Grotesque

SCENE 1
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY EXTENSION PROGRAM
WASHINGTON D.C.

(A male nude model poses for a class of night students. A sketch by one of the students is seen. Pretty good. There are many students and they are all sketching in various degrees of ability on canvas on easels. We see a short haired, twitchy man in the back sketching and looking at the model and sketching. The sketcher, John Mostow, is a man with a mission it seems as he digs the pencil into the canvas. He's definitely not sketching the hunk of man modeling. He's sketching a mean old gargoyle. His pencil breaks and he takes a knife to sharpen the tip. He cuts his finger. It doesn't faze him. He goes back to sketching and soon the gargoyle has a blood red left eye.)

TEACHER: All right everyone, we've run out of time.

(The teacher puts a blanket around the male model.)

TEACHER: That's right. We're finished. You'll have more time next week.

(The students and Mostow put their things away. Mostow hurries and puts his sketch in a portfolio and puts on his coat. He barrels to the door. In the process, knocks into one of the other students.)

MALE STUDENT: Hey, man!

MOSTOW: Excuse me.

(He goes out the door as the male model watches him.)

OUTSIDE

(Mostow walks outside. He pauses and walks/runs down the street and around the corner. The camera lifts up and we see a gargoyle on the building.)

ALLEY

(We see the male model, now dressed, going to his car parked in the alley. He hears a noise and looks down the alley. The only thing we see is steam escaping from a manhole. The man fumbles for his keys. We see the back of someone looking at him with a knife in his hand. He tries to put the key in the car door, but there's already a broken off key in the lock. He turns and is slashed. He screams.)

SCENE 2
MOSTOW'S APARTMENT 6:30 AM

(Mostow is in bed. The alarm goes off. He reaches a hand out to turn it off. He's trying to wake up. The door bursts open.)

FBI AGENT: FBI!!

(FBI agents enter the apartment with guns and flashlights. One of them holds up his badge.)

FBI AGENT: Don't move!

(Three of the agents charge to the bed and Mostow.)

FBI AGENT: John Mostow ... We have a warrant for your arrest. You have the right to remain silent. If you give up that right...

(They pull Mostow off the bed.)

FBI AGENT: Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.

(Mostow screams as they put him on the floor. They try to handcuff him. Mostow has a hand on the floor and it drags back, fingernails scraping the floor. They stand him up.)

FBI AGENT: Do you understand these rights as they've been explained to you?

(We see the head FBI Agent, Agent Patterson, watching the proceedings.)

FBI AGENT: Do you wish to give up your right to remain silent?

(Mostow bites the hand of one of his captors, Nemhauser.)

NEMHAUSER: OH GOD! He bit me! The son of a bitch bit me like a dog!

(They lead Mostow away.)

FBI AGENT: Nemhauser, you okay?

NEMHAUSER: Yeah.

(They all leave except Patterson who looks at the surroundings. On the walls are literally hundreds of gargoyle sketchings. Patterson snaps on the latex.)

PATTERSON: My God...

(He takes one of the sketchings off the wall with his gloved hand. He looks around. He looks under the night table. He pulls out from under the bed Mostow's paint box. He fumbles through it. He finds the knife Mostow used in the studio to whittle the pencil. It has blood on it. Mostow's or the model's or both??)

SCENE 3
X-FILES OFFICE

(A mug shot of Mostow is on the slide projector screen.)

MULDER: (Voice over) He's an unemployed painter, divorced, no children. He came to the US from Uzbekistan during Perestroika. He failed to mention on his INS application that he spent the better part of his twenties in an insane asylum.

SCULLY: He was arrested last week for the murders of at least seven men.

MULDER: You thought all they produced were great hockey players. The crimes took place over a three year period. All the victims were male. Aged 17 to 25.

SCULLY: Was there a signature or a defining MO?

MULDER: Well, according to the ME there was no evidence of any sexual assault. Death was caused by massive blood loss due to facial mutilation. We also reported that the wound pattern on all the victims was identical. It's all there on page three.

(Scully reads.)

SCULLY: Both eyes punctured... signature gashes from the corners of the mouth to the ears.

(Mulder flips through slides of the victims.)

SCULLY: The level of violence and overkill here would suggest the work of a very angry individual.

MULDER: Or individuals, if you count the spirit Mostow says possessed him during the murders.

SCULLY: Well, possession is a common claim by criminals who have dissociative disorders. It's how they... distance themselves from their actions.

