Failing to enter the filing log and therefore unable to utilise its search facility to discover the information she wanted, Lizzy opted to do it the old-fashioned way and went through the paper log book.

Paper tended to be more reliable than computers anyway. A machine is only as good as its operator, and in Lizzy's opinion a good fifty percent of the operators around here were dead from the neck up.

Her finger traced down the pages patiently until she found Harvey's familiar scrawl in the 'out' column, and she noted mentally the file reference codes - there were about six or seven in all. Then she slapped the book shut and headed purposefully towards the filing rooms.

They were cool and still at this time of the evening. Lizzy flipped the light switches on and confidently looked up each file in turn. They were all in place. Just to be certain, she checked up to ten files on either side of each one, but everything appeared to be in order.

The missing documents hadn't been 'accidentally' filed in the wrong folders then. So much for that idea. She paused for a minute, staring up and down the rows with folded arms, tapping her fingers. Everything was in place. She would know if it wasn't.

Okay, fine. She would have to check the archived 'dead' files in the stacks, in that case. Lizzy turned to go check the record books again, and gasped sharply.

A tall, dark-haired male agent was leaning against the far wall by the door, watching her with interest.

Fox Mulder. She remembered him, although he'd left the VCS within days of her arriving to work there. He was rumoured to be something of a crank - working on those weird files which had been stashed in the basement, case folders full of rubbish about UFOs and God knew what else.

Seeing her expression, Mulder smiled lazily and pushed himself away from the wall, walking towards her slowly.

//Hi Lizzy,// he signed. //You're working late tonight.//

Lizzy recovered her composure a little and raised a cool brow at him. It was unusual to find anyone here who was competent in ASL.

//So are you,// she signed back. //What's your excuse?//

Mulder chuckled. //Habit. Don't you know that all profilers are creatures of the night?//

//Don't let me stop you turning into a bat and flying away, Vlad!// she retorted, a little amazed at her own temerity for speaking to one of the agents in such a way.

Mulder was only amused, though. //Maybe another time. Rumour has it you were suspended. Some might take your nocturnal habits the wrong way as a consequence.//

//I'm not hiding the evidence, if that's what you mean,// she told him bitterly.

Mulder studied the woman's face. //I didn't think you were. Doing a little research? What makes you think the files in question are still in the building? Chances are, Harvey or Lammerdale took them home and accidentally threw them out with the trash.//

Lizzy shook her head decisively. //They didn't leave this building. Those files got put back in the 'live' racks and only went missing after those guys had been playing around in there more than usual.//

Mulder's brows rose. //You think they hid them deliberately?//

Her shoulders slumped a little. //I don't know. I don't want to think they did - //

His face hardened a little. //It's a good bet. I know Harvey from way back. They're not here, though, are they?//

//No. I've looked everywhere.//

//So what's the next hiding place on your list?//

//The archive stacks. You could lose anything in there.//

//Let's go then.//

XXXX

Taking the old elevator down to the stacks was conducted in silence - although not for the obvious reason. Each of them was prey to odd thoughts about the other: Lizzy was annoyed with herself for not having realised that Agent Mulder was in the filing room sooner, and was concentrating on memorising his unique scent for future reference; and Mulder was thinking about Lizzy's curious ability to find things.

When the elevator finally creaked to a shuddering halt outside the stacks, Mulder gestured for Lizzy to go ahead and watched to see what she did. It was no secret within the Bureau that these days his primary interest was in all things paranormal; and being an inquisitive man, the rumours of a 'filing room ghost' had tickled both his interest and his sense of humour. A few minutes of sober reflection had told him that it had to be one of the Records staff. But until Fox Mulder had actually discovered that the so-called ghost was in reality Lizzy Tarvi, he hadn't seriously considered that there might indeed be a paranormal explanation for what was going on.

He hadn't had a lot of contact with Lizzy before, although he knew she was profoundly deaf and was generally considered to be one of the most reliable of the Records officers. Rumour, as he had quoted to Marge the day before, said that Lizzy never lost anything and could find the unfindable. But what really caught Mulder's attention was her method of finding things. He had watched her in the other filing rooms, and while she had picked very carefully over a small number of files, she had spent the bulk of her time simply standing and scanning the shelves.

