The X-Files

God...

- What are you doing to Barnett? - Excuse me?

What are you doing to Johnny?

Go back to your ward. There's nothing you can do for your friend now.

- What? - John Barnett is dead.

No, l heard him screaming.

l said John Barnett is dead.

You understand?

Go on, Crandall. Get outta here.

There's nothing more to see here. You understand?

X-Files Season 1 Episode 16 - Young At Heart

l still don't get it. What does this have to do with us?

Robbing a jewellery store is a federal crime.

Thank you.

l don't know. l got a call from a guy l worked with in Violent Crimes. Said it was important.

Reggie! Reggie!

Mulder! l hate it when you do that.

This is Special Agent Scully. Reggie Purdue.

- How are you? - Fine. What happened here?

Lone gunman took out a salesgirl after she filled up a bag for him.

You guys turn up anything?

Not much, except

this.

lt's gonna blow your mind.

Why?

l'm telling you, Mulder, this is going to blow... your... mind.

- What is it? - Wait... wait a second.

- See why l called you? - What about witness descriptions?

White male, five-eleven to six feet, ski mask.

- Damn it, Reggie. That's Barnett. - Yeah, but it can't be.

Who's Barnett?

lt was my first case at the Bureau.

Barnett was doing armed jobs all over DC and getting away with it. He killed seven people.

There was this big task force. Reggie was my ASAC.

l was 28 years old. Right out of the Academy.

l had this theory on the case. Reggie thought l was full of it.

l was full of it.

- What was the theory? - That Barnett had an inside connection.

An employee at the armoured car company was tipping him off. l was sort of right.

Sort of?

Yeah, we planted bogus waybills with the armoured car company to set a trap.

But Barnett was way ahead of us. That's when the notes started.

''Fox can't guard the chicken coop.''

Clever, huh?

- So you never caught him? - No, we did. We did, but not...

not clean.

An agent died because l screwed up.

And what happened to Barnett?

He avoided the death penalty on a technicality,

but he went down for every job he did. Consecutive terms: 340 years.

The judge promised me he'd die in prison.

So you think he escaped?

No, that's just it. He did die in prison, four years ago.

You're sure?

l was paying attention.

This guy a friend of yours?

Yeah, l play golf with him every Sunday. What do you think?

You just brought this in ten minutes ago.

You're slipping, Henderson.

Ten minutes may be enough time for you. Course, l wouldn't know from experience.

Yeah... Seriously, what do you think?

OK, first impressions: the ink is fresh, the note was written in the last 48 hours.

Ballpoint, but you knew that.

A right-hander. Let's see...

Written by someone sitting down. Now l'm just showing off.

Yeah. Does it match Barnett?

l'd say it's him.

But you're not sure?

95 per cent.

Writing's sloppy. Some of the ascenders and descenders are heavier.

Could it have been traced over an old note of Barnett's?

Could be, but it's a damn good job if it is.

- Thanks, Henderson. l owe you one. - Promises, promises.

There's Barnett. We staked out an airport warehouse,

but everything went to hell when Barnett took the driver of the armoured truck hostage.

Where's Mulder?

There, coming round back. Barnett doesn't see him.

- He's got a clear shot. - Yeah. He should have taken it.

But he couldn't.

No, no, not with the hostage so close.

Because it's not by the book.

lt would have saved one life, maybe two.

Bastard Barnett just started blasting away.

So Mulder did shoot Barnett.

Twice - in the shoulder and hand. But not before Barnett killed the driver

and Agent Steve Wallenberg.

Mulder... never forgave himself for that.

You should have heard his testimony at Barnett's trial.

Probably had a lot to do with the sentence Barnett got.

l'll never forget Mulder coming down from the witness stand

and Barnett turning and saying he'd get Mulder.

To tell you the truth, l wish Mulder had killed Barnett right there in the warehouse.

- What did Henderson come up with? - 95 per cent sure it's Barnett's handwriting.

What's that?

Federal Bureau of Prisons sent me a copy of his death certificate.

Name of deceased: Barnett, John lrvine. Cause of death: cardiac arrest.

Date: September 16th 1989.

- Then it must be a very clever copycat. - The note was written in the last 48 hours.

- Pull any prints? - No prints.

Barnett had time in prison to plan this with someone on the outside.