MULDER: That was the operational opinion until last night...

(Mulder flips the slide to another victim.)

MULDER: When a 19 year old male was found dead six miles from here with an identical set of facial wounds.

SCULLY: A copy cat?

MULDER: Well, according to Assistant Director Skinner, who asked us to look into this case, the details of the mutilations were never released. Only members of the crime team would have that information. And Mostow's been in custody for five days.

SCENE 4
D.C. CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
LORTON, VIRGINIA

(Mulder and Scully walk through the hall of the correctional facility. They get to Mostow's cell and it's opened for them. The light that shines into the dark cell hurts Mostow's eyes and he groans.)

MOSTOW: Please! The light hurts my eyes.

(Mulder and Scully enter the cell.)

MOSTOW: Leave me alone...

(Mostow is sitting on the floor against the wall.)

SCULLY: You have a nice soft bunk, sir. Why aren't you using it?

MULDER: Cuz he's been working.

(There are sketches in the cell.)

MULDER: Haven't you, John? What is it? What is this thing?

MOSTOW: It killed those men.

MULDER: Does it have a name? Does it have a name to go with that face?

MOSTOW: All men know its name.

MULDER: What do you call it? Satan? The devil?

SCULLY: Or maybe it's just the name of your accomplice.

MOSTOW: I had no accomplice.

SCULLY: You killed all those young men yourself?

MOSTOW: It killed them. How many times do I have to tell you?

SCULLY: Well, its fingerprints weren't on the murder weapon, yours were. And it won't be tried for seven murders under the death penalty.

MOSTOW: That is why it laughs at fools like you... (he looks at Mulder) And you... fools who would pretend evil can be brought to heel like a brindle bitch or be held by your pathetic gulags. While with a snap of its finger, it makes men lick the greasy floor of hell ... Just to see its reflection.

SCULLY: Is that was it did last night, John? Snapped its fingers and let another young man die?

MOSTOW: It killed again? Yesterday? It found somebody... just like it found me.

(The door opens and Mulder squints at the light.)

PATTERSON: Agent Mulder... Can I see you two outside?

HALLWAY

(Mulder and Scully join Agent Patterson and his men in the hallway.)

PATTERSON: So what is it, Mulder? Little green men, evil spirits, hounds of hell?

MULDER: Scully, this is Bill Patterson. He runs the investigative support unit out of Quantico.

SCULLY: Yes, I know. Behavioral Science... You wrote the book. It's a honor, sir.

PATTERSON: Is that what you think, too? That the suspect is possessed by some dark spirit?

SCULLY: No, not at all, sir.

PATTERSON: Funny company you keep then.

MULDER: That's what always amazed me about you, Bill. You never fit your own profile. No one would ever guess how really mean-spirited you are.

(Mulder starts to walk away.)

PATTERSON: The arrest of John Mostow...

(Mulder stops.)

PATTERSON: Resulted in three years of hard work by my unit. Three years... You can imagine we were awful upset by this latest murder. And by the suspect floating this possession theory.

MULDER: You think he's got an accomplice then. Even though your own profile of Mostow states that he's most certainly working alone.

PATTERSON: My profile led to his arrest. No, he acted alone. And that murder last night was done by a second killer, and he acted alone too.

MULDER: What about these drawings of Mostow's? The gargoyles?

PATTERSON: You know why he draws those? Did you ask him?

MULDER: I didn't get a chance to...

PATTERSON: He says he draws them to keep this demon of his away.

MULDER: Well, that would make sense. Historically, that's what gargoyles have been used for. To ward off evil spirits. Like on the eaves of buildings.

PATTERSON: Come on, Mulder. I don't need a history lesson. And I don't need anyone indulging this guy's story.

MULDER: I was asked to look into this case. If you've got a problem with that I suggest you take it up with AD Skinner.

(He walks away. Scully looks at Patterson and follows Mulder.)

SCENE 5
HALLWAY OUTSIDE MOSTOW'S APARTMENT

(Mulder and Scully are talking as they walk to Mostow's apartment door. It's a dark, damp, dingy place.)

SCULLY: You're not going to tell me when your love affair with Patterson ended?

MULDER: Patterson never liked me.

SCULLY: I thought you were considered his fair-haired boy when you joined the bureau.

MULDER: Not by Patterson.

SCULLY: Why not?

MULDER: Didn't want to get my knees dirty.

(They smile.)

