monster that violates our bodies and twists our will to do its bidding? Is this the monster called madness? They're closing up in a few minutes.
So, is this how youre looking for the second killer? Tell me, Mulder, what do you really expect to find here? I'm not sure yet.
But you must have some idea, some kind of theory.
I've got a few theories.
I'm trying to stitch them together right now.
- With your face stuck in a library book? - You said it yourself.
If you want to know the artist, look at the art.
- I'm finally agreeing with you.
- I know where youre going with this, Mulder, because I've been there myself- so I can tell you you're wasting your time.
Maybe you could tell me why this man was compelled to draw and sculpt the same face again and again, why he's still doing it now.
Because he's insane.
This is nothing but the scrawling of a madman.
He said this thing wants to see its own refection.
Mostow has said everything but what I need to hear - the name of his accomplice.
- Unless he's telling the truth.
- About being possessed? I have to tell you.
I am really disappointed in you.
Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint you by not disappointing you.
After all this time, I thought maybe you'd finally put your feet on the ground.
Clearly, I was mistaken.
Mulder? Mulder, its me.
Mulder? You weren't at home, in your office.
I was scared, Mulder.
I didn't know where you were.
I kept trying your cell phone, but you didn't answer.
It was turned off.
You turned your phone off? Why do you even bother carrying it? You're all set.
You'll want to see a doctor tomorrow in case of infection.
- Thanks.
- Sure.
Mulder, you still haven't told me what you were doing in Mostow's studio.
- I was working.
- At 3:30 in the morning? Mulder, I haven't seen or spoken to you in almost two days now.
- You haven't been returning my phone calls.
- This thing exists.
It's real.
"It"? What are you talking about? - Whatever keeps killing those young men.
- Mostow killed those men, and out of some sick alliance, some other person is continuing where he left off.
- Whatever attacked me wasn't a person.
- Well, did you actually see it? Mulder, maybe you've just seen what you want to see.
What makes you think I would want to see that? I didn't imagine it, Scully.
Listen to yourself, Mulder.
Listen to what youre saying.
You're starting to sound like M- Look, when I couldn't reach you, I went to your apartment.
I saw your new wallpaper.
Dont you realize what is happening here, Mulder? He is testing you.
He is the reason you were brought on this case in the first place.
Patterson? He requested your involvement through Skinner's office.
I checked that 302 myself.
Mulder, where are you going? So, how's Mulder holding up? - Sir, can I have a minute? - Of course.
In private.
- What's this about? - Maybe you can tell me.
I'm curious about what youre doing concerning Agent Mulder.
- I'm afraid I don't know what youre referring to.
- I think you do, sir.
I think you knew exactly how Agent Mulder would respond when you brought him on this case.
You did request him, didnt you? If youre concerned about Agent Mulder's conduct or behavior, maybe you should take that up with him.
- You know I already have.
- Then what do you expect me to do? I want you to be honest with me about what youre trying to do.
Is this some kind of payback for what happened eight years ago, because Mulder quit the I.
S.
U.
? - My motivations aren't that petty.
- Then why? I asked for Mulder because I wanna close the book on this godforsaken case once and for all.
And you knew that he could help you solve it.
My advice to you, Scully: Let Mulder do what he has to do.
Don't get in his way and don't try to hold him back because you won't be able to.
Why didn't it kill me like it killed the others? Why did it let me live? Even if I could tell you why, you would not understand.
Then help me to understand, John.
- Please.
Go away.
- No.
You have to help me go deeper, help me get inside its head Like it got inside yours, so I can understand what it wants.
You have felt its hunger, felt your bones rattled by its frozen breath.
So you know nothing can be done.
- Unless I find it.
- Then what will you do? - Just tell me how to find it, John.
- No.
just tell me how to find this thing.
You can't find it.
Only it can find you.
Maybe it already has.
First time up, I struck out.
All three pieces were clean.
But on my second try, I got lucky.
- I dusted the blade with red wop.
- I'm sorry? " Powder" spelled backwards.
It's what we call the fluorescent lycopodium.
Ah.
Looks like a partial index.
And on the left half of the handle, almost a full thumb.