Given the hundreds of thousands of files in the Violent Crimes Section, most of them in identical buff folders, it seemed like an utterly lunatic way of going about things.

Maybe. Mulder wasn't so sure. After all, in Lizzy's job results counted more than methods. And whatever method she used was borne out by her success rate.

So he deliberately stepped back and watched as she did her stuff.

Once again, Lizzy headed directly for a small number of files. Mulder was particularly interested to note that she hadn't written the reference numbers down for any of them, but had no apparent difficulty in finding them.

It was a good thing he was already convinced of her innocence, because this performance would not have impressed a less open-minded agent.

Then, failing to find what she wanted, she stepped back and started scanning the racks again slowly. She took about twenty minutes all told, walking slowly up and down the long lines of shelves, before she finally rejoined him and shook her head.

//Nothing?// Mulder asked.

Lizzy shook her head. //No. The racks haven't been touched since I came in here two days ago.//

He raised a brow. //You're sure?//

//Positive,// she signed, and genuinely didn't seem to see what an extraordinary statement this was. She looked tired and discouraged. //I must be wrong, they must have taken them out of the building after all.//

//Not necessarily,// Mulder replied calmly. //The Hoover building's a big place, plenty of hiding space. We'll just have to give it some more thought.//

//You mean you will,// she replied, and her expression was wry. //I'll probably be suspended tomorrow, after the inquiry board have finished with me.//

Mulder couldn't think of anything to say to that. He ushered her back into the lift and pressed the button for the third floor.

The elevator shuddered into motion.

//Don't give up so easily,// he signed to her after a moment, trying to bolster her spirits. //They can't seriously pin this on you!//

Her look of mixed incredulity and amusement was sufficient answer to this.

Of course they could. It was much easier to sack a sloppy clerical worker than a fully-fledged Special Agent with a good record of arrests.

Any further comment was cut short by the lift suddenly shuddering to a halt. Mulder looked up at the row of floor numbers above the doors, surprised, and was dismayed to see that the lift appeared to be stuck between floors 1 and 2.

"Shit!" he muttered. He should have known better than to use this clapped out old elevator rather than the stairs. Lizzy reached around him and pushed the alarm bell, but he shook his head. //Don't get your hopes up - the alarm on this lift only routes to the caretakers' office, and they'll have all left for the night by now. The security guards won't know anything's wrong unless they check the offices and find all the lights on.//

Lizzy gave him a look of alarm. //I don't want to be here all night!//

//Me neither.// Mulder tried pressing the button for floor three again, but nothing happened. In frustration he started stabbing at the different buttons at random, until finally he hit the "B".

There was a pause ... and the old lift reluctantly creaked back into motion, this time heading downwards. They both heaved sighs of relief and grinned sheepishly at each other.

//Next time, I'll use the stairs,// Lizzy vowed.

They passed Ground and Lower Ground floors - and the lift came to a halt again, between Lower Ground 2 and the basement. Mulder swore roundly and thumped the buttons again, but this time they were clearly stuck fast.

"This is stupid!" he said aloud, staring up at the numbers above the doors accusingly.

//How close are we to the outer doors, do you think?// Lizzy asked.

//I don't know ....//

This lift was old enough that it had a concertina-ed inner door on the car and heavy panelled outer doors at the lift exit on each floor. Mulder pulled the sliding door back but they could only see a foot or so of the outer doors down by the floor of the elevator car, and although they tried pushing them open, they were too heavy from that angle to open more than an inch or two.

Mulder groaned and looked at the surrounding walls. The car was less than five feet square and about six and a half feet high.

Claustrophobically small.

Then he looked up at the ceiling. There was a removable servicing panel.

//I guess this is where I get to do my world-renowned James Bond impression,// he signed to Lizzy wryly.

She did a double take. //You can't seriously be suggesting - ?//

//You got any better ideas?//

//No wonder they say you can't keep a partner,// she grumbled.

XXXX

Mulder had cause to be grateful that he was fit, because climbing out of an elevator car wasn't nearly as easy as the aforementioned British secret agent made it look. It was also extremely dirty; for obvious reasons, no one ever dusts the roof of a lift or cleans the cable and counter-weights.

