" That's a little hard to believe." " Really?" "No, I'm pretty much of a homebody." "But all that changed." "Just from your words, the way you saw things," "I knew I wanted to meet you." "Well, I hope you're not too disappointed." "Lauren, we have a real connection." "Which is rare." " Most men don't feel that way." " Most men don't know what they're missing." "What?" "I can't believe this." "I mean, I can't believe that after three months we finally meet in person and you're..." "I don't know, I'm just really enjoying myself tonight." "Oh, no!" "Here, let me help you." "My sister gave it to me." "For good luck, I guess." "Kind of dopey, huh?" "I mean, a clover leaf." "How blatant can you get?" "It's beautiful." "Thank you." "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" "Rise and shine in there." "Mother of God." "Dispatch, this is car 7-3." "I got a DP out on the lakefront at Erie and Capitol..." "We're not certain, but from the driver's license we suspect it's Lauren Mackalvey." " I want you to get on it." " All right, we'll check this out." "Agent Mulder?" "Alan Cross, Cleveland PD." "Thanks a lot for coming out so quickly." "This is my partner, Dana Scully." "We found the purse in the front seat of that car." "According to the license, her name is Lauren Mackalvey." "But... we're not sure yet that this is her body." " You're not sure?" " We couldn't make a positive ID, considering." "Wendy Sparks, our Bureau liaison, thought this would be... closer to your area of expertise." "Any indication as to the cause of death?" "We were just lucky to get her into the bag without her body falling apart." "This substance." "Did you find it anywhere else in the car?" " On the carpet or the upholstery?" " As a matter of fact, no." " So, it was only on the victim's body?" " That's what it looks like." "Why?" " Do you have an idea what happened here?" " No." "Not yet." "We'll call you when we find anything else concrete." " Detective?" " Yeah, sure." "Call me." "Mulder, what do you think it is?" "A couple of months ago a case came my way from the Mississippi office." "Four Aberdeen women had disappeared within a month." " Disappeared?" " Only one victim was found." "But her body was too decomposed to perform a viable autopsy." " What we just saw was not decomposition." " I know." " I want you to run this by the coroner." " What about you?" "Where are you going?" "I'm gonna try to find out if Lauren Mackalvey was a lonely heart." "All the Aberdeen victims had answered personal ads in the local papers." "If this is the same killer, he's just getting started." "Yes, what is it?" "The handyman replaced the locks on the storage closets and..." "I wanted to bring by your new key." "I know what you do, Mr Incanto." "What is it you think that I do?" "Well, your typing, and those packages from publishers in New York." "You're a novelist, right?" "Or an editor?" "You see, I'm a writer too." "What a coincidence." "Shouldn't you be off writing or something?" "I don't mean to impose." "But would you mind reading something of mine?" "It won't take much time." "They're poems." "Certainly." "Goodbye." " Oh, it's you." " That's not a problem, is it?" "No." "It's just that Dr Kramer didn't tell me that you were observing the autopsy." "I'm not observing." "I'm performing it myself." " You're a medical doctor?" " You sound surprised." "I don't know." "I guess maybe I am." "Why?" "It's nothing personal, Agent Scully." "I'm just old-fashioned in certain regards." " Old-fashioned?" " The truth is," "I question the wisdom of assigning female law-enforcement officers to certain cases." "Like this one?" "Whoever killed Lauren Mackalvey has a definite attitude toward women." "So it has to affect yourjudgment." "I appreciate your concern, Detective." "But it's not necessary." "All I wanna do is solve this case." "Just like you." "Look, I'm not being sexist here." "I'm just being honest." "Where would you like the autopsy report sent?" "You can fax it to my office." "The date is August 29th, the time is 4:15pm." "The subject's name is Lauren Mackalvey." "Caucasian, female." "Approximate time of death uncertain, cause of death unknown." "Itjust doesn't make sense." "He seemed so... nice." "I thought you never met the man Lauren was with." "I never did." "He just seemed nice on the computer." " Oh, they met through an on-line service?" " In one of those chat rooms." "You know, where people get together to talk about whatever they're into." "Do you remember what chat room Lauren was in when she met him?" "Big and Beautiful." "She had kind of a weight problem." "But 2Shy didn't seem to care." "It wasn't about sex with him." " 2Shy?" " That was his on-line name." "Lauren used to... read me his letters." "They were amazing." "He knew exactly what to say." "Sure as hell fooled me." "She read you his letters." "Do you think that she kept any hard copies of 'em?" "Actually..." "I saved them myself." " I can get them for you." " Yes." "Can I use your phone?" "It's right over there." " Scully." " Listen, Scully." "Our killer may have moved from the