2Shy

Internal dating: Scully's autopsy near the start of this case is dated August 29th 1995. This episode is this set before DPO and Clyde Bruckman, which both take place in September, even though these episodes precede this one in air date.

Next morning, a police officer finds her body in the car, badly decomposed. Mulder and Scully go to the crime scene, called by Detective Alan Cross who says they were recommended by the police department's Bureau Liaison who thought this would be close to their "area of expertise." By now the body is in a much worse condition. Mulder is especially interested in a clear gooey substance all over the body. He tells Scully that four women disappeared in Mississippi a couple of months ago, and the only body found was in a similar condition to this one. All of the women had answered lonely hearts adverts in the papers.

A woman, Ellen Kaminsky ("Huggs") chats on the computer with the man seen in the teaser (Virgil Incanto - going by the name "Timid"). He's trying to persuade her to meet him, telling her "you can't hide behind your computer forever." The landlady, Monica Landis, comes round and asks him to read some of her poems, as she's worked out that he's a writer. He agrees, but shuts the door in her face.

Scully prepares to autopsy Lauren's body, much to Detective Cross's disapproval. He'd never anticipated her being a doctor, he tells her. "It's nothing personal, Agent Scully, I'm just old-fashioned in certain regards." "Old-fashioned?" she prompts, showing no signs of being put off. He says he questions the wisdom of assigning female law enforcement officers to "certain types of cases." The killer has "a definite attitude toward women, right, and this has to be affecting your judgement," he tells her. Calmly but firmly, Scully says she appreciates his concern but it's not necessary. "All I want to do is solve this case," she says, "just like you." He says he's not being sexist, only honest, but she just asks him where to send the autopsy reports. "You can fax them to my office," he says, conceding, but still disapproving.

Scully begins dictating her autopsy report (date given as August 29), but when she opens to drawer to get the body out she finds only a skeleton in a rather nasty sea of red liquid.

Lauren's friend tells Mulder Lauren had met a man, 2Shy, in an on-line chat room, "Big and Beautiful." He wrote wonderful letters, she says, knowing exactly what to say. Mulder finds out that 2Shy's account was opened with one of the Mississippi victim's credit cards, and he plans to put out a localised warning on the Net.

Scully shows Mulder how Lauren's bones have gone all squishy, and tells him the clear goo is mostly hydrochloric acid, similar to stomach acid but twice as strong. Mulder asks about the analysis of the red liquid found around the bones, which should presumably be of exactly the same composition as her various tissues, though in a broken down form. She studies the results and says there were trace amounts of adipose - fatty tissue - and Mulder says that fits in with the fact that the body was much lighter than Lauren herself was in life.

Ellen dresses for her date, ignoring her friend's cautions. They've seen the FBI warnings, but Ellen claims she knows the man well and trusts him. Eventually, Ellen lets herself be persuaded.

Incanto gives up on Ellen coming, and, in desperation, picks up a large prostitute instead. When she refuses to kiss him, he attacks her and kills her, but not before she scratches him on the hand, drawing blood.

Mulder and Scully examine the body and find the passages in the face are all blocked with the same acid they found on Lauren. Cross asks what it is, and they're silent. "Hey, this is still my case," he protests, and Mulder tells him what they know. From the obscure Italian quotations in the letters he sent to Lauren, Mulder theorises that the killer is a College professor or graduate student or someone like that. He asks Cross to compile a list of likely suspects. Scully also points out that the killer will have a scratches from the prostitute's nails.

Incanto goes to collect a package from the front door, meeting the landlady and also her blind daughter Jessie. The landlady asks Incanto out to dinner, but he rebuffs her. Jessie tells her mother he "smells gross, like he uses dish soap for aftershave."

The police department come up with a list of people who could have known the Italian quotations. Meanwhile, the analysis of the skin sample taken from beneath the prostitute's fingers reveals an absence of oils and fatty acids. "Where are you going with this?" Scully asks. ""Okay, it's not the finely detailed insanity you've come to expect from me, it's just a theory," Mulder says, suggesting that the killer could be killing not out of a psychotic urge but out of a need to correct this chemical imbalance. He secretes some sort of digestive substance, extracts the victims fat, and ingests it, he tells her. Some animals do it, he asserts. Scully admits that scorpions do pre-digest food by regurgitating on their prey, but says she doesn't know "too many scorpions that surf the Internet." Nothing daunted, Mulder gets all excited about the thought of a new type of creature or genetic anomaly to discover.

Cross and his men come up with 36 names that fit the criteria and proposes to send teams around the addresses. Scully says she'd like to brief them first. Cross looks at her in silence for a while, then agrees, still not too happy with her involvement.

Ellen writes to Incanto to apologise for standing him up and to suggest a new meeting. Cross then knocks on the door, then stares in horror at the wound on Incanto's hand.

As Mulder and Scully worry about where Cross has got to, Ellen and Incanto meet in a restaurant. She notices a rash on his wrist, but he says it's childhood eczema. He then manipulates her into offering to drive him home.

The landlady lets herself into Incanto's apartment to deliver her poems. Outside in the car, Incanto tries to get Ellen to come inside with him. She hesitates, and then he sees a light on in his apartment and abruptly leaves the car. Meanwhile, the landlady finds Cross's body in the bath. As she screams, Incanto appears behind her.

Jessie knocks on Incanto's door, asking if he's seen her mother. He says he hasn't seen her all day, as her body is seen on the floor behind him. Holding her arm tightly and leading her to the door, he tells her he's going away to New York for a few days.

Alerted by Jessie's 911 call, Mulder and Scully and an armed team rush to Incanto's apartment and find the two bodies. Jessie explains that she knew Incanto was lying as she could smell her mother's perfume in the room. "Why would someone do this?" she asks Scully. Scully says simply "I don't know."

Although Mulder and Scully now have Incanto's name, it's of little help as there is no other record whatsoever of him anywhere. Mulder thinks Incanto's not going to new York, despite what he told Jessie. He takes Incanto's computer to the Computer Crimes section of the local FBI office, and they manage (eventually) to get a list of names of all the women Incanto communicated with. "It's a regular grocery list," Mulder says, as they plan to fax Incanto's picture to all the women on the list.

Incanto turns up at Ellen's apartment and persuades her to let him in. Going to her room to get changed, she emails her friend to tall her about the new developments in her romance, then gets the FBI warning. She desperately tries to stall for time, but he comes in and sees his picture on her screen and attacks her.

Mulder and Scully have manages to talk to all but two of the women on the list, so plan personal visits to the remaining two. They arrive at Ellen's apartment to find her lying on the floor, alive but with the corrosive substance on her face. Mulder looks out of the window and sees a man running down the street so gives chase, but it turns out just to be a teenage vandal.

Scully goes into the bathroom to get a first aid kit and is attacked by Incanto. She manages to fight back very effectively, but is eventually thrown to the floor. Just as Incanto comes in for the kill, a gun shot rings out as Ellen shoots him.

A week later, Incanto is in prison, his face all white and flaking. Mulder shows him a list of 47 women reported missing. "At least give their families some peace of mind and tell us how many are on that list because of you." "They're all mine," Incanto says, calmly. Mulder leaves, but Scully stays behind. "Why?" she asks. "When you look at me you see a monster," he says, "but I was just feeding a hunger." "You're worse than a monster," she says, with hatred. "You didn't just feed on their bodies. You fed on their minds." he says he gave them what they wanted, and they gave him what he needed. "The dead are no longer lonely," he says, in Italian then English, as she leaves.

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