Title: J. Edgar, Junior
By: ML
Archive: just let me know where
Spoiler/Episode Reference: Squeeze
Rating: Everyone
Disclaimer: I still don’t own them, darn it, just the action figures. But I’m grateful to Chris Carter, 1013, and Fox, not to mention all the actors, for bringing these characters to life and giving me so much enjoyment.
Acknowledgments: to the Posse, always, and to Circe Invidiosa, who gives my stories a lovely home: http://ml.invidiosa.com/
Author’s notes: This is the third story in an exploration of the early seasons. They are loosely tied together but can be read as standalones as well.
Synopsis: It’s not where you’re going, it’s how you get there that matters.
x-x-x
J. Edgar, Junior by ML
Baltimore Field Office, FBI
Tom Colton straightened his tie and his shoulders as the elevator door opened. He always enjoyed the walk through the bullpen to the incident room. It was something to be assigned to a high-profile case. His career was on track.
If you want to be a blue-flamer, act like a blue- flamer, was his motto. He strode confidently through the bullpen.
“Hey Tom,” one of the agents called. He inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the greeting, but not returning it, the picture of a man focused on his case.
This could be the making of him. He would do whatever it took to crack this case. Maybe he wasn’t in the New York office, Like Marty Neal, but he was closer to DC.
ASAC Fuller was already there. Damn. He’d wanted to be first. He might not be a toady, bringing in coffee and doughnuts to curry favor, but he wanted to show that he was on the ball. That he had what it takes.
“Colton.” Fuller greeted him. “Anything new?”
What, in my sleep? Colton thought. But aloud, he said, “I’m going over the reports again, Sir. Just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.”
“I’m not sure there’s anything to miss, Colton,” Fuller said. “No discernable point of entry, no murder weapon…I think we might need a little assistance on this one. Violent Crimes still has Agent Mulder on call.” He grimaced. “If we can tear him away from watching the skies, that is.”
Oh no. Colton could see his rapid rise up the ladder slowing to a crawl. It was like admitting defeat to ask for help, but even worse to call in “Spooky” Mulder. Here was a guy who by all accounts was extremely talented, first in his class, the fastest rising star in the FBI. And he pissed it all away. He didn’t want to be associated with that train wreck, in any way, shape, or form.
“It’s no shame to call in outside help,” Fuller said, seeing his expression. “Sure, Mulder has a rep for being kind of ‘out there,’ but he can still read a crime scene like no one else.”
Colton thought quickly. He didn’t want to appear uncooperative to his superior, but there had to be a way to salvage this situation.
“Actually, I have someone I’d like to talk to, informally,” he said. “She has a forensic background, and she might have some insight. Let me talk to her first.”
“Who’s that?” Fuller asked.
“Dana Scully. She has a medical background, and might have ended up in the VCS herself but they decided she was too valuable in the Forensics Unit at Quantico.”
“Yeah, I know her name — she’s partnered with Mulder now, isn’t she?” Fuller had a half-smile on his face. “And partners talk to each other — way to get Mulder’s expertise without asking him. Nice move.”
Colton flushed a little. “I think she might like the opportunity to do some real work for a change, Sir. We’ll do ourselves a favor while giving Agent Scully a chance to see how a real investigation is run.”
“Sure, Colton, go ahead. Invite your friend to the crime scene, and we’ll see what happens.”
x-x-x
Colton watched as Dana Scully walked away. He was pretty sure that she’d go running to Spooky with this. If she didn’t, no harm, no foul; Dana would still put in more hours and thought on the profile than all the team members combined.
He couldn’t figure out how she got stuck partnering the FBI’s resident crackpot. It wasn’t because she wasn’t good at her job; in fact, strings had been pulled to keep her at Quantico as a teacher and rumors had her on the fast track to head the Forensics Unit one day.
