As Mulder walked away, Phoebe picked up where she left off. “Like I was saying, the man was about your height.…”
Mulder passed two cops hunched over a car magazine on one of their desks. He stared straight ahead, his heart pounding. It felt like everyone in the precinct knew he was up to something.
In the hallway, the fluorescent ceiling lights made him feel more exposed. He caught a glimpse of someone coming toward him—a tall man with an Afro and a bushy mustache, wearing black pants and a gray sharkskin button-down shirt. He couldn’t see the man’s badge, but he had a cool undercover-cop vibe.
“Looking for the bathroom?” he asked Mulder. “Fourth door on the right.”
“Thanks.” All the rooms Mulder passed were unmarked, and none of them had windows cut into the doors, so he couldn’t tell if they were empty. The last thing he wanted to do was open the wrong door and walk in on a bunch of cops. The bathroom was a good place to plan his next move. He followed the curve of the hallway to the fourth door on the right, which was unmarked like the others.
The moment Mulder opened the door, he realized he wasn’t in the restroom. He was standing in what looked like a war room—the place where Solano and Walker had laid out the clues and evidence related to the Billy Christian case. Photos of Billy, his parents, the family home, and the living room—the last place the boy was seen alive—were tacked on the wall along with files and handwritten notes.
One of the crime scene photos caught his eye. A shot of the body—Billy wearing Sarah’s pajamas; the black-and-white bird, a magpie according to the label next to it, with eight arrows protruding from its body. A close-up revealed something Mulder hadn’t seen before. An iridescent black stone rested inside the child’s cupped hands, labeled NUUMMITE: METAMORPHIC ROCK.
Everything on the walls pointed to the occult.
And a serial killer.
The sound of footsteps in the hallway startled him. He couldn’t stay in there long. He scanned the detectives’ notes and the photocopied files on the wall, knowing he would remember them later. Words and phrases jumped out at him: magpie, ritualistic, toxicology findings, arrows were carved from human bones.
Mulder stared at the last phrase as if it were typed in a foreign language.
Human bones.
* * *
The at-scene investigation included the following personnel:
The victim is a male, 8 years of age, identified as Billy Barlow Christian, who was reported missing on March 22nd. According to Christian’s mother, the child disappeared from his home in Northeast Washington, DC. Mother reported leaving her son alone in the living room while she answered the phone. When she returned, her son was gone, and the front door was open (Case #22-915).
Victim’s body was discovered on March 31, 1979, at 9:09 a.m., in Rock Creek Cemetery, inside a mausoleum (plot #1861). The victim was dressed in a pair of footed pajamas (mother noted they did not belong to the victim), and the body was arranged on a bed of dead rose petals (white), in a ritualistic manner. Child’s hands were cupped, and he was holding a black stone (identified as nuummite, mineral native to Greenland). A small black-and-white bird was lying on the child’s chest. Coroner identified the bird as a magpie. Bird’s body was pierced with eight arrows, arranged in a radial symmetrical pattern.
Evidence collected at the scene includes the following:
1.?1 pair of size 8 footed pajamas, white with gray elephant pattern and 1 pair size 6 boys underwear
2.?3 bags of dead rose petals
3.?1 black iridescent stone identified as the mineral nuummite, roughly the size of a golf ball
4.?1 dead magpie
5.?8 hand-carved arrows
INVESTIGATOR: Edward Kurz DATE: March 31, 1979
* * *
WHITE - File YELLOW - Toxicology PINK - Investigations
* * *
* * *
Anatomical Summary:
I.???Stains on the inner forearms, with visible brushstroke pattern
II.??Ligature marks on both wrists
III.?High levels of alkaloids in the liver
IV.?Distended bladder consistent with toxicity
Estimated time of death is between 12:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. on March 30, 1979. Upon initial examination at the scene, the body was stiff, indicating rigor mortis. No visible cuts, bruising, or other evidence of injury, but faint ligature marks were observed on both wrists.
Preliminary Toxicology Findings:
Victim absorbed a lethal dose of the alkaloids aconite and aconitine, through the dermis. Aconite and aconitine are naturally occurring toxins in the plant Aconitum napellus (monkshood), native to North America. Stains and stain pattern on the victim’s forearms indicate a paste made from monkshood leaves was painted directly onto the victim’s skin. The sedative Rivotril was also present in samples.
Forensic Notes:
Bird Carcass:
A bird carcass was found with the victim’s body. Species was identified as a male Holarctic magpie, weighing 1 lb., 2 oz., with black-and-white feathers. The bird carcass was pierced with eight arrows, approximately .25 inches in diameter, arranged in a radial pattern.