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Every Evil 4
Every Evil 4
Chapter Four
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She flew out of the room and returned clutching the small
bottle. Still hacking, he downed the medicine while the girl
knelt in prayer. The drops did their quick work and he
relaxed, breathing hard, against the pillows.
She bit her lip and looked at the floor. "I wish I could be
the one. I wish I could be the one to make you well."
"Now go do as I asked."
She shuffled over to the calendar, where she opened the flap
for December 21. Behind the door lay a tiny chocolate
wrapped in red foil. She took it out and brought it to him
in her palm.
"It's for you," he reminded her, but she shook her head.
She came to the bed and laid her cheek against his stomach.
He stroked her hair, all the time thinking about the other.
Did she feel him close? Did she know he was coming?
~*~*~*~*~*~
Grenier was always easier to deal with when he was the one
driving, so Mulder took shotgun without any quarrel. He
chewed his thumbnail and watched the passing gray scenery as
Grenier waxed on about their strategy for interviewing
possible witnesses.
"...Scully's okay?"
Her name brought him out of his fog, and Mulder shifted in
his seat. "What?"
"I'm sure she's fine," Mulder said, trying out the words.
Scully was better at the lie than he was. Hell, maybe she
even believed it.
Mulder shook his head. "It doesn't matter to me, and I don't
think she needs the piece of paper either."
"Oh, yeah? You've got a kid with Amelia, and I don't see you
with any official documentation."
"Really?"
"Ah. I see. And Amelia was how old when you married her?"
"Let's start with the CVS across from where Pittsfield put
the camera," Grenier replied, effectively shutting down that
subject.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Scully sat with her mug of tea in front of the computer that
housed the FBI's database of missing children. The enormity
of her task coupled with the lack of sleep had started a dull
ache right behind her eyes. Though she never would have
admitted it to Mulder, she was just as happy to have peace
and quiet and the opportunity to sit down.
Scully entered the search criteria and then had the computer
match the girl's face against the hundreds of photos of
missing little girls over the past several years. As the
computer began combing the database, Scully's cell phone
rang. She glanced at the ID and saw it read, "Margaret
Scully."
"I'm on my way to the airport now. Are you sure you won't
reconsider coming out for Christmas? Even just for a few
days?"
"I'm sure."
There was a pause on the other end, and Scully could hear her
mother wrestling with a suitcase. "You know, of course, that
Mulder would be welcome too. If he could tear himself away
from work long enough."
"I still don't understand what made you change your mind.
You've had the ticket for months, and it's wasted money now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"So?"
"But were these two of them?" Mulder asked again. "Take one
more look."
"So you're saying you never saw these two people," Grenier
pressed.
The storeroom door slammed with her exit, and Grenier turned.
"That was pleasant. Do you suppose they're all so genial?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
She smiled as he flung them her way. "And here Amelia was
just telling me how you would eat anything. I guess you must
not have mentioned your little pickle phobia to her."
He nudged her and she nudged back, but after that she focused
all her attention on eating.
He sat back in his seat and shook his head. "Gary Pittsfield
may be searching for Jesus Christ, but he himself seems to
have the ability to play God. He makes one girl vanish and
another appear from nowhere."
His phone rang and he fished it out while Scully wiped her
mouth. "Mulder," he said. He lurched forward in his seat.
"Slow down. Slow down. Who's missing? Okay, we're on our
way. Lock all the doors and call the police."
"Amelia let her dog out in the backyard and now it's
missing."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Amelia was waiting for them by the front door. "I finally
reached Adam," she said as she let them inside. "He's on his
way."
"I let Gypsy out into the back yard while I finished cleaning
up from lunch, the same as I always do. It's fenced in and
she likes to run around out there for a while, and then I let
her back in when she barks at the door." As she talked, she
led them back into the kitchen and pointed out the window
over the sink. "I saw her sniffing around the pine trees
while I was loading the dishwasher, but then when I stood up
again, she was gone."
"I can't explain it. I looked out the window and I knew she
was gone. I went outside and yelled for her to come, but she
wasn't there." Amelia opened the back door to show them. "I
found the gate unlocked and paw prints down the driveway."
"Some madman threatens to take our daughter, and then our dog
disappears? I don't think this is just coincidence, Adam."
"Plenty of paw prints, but not much else. The latch had been
opened -- apparently from inside because you'd need a hook or
something to reach over the fence from the driveway. It
looks like Gypsy ran down the driveway towards the street,
but I lose her prints in the slush."
"Not now, Natalie," her father said. He spoke over her head
to Amelia. "We'll go look for Gypsy, okay? Maybe the latch
was loose and she saw her escape and took it."
He patted her head. "I can't right now," he said. "I have
to go look for your dog, and then we can play later."
"You can stay with me," Grenier answered. "As long as you
like."
"That's her new game," Amelia said, joining them. "She likes
to watch the cars go by outside."
"Amelia and Natalie were watching the front of the house this
morning," Scully replied. "It's possible they could have
seen something."
"A lot of SUVs," Amelia said, putting her hand to her eyes as
she tried to think. "Dark colored, mostly. A dirty white
van. I remember thinking it needed cleaning. Oh, and a VW
bus."
"Even if he did drive by," Grenier said, "how can we know who
was driving? You can't see faces from here."
They ran out the door with Natalie still waving from the
window.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~