Mirror Image [The X-Files]

Mirror Image

Scully stared at Mulder, silently willing him to look up and alleviate at least some of the bored, lazy mood that had swathed the office over the past few days. The X-Files hadn't been given any new cases in three days, and Mulder had buried himself in an old case from 1942 as a source of entertainment. Scully hadn't found anything for herself to do, and had taken to bringing a book to the office every day, looking up every once in awhile in lew of hope that the phone would ring with a new case.

"How much of your life are you going to spend on solving a fifty year-old case?" Scully teased Mulder, giving in to the temptation to bother him.

"As much as it takes," Mulder shot back, eyes never straying from the paper. "I may even spend my whole life looking for the cause of these murders." He spit another sunflower seed shell into the bucket Scully had provided him after a number of times she had found seeds stuck to her shoe. It was filling up alarmingly fast.

"Pity," Scully said, scooting herself next to him to peer at the report. "If only we had something more current you could focus your brain power on."

Mulder flung the paper onto his desk in a sudden fit of frustration, turning to face Scully full on. "This is getting ridiculous. When are they going to assign us a new case? The bureau can't still be punishing us for last time around."

Scully winced at the thought of their previous case, and shook her head. "I don't know what the problem is, Mulder."

"That's go--" Mulder was interrupted by the office phone's shrill ringing. There was a moment of stunned silence before the two agents lunged for the phone, Mulder managing to nab it off of the hook.

"Mulder," he said, pressing the plastic to his ear. Scully heard a few garbled sounds from the other line. Mulder grinned at her. "We'll be right down."

"There's a crime scene downtown with our names on it," Mulder said as soon as the telephone was on its hook. Scully grinned and grabbed her coat. It was about time.

X

Scully studied the bodies carefully, noting the violent scratches and fork-shaped puncture wounds on the wife and the fork sticking out of the husband's throat.

"Marty and Elaine McDonald," Mulder said, walking over to where she crouched. "Both 63 years of age and retired. Elaine stabbed Marty's throat - her fingerprints were all over the fork. Her neck was broken, presumably afterwards, but no fingerprints or the usual bruises indicating someone killing her were found."

Scully frowned. "It's definitely a weird one."

There was a pause. Scully could practically hear Mulder's brain whirring.

"Wait," Mulder said, and after a brief moment of hesitation, "We need to get to the office. This is starting to sound a lot like a previous case."

Scully looked at him for a few moments before reluctantly agreeing, and he grinned.

X

Scully unlocked the door to their tiny space and Mulder practically ran inside, making a beeline for his desk and rifling through the mess of papers covering the surface. He made a triumphant noise as he yanked a paper out from underneath a pile of books and shoved it into her face. She scowled and ripped it out of his hands, studying it.

"It's that case I was looking at earlier," Mulder explained as she examined the report. "The situation's almost identical. Someone kills everyone around them, then themselves, although there's no evidence to support it. The only connection between the victims was the fact that they inherited the will from the previous victims. There were only two documented killings, and they suddenly stopped after the last victim gave most of his belongings to goodwill."