Rating: NC-17
Classification: Case file/MSR, WIP, Humor, Alternate Universe…people are actually happy here…well, some of them
Spoilers: Everything through the first third of Season 7, the story taking place in the universe set forth in Absolute Beginners I, Absolute Beginners II–Better With Practice, and Absolute Beginners III–Comes The Morning—available on Ephemeral, Whispers of X, Fran’s Fanfic Addiction, and The Grove. (It’ll help to read ’em, honest!)
Keywords: Be careful what you wish for. Character death…not who you think. Necromancy. Santeria. Marriage Proposal.
Summary: This story takes place late in the year 2000. In the early Spring of the same year, Mulder and Scully finally got off the dime (after a false start, angst, guilt and a nightmare or two) and did the dirty deed. After a weekend of ‘solidifying their relationship’, they are pulled off the X-Files, but managed to find at least one way to console each other. Fast forward about six months–and you’ll be right we begin, dear reader.
Disclaimers: You know, they’re not ours. They’re Chris Carter’s. Just using them for the fun, no money involved.
Archive: Yes, anywhere. Just keep it intact.
Feedback: Yes, please. You can contact me: alvaradomccain@earthlink.net
Chapter 2
Kris ruffled through the stack of folders to no avail. Shinoda’s file was nowhere to be found. If the day could get any worse, she didn’t know how. God, she needed more coffee. She needed a caffeine drip. Failing that, she’d live with a luke-warm Mountain Dew and an apple fritter.
Allen Ostrowski ambled over from the snack station, Coke in one hand, coconut-covered donut in the other. “You look terrible.”
Kris glanced at him with smile she knew didn’t reach her eyes. “Been that kind of a day.”
“And it’s only,” he checked his watch. “the crack of noon. Must be hard with the Feebs coming in.”
She nodded and pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Any advice?”
“They buy the donuts,” Then he leaned forward and whispered,
“Lazarov?”
“Unfortunately.”
He shook his head. “Better you than me. Sorry.”
“Not half as much as I am,” she replied, looking over the nearest desks to see if the file had magically shown up there instead. After a second she put her hand up to her forehead. “This can’t be my life.”
Allen patted her arm as he started to walk away. “You’ll be all right. I’ve heard rumours that Lazarov has a good side, so let me know if you find it, ‘kay?”
“Ha ha,” she muttered, brushing toasted coconut off of her shoulder. Where was the freaking file? Lazarov was going to have her ass if she didn’t find the damned thing. Then Captain Small would ream her a new one, and so on and so forth until she cried mercy. She’d heard of make or break cases, but in all honesty had never expected to find one given to her. Rising up the ranks of the police force had never been one of her goals, she was pretty content as a detective. Long hours…sure. Good pay, could be better. Higher rank, with more responsibility, plus departmental politics…no way in hell. Besides, she only had an associate’s degree, she’d been lucky to make detective at all. Nowadays you needed a bachelor’s just to walk the beat.
“Yo, Jorgensen! Heads Up!” Cassius Morgan called from behind his desk at the doorway of the bullpen.
“What?” she yelled back, irritated with herself and already anticipating the look of glee on Lazarov’s face as he bitched her out.
“Got some guests for ya!”
And thank you for letting the entire bullpen know. The ‘guests’ were a tall man and a petite, red-headed woman, both wearing the stereotypical trenchcoats over expensive-looking suits. Right, time to get the show on the road. Ignoring the smirks of her fellow officers, she approached the pair, reaching out to shake hands. “Hi, I’m Detective Jorgensen.”
“I’m Agent Scully,” the woman motioned towards her companion, “and this is Agent Mulder.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Kris said, leading them back towards her desk and the two chairs in front of it. “I apologize for the seating. I’ve requested an office for this investigation, but I haven’t heard back from anyone yet. So, we’re all stuck around my desk in the meantime.”
Agent Scully gave her an understanding half-smile and sat on the left, while Agent Mulder took the right.