personals to the Internet." " I'm gonna send a localized on-line warning." " How do you know it's the same guy?" "He opened the account with an Aberdeen victim's credit card." "I just called the on-line service." "Meet me in the coroner's office as soon as you can." " Why?" "Did you find anything in the autopsy?" " There's not going to be an autopsy." "It's a metacarpal from Lauren Mackalvey's hand." "In life, bones have the tensile strength of iron." "Even in death they remain strong." "But look at this." " What did this turn out to be?" " It's organic." "Mostly hydrochloric acid, similar to what is secreted by the gastric mucosa." " It's similar to stomach acid?" " Almost identical, only twice as acidic." "I also found trace amounts of pepsin, which is a digestive enzyme." "So you're saying that this did that?" "I don't know how else to explain such accelerated autolysis." "OK, what's in here should contain the same cellular components as her various tissues." " Skin, muscle, blood." " In some broken-down form, yes." "In your chemical analysis results, was anything missing?" " Missing?" " Yeah." "I don't think so." "All the body tissues were accounted for." "Well, except there were extremely low, almost trace amounts of adipose." "Fatty tissue." " That'd explain the weight discrepancy." " What weight discrepancy?" "The ME recorded Lauren's weight at 122." "But her driver's license had her at 165." "She probably lost weight since the license was issued." "Her roommate said she was nervous about the meeting because she'd put on some weight recently." "What possible motivation could the killer have for removing his victim's fatty tissue?" " Who do you think we're dealing with here?" " I don't know." "God, I look awful." "Please tell me it's the mirror." "Ellen, this wasn't some public-service announcement." "It was an on-line warning by the FBI aimed specifically at women in Cleveland." "Give me some credit, will ya, Jo?" "I happen to be a pretty good judge of character." " I'm not trying to freak you out or anything." " No?" " Well, you're doing a pretty good job of it." " I just think you should be careful, that's all." "Do you think this is easy for me?" "I finally connect with someone I like who seems to like me." "I'm scared enough to meet him without you telling me he's Charles Manson." "I didn't say that." "Besides, it's not like he's some stranger." "I've been chatting with him every day for over a month." "I know." "And he's probably as great as he sounds." "But what if he isn't?" "Check it out." "Want a little chocolate tonight?" "Down here." "We got what you need over here." "Would you like some of this?" " See something you like?" " Do you want some?" " I think he has the hots for you, baby." " I think so." "What do you like, baby?" "No kissing'." "Anything else you want is fine." "But no kissin'." "What are you doin'?" "There's a place we can go near here." " Nice and cosy." " OK." "Forget this." "Oh, my God!" "Make sure you get statements from all of them." "Holly McClaine." "She's worked this area for a couple of years now, but she wasn't mostjohns' first pick, if you know what I mean." " What happened?" " Well, it looks like our guy again." " One of the girls found her." " The airways are blocked with what appears to be the same viscous acid we found on Lauren." "You know what this stuff is?" "This is still my case." "He's a serial murderer who's using an on-line service to attract his victims." " All single women looking for Mr Right." " That doesn'tjibe with a $20 hooker." "No." "Something must have gone wrong last night." "He was forced to improvise." "So it's a guy without a consistent MO." "Not necessarily." "These are letters he e-mailed to Lauren Mackalvey." "They contain lines from a handful of sixteenth-century Italian poems." "So he has a copy of Bartlett's Quotations." "So what?" " You won't find these in Bartlett's." " I'm not sure I follow you." "Look at this." "La Vita Nuova, Castiglione's II Cortegiano, a few I won't try to pronounce." "These are from obscure texts from private libraries that only lend to academic affiliates." "You're saying our suspect's a professor?" "Or a graduate student, maybe a translator." "We need to compile a list of everybody in Cleveland who has these credentials." " Can you do that?" " Yeah." "I'll get right on it." "Here's something else that might help." "The killer should have an identifiable wound pattern from this." "Looks like she took her pound of flesh, huh?" "Yes?" "I got a package for Incanto from Stracher Publishing." " Leave it." " Sorry." "I gotta get a signature." "Hello, Mr Incanto." " Good afternoon, Jesse." " Jesse, did you find those drop cloths yet?" "Oh, Mr Incanto, I didn't know you were out here." "I'm just picking up a package." "Jesse, did you know that Mr Incanto's a writer?" "I know, Mom." "You told me a thousand times." "I'm putting those poems together." "If you don't mind, I'd like to drop them by sometime." "Just slip it under my door." "After you've read them, can I take you to dinner somewhere?" " Gimme a break." " Actually, I'm