Part 3   
      
   XXXXX   
      
   April 8, 2000   
   12:15 AM   
   Jessica Lawrence's apartment   
   Scarsdale, NY   
      
   Mulder was arranging papers in small piles on the soft gray carpeting   
   of Jessica's living room when Karen let herself into the apartment. He   
   looked up and saw her balancing the keys, a carafe of coffee and a tray   
   of sandwiches.   
      
   "I'd help you but I'm boxed in by my own printouts," he said from his   
   spot on the floor.   
      
   "No, don't be silly. I can handle it. Where's Agent Scully?"   
      
   He colored slightly, "She's out trying to find a Starbuck's."   
      
   "Oh, I'm sorry. I should have come sooner. Actually, I didn't think   
   you'd still be here. But, then I heard you moving around—the walls are   
   pretty thin—and I thought you might be hungry."   
      
   "There's nothing to be sorry about. We can never have too much coffee   
   and the food is definitely appreciated."   
      
   She set them down on the table and sat on the couch near where he was   
   organizing his papers.   
      
   "You sure have a lot of paper there."   
      
   "Yes, Jessica's computer is a treasure trove. We found the original   
   connection between Jessica and the other two women."   
      
   "You mean, they had one, aside from the dreams?"   
      
   "It looks like it. They all belonged to the same Yahoo group:   
   Dreamedy."   
      
   "Dreamedy?" Karen frowned.   
      
   "Yes, and I quote from the group's home page,   
   'Whether comedy or tragedy   
   If it's a dream you're wondrin' about   
   We provide the remedy   
   Right here at   
   Dreamedy.'   
   Ain't poetry grand?"   
      
   "If you say so," Karen shrugged. Mulder laughed.   
      
   "That was Agent Scully's reaction, too. Jessica never told you about   
   this group?"   
      
   "No, but there would be no reason for her to do so. I mean, she told me   
   a lot about her dreams but I didn't ask for details about her on-line   
   life. I know she loves the computer, loves the net and isn't   
   necessarily shy about on-line friendships. That's about it."   
      
   "Well, we've been reading the message archives from the past year. One   
   thread, last September, centered around the members' worst nightmares.   
   Almost everyone contributed to this one. Long narratives on what they   
   dreamed. Two of the descriptions definitely sounded like Grace and   
   Tina's. I just have to confirm it with them but didn't want to wake   
   them at this hour of the night."   
      
   Karen's face fell a bit. "So, you think Jessica forgot she read these   
   descriptions and just let them play out in her dreams? That she doesn't   
   really have any psychic connection?"   
      
   "I didn't say that. I found her dream journal entries on this. First of   
   all, she had these dreams at the times the women were actually   
   kidnapped. That's a psychic connection right there. Even if she read   
   their descriptions word for word in September, why would she have those   
   dreams in November and February, on the exact same dates of their   
   abductions? And second, she has a lot more details—small little things   
   that, again, I have to check with Tina and Grace about—but, there   
   doesn't seem to be anything random about them."   
      
   Karen smiled again. "You know, Agent Mulder, this is really so   
   refreshing. You have no idea how happy I am that you are not only   
   listening without trying to get me professional help, but you're   
   actually supporting my theory. I mean, I want Jessie back and I don't   
   think anything should stand in the way. Even if something truly weird   
   could help us find her."   
      
   "Actually, I do have an idea," They heard a knock on the door. "Ah,   
   that will be Scully with the coffee."   
      
   Karen had already leaped up and answered the door. A pissed-off Scully   
   stood there, coffee-less.   
      
   "Everything is closed. I thought this was the city that never slept."   
      
   "That's New York City itself. The state has plenty of drowsy moments. I   
   brought coffee, Agent Scully."   
      
   Scully smiled and closed her eyes tightly for a moment, "Bless you,"   
   she walked over to the table while Karen ran into the kitchen for mugs.   
   She came out and put them on the table and Scully began to pour. "For a   
   while there, all the reading about sleep and dreams was putting me   
   under. This is much appreciated, Ms. Noyes."   
      
   "Karen, please."   
      
   "Karen. Do you think you could stay with us for a little while?  We are   
   almost done with the printouts of the dream journal and the copies of   
   some of the letters from the Yahoo list we think might be pertinent to   
   the case. But I found a file on the computer I'd like to skim through   
   again and talk to you about.  If you have the energy for it tonight,   
   that is."   
      
   "Absolutely."   
      
   Scully nodded, took a sip of her coffee and went to the computer, as   
   Mulder started putting each pile of paper in a separate manila folder   
   and marking each one.   
      
   XXXXX   
      
   12:35 AM   
   Undisclosed location   
      
   Jessica looked toward one of the windows. They had probably been   
   boarded up at the time of the fire, which she thought might have been a   
   while ago. Perhaps they wouldn't be that hard to break through.   
      
   There was really only one way to find out.   
      
   Jessica took off her running shoe and smacked the back of it against   
   the glass until it broke. She cleared the larger pieces with her hands—   
   placing them neatly on the floor. Cool air reached through the ½ inch   
   crack between boards. April in New York was still chilly. Still, if she   
   got too cold, 'home base' could be changed to another room.   
      
   She pushed against each board, punched each one, smacked each one with   
   her shoe. Nothing.   
      
   She stood for a moment breathing the cold night air. It helped push the   
   smells of the house into the background. The world was out there.   
   Freedom was out there.   
      
   She needed to be out there.   
      
   XXXXX   
      
   Jessica's Apartment   
   12:45 AM   
      
   "There is a file marked 'Todd' on Jessica's hard drive. Do you know   
   anything about this?" Mulder asked Karen.   
      
   "Todd?  Yes, I know all about Todd."   
      
   "From the little I read, they had an email relationship, of sorts,"   
   Scully said.   
      
   "Well, yes, I guess you could say so. He was a little wacky and maybe   
   she overreacted. I don't know."   
      
   "Well, there seems to have been some concern over potential stalking.   
   She saved quite a large file of email messages from him she seems to   
   have forwarded from work," Scully said. "A few seem a little overly   
   intense but I guess, not knowing the person behind them, I can't judge   
   accurately. Did you ever meet him?"   
      
   "No. Jessie barely had contact with him as an adult. She met him again   
   at some sort of family wedding. Her cousin invited him because he was   
   the godson of someone or other. It was no big deal. She invited half   
   the world. There were almost 400 guests."   
      
   "How did you get blackballed?" Mulder asked.   
      
   "I didn't. I was on vacation. Hawaii or the dull wedding of a near-   
   stranger. It wasn't the most difficult choice of my life."   
      
   Mulder smiled in response.   
      
   "Anyway. I don't think they did more than say 'hi,' and then a few   
   months down the line, he writes to her. She writes back. For the first   
   few letters, everything was fairly casual. Gossiping about the good old   
   days on Daly Avenue. Hey, I grew up in Queens. I know old   
   neighborhoods, but Jessie drove me down old Daly Avenue once. What they   
   were waxing poetic about is beyond me. That place was a shit-hole.   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)