The lift shaft was very cool and dark, and the enormity of what he was about to attempt was suddenly brought home to Mulder. Climbing the cable was out of the question, for even if he managed to reach the next floor up safely, it was still doubtful that he'd be able to get the doors open.

On the other hand, if he could get below the car - which wasn't a very enticing idea either - he and Lizzy could maybe push the doors open between them, she from the top and he from the bottom. It all rather rested on three things: getting beneath the car, praying that the car didn't suddenly decide to start moving downwards again, and just how much space there was left in the shaft underneath at this level.

There were no floors lower than the basement; even the boiler room was on that level, making the basement offices some of the warmest in the entire building during the winter. Therefore, logically, the lift shaft should also go no lower than the basement.

Mulder took a deep breath, got a firm grip on the cable and leaned out over the side of the car, waving one hand in the air. To the front and back of the lift, he could just feel the walls of the shaft. But to either side there was a gap, and it felt big enough for a person.

Damn.

He leaned out further - and further - until his fingers brushed something. It felt, incongruously, like the metal rungs of a ladder. Then he thought about it for a moment, and realised it made sense. There had to be some way to get in and out of the shaft to service the car, or make a closer examination if there were problems.

Mulder breathed again, just fractionally easier. This might actually work after all. Just for God's sake don't let that damn elevator start moving again at the wrong moment! He pulled himself back onto the roof of the car and leaned through the hatch to reassure the very anxious Lizzy and explain what he planned to do.

Then he took another deep breath and leaned out over the edge of the car, this time deliberately feeling for the ladder.

The rungs were cold and rusty. Mulder got the fingers of his left hand wrapped around them and gave a sharp tug, praying they were still securely bolted to the wall of the shaft. There was a faint metallic creaking, but nothing major, so he let go of the cable and made a sort of scrambling jump. For a moment, there was a lot of scrabbling as he snatched at the ladder with his right hand and fought to find footholds.

Then he hung there, his panting breaths sounding very noisy in the confined space, while he got his nerves under control. This was hideous; he was working blind, without even the small amount of light from the elevator car, and despite how great the distance had seemed when he was leaning out from the cable, the gap between the wall and the car itself was not so great. He could probably turn around, but that was about it.

Nothing for it but to go up or down.

Mulder had estimated that if the bottom of the shaft was where he thought it should be, then the car was probably less than six feet in the air. Never had six feet seemed greater; and yet he could easily tell how far he had falteringly climbed by reaching out a few inches behind him and touching the car.

Then he was past the car completely and moments later, unexpectedly, his foot was hitting solid concrete.

Mulder let out a whoop of delight, before remembering that Lizzy wouldn't be able to hear him. Fumbling his way around the walls, hitting his head painfully on the underside of the car and stirring up all kinds of rubbish at the bottom of the lift shaft, he found the doors and threw his weight against them.

Inside the car, feeling the vibrations though the floor, Lizzy did likewise to the best of her ability.

The gap opened enough for Mulder to squeeze through, then he was hauling the doors open from the other side and dragging one of the old-fashioned, sand-filled fire buckets out of the corridor to prop them open with while he got Lizzy out.

For the next five or ten minutes, Mulder busied himself by taking Lizzy back to his office and making coffee for them both on his ancient percolator. Then he rummaged around in one of the old wooden cabinets he'd salvaged and dug out a rather battered flashlight. Giving his bemused guest a reassuring smile, he headed back out to the elevator shaft.

Five minutes later he returned to the office, bearing a handful of screwed up and filthy papers, which he offered to Lizzy.

//Do you recognise these?// he signed.

She turned them over one by one, automatically straightening them up and smoothing out the creases, then looked up at him, a troubled frown on her brow. //Where are the rest, Agent Mulder?//

Mulder crouched beside her chair for a while, thinking. Finally, he reached out and patted her hands.

//I'm not sure, but I've got an idea, Lizzy. Don't worry about the inquiry board tomorrow.//

And with that she had to be content, for he wouldn't say anymore.

XXXX

The inquiry board - more of an informal panel really - convened at 10 am sharp the next morning.

