The X-Files (1993–…): Season 4, Episode 10 - Paper Hearts - full transcript

An incarcerated serial killer claims Mulder's sister was one of his many victims.

Here. Try this screen.

Concentrate on this area over here.
Right there.

Mulder!

What's going on?

I'm not sure I can explain.

You called for a forensic excavation
at 5 a.m. on a Sunday?

Just give me a minute, OK?

What are you doing out here?

I keep having this dream.
It's about a little blonde girl.

You're here because of something
you saw in a dream?

Sir!



Carefully remove all that. Easy.

Tell me about this dream.

I've had flashes of it three nights in a row,...

..and last night it went on
long enough to lead me right to her.

- I need the chest exposed.
- Yes, sir. It just takes a little time.

Sir? Let us do that.

If you destroy evidence,
we may never know what happened.

I know what happened. She was strangled.
He used an eight-gauge electrical cord.

He took something from
the body postmortem - a trophy,...

..a piece of fabric cut from her clothes
in the shape of a heart.

- You got all these details from your dream?
- No. I know this MO from memory.

- Whose MO?
- John Lee Roche.

He killed 13 eight- to ten-year-old girls.

This makes 14.



It was a difficult case.
He was extremely hard to catch.

By 1990, ten victims had been found,
scattered across the Eastern seaboard.

The earliest dated back to 1979.

VICAP named the case "Paper Hearts"
because of the trophies the killer took.

All the victims
were abducted from their homes.

Reggie Purdue brought me in because he
thought I could get inside the killer's head.

Did you?

I concluded we were looking for a salesman.

Someone who traveled a lot, who could
gain people's confidence, someone ordinary.

Roche was a vacuum cleaner salesman.
His job took him all over the Northeast.

He'd be in someone's home,...

..demonstrating his vacuum,
and he'd be checking out their kids.

He'd choose a victim
and come back for her months later.

But it was your profile that caught him.

What about the trophies he took,
the cloth hearts?

We never found them, but we had him
on 13 counts of murder. He admitted to 13.

Polygraph said he was telling the truth,
but it always bugged me.

I always wanted to find those hearts
and count them,

see if they really added up to 13.

I guess they didn't.

If nothing else, I think I can at least help
explain your dream.

I don't think
you ever stopped thinking about this case.

I believe you solved it in your sleep.

You think that I've had this information
about a 14th victim all the time...

..and I've been processing it unconsciously?

You said it yourself once.

..a dream is an answer to a question
we haven't learned how to ask.

You did good work, Mulder.

Let's identify this girl
so we can put her to rest.

I believe her name is Addie Sparks.

She went missing from her home
in Pennsylvania, in June 1975.

I contacted the Center for Missing
and Exploited Children,...

- ..ran a search through the database.
- 1975's too early.

I think the match is right.

The height is right;
the description of the sleeper is right.

That would mean Roche started
way before we thought he did.

Mulder, we're gonna have to verify this.

Are you up for that?

- Frank Sparks?
- Can I help you?

Yes. I'm Agent Scully. This is Agent Mulder.
We're with the FBI. May we speak with you?

You've found Addie.

This was for the tooth fairy.

When Addie was asleep at night,
I'd come and put a quarter in this pocket.

Her mother sewed it.

- Where is your wife, sir?
- She passed away last summer.

So you, uh... you're saying the man
that did this is already in prison?

Yes, sir, and he won't get out.

You do this full-time, telling people...
this kind of news?

No, sir, not full-time.

- It's not a good job.
- No.

I used to think...

..that missing was worse than dead
because”.

..you never knew what happened.

But now that I know,...

..I'm glad my wife's not here.

She got luckier.

How many more people, uh... like me...

- ..are you gonna visit today?
- Sir?

Were there other victims
you didn't know about?

Roche's car. Roche drove a white El Camino.

- I saw it in my dream.
- What are you saying?

The cloth hearts,
he would have wanted them close.

For a traveling salesman,
that means inside the car.

You're saying the hearts
might still be in his car?

He doesn't have them in prison. His cell
is searched regularly. His mail is examined.

His car was sold at auction in 1992,
put beyond his reach. It's worth a look.

We gotta find those hearts, to count them.

Don't you think the car's
been searched already?

Not by me.

Here it is.

I've been, you know, detailing it.

Dropped the bed shell and did the decals,
stuff like that.

- Thank you.
- Honest-to-God serial killer owned my car?

For real?

I'm helping him detail.

- Something's wrong here, Scully.
- Maybe it's underneath.

Mad Hat.

Hey, Scully, the camper shell.

The kid said he took the camper shell off.

