Página PrincipalInternal dating: Ritter says that it is January 4th (1999) when he is testing the microphone for Fellig's interview.
New York City
The camera pans up a tall skyscraper. Inside, a young woman moves to get out of an elevator with her mail cart. The wheel gets stuck, and an elderly man helps her by lifting the cart over the edge. She smiles her thanks, leaves, and the doors close shut behind her.
The same young woman walks down a darkened hallway, putting mail in boxes on the office doors. She turns around, shaking off an eerie feeling, and the elderly man is down the hall, watching her. She quickly rushes off to finish her job, looking visibly shaken. Rounding a corner, she turns around and finds that he's followed her again. She rushes to get onto the elevator, but she isn't fast enough, and he gets into the same elevator. She seems frightened.
The man looks at the reflection of the other occupants of the elevator, and they all appear to be in black and white. He presses the button for the 17th floor, and gets off, carrying his bag. Again we see the reflection in the elevator doors, but this time, the people are in color.
The old man rushes quickly down the stairs, and inside the elevator, the lights flicker. Several moments later, the cable snaps, and the car plunges towards the bottom of the shaft. When he reaches the bottom of the stairs, the old man powers up the flash on the camera that he takes from his bag. The elevator impacts with the ground, and the doors fall halfway open. The young woman's hand falls out, and the man snaps several pictures of it, even as the blood pours from the elevator.
The credits roll: The truth is out there.
FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, D.C.
In a busy office, a man is on the phone asking questions. The camera pans around the office to rest on Fox Mulder, his feet propped up on his desk, on the phone asking someone a question about another person. We then see Dana Scully on the phone, speaking with someone, telling them that she's doing a routine background check. She hangs up with a sigh.
Mulder: Hey Scully, maybe if we get really lucky, next time they'll let us clean toilet bowls.
Scully: You ready to quit?
Mulder: No, it would make way too many people way too happy.
Scully's phone rings, and she answers it. Whoever is on the other end makes a request of Scully, and she responds with, "I'm on my way." She gets up to leave, and as she goes by Mulder, she informs him that she's been called to Kersch's office. He moves to stand.
Scully: Just me.
Mulder: Just you?
She nods as she leaves.
Mulder: (yells) Don't forget your toilet brush!
When Scully reaches Kersch's office, he introduces her to Peyton Ritter, an agent with the New York office. He is young and eager.
He shows her a crime scene photograph, and tells her to look at the time. 11:14pm, the forms say.
Ritter: "Well then, what's wrong with that picture?"
Ah hah, the clock says 10:29.
Scully: Well, a clock could be wrong.
He fully agrees with her. Prepared for this, he pulls out pictures of the same crime scene that he gleaned from the archives of the Post. The clock in this one says 11:52.
Ritter: Two different negatives, same photographer.
The photographer's name is Alfred Fellig, and he's on-call guy for the NYPD.
Scully asks if he suspects Fellig of wrongdoing.
Ritter: What if he poisons this woman, then gets his jollies from snapping a few of her dead body. . . then winds up in the same apartment an hour later after midtown north calls him over to do the job?
She looks unconvinced.
Scully: That's quite a theory.
Ritter: Well, the thing of it is, he might've done it on more than one occasion.
It turns out that Ritter has gone through more than 2000 of Fellig's police photos. He found three with measurable solar shadows in which the time of day can clearly be determined. Problem is, there's no consistent MO.
Ritter: I could sure use your help.
Kersch asks Ritter to step outside.
Kersch: I'd say he has a promising career ahead of him. . . So did you-- at one time. With your expertise in forensic pathology, you'll be an asset to this investigation. I know it'll provide more challenge for you than running background checks.
Scully: Agent Mulder and I will begin immediately.
Kersch: Agent Mulder is a lost cause. I'm taking a chance that you're not. It's you and Ritter. Do not let me down.
Scully sighs.
PACIFIC STREET, BROOKLYN
There's a busy street, and a man gets out, holding his chest. Again, the old man from the beginning shows up. When he looks at the man from the bus, he is in black and white. The man enters the entryway of a building, mopping his brow with a handkerchief. He sees the old man outside, then makes noises of pain and falls to the ground. The old man powers up the flash on his camera and snaps several of the man -- who is clearly having a violent heart attack.
A computer screen appears with the pictures that Scully was just looking at in Kersch's office flashing up on it.
It's Mulder's computer.
Scully: Mulder. (nods as she enters office) What're you doing?
Mulder: Being nosy. . . keeping my heart out that they're sending you on an X- File.
Scully: It's not an X-File.
Mulder: That's not what I'm reading. I'm thinking murder by telekinesis. I'm thinking maybe a shamanistic death touch. I'm thinking the Muslim superstition that the camera's going to steal their soul.
Scully: Thank you. All very helpful.
