7ABX01 Hungry

Rob Roberts: Welcome to Lucky Boy. May I take your order?

Mulder: Yeah, we'll have it our way.

Scully: FBI. Special Agents Scully and Mulder. We'd like a word with your manager, please.

Mr Rice: Well, that's me. How can I help you?

Scully: Sir, would you do us a favour and gather your employees, please?

Lucy: What's going on?

Mulder: We're investigating a murder. A car was found in a reservoir ten miles from here. A body was found in the trunk of that car.

Mr Rice: What does that have to do with us?

Scully: Well, this was also found in the car. It's a badge that's only given to employees. Is that correct?

Mr Rice: Yeah, Free Fer Fridays — it's our promotion where you buy one superpatty and get one free. But look — there's four Lucky Boys in Costa Mesa alone and something like 30 in Orange County.

Scully: Thirty-two.

Mulder: Yeah, long day. So let's make this quick. Does everybody have their button?

Rob Roberts: We only wear them on Fridays. For Free Fer Fridays.

Mulder: Yeah, but does everybody have their button? [The employees hold their buttons up] Hey, uh, you... back there, what's your name?

Derwood Spinks: Derwood Spinks.

Mulder: Derwood. Do you have your button, Derwood?

Derwood Spinks: Uh, no, I must have left it at home on account of we're supposed to only wear them on Fridays. Well, I sure as hell didn't leave it on no dead guy.

Scully: I don't believe that we said the victim was male.

Mulder: We're going to ask everybody to step outside right now while we take a quick look around the premises.

Rob Roberts: Who was the victim?

Mulder: His name was Donald Edward Pankow. Does that ring a bell?

Rob Roberts: No.

---

Mulder: Hey, Scully, check it out. You know how they say you never want to see the kitchen of any of your favourite restaurants?

Scully: Somehow, I don't think Lucky Boy would make that list.

Mulder: My point being that this is a hell of a lot cleaner than all the others. Don't you think?

[Rob Roberts reaches in the drive-through window and turns on the microphone to eavesdrop on Mulder and Scully]

Scully: I guess. So what are you saying, Mulder? This place has been scrubbed from top to bottom to cover up evidence?

Mulder: Maybe. Maybe I'm thinking this was the crime scene.

Scully: You're saying Mr Pankow had his brain very neatly removed from his skull right here in this kitchen?

Mulder: It had to happen somewhere.

Scully: But next to the shake machine, Mulder? I think that we should be checking out employee lockers and not entertaining the idea that ad hoc surgery was performed here.

Mulder: I wouldn't exactly call it surgery. What if this man's brain was eaten? It's not sociologically unheard of. There are certain tribes in New Guinea that consider human brains a delicacy.

Scully: Yeah, but Mulder, we're in Orange County.

Mulder: Yeah, what's your point? It's just that nothing about the way the body was dumped suggests a fetishistic killing. The brain wasn't removed intact. What if this man's brain was eaten right out of his skull?

Scully: Through an inch-and-a-half opening that looks like it was cut with a hole saw?

Mulder: Well, maybe it was cut. Maybe it was punched. What look like tool marks to you look to me like something more organic. Like it was made by a... a tongue or a proboscis.

Scully: The proboscis of what?

Mulder: I don't know. Oh. Hello. Look at this. Does that look like blood to you? [A red smear underneath the counter]

Scully: Yes, it looks like it.

Mulder: What is that? Next to it. Is that, uh... oh, my... ugh. Is that brain? Is that brain matter there?

Scully: No, I'd say that's ground beef.

Mulder: Ground beef.

Scully: Yeah.

---

Mulder: Rob Roberts? It's Agent Mulder. Hello, again. Sorry to bother you at home.

Rob Roberts: No. No bother.

Mulder: Can I come in?

Rob Roberts: Yeah, sure.

Mulder: Great, great.

Rob Roberts: Uh, what... what can I do for you?

Mulder: You live here alone?

Rob Roberts: Yeah, it's just me.

Mulder: Mom or girlfriend?

Rob Roberts: What?

Mulder: Come on, man, who cleans up after you?

Rob Roberts: Neither. It's just me I live here alone.

Mulder: Well, bravo. You know, they say single guys are just bears who own furniture, but... I mean, my place... [He raises his hands to chest level] ...about here. You can smell the Pine-Sol.

Rob Roberts: Thanks. Can I, can I get you anything?

Mulder: Yeah, a cheeseburger and a large order of fries. Heh. It's a bad joke. I'm sorry. Um... Mr Rice, your manager? He told me that, uh... you stayed late on Friday? Is that right?

Rob Roberts: Oh, yeah, sure. Friday. The freezer had died on us. I stayed after to throw out the meat that was going bad.