Be bold. Be strong. Focus on what’s happening right now, not what happened at breakfast this morning when she’d figured it all out. “There are a few things you need to know before we start. First, if you value your stomach lining, do not drink the coffee. The bagged tea’s pretty safe, and there’s a Starbucks blocks over in Printer’s Row. The Women’s toilet is one floor up, to the left of the elevators. My Thai, Jimmy Z’s, and Berghoff’s make the best ethnic food in the area and they won’t cost you an arm and a leg. They’re a little ways away, but worth it, though. Al Sahara makes great vegetarian and vegan lunches, and if you want basic American for a little extra money, you can’t beat the cafe across the street from the Art Institute.”
They were staring at her as if she’d sprouted a third arm, but both seemed more amused than anything else. Okay, looked like she had half a chance not to completely fuck this up. “Have you had a chance to go over the case in-depth?”
“Briefly,” Agent Mulder answered. “Five murders, the victims all criminals who were released from trial due to technicalities. Each victim killed according to how they killed their own victims. The investigator who worked on all of these cases was recently murdered in a drive-by shooting.”
“Nat was a very good man, Agent Mulder, a good cop…”
He frowned, shook his head. “Just Mulder, please.”
Kris nodded once. “Mulder. All of the trials were well publicized, so it would have been very easy for someone to kill them in the same manner as their victims. The problem is many specific details of the original crimes were never mentioned in court because the trials never got that far. Either there’s a leak in the DA’s office, and I don’t want to be around for that discussion, or none of the deceased had anything to do with original crimes in the first place, which can’t be true according to the forensic evidence.”
“Did Det. Gonzales’ death have anything to do with this case?”
“Hard to say. One of the criminals was Dakota Roberts. He’s a real distant cousin of the Maloney family, they’re small potatoes compared to some of the other families and syndicates,” Kris slipped the top five folders off the stack and pushed it towards Mulder, who promptly pushed it towards Agent Scully. She flipped open the top and began to skim. “We do have a suspect in custody, Hector Dean Shinoda, but we’ve can only hold him for another fifteen hours.”
“I’d like to interview him,” Mulder said.
“No problem. Y’know, if you really think Nat’s death was part of this whole thing, you should talk to his partner, Alex. She was there when he was killed.”
“Then we’ll talk to her too,” Mulder shuffled through the folders. “Is Shinoda’s file in here?”
She felt her cheeks heat. “Uh, no, I… ”
“Excuse me,” Lazarov’s basso profundo voice boomed from behind her. “Are you the FBI agents?”
Mulder stood, Scully too, so Kris got to her feet as well.
“I’m Sgt. Lazarov, your liaison for this case. Sorry I wasn’t here earlier, Jorgensen should have called me when you arrived.”
Kris gritted her teeth. Only a prick like him would try to push that kind of shit in front of the Feds. She wasn’t his goddamned secretary. To their credit, neither Mulder nor Scully showed any surprise at the dichotomy that was Dan Lazarov. Maybe they were used to meeting big black men with tightly curled hair, pale gray eyes, and Russian names.
“I assume you want to begin with Shinoda?” asked Lazarov.
“I’ve got his file in my office.”
The fucking bastard had stolen it right off her desk, which was why she hadn’t been able to find it earlier. It was official, her luck had finally gone the way of the Dodo.
“Actually, while Agent Mulder conducts the interview, I’d like to do a cursory re-examination of the bodies,” Scully said.
FBI Agents did that sort of thing? Scully must have seen the look on her face, for she continued on.
“I’m also a Forensic Pathologist.”
Kris was impressed. Scully couldn’t be more than a year or two older than herself, and to fit med school in before she had FBI training showed one hell of a sharp mind. She wished she had had that kind of opportunity. Then again, maybe she might have had Hannah not come along. Now Hannah wasn’t in the same damned situation, with the same damned choice to make.
“I see,” Lazarov said. He gave Kris his ‘dead-eye’ look, the one that on any other person would have been a nasty grin. “Det. Jorgensen will go with you. I don’t think she’s had any experience with pathology, have you?”
“No, I haven’t,” she mumbled. And she didn’t really want it, either. Scully regarded her quietly, then glanced at her partner. He didn’t do anything so far as Kris could see, but she could practically feel the communication passing between the two of them.
“Fine,” Scully said.
And that was that. Mulder and Lazarov took off, and as she was putting her pea jacket on, she caught a glimpse of the clock above Lt. Caplan’s office door.
12:17 PM. Eight more hours before she went off-shift and had to try and salvage what was left of her daughter’s life.
Some days, the crimes just never seemed to end.