busy." "I have a deadline." " Oh, I don't believe this." " Excuse me!" " I wish you weren't always so rude to him." " I don't care." "He creeps me out." "Plus he smells gross." "Like he uses dish soap for aftershave." "OK." "There you go." "Thanks." "OK." "Blaine just gave me the list from the university." " How's it going?" " Good." "We've expanded the search to include the faculty rosters from the local community colleges." "We..." " Excuse me." " Sure." "I'll let you know what we turn up." " Find anything?" " We're almost done with the list." "That skin under the fingernails?" "The lab checked the DNA results against the \x22known offenders\x22 database." "And?" " They didn't find a match." " They did find something else." "Check the next page where it's circled." "\x22The skin sample contains no oils or essential fatty acid.\x22" "Any number of factors could cause that result." "Where are you going with this?" "OK, it's not yet the finely detailed insanity you expect from me." "It's just a theory." "But what if this isn't a psychotic impulse, but rather some physical hunger?" "Maybe he needs to replenish this chemical deficiency to survive." "From a dry skin sample, you're concluding that he's a fat-sucking vampire?" "How else can you explain Mackalvey's missing adipose?" "I bet the Aberdeen victims would show the same thing." "This killer secretes a substance which renders the victim's fat..." "Which he ingests before the rest of the body dissolves entirely." "There are examples in nature, aren't there?" "Yeah, scorpions predigest their food outside of their body by regurgitating onto their prey." "But I don't know too many scorpions who surf the Internet." "If I'm right, we're notjust looking for a serial murderer, but a genetically different human being who may be responsible for who knows how many missing persons cases throughout the country." "I've combed every faculty list in Cleveland." "Came up with 38 names." "If we divvy up the list, and put some more people on it..." " All right." " I'd like to brief them, if that's OK with you." "Sure." "You have mail." "Mr Brenman?" "I'm Special Agent Scully from the FBI." "Would you mind if I ask you some questions?" "Thanks." "I'm sorry to bother you." "I'd like to ask you a few questions." "Sure." "These are all university addresses." "Chances are he spent most of the morning on campus." "Scully?" "I'm not much of a salesman." "I knocked on more doors than..." "Cross hasn't checked in yet." "We've tried his cell phone, but there's no answer." " I'm treating you." " No, I insist." "After the way I stood you up, I'm the one who should insist." "Please." " I'm sorry." "I shouldn't have..." " It's eczema." "I've had it since I was a kid." "You know, I still feel so stupid about the other night." "Ellen, you don't have to make any excuses." "Whatever reasons you had, I'm sure they were good ones." "You were right, though." "About me being afraid?" " It's a pretty hard habit to break." " You're not still afraid, are you?" " No, I'm not." " Good." "Unfortunately, I have to get going." "The last crosstown bus leaves in 15 minutes." " You're taking the bus home?" " My car's in the shop." "I'll call you." " Don't be silly." "I'll drive you." " Ellen, you don't have to do that." "I'm driving you home." "Mr Incanto?" "So how long have you lived here?" " Not very long." " I only live a few blocks away, near St Mark's." "Until some developer decided to turn it into condos." "You can still see the steeple." "Ellen, you don't have to be nervous." "I'm not very good at this." "It's been a long time since I've been in this type of situation." "It's OK." "Why don't you come up with me?" "I'll read you that poem I told you about:" "\x22I casoni.\x22" "I don't know." "It's kinda late." "Well, I don't wanna say good nightjust yet." "Do you?" "You know what?" "You're right." "It's late." "I have a lot of work I have to do." "Excuse me." "Mr Incanto?" " What is it, Jesse?" " Do you know where my mom is?" "Your mother?" "No." "She takes a class down at St Frank's tonight." "A poetry class." "And she was supposed to be home over an hour ago." "I'm sure she'll be home soon." "She didn't stop by to say hi or anything?" "No." "Not tonight." "OK." "Thanks." "She'll probably be home soon." "I'm going to New York for a few days on business." "Don't worry about your mother." "I'm sure she'll be fine." "Yes, ma'am, a police detective." "His name's Cross." "That's right, he would have been by sometime this afternoon." "Sometime this morning." "Do you remember what time specifically?" "Could you describe him to me for verification?" "Excuse me a minute." " Did you find him?" " We just got a 911." "A possible homicide from a young girl at one of the addresses on Cross's list." "Police!" "We got two in here." "Mulder?" "The landlady's body." "We found her in the bathroom." "What about Cross?" "I know this is hard to talk about right now." "But I need you to tell me exactly what happened." "I smelled her perfume." "Your mother's perfume?" "That's when I knew he was lying." "She was