Mulder: So. . . they're splitting us up.
Scully: It's a one time thing.
Mulder: Who told you that? Obviously if you do a good job they aren't going to stick you back here. . . right?
Scully ignores him as she sees Ritter approaching. She hits a key on Mulder's keyboard to make the pictures disappear. She introduces Mulder to Ritter. "Pleasure to meet you, Fox," Ritter says. Mulder doesn't correct him, merely responds, "Pleasure to meet you-- Peyton?"
Ritter and Scully leave together bound for New York.
15TH PRECINCT, MANHATTAN
Ritter puts Fellig's renewal form as a photographer for the NYPD on the desk in front of a police officer, asking the officer what he can tell about Fellig. The officer says he keeps to himself. Scully wonders when the original background check was done, and the officer doesn't know.
Jump to archives. They find the original form-- and it's from 1964. "Old timer!" Ritter remarks.
Scully finds something interesting. In all of the pictures dating from 1998 to 1964, Ritter looks to be old and haggard. Ritter thinks it looks like a dead end. Scully doesn't seem as convinced.
JEROME AVENUE, THE BRONX 2:19 AM
In the darkness, a young man with flashing sneakers runs in the dark, calling for help. The man who was chasing him corners him in an alleyway, and beats him to the ground, stabbing him repeatedly in the darkness. When the young man has stopped moving, the assailant steals his shoes. From above, on the fire escape, the sound of a camera is heard, and we see the old man -- Alfred Fellig. As the assailant runs off, Fellig comes down the fire escape to snap more pictures. Behind him, there's a click, and he turns to look into the face of a Hispanic man with a gleaming knife. He grabs Fellig and stabs him deeply and repeatedly in the back. Fellig appears dead, and the assailant grabs the camera and runs off.
Fellig's hand moves, and he reaches behind him to pull out the knife, even as he bleeds. He gets up slowly, sounding pained, and leaves a pool of blood behind on the sidewalk.
Inside a plastic Ziploc is the knife that was used to stab Fellig. As it turns out, Ritter has found Fellig's prints on it, straight off his 1964 background check. It seems that he thinks the alleyway murder was Fellig's doing. Scully's spots a pool of dried blood on the sidewalk, and when asked, Ritter seems to think that Fellig took another victim, but he doesn't know where the body is.
An officer comes over to Ritter and tells him that they've found Fellig at home, watching TV. They're bringing him in.
Ritter's conducting a check on a recording microphone in a darkened police office. He says this is the initial interview with Alfred Fellig.
Ritter asks Fellig about his photographs and his fascination with death, but Fellig has no answers to give. Ritter wants to know how Fellig is always on the spot at a crime scene, always first. Fellig says he has a nose for news.
Scully, blunt, tells Fellig that his fingerprints were found on a murder weapon and asks for a few accounting of his activities of the night before. Fellig says that he saw some guy trying to steal a boy's tennis shoes, and then the assailant chased him and ran off. Scully still wants to know why his fingerprints are on the knife. Fellig says that he must have touched it.
Scully asks if Fellig was injured, saying he appears to be in pain. She asks to see Fellig's wounds when he says that he got "cut some." He takes off his shirt, and there are large cut marks across his back. Ritter grabs an officer to get Fellig's blood drawn.
Scully looks shaken.
Ritter: Hey, I'm confused. I thought we were trying to bust this guy, not look for reasons to let him go.
Scully: I thought we were looking for the truth.
Ritter walks out.
Mulder calls Scully, and when she picks up, he says with a cheesy accent, "Hello, my name is Fox Mulder. We used to sit next to each other at the FBI."
She tells him that she hasn't made much headway on the file that Mulder still insists is an X-File. They arrested Alfred Fellig, she tells him, and now they're releasing him.
Mulder's surprised. "What about the stabbing?!" he asks. Scully asks him how he knows about that, and he says that he's nosy.
They're releasing Fellig because they managed to pull the prints of one Malcolm Wiggins, a convicted murderer, off the knife, and because Fellig's blood was all over the crime scene.
She says that Fellig's unusual.
Mulder: As in he plugs up like a cork when you stab him?
Scully: Where are you getting this!?
Mulder: Young man Ritter is sending progress reports to Kersch. My computer may have inadvertently intercepted a few of those. He's got nice things to say about you, though. . . mostly. Why don't you let me do a little background check on Fellig for you?
Scully: Mulder--
Mulder: Come on, it's what I do now. I'm starting to get good at it.
DEAN STREET, BROOKLYN 1:53 AM
Ritter sits in a dark car on a dark street. Scully approaches the car and gets in the passenger side. It seems they're staking out Fellig's apartment, and now Fellig's asleep. Ritter leaves, telling Scully sarcastically to have a wonderful evening.