Lizzy Tarvi sat in uncomfortable silence as her superior, John Carey, tried to argue her case for her in front of AD Skinner, Section Chief Blevins, and Agents Lammerdale and Harvey. The AD had arranged for a translator to sign the proceedings for her, but Lizzy didn't need that to recognise the anger of Blevins or the ominous joint silence of his two agents.

Or, for that matter, the look of frustration and defeat on Carey's face, although he tried to hide it.

Lizzy looked down at her hands where they were gripped tightly in her lap and waited patiently for someone to state clearly, in words that she could even lip-read, what was going to happen to her.

It was an art she had perfected during lifetime of utter silence.

XXXX

"Agent Mulder, you'd better had a damn good reason for dragging me up here this early in the day, when I have a thousand other, more urgent jobs to do."

Mulder raised a brow at the elderly British-born mechanic, known to the white-collar workers at the Bureau only as Sid. "Miss Tarvi and I could have spent a pretty uncomfortable night in that elevator, Sid. Are you saying that's not important?"

Sid muttered something salty about what he would have done had he been twenty years younger and in that situation, which Mulder pretended not to hear. "I still don't know why you want to see inside the plant room," he complained, dragging the relevant keys out of his stained overalls pocket and laboriously selecting one.

"I'm just weird that way. Now can we get on with it? I've got a meeting to gatecrash at ten."

The mechanic sighed, but unlocked the door to the little room that housed the machinery that worked the ancient elevator at the rear of the building. He reached around the door without having to look and flicked the light switch on. Mulder was amused to note that the room appeared to have the same ancient light fittings and yellowish bulbs as his basement office, but it was enough to let him see the huge pulleys that worked the lift cables. There was a soft hum of power from the machinery. He could also see the access hatch into the lift shaft.

Pushing past Sid, he went to inspect the machinery and hatch. "When was the last time you came in here?" he asked the mechanic.

"Couple of days ago, when you reported the lift was out again," the old man replied.

"Did you have to climb into the shaft?" Mulder demanded.

Sid stared at him incredulously for a moment, then let out a rusty cackle of laughter. "Who, me? At my age? Son, you've got bats in your attic if you think I'm going to climb down there! That's a game for the young."

The agent grinned. "No kidding. So when was the last time someone actually had to climb through here to service the car?"

Now the old man was giving him a look of genuine perplexity. "I don't think anyone ever has - at least, not as long as *I've* been looking after the old girl. There's never been any need to. Any hiccups she gets, I can deal with here."

Mulder nodded. Just as he thought. "And I don't suppose you dust this room, do you?"

"No, and you won't get the cleaning staff up here of an evening, either," Sid retorted, beginning to grow tired of the questioning. "What are you getting at, anyway?"

"Nothing - nothing to get you into any kind of trouble anyhow. But someone's been in here and dusted this hatch off." Mulder gestured to the hatch, which was at variance with the rest of the plant room in that it had a decidedly thick coat of dust.

Sid started in surprise, and ambled over to take a look. "Why, in the name of God - "

Mulder gave him a tight grin. "I've got an idea, Sid. Here - give me a hand to get this open, will you?"

"You're never going down there, son - "

"I don't think I'll have to go far inside. I've just got a notion I know why this elevator's been playing up more than usual."

XXXX

AD Skinner turned to face Lizzy directly, and said clearly, "Under the circumstances, Miss Tarvi, I regret that I'm going to have to place you under paid suspension, pending further investigation. Do you understand?"

Lizzy paused, then nodded reluctantly. There wasn't much else she could do.

"Very well," Skinner said heavily. "I'll have to ask you to hand over your passes for the time being. I suggest you collect any personal belongings you may have at your workstation. Mr. Carey will advise you on contacting your Union representative, I'm sure - "

He paused. From the sound of it, his personal assistant was having a rather noisy argument with someone in the outer office. Blevins also glanced up, frowning, and Agent Lammerdale shifted slightly in his chair, wishing Skinner would get on with it.

Suddenly the door burst open and Agent Mulder stormed in, shaking off an agitated Kimberley impatiently.

