Part 8

Madame Miranda's Love Connection
6:30 PM

Madame Miranda's "Out to Lunch" sign was on her door 
again. The sun had gone down a short while before and 
Kevin had come in for his supper break. The three 
pictures were laid out before him.

He pointed to Doug Burk's picture, "I know I've seen him 
on the boardwalk. He had a slight problem with his gait-
-like you have when your knees are shot? Like that. I've 
never talked to him but I have seen him--definitely."

"But not Natasha."

"No."

"And what about this gentleman?" Scully tapped the 
picture of Ricardo Monte. He stared at it for a long 
while. "Maybe," he said finally.

"Maybe?" Mulder echoed.

"Something is ringing a bell. I certainly didn't see him 
in this setting--in a casino taking a publicity shot. 
But there's something vaguely familiar about him."

"Keep thinking," Mulder urged.

Kevin shot him a look. "I'm trying. I am trained to pay 
attention to faces and details but something is off 
here."

"Have you ever been hypnotized before, Kevin?"

"Mulder  ...  " Scully said, once again trying to keep 
from rolling her eyes.

Kevin cut of an argument before it could begin. "Can I 
take the picture with me? Give me until tomorrow to try 
and remember naturally and if I can't--well, I'm willing 
to do whatever it takes."

Scully looked not at Kevin but at Miranda. She was 
looking down at her hands with a small, shy smile 
lifting the corners of her mouth. She could have kicked 
herself over thinking that Miranda was a potential 
threat to her relationship with Mulder. Miranda was 
completely taken by Kevin and she hoped that whatever 
was holding things up between them resolved itself soon. 

"Okay," Mulder agreed somewhat grudgingly. "We really 
just want to do everything we can before we're called 
back to Washington."

"And we're very grateful, Agent Mulder. But even Uncle 
Paul can't keep you out here indefinitely."

"I've got to go. I'll be by to pick you up after work, " 
Kevin stood up and quickly squeezed Miranda's shoulder 
before he moved out into the reception area to put on 
his jacket. 

Scully would have questioned her vision or her sanity if 
what she saw next had not led to the chain reaction it 
did.

When she looked down at the sleeping Max, the view was 
suddenly obstructed by a thick, translucent fog. Before 
she had a moment to even get startled, she saw what 
looked like a hand reach over and pinch the dog's 
behind--the dog yelped in response and immediately ran 
out of the reading room, and through the open door that 
Kevin was passing through. Max leapt up on Kevin and 
knocked him flat on his back just as a bullet came 
sailing through the front window of Madame Miranda's 
Love Connection.

Mulder took off at top speed in the direction of the 
shooter while Scully quickly checked to make sure that 
everyone was all right. Once she did, she ran across the 
railing--jumped over it and landed on the sand. In the 
distance, she could see Mulder running to her left and 
she took off in his direction.

He slowed down and she caught up with him.

"Did we lose him?" she asked.

"No. Not yet. You see that tunnel?" Atlantic City had a 
system of small tunnel-like pathways that ran under the 
boardwalk connecting the beach to various sidestreets. 
They enabled bathers to have easier access to the beach. 
Since gambling was instituted, they became run down and 
were not used much but a few of them were still open and 
functional. They were standing in front of one of them.

"He went there and I haven't taken my eyes off the 
place. He knows if he moves, I've got him. He's hiding 
in the shadows, Scully."

"Okay--do we go in now?"

"No. Double back and get Kevin. Go to the side street 
entrance to this place. We'll block him off."

"Be careful," she hissed and ran back to the boardwalk. 
Kevin was still sitting there with an apologetic Max 
licking his face.

"Can you come with me? We have the shooter trapped. We 
also need backup."

"I called a few moments ago. They are on their way," he 
jumped up and followed the already running Scully.

As they approached the entrance, two shots rang out.

"Mulder!" Scully yelled as she entered the tunnel.

"I'm fine, Scully," she followed his voice and saw him 
leaning over the shooter, checking for a pulse.

"Dead?" Scully asked.

"Yes."

Kevin caught up with both of them and leaned down to get 
a good look at the man who had tried to kill him a few 
minutes before. His eyes widened.

"Recognize him?" Scully asked.

"Yes, and I now know where I've seen Ricardo Monte."

XXXXX

Madame Miranda's Love Connection
10 PM

Madame Miranda's small shop had been lit up like a 
Christmas tree. Several police cruisers had come and 
gone and there had been a fairly short, but fruitful, 
field trip to the beach with Max, Miranda, Kevin and two 
officers. It was not a doggy potty break or an aerobic 
activity. Miranda had been the lucky one this time and 
witnessed the translucent blob surround her dog once 
again. Doug Burk decided the very best medium for his 
messages was the open and friendly yellow dog.

