From: portia_ventura@hotmail.com   
      
   Title : "Finding Mulder "   
      
   Author: Linda61   l.vanmaanen@chello.nl   
      
   Category: MT Casefile, angst   
      
   Rating PG for a few naughty words.   
      
   Written for Mulder's refuge monthly fic contest.   
      
   July Theme. Never work with children and animals.   
      
   Feedback: I like it.   
      
   Disclaimer. CC and Fox own them, I just like to mess around with them in   
   interesting scenarios but I give them back. , vaccinated and dry-cleaned and   
   not smelling funny.   
      
   Summery. Mulder is on a case, Scully isn't there at first. can he keep out   
   of trouble? Nope didn't think so.   
      
      
      
      
   "Hey Molly" Mulder said, staring at his almost empty aquarium. "Sorry I   
   forgot to feed you again, here you go."  He sprinkled some fish food through   
   the opening and watched the little fish greedily peck at her breakfast,   
   lunch and dinner. Mulder smiled. He really liked that fish. If only his job   
   wouldn't lead to circumstances all the time that forced him to buy a new one   
   every couple of months. Still, he really was attached to that fish.   
      
      
      
   "Now where was I", he sighed and picked up the file on his desk. He sat down   
   on his couch, took a sip of his almost cold tea and started reading again.   
      
      
      
   He always found it difficult to read about little girls being murdered. Even   
   though these girls were older than Sam, they still were only about ten or   
   eleven years of age. Very young. Too young to be on a gruesome picture in an   
   FBI file. He shook his head and tried to concentrate. He had to stop this   
   guy before he picked up another victim.   
      
      
      
   Scully was away for a couple of days to visit a  friend, but would be back   
   by the next day. He hoped he could make a start on his profile so when she   
   got back they could visit a couple of the crime scenes where the girls were   
   found. It was obvious  these girls weren't murdered there. All of them had   
   water in their lungs, but they also had finger prints and severe bruising   
   around their necks. They didn't just drown.   
      
      
      
   After going through the file for about thirty minutes the phone rang. Mulder   
   picked it up, saying his name, hoping it was Scully. He really missed her   
   when she was away, even it was only for a couple of days.   
      
      
      
   He was almost surprised to hear a low voice say: "This is AD Skinner,  Agent   
   Mulder. I'm sad to tell you I just heard they found another body. Please go   
   there and see what you can do." Mulder listened to what Skinner had to say   
   with an increasingly heavy heart and acknowledged his request before hanging   
   up the phone. He sighed. "Well at least I can go over the location myself ,   
   oh joy." He threw the file back on his coffee table, grabbed his coat, gun   
   and keys and walked out the door.   
      
      
      
   When he arrived at the location he saw several people walking around. A   
   couple of policemen, crime scene experts but also a forensic photographer   
   taking pics. Mulder got out of his car and immediately one of the policemen   
   walked up to him. "Agent Mulder?" Mulder just nodded. "Pleased to meet you ,   
   agent Mulder, I'm detective Baker. ASAC for this unpleasant case. The body   
   was found a little more than an hour ago and surprisingly we already know   
   who the girl is."   
      
      
      
   Mulder looked up. "You know who she is?"   
      
      
      
   "Sadly enough one of the officers recognized her, she lived in his   
   neighborhood. He’s gone over to inform the parents of this dreadful news.   
   Her name was Molly Jansson, age eleven. Beautiful little girl." The officer   
   shook his head, obviously shocked by the whole situation.   
      
      
      
   For a second Mulder reacted hearing the name, but then he walked to the body   
   and started looking around. The officer was surprised to see Mulder being so   
   cool, not knowing the agent was trying to keep his breakfast inside. It   
   always shook him up. He closed his eyes as his mind went down that familiar   
   dark abyss that gave him insight into the crime scene. That connection with   
   killer and victim.   
      
      
      
   He didn't say a thing but then he saw something. It was sticking out from   
   under the girls' arm. "What's that?" Mulder said to himself.  He put on a   
   rubber glove and carefully pulled out a small plastic bag from under her.   
   Mulder's eyes widened when he saw it contained a dead fish. He looked at the   
   bag, it had one dark side. The bag was unusual, distinct and a bit different   
   to the bags he carried fish home in whenever he purchased new ones.   
      
      
      
   " Fish connection", he mumbled absently.   
      
      
      
   Suddenly he turned around abruptly and said:  "I'm done here, I would like   
   to speak to the parents now, could you give me the address to their house   
   please?"   
      
      
      
   The officer was stunned Mulder was ready to go after only being there for   
   about 10 minutes, but gave him the directions where to go and shrugged. "I   
   hope he knows what he's doing.   
      
      
      
   At the Janssons' house he talked to the shocked parents. He was very sorry   
   for them, but in order to catch this guy he had to ask them all kinds of   
   upsetting questions. Luckily for him, even under these circumstances,   
   Molly's parents were very understanding, they showed great strength between   
   them during this terrible ordeal and answered as much as they could.   
      
      
      
   "I have one question left", Mulder said. "I found this plastic bag with a   
   fish in it with her body, what can you tell me about that?"   
      
      
      
   "Molly asked us if she could have a fish", the distraught mother answered   
   sniffing loudly. "But I didn't know she already bought one, she probably   
   used her own allowance for it."   
      
      
      
   "Do you have any idea where she could have bought it? Pet store or somewhere   
   else?"   
      
      
      
   "There are several pet stores around" Mr. Jansson answered, "a few   
   specialized in fish, they have these huge aquariums. I can tell you where   
   they are, you think they have something to do with this?"   
      
      
      
   "I'm not sure, Mr. Jansson, but I want to take a look anyway. Thank you for   
   your time. I know this has been awful for you. The moment we know more we’ll   
   let you know, I promise."   
      
      
      
   "Thank you." Mrs. Jansson whispered. Her husband shook Mulder's hand. An   
   intense sadness in his eyes that mirrored his own and one he had seen all   
   too often. "Just catch that guy, Agent Mulder, take the bastard off the   
   street, before he kills more girls."   
      
      
      
   Mulder nodded and walked back to his car. His thoughts were already one step   
   ahead. Deeply involved in all the information he had gleaned from the case   
   already and some of the autopsy findings from the dead girls. And as always   
   he just did what he had to do, he drove to the first petstore on his list.   
   Only he "forgot" to call in where he was going, thinking it probably   
   wouldn't take too long.   
      
      
      
   The first  pet store gave him no answers whatsoever. They did sell fish, but   
   only had small tanks and the shock on the woman's face was so real he didn't   
   think she had something to do with the murder. They hadn’t seen the girl or   
   any other victims.   
      
      
      
   The second and third, same story. But when he stopped in front of the next   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)