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“I’m watching you.”
“You watch… but you don’t see.”
Sitting in the car, Scully gripped the steering wheel and closed her eyes, breathing slowly in and out through her nose.
She was out of line; on some level, she did recognize that. Even if Karin Berquist had told Mulder about the case under false pretenses, what did that really matter? Why did Scully feel so irrationally threatened by a woman who would much rather spend her time with dogs than with humans?
With canids, her mental voice supplied with a sneer.
Scowling, she opened her eyes and forcefully turned the key in the ignition. She was rapidly approaching a textbook example of why it was a phenomenally terrible idea to fall for your partner. It wasn’t exactly as if she had a choice in the matter, but that didn’t change anything. Their partnership was going to implode if she couldn’t get a hold on the situation.
Her cell phone rang just as she reached up to put the car in reverse. She dug the phone out of her pocket, hating herself just a little for how her stomach swooped at the sight of his name on the caller ID.
“Scully.”
“Hey, Scully, are you still at the hospital?”
“N-no, I finished up the paperwork on Dr. Riley. The autopsy has been delayed until at least tomorrow.”
“Ah, okay. You headed back to the motel, then?”
She looked up at Karin’s house through the windshield and swallowed. “Not yet. I was just… following up a lead.”
“Oh. All right. Well, I’m just going to finish up here at the vet’s office. I can ask one of the officers to give me a lift when I’m done.”
“No, no, that’s okay.” She winced at how eager she sounded, forced herself to take a breath before continuing. “It’s fine, I can come back and pick you up. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He hung up, and she put her phone away before taking one last look at the house, then reached up once more to put the car in reverse.