"Mad Hat." Mad Hatter.

Eight,...

..nine, ten,...

..eleven,...

..twelve, thirteen,...

..fourteen...

Addie Sparks!

Fifteen,...

..sixteen.

He killed two more victims.

Mulder.

Long time no see.

You got a new partner.

Agent Scully.

- So what's up?
- We found Addie Sparks, John.

Congratulations, I guess.

We also found your cloth hearts,...

..all16 of them.

- Oh.
- Sixteen victims, John.

How come you said there were only 13?

I don't know.
13 sounds more magical, you know?

Tell us about the last two victims.

You're in for life. You've got nothing to lose.

I got nothin' to gain.

You can gain
one moment of decency in your life.

You can finally let those families
put their daughters to rest.

I understand you take this
very personally, Mulder.

How about this?

Sink one from there, and I'll tell you.

You'd trust a child molester?

You bring my hearts
and give them back to me,...

..I'll tell you everything you wanna know.

Coming out.

..President Nixon and HR Haldeman
while transcribing the subpoenaed tape.

Woods testified that she erased
about five minutes of the conversation,...

- ..but the tape contained...
- Fox, it's your move.

Under investigation
from Senator Howard Baker,...

..HR Haldeman reiterated
the White House explanation that...

- Samantha.
- Are you gonna move or not?

- Do we have to watch this?
- ..hitting the record button.

It would be very difficult to reach
the conclusion it was an accident.

The magician comes on at nine.

Mom and Dad said I could watch
the movie, buttmunch.

They're next door at the Galbrands'.
They left me in charge.

No!

Not again.

Samantha, run!

Fox!

Fox!

Samantha!

Did you bring me my hearts?

Yesterday you said something about me
taking it personally. Why did you say that?

Where were you in 1973?

- What, the whole year?
- November. 27th of November.

Do you know what I'm getting at?

I was selling vacuum cleaners in 1973.

I made a sales trip
to Martha's Vineyard that year, and...

..I sold a vacuum cleaner to your dad.

He bought it for your mom.
I believe it was a, um...

..ElectroVac Duchess or the Princess model.

Your dad and I talked about it
at great length.

He had a really hard time choosing.

What do you know about my sister?

You bring me my hearts,
and maybe I'll tell you more.

This man... This man hit me.

I didn't see it.

I did.

He was there, Scully.
He was in the house. He took Samantha.

In your dream. It was a dream.
Your mind made it up.

A dream is an answer to a question
we don't know how to ask.

Something buried in your subconscious.

You heard him.
He mentioned being on Martha's Vineyard.

Is it a state secret that you lived there?

- How would he find out?
- The prison library.

The inmates have access to computers
and the Internet. I checked.

- Roche logged on yesterday.
- Looking for what?

The server records don't show,
but on the Net

he can find out almost anything about you.

He's playing with you. He's committing
emotional blackmail and you're letting him.

You walked in there
with your heart on your sleeve.

He saw vulnerability,
and he took advantage of it.

You had a dream,...

..a nightmare, because of all the emotions
this case is stirring up for you, but...

- ..it was nothing but a dream.
- My last dream came true.

Do you believe that my sister Samantha
was abducted by aliens?

Have you ever believed that?

No.

So what do you think happened to her?

What do you believe now?

I don't know. I don't know what happened.
I don't know what to believe.

I just know I have to find out now.

- Fox?
- Mom. I'm in the basement.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to wake you up. I'm sorry.
How're you feeling?

Good, Fox. What are you doin'
down here in the middle of the night?

Do you recognize...

- ..either of these fabrics?
- What am I looking at?

Just look closely.
Do they seem familiar to you?

- Familiar how?
- Just familiar.

- Have you seen them before?
- I don't know what you want me to say.

My memory isn't as good as it used to be
since I had the stroke.

I just don't know what...

It's all right.

Oh, Fox.

Dad never bought you
a vacuum cleaner, did he?

Yeah, a long time ago.
I don't use it anymore.

- Where is it?
- It's here under the stairs in the storage.

Fox, what is going on?

Sir, I've been denied access to Roche.
I'm told the order comes from you.

Could you tell me why you saw fit
to strike a prisoner in federal custody?

Agent Scully didn't report that to me,
though she should have.

It was videotaped as per prison policy.

You're lucky I don't have your ass in a sling!

- Sir...
- You've gotten too close to this.

You've let this man get to you.

I have reason to believe he can tell us
what happened to my sister Samantha.

It is looking possible, sir.

John Lee Roche
apparently spent most of 1973 in Boston.

He did take one sales trip to
Martha's Vineyard in October of that year.