Of course, there were other rumors about Dana Scully and one of the guest instructors at Quantico. He knew better than to bring that up. Dana didn’t talk about anything she didn’t want to talk about, and you didn’t stay friends with her if you tried to make her. He didn’t want to piss her off too much; she might still be useful.
Lately, he’d heard through the grapevine that she’d been asking for a field assignment. She wanted some hands-on investigative experience. Pairing her with Spooky Mulder was probably a good move in that case. He wouldn’t get her hurt or killed, but he’d probably drive her right back to Quantico. Dana Scully was very by-the-book and by all accounts Mulder was not.
And yet she actually defended him, calling him a “great agent.” Maybe she was just trying to save face, put the best possible light on her assignment. He’d knocked Dana off her high horse just a bit when he told her everyone was calling her “Mrs. Spooky.”
That wasn’t strictly true, at least not yet. He’d thought it up on the spur of the moment. He’d always been the one to come up with the clever nicknames, the ones that stuck. Like J. Edgar, Junior. He couldn’t wait until Marty Neal fell on his ass, and he was sure it would happen. The guy wasn’t that smart, he just caught a lucky break.
He got out his phone and called ASAC Fuller.
“So how’d you do with your friend? Is she going to talk to Spooky?” His boss asked.
“They’re meeting us at the crime scene tomorrow morning,” Colton replied. He couldn’t lose here. If Mulder got too spooky, he could say he hadn’t asked for his help, just talked to a former classmate about the case. If Mulder came up with anything helpful or significant, he’d already made it clear to Dana that this was his case, and he’d get the credit for the solve.
x-x-x
Usher Crime Scene
He began to have regrets almost as soon as Mulder walked in the door. Mulder looked like an ordinary enough guy, looked him straight in the eyes, firm handshake, all that. Then he started acting weird, answering his comment about “little green men” in a serious way. It wasn’t until later that he realized Mulder was pulling his leg. What a guy, making jokes at a crime scene. He focused on, of all things, the vent. He pretended to find something there. Dana seemed to take it all in stride. Honestly, how did she work with this guy?
Well, if she did well with the profile, he’d talk to Fuller about requesting her transfer. They’d make a good team. Dana was so thorough, and worked so hard, and she’d owe him. Fuller would be pleased, too. Another win-win for him.
x-x-x
Baltimore Field Office
“I had a reaction to that stupid question!”
Colton looked on with satisfaction as his superior ripped Mulder a new one. Just as he’d figured, Mulder had done his best to take over the investigation. He’d been there at the arrest, and somehow managed to get a couple of questions into the lie detector session.
But Mulder screwed himself up, putting forward some crazy story to try and make the case against Tooms stick. Nothing he said made any sense. Colton tuned him out entirely.
Dana might still be worth salvaging, but she turned down the opportunity to keep working with his team. Incredible. Didn’t she get it? Mulder was poison, a career-killer. How could Dana turn down a chance to work with the VCS over working with Mulder?
Now they were back at Square One. No suspect, no meaningful evidence, only Dana’s profile, which may or may not have been tainted by Mulder’s ridiculous theories.
He was sorry for Dana, he really was, but she said she could look after herself. She was going to have to, because after this, there wouldn’t be many people willing to stick their necks out for her.
x-x-x
The call came as he was driving in to work the next day. Another murder, same M.O.
Somehow, this was Mulder’s fault. He filled Dana’s head with nonsense, caused her to write a faulty profile. Mulder’s insistence that her profile was correct, and Dana’s continued support of Mulder, was all the evidence Colton needed.
He’d gotten so tired of the legend of “Spooky Mulder” at the Academy. So many instructors would invoke Fox Mulder’s holy name and they used real examples of profiles that the Boy Wonder had written, that helped catch this one or that one. Maybe he was great at one time, but not any more.
When he got to the scene, the Baltimore PD detectives were already there. They gave Colton sidelong glances as they went about their investigation. He could feel his authority slipping away.
To make matters worse, here was Mulder and Dana again. He ignored Mulder, who had the gall to ignore him right back.