- Revenge from the grave? A neat trick. - He planned to get you, didn't he?

l was just down talking to Agent Purdue.

He show you the video tape?

- You did the right thing, Mulder. - Did l?

Steve Wallenberg had a wife and two kids.

One boy is an all-star on his football team now.

l shoot two seconds earlier and Wallenberg'd be here to see his kid play.

lnstead, l got some dead man robbing jewellery stores and sending me haikus.

Let's go!

Go, go, go. Right in there!

Very good!

Way to go, Alec.

Two! One! Hut!

l'll get you, you son of a bitch!

l've been thinking about it, Mulder, and l think somebody is messing with your head.

- Barnett said he'd get me. You were there. - l don't care what he said. He's dead.

- Apparently not. - Aw, come on.

There are a lot of guys who know that Barnett made the threat.

lt's Barnett, Reggie!

- How could you say that? - l don't know. l just feel it.

All this talk around here about Spooky Mulder, l never paid it much mind.

l figured it was just talk about how paranoid you were an' all.

And now?

Remember the day you walked into my office wet from Quantico?

You pissed me offjust looking at you, but then l saw how your mind worked.

How you were always three jumps ahead. lt was scary, Mulder. Everybody said so.

- l've heard this story. - Well, maybe you ought to hear it again!

You let a lot of people down here in the Bureau. They had big plans for you.

A lot of people are saying that Spooky Mulder has become an embarrassment. A liability.

What? Are you saying that somebody from the Bureau's behind this?

Maybe, maybe not. Just always best to cover your ass.

Sorry.

This was just faxed.

lt's a copy of John Barnett's last will and testament.

No surviving relatives.

Left what little he had to another prisoner, a Joe Crandall,

and instructions to be cremated.

His will was executed six months after his death

and this states that his ashes were spread along the bank of the Delaware River

by an employee of the crematory used by the prison.

Somebody's messing with your head.

Killing a salesclerk just to leave me a note?

l'd say that's going a little out of your way.

He's older now. He may have put on some weight.

- How much older? - Five years.

He could be wearing any kind of disguise.

Take us back to the day in question.

Was it your impression, Agent Mulder, that John Barnett took a perverse pleasure

in his crimes?

Didn't he send you notes to taunt you?

Yes, l felt that he was daring us to catch him.

That he killed his victims almost as if it were part of a game.

Describe for the court, if you would, Agent Mulder,

what happened when you finally caught John Barnett.

We had a customs warehouse at the airport staked out.

We knew Barnett had someone working for the armoured car transport

tipping them off about large cash shipments.

But we never figured he'd be inside the vehicle when it arrived.

That's how Barnett was able to take the driver of the vehicle hostage.

ln other words, John Barnett used his own accomplice as a hostage?

Yes, ma'am.

And then what happened?

We surrounded Barnett and we ordered him to surrender his hostage and his weapon.

And where were you at this time, Agent Mulder?

l was right behind Barnett.

With a clear shot of the suspect?

Yes, ma'am.

But you didn't fire. Why?

No. lt's against FBl regulations to unnecessarily endanger the life of a hostage.

And l thought that with no means of escape

Barnett would give up.

But what happened instead?

The suspect, John Barnett,

fired his weapon point-blank at his hostage

and then he turned his gun on Steve Wallenberg.

Shot him in the face.

Thank you, Agent Mulder.

No further questions at this time.

He gunned him down just for spite.

Your Honour, we object!

This was a man with a wife and two small children,

and you shot him without... hesitation, without a conscience

- or humanity! - Your Honour, do something!

Which is why you should die like an animal, you son of a bitch!

lf you do not stop, it will be contempt of court. Order!

lf there's not order, l will be forced to clear the courtroom!

Your Honour, this is inflammatory against the defendant.

- l ask that it be stricken from the record. - Duly noted.

The jury will disregard the witness's last statement.

l'll... get... you.

- l'll need print-outs of every variation. - Right.

l just got off the phone with the prison.

- What did they come up with? - No, l called them on a hunch.

Barnett died of a heart attack. Or so it says on his death certificate.

Well, l had them fax me all of his medical records.

Barnett was admitted to the prison infirmary for an infection in his right hand.

There isn't any indication or diagnosis of coronary complications.

ln fact, on his physical six months earlier he was given a clean bill of health.

Crandall, someone to see you.

l don't get many visitors.