MULDER: Couldn't quite cast myself in the role of the dutiful student.

SCULLY: You mean you couldn't worship him.

MULDER: Something like that. Yeah.

(They stop at his door. Mulder gets out the key.)

SCULLY: Well, from what I hear, there are a lot of men who did. A lot of men joined the FBI because they wanted to be him.

(Mulder rips the crime scene tape away from the door.)

MULDER: Yeah, Patterson had this thing about wanting to track a killer, to know an artist, you have to look at his art. It really meant, if you want to catch a monster, you have to become one yourself.

(They open the door and enter.)

SCENE 6
MOSTOW'S APARTMENT

(It's the same state as it was during the arrest. Mulder and Scully, with flashlights, look at the walls covered with gargoyle sketches.)

SCULLY: By the looks of this, I'd say that served him pretty well.

MULDER: This guy is definitely some kind of monster.

(Scully looks closely at a sketch and a cat loudly meows and leaps from a shelf above the sketch Scully was looking at. She is surprised and jumps against the wall. The cat runs.)

MULDER: It's just a cat...

SCULLY: I thought it was one of those pictures coming to life.

(She smiles, embarrassed.)

SCULLY: One of our guys must have locked it in here.

(Mulder stoops and sees a hole in the wall near the floor.)

MULDER: No. He obviously has his own key to the place.

(Mulder and Scully investigate the wall behind the sketches above the hole.)

MULDER: There's air coming through here. There could be something on the other side of the wall.

(They feel the wall. Scully finds a door frame.)

SCULLY: It's a door.

(They rip away the sketches until the doorframe is exposed. Mulder opens the door. He's going to go into the secret room.)

SCULLY: Why don't you wait until we can get some more light in here?

MULDER: I've got some light.

(He turns his flashlight on and enters the room. Scully, gun drawn, stays put.)

SCENE 7
SECRET ROOM

(The cat watches Mulder's feet enter the room.)

SCULLY: (off screen) See anything?

(Mulder looks around at the clay statues that fill the room.)

MULDER: More gargoyles, Scully. Lots of them. Sculpted in clay.

SCULLY: (off screen) Why would he keep them in a secret room?

(Mulder looks closely at one of them.)

SCULLY: (off screen) Mulder...

(He pulls at the clay face of the gargoyle statue.)

SCULLY: (off screen) Mulder, what is it?

(The clay falls away.)

SCULLY: (off screen) What do you see?

(A male with slashes from the mouth to the ears is under the clay to form the statue.)

SCULLY: (off screen) Mulder! Can you tell me what's going on in there?

SCENE 8
STUDIO - NIGHT

(A man is blowing glass. A shadow walks in. The glass blower notices someone in the studio and turns and is attacked as he screams in terror. He drops the glass.)

SCENE 9
HOSPITAL - GLASS BLOWER'S ROOM

(Scully is standing by the glass blower's bed. A doctor is with her.)

DOCTOR: I'm not too encouraged by what I've seen. The man is lucky to be alive.

(Patterson and Nemhauser walk in.)

PATTERSON: Thank you, doctor. Agent Scully...

SCULLY: We've turned the studio upside down and there doesn't seem to be any more bodies.

PATTERSON: How many were recovered?

SCULLY: Five. All of them dismembered, all of them young men whose faces were mutilated. Just like the latest victim here.

(She motions to the glass blower.)

PATTERSON: At least this one is still alive.

NEMHAUSER: Same signature mutilation right down to the choice of weapon by the look of it.

(Patterson leaves.)

SCULLY: What does Patterson have to say?

NEMHAUSER: I haven't spoken to him yet. But I bet he's going to come around to the idea that it's someone working directly with Mostow.

SCULLY: Well, I'd have to agree with that theory.

NEMHAUSER: What's Agent Mulder think?

SCULLY: He thinks our finding Mostow's secret gallery isn't going to do him any favors with Patterson.

NEMHAUSER: Well, between you and me, I think Patterson secretly went to Skinner and requested Mulder on this case.

SCULLY: He requested him?

NEMHAUSER: I've worked with Patterson for three years on this. And this just about killed him, until we finally got a break and arrested Mostow. Then this first copy cat murder... It threw him for a loss.

SCULLY: Mulder's under the impression that Patterson never thought too highly of hm.

NEMHAUSER: No. That's just Patterson. Late at night, with a few beers in him, he starts telling me Mulder stories. He's some kind of crack genius.