wearing her perfume when she left for her class." "And you smelled it in his apartment?" "I was scared that he'd hurt me." "I could tell he wanted to." " And when he grabbed me..." " He grabbed you?" "After I bumped into the suitcase." "He grabbed me pretty hard." " What suitcase?" " It was next to the door." "He said he was going away on business or something." "Did he say where?" "New York." "OK, Jesse." "That helps us." "I'm gonna take a couple of minutes and go talk to Agent Mulder." "Mrs Shepherd is right here." "I'll be right back." "Agent Scully?" "Why would someone do this?" "I don't know, Jesse." "The composite artist made this sketch from a description." "His name is Virgil Incanto." "According to his rental agreement." "But there's no other record that the guy exists." "There's no DMV, no birth certificate, no Social Security, not even a bank account." " Employment records?" " He's a translator of Italian." "Freelance." "His publisher pays him in cashier's checks." "He told the girl he was on his way to New York." "I'll check flight schedules and have the airport issue an APB." " What is it?" " He's not goin' to New York, Scully." "Not now." "He's smarter than that." "He knows how to survive, you know?" "Well, how are we gonna track him?" "He made contact with each of his victims, right?" " Yeah." " That means they're all in here somewhere." "Each one of 'em." "Past, present and future." " All files have been deleted." " Any chance of resurrecting them?" "It's hard to say." "He deliberately reformatted his hard drive." "This guy didn't want anyone looking at his stuff." "The good news is, I can restore the erased files." "And the bad news?" "These files are all password protected and encrypted." " It could take some time." " We don't have much time." "It'll take as long as it takes." "Joanne?" "Is that you?" " Who is it?" " Ellen, it's me." " It's late." " I know." "And I'd like not to wake your neighbors." " Can we talk about what happened tonight?" " There's nothing to talk about." " You made it clear what you wanted." " You don't understand." " I think I do." " Look, Ellen." "I gave you a second chance after you made me wait in that restaurant." "Give me the same courtesy, please." "And then if you want me to go, I'll go." "Only let's not do it out here." "Thank you." "You want some coffee?" "I can make some." "Yeah." "I'd like that." "They're coming up empty at the airport." "So I'm releasing the sketch to the media." "We can still make the morning papers." "That may not be necessary." " \x22Friend\x22?" " Lauren's on-line name." "These are all his victims." "A regular grocery list." "We need this scanned and sent to everyone on that list." " Done." " I'm gonna call the on-line service and have them fax us the telephone numbers of all those women." "Machine'll pick up." " Milk?" "I only have nonfat." " No, no, no." "This is fine." "Give me a minute, will you?" "I'll put on some clothes." " Ellen, you don't have to do that." " I want to." "I'll be right back." "Just lock your doors until we contact you again." "You'll be fine, Ms Innes." "He doesn't tend toward forcible entry." "OK, thanks." "Cleveland PD have already reported three of the women on the list as missing." "We've already contacted everyone on this list directly, except for these two." " I left messages on their machines." " You'd better go check on 'em anyway." "You have mail." "Ellen?" "I hope you're not on line with some other guy." "I was just e-mailing my girlfriend." " Your girlfriend?" " Yes." "What about?" " Us." " What were you telling her?" "Just how happy I am." "That you're still interested in me." "And that you hadn't rejected me like I thought you had." "I'm glad you feel that way, Ellen." " I know I do." " Look." "I still haven't changed my clothes." "Go wait outside and I'll be right out." "You look beautiful." "You don't need to change for me." "Please leave me alone." "Please." "What do you want?" "Can I help you?" "We're with the FBI." "We're looking for Ellen Kaminsky." "She's in her condo." "She just e-mailed me." "Why?" "What's wrong?" " Is something the matter?" " Get back in." "Ellen?" "Mulder." "You go ahead." "I'll stay here." "Go." "This is Federal Agent Dana Scully." "I need an ambulance right away to 658 South Hudson Avenue, apartment number 23." "Request special chemical-burn unit." "Freeze!" "Federal agent." "Now, put your hands up and step out where I can see you." "Just don't shoot me, man." "Jennifer Flackett, Kathy Miller, Hillary Turk." "47 women reported missing in five states." "At least give their families some peace of mind." "Tell us how many on that list are yours." "They're all mine." "Come on, Scully." "Open the door." "Why?" "When you look at me you see a monster." "But I was just feeding a hunger." "You're more than a monster." "You didn'tjust feed on their bodies." "You fed on their minds." "My weakness was no greater than theirs." "I gave them what they wanted." "And they gave me what I needed." "Not anymore." "I morti non sono più soli." "The dead are no longer lonely." "Let me out."