- The timing is right.
- I need to know.

I just need to speak to him one more time.

- This just makes it even less of a good idea.
- Sir, the fact remains...

..that we still have two more victims
that we need to find and identify.

No one has more insight into Roche
than Mulder, and this is still Mulder's case.

You tread very lightly.

You see that he does.

I'm not talking to you
if you're gonna hit me again.

No! You don't get to touch 'em.
They stay in the bag.

- Name them.
- Well, I think you know one of them already.

Prove it.

Watergate was on TV.

You and your sister...

..were sitting in front of it...

..playing a board game, uh,
with little red and, uh,...

..blue plastic pieces.

Anyway, you wanted to watch a TV show,...

..the one with Bill Bixby.
What the heck was the name of that thing?

How could you know what I said?

I was watching... from the window.
I was very careful.

If that's true, tell me where my sister is.

- Pick her out.
- What?

You choose the one that was your sister,
and I'll tell you where she is.

Hey, come on. It's a 50-50 chance.

Either way, I'm giving you a victim.

That one.

You sure you want that one?

Just kidding. It's, it's a good choice.

Mulder?

Let's get a team out here.

- Let somebody else do this.
- Help me, Scully.

Mulder?

It's not her, Scully.

Am I right?

Samantha broke her left collarbone
when she was six.

We had a rope swing in the backyard.

- It's not broken, is it?
- You're right. It's not a match.

It's not her.

It's somebody, though.

Like I said, it was a 50-50 chance.

Tell us the name of that girl.

It was Karen Ann Philiponte.

She lived in a green rancher
in East Amherst, New York.

Mint grew outside her window.

I stood outside her window
atop sprigs of mint.

- It smelled wonderful.
- What year?

July 1974.

I had her mother on the hook
for an ElectroVac Argosy,...

..but at the last minute
she said thanks, but no thanks.

Oh, well.

- It's your sister.
- If that's true, tell me where.

You wanna know a lot more than that.

You wanna know everything, right?
The big mystery revealed?

- Drop the mind games.
- I can't just tell you.

I mean, I know you don't believe me yet.

You need me to show you,
to lead you through it, because...

..after all these years, anything less than
that's not gonna satisfy you, right?

- You just wanna get outta here.
- You're damn right I do!

If only for a day or two. I'm realistic.

I mean, more than that, I...

- ..I can't wait to see your face.
- Oh, God.

You're gonna see the inside
of your cell instead. You're gonna rot there.

Are you OK?

The last thing we should do
is give this man his way on this.

If we do, he could string us along for ever.

I know you appreciate that.

There has to be another way
to come to the truth.

- Clerk’s office.
- This is Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI,...

..badge number: JTT047101111.

I need a removal order for a federal prisoner.

Can I use the lavatory?

Keep your hands in your lap.

- Something to drink?
- Excuse me.

- First flight?
- Yeah. She's really excited.

You having fun?

- Mm-hmm.
- What's your name?

Caitlin.

What do you mean he checked out Roche?

He convinced the judge
that it was an emergency situation.

- And where were you?
- I had left Agent Mulder for the day.

I suggested that he get some sleep.

I have an idea of where he might
have gone, and I can catch up with him.

- I'll catch up with him. Where's he headed?
- Martha's Vineyard.

I hope that you appreciate
the uniqueness of this situation...

- ..and its effect on Agent Mulder.
- I understand the effect it has on him.

That was the sum and total
of my last words to you on the subject.

You let me down.

Let's clean up this mess
before it gets out of hand.

No one home?

I sat on this couch. You know,
when your dad bought the vacuum.

- You ready?
- Go.

November 27, 1973.

I watched the house for hours.
I parked across the way, out over there.

I was just casing.
I wasn't planning for this to be the night.

But then, all of a sudden,
your parents leave, and I figure...

Where'd they go?

House next door... to play pinochle.
I don't know.

- Whatever it was people did back then.
- Go on.

After they're gone, I get out of my car,
and I move closer,...

..and I watched you and your sister...

..playing that board game.

A little after eight, I'm about ready.

So I move to the junction box.

I cut the power, and the lights go off.

I moved around to the front door
and was ready to kick the door in.

It was unlocked.

It was 1973.
It was a different world back then.

- Then what did you do?
- Well, you remember that.

I came in the front door
and you tried to get your father's gun.

I give you credit for that.
But then you froze and then...

..I took your sister away from all this...
to a happier place.

That's exactly how it happened?

- Right here in this room?
- Yeah.

Wrong house.

My father bought this
after he and my mother divorced.