Mulder: Yeah, did you volunteer to close?

Rob Roberts: Yeah.

Mulder: Yeah, okay. You volunteered. Volunteered... um... the 35 pounds of ground chuck that Mr Rice told you to throw away. What did you do with that?

Rob Roberts: I threw it out.

Mulder: Where?

Rob Roberts: In the dumpster, behind the restaurant.

Mulder: Hmm. That's weird. Because that's what I figured you did, so I checked the dumpster and it was empty, which is weird because it only gets cleaned out on Thursday and you would have thrown away the meat on Friday so you'd expect the meat to be there, right?

Rob Roberts: Mm-hmm.

Mulder: I don't see how that's relevant to this murder case anyway. Let me see if there's anything else I wanted to ask you. Blood. You're, you're bleeding.

Rob Roberts: I bit my lip.

Mulder: Mmm. I think that just about wraps it up for me here.

Rob Roberts: Oh, hey. I, uh... I hope you catch the guy, huh?

Mulder: Yeah. No, I already got a pretty good idea who it is. Thanks.

---

Rob Roberts: What?! Derwood... how did you get in here?

Derwood Spinks: It's a little skill I picked up in Chino. I did a nickel for attempted murder. You didn't know I was an ex-con? Yeah, nobody at work did. Not until this FBI murder investigation whipped everybody up into a froth.

Rob Roberts: Derwood, what can I do for you?

Derwood Spinks: You know I got fired last night? Stupid little pissant job where they make you wear a paper hat — and they fired me. Plus, as far as that, uh, redheaded FBI Agent's concerned I'm the prime suspect in this murder. But that's no skin off my nose seeing as you did it. [He holds up a bottle of prescription drugs] Diet pills. Yours, right? See, I found them when I opened up on Saturday morning. I didn't give them back 'cause I figured, hey, free speed, right? But then there's this whole flap about a murder, and I notice this. [Dried blood and a partial fingerprint on the cap of the bottle] That ain't ketchup, man.

Rob Roberts: What do you want, Derwood?

Derwood Spinks: I don't know. What do you got? TV, VCR... Ah, it's all crappy off-brand stuff but you know, I'll take that and whatever money you got in the bank, and you get this and I keep my mouth shut and, just maybe, you can blow town before the long arm of the law reaches out and grabs you by the gonads. [There's a knock at the door] Maybe not. Cup 'em.

---

Mulder: Hey, just the man I wanted to see. How are you this morning, Rob?

Rob Roberts: Fine.

Mulder: I'm glad I caught you. Oh, hey, I was just driving to your apartment and I saw Derwood Spinks not a block from here. He wasn't coming from your place by any chance, was he?

Rob Roberts: No, no. I haven't seen him.

Mulder: Good. I'd stay away from him. He's our prime suspect in the Pankow murder.

Rob Roberts: You think he did it?

Mulder: Me? No. No, I should say that's the opinion of the Costa Mesa police. And my partner.

Rob Roberts: So he's not your guy.

Mulder: No, I think we're looking for somebody who has a compulsion to kill... who truly can't help himself. Oh, quick question: the, uh... the meat that you threw in the dumpster.

Rob Roberts: What about it?

Mulder: The dumpster had a padlock.

Rob Roberts: Yeah.

Mulder: Who would have the key?

Rob Roberts: We do, and the trucking company does. Hey, wait. What's your point?

Mulder: I'm just tying up some loose ends.

---

Dr Rinehart: Good, you got my message, Rob, I appreciate you coming. This will be really informal. There you go. I want to run through some things with you, but we don't stand on ceremony here so if there's anything that you want to talk about just go ahead and blurt it out okay? It hasn't been a run-of-the-mill week so far, has it?

Rob Roberts: No.

Dr Rinehart: The police have been at the restaurant and the FBI. I'm sure this has been a very stressful time for you.

Rob Roberts: Pretty much.

Dr Rinehart: So we want to keep on top of any potential problems that these stresses might cause for you. So let's run through some standard questions together. Rob, have you been troubled recently by insomnia? Bad dreams or nightmares? Have you felt emotionally numb? Do you ever see things that aren't there or hear voices? Tell me, Rob, do you feel...

Rob Roberts: This... this murder... this murder that happened.

Dr Rinehart: Yes?

Rob Roberts: What kind of a monster would do something like that?

Dr Rinehart: I don't believe in monsters. But I do believe in people, and sometimes they do terrible things out of weakness or sickness or fear, but I do truly believe that deep down inside even the worst of us wants to be good. Rob, is there anything that's troubling you that you'd like to talk about? [They're interrupted by the phone]

---

Dr Rinehart: Rob.