But Dana would not be ignored. She took Mulder’s part again, and accused _him_ of not cooperating!
“Whose side are you on?” Colton asked.
Dana said simply, “The victim’s.”
As if he didn’t care about the victim. Of course he did — how else would he crack this case?
Back in the incident room, he reviewed the case notes, even Mulder’s, looking for anything he could hang a theory on. It was all going to hell. Even the SAC was looking at him funny. When he walked through the bullpen, no one said a word.
The next day, it went from bad to worse. When they were all gathered in the incident room, someone brought up the surveillance detail.
“What surveillance detail?” Colton asked.
“You didn’t order it?” Fuller asked.
“Who are we surveiling?” Colton asked, as if he had so many going on, he wasn’t sure which one they were referring to.
“Eugene Victor Tooms. You didn’t order it?” Fuller repeated.
Damn that Mulder. “No, and I think it’s a waste of manpower,” he said decisively. “Call everyone back in. I’ll deal with this.”
When Dana showed up later, he told her exactly what he thought of her flouting his express wishes that they stay out of his way. Dana, however, was unmoved, even accusing _him_ of obstruction.
Maybe she was better suited to be Mulder’s partner than he realized. They both were so sure of themselves — always thinking they were right about everything.
If so, they deserved each other, but he wasn’t going to let them ruin his investigation. As Dana left the room, he called Mulder to tell him the surveillance was off.
“This is Fox Mulder, I’m not in. Leave a message.”
Even his voice mail was cocky. Colton elected not to leave a message. Let him find out when he showed up for his shift, and no one was there. Maybe he’d blame Dana for screwing things up.
Yeah, they deserved each other. That was the last time he’d offer to help Dana out. Since she insisted on taking care of herself, he’d let her. When her spooky partner let her down, she’d find out how wrong she’d been to trust him.
x-x-x
Baltimore Field Office
The next morning, he was the first one in the incident room for once. He sipped his coffee, studying the crime scene photos tacked on the wall, the picture of the concerned agent when Fuller walked in.
“I guess you didn’t hear,” Fuller said.
“What?” asked Colton.
“Tooms was caught in Agent Scully’s apartment last night. Attempted assault. According to her, he went after her liver _with his bare hands_.”
Suddenly his coffee cup was too hot to handle. He set it down with an unsteady hand. “This is a joke, right? Who put you up to this?”
“I don’t have all the details yet, but Tooms is locked up. Agent Mulder found something at the suspect’s residence that led him to believe Agent Scully was in danger. He arrived at her apartment just in time to witness the assault himself.”
“And you believe this story?” Colton asked incredulously.
Fuller looked at him for a long moment. “Are you accusing a fellow agent of lying?”
“No, Sir, of course not,” Colton replied.
“Look, I’m no happier about this than you are,” his boss said. “We let the guy go, and it turns out that he may well be the perp. And you called off the surveillance.”
“We did everything by the book,” Colton insisted. “We had no evidence, nothing to hold him on but Mulder’s ‘theory’.”
“Well, I guess he’s earned his nickname all over again,” Fuller said. “Maybe you owe him an apology.”
Colton paced around the incident room. How did everything go south so fast? There was no way he could have known. It wasn’t his fault. And there was no way in hell he’d ever apologize to Mulder. Or Dana, for that matter. Why should he take the fall when he’d followed procedure, did everything he was supposed to do? Really, Mulder should thank him. If he’d actually left the message for Mulder, he probably wouldn’t have gone to the scene, wouldn’t have found the evidence that led him to Dana’s apartment…
…and maybe Dana would be dead by now.
Nah. It wouldn’t have happened that way. Dana could take care of herself, she said so. If Mulder hadn’t shown up, she would have had the collar, and Mulder would have been left in the cold.
Mulder wasn’t that smart, he just got lucky. And one day when he wasn’t, and fell on his ass, Colton hoped he’d be around to see it. And Dana, too.
end.