Scully looks over the photos that she has that Fellig took. She sees Fellig taking pictures from his window.
She bangs on Fellig's door, and he opens it. "Explain this," she says as she shoves Fellig the photo with the discrepant clock in it. He says he doesn't think he remembers it. Scully wants to know why he's always the first on the scene of a death and why he's always covering that fact up.
"Am I under arrest... again?" he asks.
"Are you a murderer?" she throws back.
She tells him that he'd better explain himself if he wants any peace. Grabbing his coat, he asks her if she wants to take a ride, and he says he'll "show her."
They're driving together. She asks if they're going to drive around all night. "Yep," he says.
He tells her that this is what he does, driving around and looking for "the shot."
Scully: What shot?
Fellig: The shot.
They drive down a dark street, and Fellig points to a prostitute on the street, saying that she's going to die. Scully doesn't believe him, saying that whatever he's planning won't work. He says he's not planning anything.
Scully: That that woman right there is going to be murdered?
Fellig: I didn't say murder. She's a smoker; she might die of lung cancer. The "how" is always a surprise; I just always know "when."
Scully: You want me to believe that?
Loud voices come from outside, and when Scully turns to look, a man is harassing the prostitute. She watches for several moments (as Fellig turns on the camera's flash) until the man grows more violent. She jumps out of the car, and runs over to him, poking a gun into his neck. She handcuffs him to a pole.
When Scully asks the girl if she's alright, the girl turns and walks into the street. As she does so, she's run over by a large truck. Scully is shocked, and Fellig's car moves so that he can take the shot.
Ritter confronts Scully about what's going on as she's turning the man who was harassing the prostitute over to the NYPD along with his unregistered handgun. Scully tells Ritter she apologizes.
Ritter wants to know why she blew off the surveillance. She says that she confronted Fellig about the photos.
Ritter: What did he say?
Scully: He says that he can tell when people are about to die. Look, if New York passes a Good Samaritan law, then we might be able to nail him on that. But other than that, we won't be able to get him for murder.
Ritter: Wrong.
He brings her to see Wiggins, and Wiggins said that it was Fellig that committed the murder. Ritter says that Wiggins said he would've come in on his own, but he was afraid they wouldn't believe him.
Scully answers with, "He's right. Tell me, Ritter, did he have any help concocting that story?"
Ritter: Look, Fellig is a murderer. Whether or not he did this specific one, I don't care. Not if it awards me a few days in the box with him.
Scully: No judge is going to issue a warrant based on that story.
Ritter: No, I know the judge. We'll have it by noon.
Scully almost glares, then turns and walks away.
Ritter: You know, Kersch warned me about you.
Scully: He did?
Ritter: Yeah, you and your partner - God knows, his reputation precedes him - so I guess I should've seen this coming. You muck up my case, and Kersch'll hear about, are we clear, Dana?
Scully: Scully. (icily) (phone rings) And we are done with this conversation.
He walks off, and Scully picks up the phone. Mulder asks how the X-File is going, and Scully agrees with him that it is an X-File. Mulder's shocked and asks what happened. She tells Mulder that Fellig knows an awful lot about death.
Mulder: Not surprising, since he's reached the ripe old age of 149.
Scully: Excuse me?
Mulder's done a "little low-tech background check." It seems that Fellig didn't exist before 1964-- but a Henry Strand did. The prints on his press pass are identical to Fellig's. Before 1939, L. H. Rice has the same fingerprint, as well. L. H. Rice's birthday is in 1849. Mulder says that Scully needs to get to him before he vanishes and becomes someone else.
Scully meets Fellig at the door to his building. She follows him into his apartment, and she tells him that he is going to be arrested and charged with murder.
Fellig: I showed you what I do last night. I just take the pictures.
Scully: What you showed me was a contemptible lack of compassion for another human being. You showed me that you profit off of people's deaths. Now, why shouldn't you go to prison?
Fellig: What? You want me to cry for them? You want me to make like I feel sorry for them? I don't. Lucky bastards. Every one of 'em.
Scully: Lucky?
Fellig: I'm just there to get the shot. I don't take them. He does.
Scully: Who's "he?"
Fellig doesn't answer, and turns away to walk behind a heavy drapery across the middle of the room. Scully follows-- it's his dark room.
She sees the picture from the elevator. Fellig points at a light spot on the photo.
Fellig: That's him. He's the one who takes them.
Scully: So you're saying this is a picture of death itself?
Fellig: Its a glimpse. Just a glimpse. But it's closer than I've gotten in-- I can't even count the years.
Scully: And this is it, this is the shot you spoke of. What you try and get.
Fellig: Mhm.
Scully: Mr. Fellig, I know that you know more about photography than I do, but that's just a light flare.
Fellig: You're right, I do know more about photography than you.
Scully seems a bit frustrated. She proposes that, for the sake of argument, he's right. But why bother to get a picture of death?