Skinner stood up slowly. "Thank you, Kim. That'll be all." The disgruntled PA backed out of the room again and shut the door. "Agent Mulder, what exactly is the meaning of this?" he demanded. His eyes raked over the younger man sharply and noted to his astonishment that the agent was covered in a faint layer of dust.

"Sir, with all due respect, I have something here I think you ought to see," Mulder said quickly, meeting Skinner's gaze without flinching. And he held up a fat bundle of files, somewhat the worse for wear.

There was a pause, then Carey got to his feet and relieved Mulder of the stack, examining them. He heaved a cautious sigh of relief. "These are the files," he said to Skinner. "Most of the contents seem to be here, but I'd have to go through them properly to be certain."

"And exactly where did you find them, Agent Mulder?" Blevins demanded pointedly.

"Where they were deliberately hidden, Sir - just inside the lift shaft on the far side of the building. They'd been tucked inside a natural ledge in the wall of the shaft, but enough was poking out to get caught in the cables and interfere with the mechanism."

There was another pause.

"Sit down, Agent Mulder, and explain a little further," Skinner said finally, taking a seat himself.

"I don't think there's anything to explain, Sir," Mulder said quietly, sliding into the seat opposite. "The files were obviously hidden in the lift shaft deliberately. At a guess, I'd say the person who put them there didn't want to destroy the contents in case they needed them later. So they put them somewhere where they were unlikely to be found, but were still reasonably accessible."

"No guesses who that was," Harvey murmured languidly, and shot a glance at the perplexed Lizzy.

"Oh, I don't think there will be," Mulder observed cryptically.

"And how did you come to find these files, Agent Mulder, if they were in such an unlikely place?" Blevins wanted to know.

"By accident, Sir. Lizzy and I got stuck in that lift last night, and I had to climb out into the shaft to get the doors open."

"Most people would ring the alarm," Skinner observed dryly.

Mulder smiled. "Yes, but it was after hours and the alarm in that lift only goes to the caretakers' office. No one would have heard."

"I see. Go on."

The younger man shrugged. "There's not much else to say, Sir. When I got to the bottom of the shaft, I found a lot of debris there, so I took a look with a flashlight and found a few of the documents from the files. Lizzy was able to identify them positively, and it got me to thinking about how they could have got there."

"There's no mystery about that!" Lammerdale exclaimed hotly, and was all but physically slapped back in his chair by a look from Skinner.

"I still don't understand what you and Miss Tarvi were doing in the building, in that lift, at that time of the evening," the AD said curtly to Mulder. "Miss Tarvi's role is particularly opaque at this point."

"She was looking for the files herself, Sir. I happened to catch her at it by accident, while I was working late."

Agent Harvey made a disgusted noise in his throat, which everyone ignored.

"She was looking for the files single-handedly," Skinner said, staring at Mulder.

"Yes, Sir." Mulder hesitated, then added, "I'm sure you must be aware, Sir, that Lizzy is the so-called Records Room Ghost. She has an unusual ability which she uses when she's working in the filing rooms, and I think that's what has indirectly led people to think there's a ghost in there. For obvious reasons she's happier working on her own, which has led to the other records staff leaving the stacks to her."

"Are you trying to say Miss Tarvi is an X-file, Agent Mulder?" Blevins asked dryly.

"No, Sir." Mulder tried, with only partial success, to hide his irritation at the remark. "I was merely making an observation."

"What 'unique ability' are you referring to, Agent Mulder?" Skinner cut in sharply.

The younger man hesitated again, unsure of how the AD might react to his next statement. "Actually, Sir, given how rare an ability it is, I think a demonstration might be more helpful."

Skinner leaned back in his chair, staring at Mulder for a moment or two. Then he nodded. "Very well."

Mulder nodded and got up, going outside to speak quietly to Kimberley. When he returned, he was carrying a paperback novel and a pad of lined paper. He put them down on the table and turned to Lizzy.

"Lizzy," he said, signing and speaking at the same time so that everyone could understand what was happening, "I'm going to ask you to read a page of this book chosen at random. Will you do that for me?"

Her brow furrowed, but she nodded. Mulder picked up the novel and without looking at it, riffled through the pages, selecting one at random. He took a quick glance, noting the page number, and handed it over. "That one."