Max walked purposefully to the entrance of one of the 
closed tunnels under the boardwalk. It had been boarded 
up for quite a while. He pawed the ground until they 
removed some boards and went inside. After Max went 
directly to the spot they needed to focus their 
attention, it took only five minutes to find a severely 
decomposed, male body.

He was bagged and shipped off to the coroner's office 
with several officers assigned to guard the body. 

Mulder and Scully came back from the police station, 
after filing some paperwork and making several phone 
calls--just in time to see another of Miranda' front 
windows being carted away as evidence.

"It's too damned cold," Miranda said. "Let's take this 
party elsewhere."

She went outside and pulled down the security gate with 
a resounding thud. On it, she scotch-taped a handwritten 
sign:

"Closed until further notice."

XXXXX
Hotel Andres
Second Floor Lobby
11 PM

This time, they all sat in the lobby of the Hotel 
Andres. Rupert chuckled out loud when he saw Miranda, 
Kevin, Mulder, Scully and Max coming up the formerly 
ornate wrought iron staircase.

"Damn, girl, you're a regular social butterfly," he 
said, taking his newspaper and cane and making his way 
back to his room.

Miranda sat down and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. 
This room was relaxing. In the evening, only small table 
lamps illuminated the space. You could almost hear the 
former occupants of the hotel: the faint laughter of 
children ready to spend the day at the shore; honeymoon 
couples arriving with hopes and dreams and very modest 
amount of money to build them with.  Those ghostly 
sounds were muted by the constant crash of waves hitting 
the shore in their never-ending song. She found it all 
soothing.

When she opened her eyes, she found Mulder and Scully 
looking at her with some concern but Kevin was there--
alive and calm. And Max was sticking by his side like 
glue. That was really all that mattered.

"I talked to Detective Bryant. The shot hit the exact 
spot on your storefront window that the blood had been 
splattered on. And I checked on the DNA work. They never 
needed to check Doug Burk's. The blood was yours, 
Kevin," Scully said.

"Damn," he said. "Well, it sort of makes some kind of 
sense now."

"How so?" Scully asked.

"Well, I knew the shooter and Mr. Monte from the same 
place. Actually, I'm pretty damned sure it was one of 
the times I saw Doug Burk, too. He wasn't with them, 
though. I think that's what drew our attention to the 
situation in the first place. Doug Burk was kind of 
limping his way over to a bench to rest while two men 
were arguing loudly nearby. We kept an eye on the 
situation because if tempers flared--well, in this day 
and age--you never know who might pull a gun--and we now 
had an innocent bystander who potentially had problems 
leaving the scene quickly.

My former partner--George Murphy--thought it would be 
best to just confront the situation. Ask if anything was 
wrong and give them enough of a diversion to take the 
anger down a notch. He approached them directly. I was a 
little further back so I didn't see them as clearly and 
that's why I had difficulty remembering Monte, in 
particular. I saw him at night, in an area of low 
lighting. But I do remember they were not at all happy 
over the intrusion. Just by the looks on their faces. 
They did leave the scene and we went on with our patrol 
but apparently--we witnessed more than we thought we did 
and  ...  " A look of slowly dawning horror crossed his 
face.

"What?" Mulder asked.

"Murphy," Miranda said and Kevin nodded, suddenly very 
intent on petting Max and not looking anyone other than 
the dog directly in the face. Miranda continued, "Murphy 
died in a hit and run accident. There was a suspected 
drunk driver but the car and driver were never found. 
There was just a witness who saw the car operating in an 
erratic fashion before plowing into Murphy. I guess 
there's a possibility it wasn't an accident after all."

"How long ago was this?"

"A couple of months. But only a week after this 
incident," Kevin said. "But I don't understand, then. 
Why not kill me, too. Right then and there?"

"Because I suspect they might have wanted it to appear 
as it did--as an accident. Two accidents to men who were 
partners in a very short amount of time would seem 
suspicious."

"And a murder wouldn't?"

"I think--that in some odd way--they might have felt 
forced into taking action tonight. Word would have 
gotten around as to who we were and since the general 
public would have no idea about the connection between 
Miranda and the FBI--they might naturally think a big 
mob shake-down was in the works. They needed to clean up 
loose ends--even if it was risky."

"So, the warnings might have precipitated the events?" 
Miranda asked, ready to kick Dougie's non-corporeal ass.

"Perhaps these particular events but I think Kevin as 
their target was very real. And so was the warning. It 
would have happened eventually."

"Well, we'll figure out all the connections in time," 
Scully said, "but for now--I think we're going to leave 
you alone to get some rest."

Miranda looked away from Kevin and Max and up at Mulder 
and Scully.

"Thank you. Really. To say you went above and beyond 
would be an understatement  ...  " she smiled. "If you 
ever want a reading  ...  "

"Thank you, but it won't be necessary," Mulder said.

Scully gave a half-smile and walked down the stairs.

End of Part 8