It's the placement of the prints that struck me.
Not oriented where someone would have gripped the knife.
Which is why I thought I had your guy, except I wasn't as lucky as I thought.
I ran the prints against the N.
C.
I.
C.
database.
- Your message said that you identified them.
- I did.
- Turns out, he's one of our own people.
- An F.
B.
I.
agent? - Your partner.
- These are Mulder's prints? - Are you sure? - I double-checked.
Why? I assumed he must've been the one that recovered the knife at the crime scene.
Excuse me.
- There's that table up front.
- That's okay.
You can put it on the foor.
I need to get that.
Evidence room.
Yes, she is.
Excuse me, Agent Scully.
Assistant Director Skinner's asked to see you right away.
Come in.
- You wanted to see me, sir? - Yes.
Sit down.
I heard they found you in Evidence looking for the weapon in this Mostow case? - Yes, sir.
- Did you find it? No, sir.
Is it your opinion the missing evidence is the same weapon you found at the crime scene earlier today? I'm not absolutely certain.
But Agent Mulder's prints were found on it.
Yes, sir.
- Have you seen Agent Mulder or spoken to him about this? - No, sir.
Do you have any insight into Agent Mulder's current disposition or mental state? I know Agent Mulder is working very hard on this case at your request, sir.
Are you worried about him, Agent Scully? No, sir.
Off the record.
So am I.
Yeah.
This is Greg Nemhauser.
Please call me right away at 555-0143.
- I need to talk to you right away about a po- - Hello? - Mulder? - Scully? - Where are you? - I'm in Mostow's studio.
- Are you with Nemhauser? No.
Should I be? That's who I was calling.
He left his number on my answering machine.
He said he had to talk to me.
- Mulder? - Yeah? Do you know where he is? I'm not sure.
Mulder, that knife that we recovered from the crime scene- I think it's the same one that Mostow used.
- What makes you say that? - Because Mostow's was stolen from Evidence.
- When? - I was hoping maybe you could tell me.
Your prints were all over it.
Yes, I examined Mostow's knife yesterday in the evidence room.
- Why? - Because I wanted to hold it.
I wanted to see what it felt like in my hand.
- But why? - Look, Scully, I didn't take it.
Okay, Mulder, listen to me carefully.
I want you to stay exactly where you are.
I'm gonna be there in a few minutes, and we're gonna work this thing out together, okay? - Mulder? - Yeah.
- Mulder.
- What are you doing here? What are you doing here? It's Nemhauser.
- But you already knew that, didnt you? - What is this? You killed him, Bill.
When he suspected it was you, you killed him.
- Are you out of your mind? - Not me.
Not now.
- Put that gun down.
- Not until you tell me what youre doing here.
What I'm doing he- Look at your hands.
Now ask yourself what youre doing here.
I'm not sure.
You're here because John Mostow stole three years of your life.
Every day and every night for three years you lived and dreamed the horror show that was in his head, and I'm sorry.
Imagining everything he imagined.
Sinking deeper and deeper into the ugliness, just like you taught us to do.
But when you finally caught him, it didnt just go away, all that violence.
It stayed alive inside you 'til it had to come out.
But you didn't want to do what you were doing.
You wanted to stop, but you couldn't.
Not by yourself.
That's why you called on me in the first place, why you couldn't kill me.
- Mulder, what are you doing? - Scully, get that light off me.
- First put the gun down! - You don't understand! Help me understand why you have a gun on Agent Patterson.
It's him, Scully.
Mulder! You okay, Mulder? You should call an ambulance.
His pulse is still strong.
This is Agent Mulder with the F.
B.
I.
I have a man down with a gunshot wound.
Oh, God! God! Are you listening to me? For God sakes! Isn't someone listening to me? I didn't do it.
It wasn't me! I didn't kill them! Please! We work in the dark.
We do what we can to battle the evil that would otherwise destroy us.
But if a man's character is his fate, this fight is not a choice, but a calling.
Yet sometimes the weight of this burden causes us to falter, reaching the fragile fortress of our mind, allowing the monsters without to turn within.
And we are left alone staring into the abyss into the laughing face of madness.