There was an extended pause while she read through the page, then she looked up and Mulder took the book back, holding it out to the AD. "Can you hold the page, please, Sir?" He pushed the lined pad towards Lizzy and took a biro out of his inside pocket, giving her that as well. "Now, can you write down, word for word, as much as you remember of that page."

Another pause, this time fractionally longer, as she wrote on the pad. Skinner, watching this performance with a frown at first, slowly began to think he might understand what Mulder was getting at, although the others in the room didn't seem to have caught on.

Finally, Lizzy offered the pad back to Mulder. He declined it, offering it instead to Skinner. "Would you care to check it, Sir?"

"Do I need to?" the AD asked, raising a brow at him. But he checked it all the same, then passed the book and pad wordlessly to Blevins. "Your point, Agent Mulder?"

"My point, Sir, is that Lizzy has a photographic memory," Mulder said gravely. "I doubt I would have realised if I didn't have a similar ability myself. I was watching her go over the filing racks last night - she was just scanning them, so see if anything was out of place. Only someone with an extraordinary memory would be able to tell if something was missing just by looking to see how the files were placed on the shelves. And of course, this also explains her reputation for being able to find anything that's missing - things are never really lost, as far as Lizzy is concerned."

"There is another explanation for her knowing those files weren't in the racks, Spooky," Harvey pointed out coldly.

"Well, I hope to have a definitive answer on that shortly," Mulder replied, looking back at him equally coldly.

"What do you mean?" Blevins demanded, pushing the pad and book aside impatiently.

"I mean, Sir, that I took the liberty of setting a fingerprint team to work on the lift shaft where I found the files," Mulder replied.

Even Skinner was surprised at this. "Do you honestly think they're going to find anything?"

Mulder shrugged. "I don't know, Sir, but it's worth a try. Whoever climbed into the shaft was careful to wipe the hatch afterwards, but the dust up there is pretty thick and Agent Henderson seemed to think there was a fair chance they may have tracked some of it into the shaft with them without realising. And they may not have been so successful in cleaning off any prints they left inside."

There was a tense silence in which Lammerdale and Harvey began to look increasingly uncomfortable. Finally Skinner broke it, saying rather neutrally, "I will be ... most interested to see those results, Agent Mulder."

"So will I, Sir," Mulder replied quietly, and he was echoed by Carey. He looked across at Lizzy. //Do you understand what's happening?// he signed.

She nodded. //I think so.// She gave him a wavering smile.

Mulder smiled back and reached across to squeeze her hand reassuringly.

XXXX

Monday morning came, and Lizzy was back at her desk in the VCS. Things were not the same, though. For the first time, she was aware of an atmosphere; not from her fellow records officers, who had all expressed relief and pleasure at her acquittal for the crime of having lost a file, but from the agents.

They were all very pointedly *not* coming to her desk to ask for assistance.

Out in the bullpen were two newly emptied desks. Agent Lammerdale had been shipped out to work in a regional office, on desk duty until his disciplinary hearing was held. Agent Harvey was on unpaid suspension. Their workload had been taken on by two granite-faced senior agents who had suddenly appeared from Boston, and the Office of Professional Conduct was maintaining a high profile in the division.

The VCS wanted someone to blame, and since Agent Mulder was already a Bureau pariah down in his basement, Lizzy seemed like an ideal target. She had already been stared at in a particularly unpleasant fashion by Chief Blevins that morning - after all, it reflected on him when his agents were caught with their fingers in the brown sticky stuff - and something told her that life was about to get harder for a while.

When the summons came from AD Skinner's office, she was ready for the worst.

Ushered into Skinner's office by a cool and collected Kimberley, Lizzy was depressed to note that her superior, John Carey, was sat in front of the AD's desk, alongside the woman translator who had been present at the inquiry. This didn't look promising.

So she was rather surprised when Skinner actually greeted her in ASL. It was rather slow and clumsy, admittedly, but he was the first person other than Agent Mulder to even attempt it. Then he cleared his throat rather apologetically, adjusted his glasses, nodded to the translator and went back to normal speech.

"You'll be aware of recent events in the VCS, Miss Tarvi. Agents Harvey and Lammerdale have been removed from the section, but naturally there's some ... ill-feeling going around about what happened."