(Scully notices Nemhauser's hand.)

SCULLY: Stitches? What happened?

NEMHAUSER: Mostow. He bit me during the arrest.

(Patterson comes back in.)

PATTERSON: How's our victim? Has he been able to ID his attacker?

NEMHAUSER: Doctor says it's still too early to try.

PATTERSON: I'm not even sure he's going to make it.

(Patterson looks at the sleeping victim then at Scully.)

PATTERSON: Where's Mulder?

SCULLY: He was going to see what he could find out about these drawings of Mostow's.

PATTERSON: What's he looking for?

SCULLY: I think the same thing you are, sir. A second killer.

(The victim wakes and the heart monitor races. He's terrorized by the three standing by his bed. The doctor comes back in.)

DOCTOR: I think you should continue this conversation outside.

(They leave. The doctor tries to comfort the victim.)

DOCTOR: Stay with us.

SCENE 10
LIBRARY

(Mulder sits at a table alone with lots of books around him. First we hear his voice over and then see him. He's been there for a while.)

MULDER: The name is from the French. Gargoeui (?) The name of a medieval dragon that prowled the river Seine. Whose horrible image became the symbol of the soul of the condemned. Turned to stone. Or of the devils and demons of the underworld spared eternal damnation. The embodiment of the lesser forces of the universe who inspired dread, the threat of our own damnation. Ushers into hell or into the realm of our own dark fears and imagination. For over 1200 years, this grotesque image has found its expression in stone, clay, wood, oil and charcoal. Born again and again as if resurrecting itself by its own will through tortured human expression, almost as if it existed. Haunting men inwardly so that it may haunt mankind for eternity. As it must have haunted John Mostow. But what impulses moved it to kill? Could this be the same dark force at work? Its ultimate expression the destruction of the flesh? Of the very hand that creates it? Is this evil something born in each of us? Crouching in the shadow of every human soul waiting to emerge? A monster waiting to violate our bodies and twist our will to do its bidding? Is this the monster called madness?

(Patterson appears behind Mulder, startling him.)

PATTERSON: They're closing up in a few minutes.

(He looks at the table, of the books and Mulder's own drawings.)

PATTERSON: So... is this how you're looking for the second killer? Really, Mulder. What do you expect to find here?

MULDER: I'm not sure yet.

PATTERSON: But you must have some idea. Some kind of theory.

MULDER: I have a few theories. I'm just trying to stitch them together right now.

PATTERSON: With your face stuck in a library book.

MULDER: You said it yourself. If you want to know the artist, look at the art. I'm finally agreeing with you.

PATTERSON: I know where you're going with this, Mulder. Because I've been there myself. So I can tell you you're wasting your time.

MULDER: Maybe you can also tell me why this man was compelled to sculpt and draw the same face again and again. Why he's still doing it now.

PATTERSON: Because he's insane.

(Patterson throws a hand to the papers on the desk.)

PATTERSON: This is the scrawling of a mad man.

MULDER: He said that this thing wants to see his own reflection.

PATTERSON: Mostow has said everything but what I need to hear. The name of his accomplice.

MULDER: Unless he's telling the truth.

PATTERSON: About being possessed? I have to tell you, I'm really disappointed in you.

MULDER: Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint you by not disappointing you.

PATTERSON: After all this time I thought you finally put your feet back on the ground. Clearly, I was mistaken.

SCENE 11
MULDER'S APARTMENT

(Scully enters Mulder's apartment.)

SCULLY: Mulder? Mulder, its me.

(It's dark. There are sketches of gargoyles all over the walls.)

SCULLY: Mulder?

SCENE 12
MOSTOW'S SECRET GALLERY

(Mulder looks at the sketchings. Becomes very focused. Starts working the clay into a gargoyle.)

SCENE 13
MOSTOW'S SECRET GALLERY 3:40 AM

(Mulder is asleep on the couch. He hears a noise. It's a man. Mulder runs after him. They run through the building. After Mulder goes up the fire escape, he's attacked, blind-sided. He's slashed on the side of the face. He screams.)

SCENE 14
LATER CRIME SCENE

(An EMT is putting a bandage on Mulder's cut. Scully is standing near.)

SCULLY: I was scared, Mulder. I didn't know where you were. I kept trying your cell phone but you didn't answer.

MULDER: It was turned off.

SCULLY: You turned your phone off? Why do you even bother carrying it?

