Skin : the X-files by Ben Mezrich Read Free Book Online Page B

since her father was brought into the ER yesterday morning. She won’t go home until Stanton is safely apprehended. Be careful with her; she breaks easily.” Scully inadvertently glanced at Barrett’s huge hands.
    She wondered if Mulder was thinking the same thing. In hands like those—who didn’t break easily?
    “This is all too much to take. You have to believe me, he could never have done this. Never.” Emily Kysdale stared into her cup of coffee as the cafeteria traffic buzzed behind her bowed shoulders. Mulder and Scully had chosen the relative anonymity of the cafeteria over the recovery ward, to give the young woman a chance to speak without the obvious presence of the uniformed police officers.
    Emily was shaking horribly, and Scully could see the goose bumps rising on the bare skin of her arms. Scully felt the immediate urge to reach across the steel cafeteria table and touch her, to let her know that it would be all right—but she resisted. The truth was, it wasn’t going to be all right. Emily’s father had murdered a woman about the same age as she, a woman with a child and a husband. Even if the violence was caused by an allergic reaction, or a mental illness, or an uncontrollable fit—it was murder.
    “Mrs. Kysdale,” Mulder said, his voice quiet as he 51

    THE X-FILES
    lowered himself into the seat next to Scully, “we need to ask you a few questions. I know this is hard for you, but we’re trying to help your father.” Scully could feel the emotion behind Mulder’s near monotone. She knew her partner better than anyone in the world, and she could guess at the thoughts running through his head. Emily was an attractive, fragile woman, with long, brownish-blond hair, a lanky figure, and watery green eyes. Her jeans and paint-splotched T-shirt were rumpled, and it was obvious she had not slept since the incident. Her agony was no doubt trigger-ing something deep inside Mulder—perhaps memories of his own sister. He carried Samantha Mulder like an internal scar, always just below the surface of his skin.
    The unique circumstances of Samantha’s disappearance—and Mulder’s belief that she had actually been abducted by aliens—did not disrupt the prosaic and sincere nature of his pain. It was what drove his obsession with the unexplained, and Emily’s distress would only solidify his resolve to find the truth—however fantastic that truth turned out to be.
    “My father is a gentle man,” Emily finally responded, looking directly into Mulder’s sympathetic eyes. “He lived for his work, his quiet research. He has never been in trouble before. And he has never complained, never gets angry. Even when my mother passed away.”
    “Mrs. Kysdale,” Scully said, “did your father ever suffer any symptoms that may not have been in his medical chart? Any viral diseases—either recently, or in the past?” 52

    Skin
    Emily shrugged. “Nothing abnormal. He’s had the flu a few times this year. And a bout of pneumonia two years ago. He had his appendix out when I was younger—”
    “What about allergies?” Scully was searching, but it was worth a shot. Anaphylactic shock involved the entire neurological system—very similar to a steroid reaction. If Stanton had a history of strong allergies, it might be more evidence for her Solumedol theory.
    “Not that I know of,” Emily answered. “Dr. Bernstein asked me the same question when they first brought my father into the ER. I had arrived just as they were admin-istering something to help him breathe.” Scully perked up, glancing at Mulder. “The IV
    steroids.”
    Emily nodded. “I remembered he had been put on steroids during the bout with pneumonia. He hadn’t had a problem with it then, so Dr. Bernstein said it wouldn’t be a problem this time either.” Scully leaned back in her chair. She could hear Mulder’s shoes bouncing against the tiled floor beneath the table. The new information didn’t completely rule out the