Lizzy nodded cautiously.

"It occurs to Chief Carey and I that you may be the recipient of some misdirected anger by the agents in the VCS, and that may affect your ability to carry out your work to your normal high standards."

*Here it comes,* she thought regretfully.

"Under the circumstances, we feel that it might be helpful if you were to be temporarily placed elsewhere within the Bureau, until the situation is resolved."

Lizzy wondered if records staff could be transferred to remote field offices, like erring agents.

"You may have heard of the X-files Division," Skinner continued.

Lizzy blinked. X-files *Division*? Since when had that mouldering heap of crank-files been designated a division? So far as she knew, it was still Agent Mulder's 'special' project and part of Blevins' remit.

"... Despite appearances, the number of case files which actually fall into the category of "X" files is considerable, and until now they have been improperly administered ...."

She looked at the AD's humourless face and decided that this was his way of delicately conveying that the files were in the most Godawful mess; a mess which, if she wasn't mistaken, was as offensive to him as it was to her. "X" files were *never* stored with the rest of the Bureau's files, nor were they computer categorised or microfiched. Mostly they got dumped in a dark corner of the storage room in a heap.

"... And since Agent Mulder will shortly be assigned a new partner, it would be of enormous help to him if someone were to go through the files and put them in proper order."

Lizzy felt her mouth go slightly dry. She signed hastily to the translator, who turned to Skinner and said, "Miss Tarvi wants to know if she'll have to set up the computer registry?"

Skinner shook his head at once. "No, that won't be necessary. Agent Mulder will register files as and when they become active."

Well, that wasn't so bad. Lizzy mentally tallied up what she knew of the "X" files and decided that it might take her two or three weeks, if she wasn't interrupted. And she wasn't likely to be interrupted down in the basement.

Skinner seemed to feel that this was all the briefing she needed. "That will be excellent, Miss Tarvi. Once you've finished assisting in the X-files Division, I feel sure that you will be able to return to the VCS. Until then ...."

Well, it could be worse. She wasn't sure how, but ....

XXXX

//I guess they're kind of in a mess,// Mulder signed uncomfortably, and Lizzy restrained herself from commenting.

After all, saying they were "kind of in a mess" was a little like saying the Pope had High Church leanings. Mulder's ad hoc filing room looked like a waste paper collection point. He'd made some rather obvious and inexpert attempts at sorting it all out, but given the general state of his office Lizzy rather doubted neatness was high on his list of priorities. When she arrived, he was sat with his feet propped up on the desk, surrounded by open files and scattered paper, reading what looked suspiciously like one of the blue-bordered files from Personnel.

She hoped he had permission to read someone's personnel file. Maybe it was the file of that new partner AD Skinner had mentioned; she supposed he *would* be the SAC to the poor soul. Lizzy confessed to herself that she was interested to see who they'd inflicted Mulder on, and decided - not without a pang of from her conscience - to try and get a peek inside the folder when he wasn't around.

Meanwhile, Mulder was shuffling his feet, obviously impatient to be elsewhere. //Well, I guess that's all I can tell you. You'll want me to get out of your way, I guess ....//

And he was gone. Lizzy heaved a sigh of relief and stooped to pick a file up from the floor. She turned it around and squinted at the scruffy, hand-written label: sightings of Bigfoot. She should have guessed.

When she emerged from the filing room a couple of hours later, there was no sign of Mulder, although there was a sticky Post-It note on his desk addressed to her, inviting her to make use of his percolator if she wanted. Lizzy inspected it gingerly and decided that she'd rather walk up two flights of stairs to the coffee machine in Serious Fraud. Then she checked the tiny set of offices carefully, to make sure that he was really out.

No sign of him. She sneaked over to his desk and poked around until she unearthed the personnel file. Maybe the prospective partner was someone she knew. Hmm ... it was a fat folder.

Lizzy nearly dropped the file when she saw the name on it, though. Then she was convulsed with silent, astounded laugher.

Oh my! Was Agent Mulder ever in for the roller-coaster ride of his life!

Lizzy Tarvi had heard rather a lot about Agent Dana Scully, and she didn't fancy his chances ....

Finis