So he can die, Fellig answers, recounting attempts of suicide. He says that he got left behind.
Scully: You know I don't believe you.
Fellig: Yes, you do. That's why you're here.
Scully flips on a light, looking through a book of pictures. She comes across a haunting, old picture.
Scully: (voice slightly hoarse, trancelike) How is it that you know a person is going to die?
Fellig: Oh, chase it long enough, you pick it up.
The date in the corner of the picture says 1928, and the name says Louis Brady. Scully excuses herself and calls Mulder to do a check to see if Brady is another incarnation of Fellig / Strand / Rice.
Scully comes back in, but Fellig has overheard her conversation with Mulder. Fellig bumps into her in the darkness, and he places her cell phone on a far shelf without her noticing.
FBI ARCHIVES 9:32 AM
Mulder walks through the stacks of the archives, and he picks up an old looking book. He opens it to find Louis Brady. Apparently, Louis Brady was convicted of a double murder, the page says.
Mulder grabs his cell phone and calls Ritter. He tells him that Fellig IS a murder, but in 1929 and under the name Louis Brady. He murdered two of his patients in a hospital, claiming he was attempting to catch up with death. He walked out of jail one day, never to be seen again.
Mulder tells Ritter that he believes Scully is with Fellig, and that he should find her quickly. Ritter agrees, and they end the conversation.
Fellig's cleaning things in a sink.
Scully: You know, most people want to live forever.
Fellig: Most people are idiots. Which is one of the reason I don't.
Scully: I think you're wrong. How can you have too much life? There's too much to learn, to experience.
Fellig: Seventy five years is enough. Take my word for it.
Fellig tells Scully that after a while, you realize there's something missing.
What about love? she asks.
He tells her that forty years ago he had to go to the hall of records just to remember his wife's name.
Scully looks pained by the conversation.
When Fellig turns back to look at her, she appears in black and white. "Count your blessings," he says softly, looking at her hard.
Fellig snaps off the light.
Scully asks him why he's like this as Fellig loads film into him camera.
Fellig recounts his story of yellow fever. And when he lay on his death bed, instead of looking into death's face, he closed his eyes and turned his head, wanting the nurse to look at death. When he woke up, the nurse who so diligently took care of him was being carried out, dead. And he hasn't been able to die ever since. He got passed over.
Fellig: You're very lucky, you know that.
Scully: What do you mean?
He doesn't answer, but turns away.
Scully: Wait a minute. Say what's on your mind. You mean lucky like the others? You want me to believe that I'm about to die?
Fellig: I just want to take the picture.
Scully: You took my picture! You took my picture last night! Is this why?!
Fellig: That was different.
Scully: I'm not going to die!
When Fellig turns on the flash on his camera, Scully gets flustered and upset and handcuffs him to a table leg. She realizes that he took her phone, and she wants to know what he doesn't want her to find out.
He tells her to make her peace, but she yells at him to shut up.
They hear a noise from the outer room. As the curtain is pulled back, Fellig lifts his camera and powers the flash. Scully is caught in the blinding light pouring in like a deer in headlights. They cannot see who it is.
As Fellig lifts his camera with his un-handcuffed hand, Ritter, the man in the light, shoots. The bullet pierces the lens of the camera straight through, and Fellig drops to the floor. Scully stands, looking shocked for a moment, with a barely noticeable red spot on her white shirt. She doesn't answer to Ritter's call, but starts slipping down the wall, which is supporting her, her eyes glazing over.
As she hits the floor, sitting with her back to the wall, Ritter gets very upset, taking her pulse, and attempting to hold the blood inside the bullet wound in her stomach. He tries to use his cell phone, but runs to the other room to get help.
Scully breaths shallowly, blood on her teeth.
Blood pours through the hole in Fellig's camera as he lifts it off over his head and reaches for another, smaller camera. He asks Scully if she sees death, and she doesn't respond. He says that if she sees it, she should close her eyes. When she does so, he puts his hand on hers. His hand goes from flesh toned to black-and-white, and Fellig looks upwards, towards the ceiling. His eyes roll back, and he slumps against the wall.
NYU MEDICAL CENTER
ONE WEEK LATER
Mulder looks through venetian blinds to where Ritter's speaking with Scully, who lays in a hospital bed.
"You're a lucky man," Mulder tells him, and Ritter nods.
Mulder goes into the room, smiling. Mulder and Scully grasp each other's hands in an interesting rendition of a secret handshake. Mulder says the reports say that Fellig died of a single gunshot. He says she's making a fast recovery.
Scully: You know Mulder, I don't even know how I entertained the thought. People don't live forever.
Mulder: No, no, I think he would have. I just think that death only looks for you once you seek its opposite.
Scully searches his face, and her eyes are sad.
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