Rob Roberts: Hi. You said we should finish talking.

Dr Rinehart: Come in.

Rob Roberts: I think I need help.

Dr Rinehart: Tell me why you think that.

Rob Roberts: I have compulsions to eat. I get hungry and I try to put it off for as long as I can but then finally, I just... I get so hungry that I can't help myself, and...

Dr Rinehart: You binge, then purge? You eat too much and then cause yourself to vomit?

Rob Roberts: No. I just eat.

Dr Rinehart: But this makes you feel bad?

Rob Roberts: I guess it makes me feel like I'm not a good person.

Dr Rinehart: Rob, there are so many different kinds of eating disorders. Men and women from every walk of life suffer from them, but if there's one thing that they all have in common it's low self-esteem. And it's a shame because low self-esteem can be like a fun-house mirror. It reflects back a warped and ugly image of ourselves. What do you think Cindy Crawford would look like in a fun-house mirror?

Rob Roberts: Weird? Ugly?

Dr Rinehart: And how would the most handsome man in the world look? How would, say, Peter Jennings look in a fun-house mirror?

Rob Roberts: Ugly.

Dr Rinehart: And how do you look, in this mirror? Do you think that looks like a bad person? An unworthy person? I'll tell you what I see. I see a nice smile... I see soulful brown eyes... I see good. Now, Rob, I want you to keep looking into this mirror until you see the same things that I do. There's a meeting that I'd like you to attend tonight. It's every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Now, you can talk to me anytime you want but these people are the best. They can really help you. [She hands him the address of the local Overeaters Anonymous]

Rob Roberts: I have to go.

Dr Rinehart: You always hurry away.

Rob Roberts: I appreciate it. And I want you to understand, that I really am trying to do right.

---

Scully: Derwood Spinks has disappeared.

Mulder: His car is gone along with some personal belongings.

Scully: My partner saw Spinks in your neighbourhood yesterday morning. At that time, you told Agent Mulder that you hadn't seen Mr Spinks. Is that correct?

Rob Roberts: I don't even know him that well. If he was going to leave town he wouldn't come tell me about it.

Mulder: Who said he left town?

Rob Roberts: I don't know. Isn't that what you think happened?

Mulder: No, no, no. Personally, I think he's dead. I can't speak for my partner, but I think that whatever it was that killed Donald Pankow also got to Mr Derwood Spinks.

Rob Roberts: What do you mean, whatever it was?

Mulder: I'll let you in on a little secret. We've been able to keep it pretty quiet up until now but Donald Pankow's brain was missing from his skull. My partner was able to find something that was previously undetected. It was the tip of what can only be described as a tiny shark's tooth embedded deep in the bone. I think we're looking for some kind of genetic freak — a carnivorous predator as yet unidentified. A monster, if you will.

Rob Roberts: There's no such thing.

Mulder: Don't you believe it. This thing definitely qualifies. It has a biological imperative to eat. I think it even ate that ground chuck you threw away.

Rob Roberts: Yeah? Why?

Mulder: Because it can't kill with impunity and it knows it. It knows that the more it feeds on humans the closer it gets to getting caught, but the hunger is always there. And it satisfies it any way it can.

Rob Roberts: I'm sorry, but this is like good cop, insane cop. Why are you telling me all of this?

Mulder: I think you know why.

Scully: Thank you, Mr Roberts. We'll contact you if we have any further questions.

Mulder: Watch out for that monster.

---

Woman At Overeaters Anonymous: Thank you. Does anybody else have anything they want to share?

Sylvia Jassey: Do you feel up to introducing yourself? Everybody's really nice.

Woman At Overeaters Anonymous: Anyone?

Sylvia Jassey: Don't be scared; it helped me.

Rob Roberts: Uh, hi. My name is Robert Roberts. People call me Rob.

Everyone: Hi, Rob.

Rob Roberts: I have an eating disorder. I'm definitely a meat-eater, not a vegetarian. I've always had these cravings my whole life and just... just recently, the last month or so they've just become too powerful to resist.

Sylvia Jassey: Tell us about it.

Rob Roberts: I guess it's the taste I respond to the most — salty and juicy. Kind of buttery. The texture of it inside of your mouth... You know, your teeth just sink into it like this juicy cloud, and it tastes so good you don't... you don't even want to swallow it. You just want to work it around your taste buds until your eyes roll right back into your head. Anyway, it's a real problem.

---

[Mulder and Scully arrive to investigate Rob Roberts break-in. Derwood Spinks' bat has been found amongst the wreckage]

Mulder: Mr Derwood Spinks, alive and well. I'm confused, Rob. Was he helping you redecorate?

