The X-Philes - Sing Me An Old Fashioned Song 3

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Monica Reyes' Office

Agent Monica Reyes is sitting in front of her computer updating her files when she hears a knock at the door.

'Come in' she says. Scully comes in with a photograph in her hand.

'Hi, Monica. Sorry to burst in unannounced but we need your help. What does this mean?' she asks. Just then Doggett comes through the door.

'Did I miss anything?' he says.

'Not yet. I was just showing Monica the photo Darryl sent me.' replies Scully. 'Apparently it's a vèvè used in Voodoo.' Monica has been studying the picture.

'It's a vèvè alright.' she says. Doggett and Scully look confused.

'And?' enquires Doggett.

'Vèvè's are symbols that represent loa's. They're the voodoo gods; rada loa's are the benevolent gods, the good guy's, petro loa's aren't. They're the ones worshipped by the black magic practioners. I'd say this one is a petro. If you hang on I'll tell you which one.' she says as she taps her computer. She calls up a picture of three interlocking triangles inside a circle - the same as the picture Scully has in her hand. 'Right! This is the symbol of Zdenek. He requires sacrifice - the bigger the sacrifice the bigger the job. For this job I'd say it was human. Whoever is involved is well-practised in the art of Black Voodoo. A high priest I should think.'

'Are there different symbols to represent different gods?' asks Scully. Monica nods.

'Yes, why do you ask?' she replies.

'Well another symbol was found, similar but not identical to this one in Connor O'Dell's house.' Scully says.

'Why didn't we see anything like this in the Martin Jackson case?' asks Doggett.

'New Orleans voodoo is pracised differently from Haitian voodoo.' Monica replies.

'So what you're saying is that someone has conjured up this Zdenek for some revenge kick on this group of former college friends.' Doggett replies. Monica nods.

'I'd say so. Any luck on finding the last two in the picture?' she asks.

'I was on my way to see the guy's upstairs when I got Scully's call.' he replies.

'I think we should go and hear what they have to say.' says Scully. 'Thanks for the help Monica.'

'Good luck. I'm always here if you need help.' says Monica.

The IT Offices

Scully and Doggett enter the offices and head towards the agent sitting at his desk.

'Hey, Tony, anything yet?' Doggett asks. Agent Tony Bennett turns around.

'Yep, I was just going to call you.' he says as Scully and Doggett crowd around the computer. 'The guy's name is Andy Tyler, a high school music teacher here in Washinton DC. The girl is Carol Adams. She died 10 years ago of a drug overdose. Infact it'll be the 10th anniversary of her death tomorrow.' Scully raises her eyebrows.

'A connection maybe.' she remarks.

'We'll find out when we see this Andy Tyler. Thanks for your help Tony.' says Doggett.

Andy Tyler's House, Washington DC

Andy Tyler is looking through the paper at the murders of his friends when he hears a knock on the door. He opens the door and gingerly peers round it. Doggett and Scully flash their badges.

'Mr Tyler, I'm Agent Scully and this is Agent Doggett. We're investigating the deaths of some of your old college friends. May we come in?' asks Scully.

'Sure, come on in.' he replies. He ushers the Agents into his front room and indicates for them to sit down. 'So what's going on? I've been reading about the deaths of my old friends. Are 'they' coming for me next?' Doggett looks at Scully and sighs.

'We don't know what to think, but it looks like it. Someone has gone to great pains to find you all and we'd like to know why.' says Doggett.

'But I haven't seen any of these guys since I left the University of
Boston 18 odd years ago. Why wait till now?' starts Andy.

'Why don't you start with how you all met.' suggests Scully 'I take it you were all in a band or orchestra or something?' Andy nods.

'Yeah. We were all studying music at Boston Uni. We started a folk band to help pay the bills. We were good, too. We entered a national competition. The prize was performing at a festival of our choice so we went to the Newport Folk festival. But I can't think of why anyone would want revenge on us, not after all these years anyway.' he explains.

'Do you have a picture of the group?' asks Scully.

'Yeah, somewhere.' he replies. He opens the cupbord under the stairs and spends a few moments rummaging around. He comes out with a shoebox. 'It should be in here.' He opens the box and flicks through the photographs. 'Here you are!' He hands Scully the photo. She looks and her eyes widen in disbelief.