EMT: We're all set. You ought to see a doctor some time, in case of infection.

(Mulder walks away, putting on his suit coat.)

SCULLY: (to EMT) Thanks.

EMT: Sure.

(She follows Mulder.)

SCULLY: You still haven't told what you were doing in Mostow's studio.

MULDER: I was working.

SCULLY: AT 3:30 in the morning? Mulder, I haven't seen or spoken to you in almost two days. You haven't been returning my calls--

MULDER: This thing exists, Scully. It's real.

SCULLY: It? What are you talking about?

MULDER: Whatever keeps killing those young men.

SCULLY: Mostow killed those men, Mulder, and out of some sick alliance some other person is continuing where he left off.

MULDER: Whoever attacked me wasn't a person.

SCULLY: Well, did you actually see it? Mulder, maybe you're seeing what you want to see.

MULDER: What makes you think I'd want to see that? I didn't imagine it, Scully.

SCULLY: Listen to yourself, Mulder. Listen to what you're saying. You're starting to sound like...

(Mulder is far ahead of her walking very fast.)

SCULLY: Look, when I couldn't reach you, I went to your apartment.

(They stop.)

SCULLY: I saw your new wallpaper. Don't you realize what is happening here, Mulder? He is testing you. He is the reason you were brought on this case in the first place.

MULDER: Patterson?

SCULLY: He requested your involvement through Skinner's office. I checked the 302 myself.

(Mulder gets in his car.)

SCULLY: (tired) Mulder... where are you going?

(He doesn't answer. Just shuts the door, turns on the engine and drives away. Scully sees Patterson, Nemhauser and another agent and she walks to them.)

PATTERSON: So, how's Mulder holding up?

SCULLY: Sir, can I have a minute?

PATTERSON: Of course.

SCULLY: In private?

(The others leave.)

PATTERSON: What's this about?

SCULLY: Maybe you can tell me... I'm curious about what you're doing concerning Agent Mulder.

PATTERSON: I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about.

SCULLY: I think you do, sir. I think you knew exactly how Agent Mulder would respond when you brought him on this case. You did request him, didn't you?

PATTERSON: If you're concerned about Agent Mulder's conduct or behavior, maybe you should take that up with him.

SCULLY: You know I already have.

PATTERSON: Then what do you expect me to do?

SCULLY: I just want you to be honest with me about what you're trying to do. Is this some kind of a payback for what happened eight years ago? Because Mulder quit the ISU?

PATTERSON: My motivations aren't that petty.

SCULLY: Then why?

PATTERSON: I asked for Mulder because ... I want to close the book on this God-forsaken case once and for all.

SCULLY: And you knew that he could help you solve it.

PATTERSON: My advice to you, Scully... Let Mulder do what he needs on this case. Don't get in his way and don't try to hold him back, because you won't be able to.

(She walks back to her car. She sits in the driver's seat and thinks. She turns on the car. She sees something shiny in a tire of another car. She turns off the car and walks to the tire and pulls out a blade of an exacto knife, the murder weapon. She looks under the car and sees the other part of the blade.)

SCENE 15
MOSTOW'S CELL

(Mostow is sitting on the nice soft bunk as Mulder walks in. Mulder is not a happy camper.)

MULDER: Why didn't it kill me like it killed the others? Why did it let me live?

MOSTOW: I could never tell you why. You would not understand.

MULDER: Then help me understand, John.

MOSTOW: Please! Go away.

MULDER: No.... You have to help me go deeper. You have to help me get inside his head. Just how he got inside yours so I can find out what it wants.

MOSTOW: It knows what it wants.

MULDER: It wants to kill innocent young men by carving up their faces?

MOSTOW: You have felt its hunger... like your bones rattles by its frozen breath... So you know... nothing can be done.

MULDER: Unless I find it...

MOSTOW: Then what will you do?

MULDER: Just tell me how to find it, John.

(Mostow recoils.)

MOSTOW: No!

MULDER: Just tell me how to find this thing.

MOSTOW: You can't find it.

(Mulder slugs him and grabs his neck.)

MOSTOW: Only... It can find you...

(Mostow looks into Mulder's cold, dead eyes.)

MOSTOW: Maybe... it already has.

SCENE 16
FBI SCI-CRIME LAB - LATENT FINGERPRINT SECTION

(Scully and a technician are in the lab.)

TECHNICIAN: First time I struck out. All three pieces were clean. On my second try, I got lucky. I dusted it with redwop.