Rob Roberts: I lied to you before.

Scully: About what?

Rob Roberts: Derwood was... was coming from my place the morning you saw him. He said if I spoke to you, he'd kill me.

Scully: What didn't he want you to tell us?

Rob Roberts: Last Friday night he hung out while I was cleaning out the freezer. He told me to go home. He said he'd finish up. I didn't know why the hell he was being so nice to me, but... when I got home I realised I had the key to the dumpster. And when I drove back... I saw him cleaning up all this blood.

Mulder: You must have been very scared.

Rob Roberts: I was. But you know, I should have... told the truth from the start.

Mulder: Do you recognise this guy? [He shows Rob Roberts a brochure that reads; Steve Kiziak. Private Investigator. Cheating Spouse Surveillance A Specialty]

Rob Roberts: No.

Mulder: He's a private eye. Sylvia Jassey's ex-husband hired him to spy on her. But now this Steve Kiziak has gone missing.

Scully: He was last seen parked outside your apartment. You didn't notice him?

Rob Roberts: No, I didn't notice anything.

Mulder: Well, maybe we should check with Sylvia again.

Rob Roberts: I don't think she's home.

Mulder: Well, we'll track her down. Don't worry, Rob, it won't be long now.

---

Dr Rinehart: Oh, my god. Rob, what happened?

Rob Roberts: It's a long story. What do you want?

Dr Rinehart: I, uh, I was in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd say hi.

Rob Roberts: Hi.

Dr Rinehart: Rob, are you all right? Did you do this?

Rob Roberts: No. Derwood Spinks did this. You know, he's the one who... like I said, it's a long story.

Dr Rinehart: Where are you going?

Rob Roberts: To a friend's house. I have to leave, actually. As in now.

Dr Rinehart: Are you sure you're all right? You're not feeling...?

Rob Roberts: Yes, absolutely. I'm fine, you know?

Dr Rinehart: It's just that when you came to see me yesterday I sensed that there were things that you wanted to talk about but couldn't.

Rob Roberts: That was yesterday.

Dr Rinehart: Well, can we talk about them now?

Rob Roberts: Look, let me stop you right there, okay? You don't have to worry about me any more. As of... as of 10:38am, I am no longer employed by the Lucky Boy Corporation. I quit.

Dr Rinehart: Rob, I'm here as a friend.

Rob Roberts: Well, then consider me cured. I had a breakthrough last night.

Dr Rinehart: Did you attend the OA meeting?

Rob Roberts: Yeah.

Dr Rinehart: How did it go?

Rob Roberts: It was a complete and utter waste of my time.

Dr Rinehart: I'm sorry you felt that way.

Rob Roberts: So they're a bunch of fat people. So what? Maybe they've got what you would call a biological imperative to eat too much. Did you ever think of that? Did you? You know, maybe I've got a biological imperative, too. So why is that such a bad thing?! Like the world's going to end? That is biology. You can't fight biology. You can't.

Dr Rinehart: Sounds like you're saying you're tired of feeling guilty.

Rob Roberts: Bingo. I am sick and tired of pretending that I'm something that I'm not.

Dr Rinehart: You killed that man, didn't you?

Rob Roberts: What did you just say?

Dr Rinehart: That's why you feel so guilty, isn't it? Can you tell me why you did it?

Rob Roberts: Who have you been talking to?

Dr Rinehart: No one. I realised it after our last session.

Rob Roberts: You spoke to the FBI, didn't you?

Dr Rinehart: I haven't spoken to anyone and I won't without your permission but I am here to ask you to turn yourself in. I want you to get the help that you need.

Rob Roberts: You don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Dr Rinehart: Yes, I do, Rob.

Rob Roberts: NO, YOU DON'T! You said... you don't believe in monsters, right? How about... now? [He pulls off his wig] How about... now? [He removes his fake ears and teeth] Do you believe in monsters? [He hisses, bares his pointy teeth and grabs Dr Rinehart by the throat. After a moment, she touches his cheek with her hand]

Dr Rinehart: You poor man. What you must go through.

[Mulder and Scully burst in the door]

Scully: Oh, my god.

Mulder: Step away, Rob. Step away.

Scully: Dr Rinehart, step away from him.

Dr Rinehart: Don't hurt him.

Mulder: Rob, we tracked Sylvia down on the way to the landfill. You just can't stop yourself, can you? Get on the floor. Rob, get on the floor.

Dr Rinehart: Rob... Be that good person I know you mean to be.

[Rob Roberts charges Mulder, who fires two rounds into his chest. He falls and Dr Rinehart screams]

Dr Rinehart: Why?

Rob Roberts: I can't be something I'm not.