The house that Samantha was
abducted from is in Chilmark.

That's six miles from here!

You screwed up. You weren't here.
You didn't take Samantha.

- Wishful thinking.
- No, but I think I know what happened.

- Somehow you got inside my dreams.
- Come again?

I profiled you. I got inside your head.
Maybe you got inside mine.

Maybe some nexus
was formed between us.

And through that, you got access
to my memories of my sister.

- You used them against me for this.
- You're just resisting me.

You're in the wrong house, you stupid
son of a bitch! You were never here!

It's geography. It was 23 years ago.
It's geography we're talking about.

Yeah, but you remember
all the other details so vividly.

That's because you watched it
through my eyes, through my dreams.

I hear things about you, Mulder.
You know what I heard?

I heard you go after aliens... from space.

It's like your world will be OK as long as
you can believe in flying saucers.

But I'm telling you the God's honest truth.

And I can see you're not as open-minded
as you think you are.

You must have been
one hell of a salesman, Roche.

First flight's at 6 a.m. Enjoy your last
few hours of freedom. Come on.

Fox!

Fox! Help!

Unlock me! Help!

Help me!

Fox, help me!

Help me!

Unlock me! Fox!

Fox! Fox, help me! Unlock me!

Fox!

Mulder?

Mulder, open the door!

You let Roche go?

I must've done it in my sleep.
I had another dream.

Why don't you check
to see if anybody saw him leave.

He took the last cloth heart.

- He also took your badge and your phone.
- Where's your gun?

- How do you explain yourself?
- I don't.

A predator is loose because of you.
God knows how many hours' lead he's got.

Any idea where he might be headed?

- Yeah.
- Where?

Where's your phone?

- There was a small child on the plane.
- What child?

Seaboard Air.

- Please put me through to your supervisor.
- What child?

This is Special Agent Fox Mulder, FBI.

I'd like a passenger manifest
for Flight 1650...

..from Washington National to Boston,
8.50 p.m. last night.

- My badge number is JTT...
- I'm sorry. Agent Mulder called.

An Agent Mulder called
just ten minutes ago.

They gave him the same information.

He said he was with the FBI.

He said her mother was in an accident,
and he needed to take Caitlin.

- You said he was a white male?
- Yeah.

- About how tall was he?
- Um, he was about 6'5" or something.

He said his name was Mulder.

He had a badge. He said he was official.

Oh my God, what have I done?

We sent a unit to pick up the girl's mother.
She's on her way down.

What am I going to tell her? It's all my fault.

It's not your fault.

It's my fault.

I'm sorry. You were right.
He was playing me.

- You don't think he took Samantha?
- None of that really matters now.

Where do you think he'd take this girl?

Would he drive her out of state?

No reason to. He knows we'll catch him.

He just needs it to be later
rather than sooner.

He'll be somewhere nearby.

Do you think
he'd take her someplace familiar?

Try to relive some past glories?
I don't know, maybe. What?

He lived in Boston in the early '70s, right?

- What've you got?
- Roche's old address in the area.

9809 Alice Road, apartment number 6.

He's there.

- How do you know?
- Alice in Wonderland. He's the Mad Hatter.

That's where he got the idea
in the first place.

All right, let's go!

Check the other rooms!

I don't think he brought her here.

He never brought anyone here.

No one, sir!

All right, spread out!
Find the entrance!

I'm beginning to believe
we do share that... nexus you spoke of.

You always seem to find me.

Are you OK, Caitlin?

Good. My name is Fox.
I'm gonna take you home.

I have your gun, Fox.

Caitlin, can you do me a favour?
Can you count to 20? Can you do that?

Will you close your eyes and count to 20
out loud, quietly and slowly?

One, two,...

..three,...

- I will shoot.
- ..four,...

- Don't make this end badly.
- ..five,...

..six,...

..seven,...

- You're not giving me much choice.
- ..eight,...

- ..nine...
- I don't wanna go back to prison.

Put the gun down, Roche!

..11, 12,...

- You have one left.
- ..13,...

- How are you gonna find her without me?
- ..14,...

- How sure are you it's not Samantha?
- ..15,...

- Huh?
- ..16,...

..17,...

- How do you know?
- ..18,...

..19...

It's OK. I got you.

Call an ambulance.

I got back some lab results.

The dye analysis determined
that the fabric of the last heart...

..was manufactured
between 1969 and 1974,...

..but beyond that,
there's nothing more they can tell us.

Mulder, it's not Samantha.

And whoever that little girl really is,
we'll find her.

How?

I don't know,...

..but I do know you.

Why don't you go on home
and get some sleep?

I made this!