'John, look at this!' she says astonished. Doggett comes over to look. The photograph is slightly different; instead of the blond girl in the other pictures in this one the girl has red hair.

'Well I'll be damnned, it's Karen Frost.' he says. Doggett turns around to face Andy. 'Why did you give us this picture when these were found with the victims?' he asks as Scully hands over a copy of the other photographs. Andy looks at it and smiles.

'I guess I always had a soft spot for Karen and how the hell do you know her? As far as I know she's back in England.' he replies. Scully raises her hand.

'Look I'm confused now. When did Karen Frost get involved in this?' she says.

'Karen took over when Carol left the band.' he explains.

'My head hurts now. Look, why don't you start at the beginning?' she says. Andy sighs and settles down.

'Ok, here goes. Mike, Stuart, Connor, Carol and myself were studying music at Boston Uni. We formed a band to try and earn a bit of money to help with the bills. We all understood that it wouldn't get in the way of our studies - we didn't want to be the next Fairport Convention or anything like that - it was just a bit of fun, we all agreed on that. Anyway we started to get noticed, got good reviews in the papers and the like. We got a couple of offers from a local record label but we weren't interested. We'd worked too hard to be accepted to the uni to give it up on something that may never work out.' He sighs again. 'Not all of us weren't interested in fame and fortune. Carol never forgave us for turning down the record contract. She started to drink, cause arguments, fights within the band. We threatened to dump her hoping she'd clean her act up. That worked for a while until a scout from a major label came to see us one night. We gave him the usual "come back after graduation" and we thought Carol would hit the roof but she was amazingly calm. We didn't know at the time but she'd already signed with the label. She told us at the next rehersal what she'd done and she was leaving. We tried to talk her out of it but she wouldn't listen, packed her bags and dropped out the next day.' He gets up, pours himself a drink and drains it in one. He grins sheepishly at the agents. 'I know it's a little early for this but the next part of this story tears my guts out. The label basically chewed Carol up and spat her out.'

Scully has been chewing facts over in her mind. 'I remember a Carol Adams - a singer from the 80's. She sang girlie bubblegum pop, Debbie Gibson/Tiffany type of thing.' reminisces Scully. Andy nods.

'That's her. The label's management and PR people made her change her
image. She was a talented classical pianist but you wouldn't have guessed it from the publicity machine. There was a lot of that girlie bubblegum thing around at the time and Carol was theirs. The shelf-life of those pop girls was only a couple of years. Once they grew up and their fans grew up it was move onto the next big thing. Anyway, she enjoyed a couple of years success and went into obscurity when music fashion changed and rap became the next big thing. She tried to grow up, relaunching herself as a raunchy singer, but it didn't work. Then she tried classical music but no one took her seriously. She spent more time on the front page of the National Enquirer than in the music press. Then they found her in a sleezy hotel room with druggy rocker Eddie Luce... dead of a heroin overdose.' He gets up and pours another drink, downing it in one again. 'Oh she got what she wanted. She'll be remembered with the greats Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Sid Vicious...' He slams his glass down bitterly. Scully flinches. Andy looks sheepish 'I'm sorry, but I said it tears me up.' Scully smiles sympathetically at him.

'I guess it is hard to see someone you care for slide into the depths of despair.' I don't need to guess I've seen it first hand she thinks as she remembers Mulder's quest for his sister and his X Files. She glances sideways at Doggett and thinks of his fight for justice over Luke's murder. No, I know what it's like alright.

'So where does Karen fit into this?' asks Doggett softly. 'I can't see her singing in front of a couple of hundred people. She's terrified of her own shadow.' Andy smiles wistfully.

'Karen had the most beautiful voice I've ever heard, so pure. She'd never had voice training or anything. God I can guarantee I'll never hear anything like that again. Out of the five of us I'd say she was the most likely to succeed in music but she didn't want to know. She didn't even study music, she was at MIT doing computers.' replies Andy.

'But she's so shy, timid, how the hell did she stand on stage and sing?' splutters Doggett unable to believe what he's hearing.

'The campus shrink at MIT gave her some programme that involved meditation, breathing exercises and herbal tea. Well it worked. She was
totally different on stage; so confident and in control. Which reminds me, you never did tell me how you knew Karen.' he says.

'She's an FBI agent. She works in our IT department.' says Scully, reaching for her phone. 'I'm going to bring her in on this. Her life may be in danger too...'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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