SCULLY: I'm sorry?

TECHNICIAN: Powder spelled backwards. It's what we call the flourescent light compodium.

(They look at the knife blade under blue light. The tech and Scully wear glasses.)

SCULLY: It looks like a partial index.

TECHNICIAN: On the left half of the handle, almost a full thumb. The placement of the prints struck me...

SCULLY: They're oriented how someone would have gripped the knife.

TECHNICIAN: Which is why I thought I had the guy. Except I wasn't as lucky as I thought. So I ran the prints against the NCIC data base.

SCULLY: Your message said that you identified them.

TECHNICIAN: We did. Turns out it's one of our own people.

SCULLY: An FBI agent?

TECHNICIAN: Your partner.

SCULLY: These are Mulder's prints?

TECHNICIAN: Yes.

SCULLY: Are you sure?

TECHNICIAN: I double checked. Why? I assumed he was the one who recovered the knife at the crime scene.

SCULLY: Excuse me.

(She leaves.)

SCENE 17
FBI HEADQUARTERS EVIDENCE ROOM L-7

(A man leads her through the aisles between floor to ceiling bookshelves full of evidence. They stop and the guy pulls out a box.)

GUY: There's a table up front.

SCULLY: No, that's okay. You can just throw it on the floor.

(A phone rings.)

GUY: I need to get that.

(He puts the box on the floor and walks away. Scully looks through the box and sees the knife in an evidence bag.)

GUY: (answers the phone off screen) Evidence....

(On the side of the bag is a chain of evidence log.)

GUY: (off screen) Yes, she is.

(The knife had been checked out by Mulder. The guy comes back.)

GUY: Agent Scully? Assistant Director Skinner has asked to see you right away.

(Scully puts the knife bag back in the box and leaves.)

SCENE 18
SKINNER'S OFFICE

(Skinner is at his desk. There's a knock on the door.)

SKINNER: Come in.

(Scully enters and walks to the desk.)

SCULLY: You wanted to see me, sir?

SKINNER: Yes. Sit down.

(She does.)

SKINNER: I heard they found you in evidence. I assume you were looking for the murder weapon in this Mostow case?

SCULLY: Yes, sir.

SKINNER: Did you find it?

SCULLY: No, sir.

SKINNER: Is it your opinion that missing evidence is the same weapon you recovered at a crime scene today?

SCULLY: I'm not altogether certain.

SKINNER: But Agent Mulder's prints were found on it.

SCULLY: Yes, sir.

SKINNER: Have you seen Agent Mulder or spoken to him about this?

SCULLY: No, sir.

SKINNER: Do you have any insight into Agent Mulder's current disposition of his mental state?

SCULLY: I know Agent Mulder is working very hard on this case at your request, sir.

SKINNER: Are you worried about him, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: No... sir.

SKINNER: Off the record.

(Scully doesn't answer, but the sadness and resignation on her face says it all.)

SKINNER: So am I.

SCENE 19
MOSTOW'S SECRET GALLERY

(Mulder walks through the room and the clay gargoyles with his flashlight. He's attacked but Mulder's able to fend him off. Mulder then slashes the attacker. The attacker screams.)

SCENE 20
MULDER'S APARTMENT

(It's a dream. He wakes up and he's in his own apartment. He leaves.)

SCENE 21
STREET

(A car goes through an alley and parks.)

SCENE 22
MOSTOW'S BUILDING

(Mulder walks to the apartment and to the secret room.)

SCENE 23
MOSTOW'S SECRET GALLERY

(Mulder shines his flashlight on the gargoyles. He sees the cat and a fresh pool of blood. And a body.)

SCENE 24
SCULLY'S APARTMENT

(She checks her messages.)

NEMHAUSER: (on machine) Yeah... this is Craig Nemhauser... Please call me right away at 555-0143. I need to talk to you right away about a possible ...

(Scully shuts off the machine and dials Nemhauser's number.)

SCENE 25
MOSTOW'S SECRET ROOM

(Mulder hears the phone and follows the ring to it. He answers it.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Mulder?

MULDER: Scully?

SCULLY: Where are you?

MULDER: I'm at Mostow's studio.

SCULLY: Are you with Nemhauser?

MULDER: No. Should I be?

SCULLY: Well, that's who I was calling. He left this number on my answering machine. He said he had to talk to me.

(Pause as Mulder looks around the studio.)

