Past Lives Could Never Come Between Us

21

 "I told you, I don't know anything!"

"She was your roommate!"

"She's talking to someone's roommate. Zara." Luigi tells Mario.

" That was so long ago! I was a junkie back then!"

"You lived with her! What was she up to?"

"It's not like I have a play-by-play!"

"What the heck?" Luigi looks off to the side. "There's a fluffy bunny here. Looks like it might belong to one of them?"

"Did Mulder have any pets?" Mario wonders.

"Forget it, the dreamscape is changing." Luigi says. "Looks like her apartment.", then after looking, "She's got all these photos connected to notes and maps."

" Her murder board. " Luigi hears Clark say in his earpiece. " She was tracking someone. "

" Mm, yes. But didn't you say she was your ex-captain? "

" She was. Looks like she was doing this on her own time. "

" Then why wasn't the board found in her home? " then, " Mario, move along, please. "

"Can you see what case she's working on?" Mario asks.

"The Charon Killer." Luigi reads. "6 victims, all with the same MO."

"Lying flat, with two pennies over their eyes." Mario adds, once he can see it.

" That doesn't make sense. That was years ago. Why is she investigating him now? "

" I take it he was never caught? "

" Mulder was all over it, but it ran cold. "

Just then, Mulder's grabbed from behind, so Luigi says, "Wake me up, now.", and Mario quickly complies.

"Mulder was petrified from behind." Luigi says.

"Is Charon really back?" Spike wonders.
"The murder board missing says he is." Clark points out.

"She was onto something, I know it." Snoozemore says.

"The victims age range is 30 to 45 years old." Clark says. "Men and women alike. Which isn't typical for a serial killer. All of them were killed in their homes, same MO. Knocked out from behind hard enough to bash the skull in, pennies over the eyes."

"Mulder is the only petrification." Luigi reminds him.

"I don't think that's coincidental." Clark replies. "Didn't bother with his usual MO. Maybe he thought he was off the hook since she's technically not dead."

"Or he didn't know it was a nightmare chunk he bashed her skull with." Mario adds. "Or that she could be woken up."

"He started a long time ago, right?" Luigi asks. "Then why did he stop before coming back?"

"Serving time? Not in New York?" Clark shrugs.

"Or he found another way to satisfy himself." Mario says, shuddering.

"Until Mulder found something." Clark agrees, then gestures. "Follow me."

As they leave the conference room, Clark continues, "I admit it, my ex-captain wasn't well liked, especially among criminals, but Zara, the person you saw her talking to, was a victim's roommate. But Mulder could never prove it was her."

"And how do you know that, if it was really that long ago?" Luigi wonders.

"Kind of my thing." Clark shrugs it off.

"We checked out Zara." Spike tells them. "She was in jail for sale and possession of crack."

"And is now on parole." Pauline adds.

"After the same number of years it's been since Charon stopped killing?" Clark guesses.

"Where was Mulder questioning him?" Mario asks Luigi.

"On a busy sidewalk." Luigi replies. "She worked at a demolition site."

"We're going." Clark decides. "Spike, I'm sending you the victim's files."

"Ready when you are." Spike says, right as his phone goes off.

He checks, then rolls his eyes in disgust. "I should make sure my brother hasn't gutted the apartment."

"I can come!" Pauline offers. "I'd like to meet this guy."

Spike's about to say no, but Pauline reminds him, "Hey, you met my dad, the mayor. "

"Your dad's awesome. My brother's an asshole." Spike says flatly, but when Pauline says nothing, Spike caves. "Fine. You're giving me a ride."

"You understand why I asked you to come here to Wakeport, right?" Zee asks Snoozemore when he arrives.

"Mm, yes." Snoozemore says. "But this was nonetheless important. It was Clark's--"

"You think I care?" Zee rolls his eyes. "You're not in charge of who you do and don't wake up."

"Then who is? You?" Snoozemore challenges. "You put me in charge of the Dream Lab and want me to do that job by any means necessary. I can't do that without all the facts."

"Clark's friend--"

"Mentor."

" Whoever . There's a very specific timeline we're following with our cases." Zee says. "Your Mulder case may have just derailed it."

"Too bad. We've dreamwalked through her once already." Snoozemore tells him. "And if we don't settle this now, Clark walks."

"So my wings are tied." Zee says resentfully. "You'd better start wishing you didn't put everything in jeopardy."

With that, he disappears in a blast of light.