SCULLY: Mulder? Do you know where he is?

MULDER: I'm not sure.

SCULLY: Mulder, that knife that we recovered at the crime scene, I think it's the same one that Mostow used.

MULDER: What makes you say that?

SCULLY: Because Mostow's was stolen from evidence.

MULDER: When?

SCULLY: I was hoping you could tell me. Your prints were all over it.

MULDER: Yeah. I examined Mostow's knife yesterday in the evidence room.

SCULLY: Why?

(Mulder looks at one of the fresh gargoyles.)

MULDER: Because I wanted to hold it. Wanted to see what it felt like in my hand.

SCULLY: Yeah, but why?

MULDER: Look... Scully, I didn't take it.

SCULLY: Okay, Mulder. Listen to me carefully. I want you to stay exactly where you are. I'm going to be there in a few minutes and we're going to work this thing out together. Okay? Mulder?

MULDER: Yeah.

(He pushes the end button on the phone. He looks closely at the gargoyle. He pulls away the face. Nemhauser with slashes is under the clay. Mulder hears footsteps and points his gun at the noise. It's Patterson.)

PATTERSON: Mulder...

MULDER: What are you doing here?

PATTERSON: What are you doing here?

(Mulder motions with his head at the body.)

MULDER: It's Nemhauser.

(Patterson walks closer. Mulder looks Patterson over.)

MULDER: But you already knew that, didn't you? You killed him, Bill. When he suspected it was you... You killed him.

PATTERSON: Are you out of your mind?

MULDER: Not me. Not now.

PATTERSON: Put that gun down.

MULDER: Not until you tell me what you're doing here.

PATTERSON: What I'm doing here!

MULDER: Look at your hands.

(They're encrusted with clay.)

MULDER: Now ask yourself what you're doing here.

PATTERSON: I'm not sure.

MULDER: You're here because John Mostow stole three years of your life. Every day and every night for three years you lived and breathed the horror show that was in his head and I'm sorry... imagining everything that he imagined. Sinking deeper and deeper into the ugliness that you taught us to do. When you finally caught him, it didn't just go away, and the violence... it stayed alive inside you ... til it had to come out. You didn't want to do what you were doing. You wanted to stop but you couldn't. Not by yourself. That's why you called on me in the first place, why you couldn't kill me when you had the chance.

SCULLY: Mulder! What the hell are you doing?

(Scully shows up behind Patterson with her flashlight blazing.)

MULDER: Scully, get that light off me!

SCULLY: First, put the gun down.

MULDER: You don't understand!

SCULLY: Help me understand why you have a gun on Agent Patterson!

(Patterson knocks Scully over on his way out of the room. Mulder picks her up.)

MULDER: It's him, Scully.

(They run after him through the building. Patterson is a raving loony.)

SCENE 26
ROOF

(They get to the roof and Mulder and Scully separate. Mulder gets startled by a flock of birds. He climbs to another building's roof. He's attacked by Patterson. Patterson tries to strangle Mulder. Mulder tries to get him off. Awful guttural noises come from Patterson. A shot rings out.)

SCULLY: Mulder!

(She runs over. Patterson is shot.)

SCULLY: You okay, Mulder?

(Mulder is sitting up and Patterson is face down on the roof. She turns Patterson over.)

SCULLY: We should call an ambulance. His pulse is still strong.

(Mulder gets out his cell phone. He has to turn it on before dialing 911. There is a gargoyle on the building watching over the scene. Scully opens Patterson's collar.)

MULDER: This is Agent Mulder FBI. There's a man down... gunshot wound.

SCENE 27
8 WEEKS LATER
CELL

(In the same place Mostow is held, we hear a lunatic screaming.)

PATTERSON: (off screen) Oh, God!

(He's crying. Patterson thrusts himself to the bars.)

PATTERSON: Are you listening to me? For God's sakes! Is someone listening to me?! I didn't do it! It wasn't me! I didn't kill them! Please!!

(His cries echo as the screen goes black. We hear Mulder's voice over.)

MULDER: We work in the dark. We do what we can to battle the evil that would otherwise destroy us.

(We see the gargoyle sketch from the beginning with the red eye hanging on a cell wall.)

MULDER: But if a man's character is his fate, it's not a choice but a calling. Sometimes the weight of this burden causes us to falter. From the fragile fortress of our mind. Allowing the monster without to turn within. We are left alone staring into the abyss. Into the laughing face of madness.

[THE END]