Male Agent
Just a routine background check. To the best of your knowledge, has mr. Wisnowski ever used any illegal drugs? Which illegal drugs?
Season 6 · Episode 10
Tithonus
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code6ABX09Original airdate · January 24, 1999
251 dialogue entries
Scene 01
Opening scene
[ dings ]
[ dings ]
[ bell dings ]
[ metal creaking ]
[ gasping ]
[ man gasps ]
[ screaming ]
[ rattling ]
[ screaming ]
[ flashbulb charging ]
Scene 02
FBI HEADQUARTERS
Fox Mulder
Yeah, in the time that you worked with ms. Ermentrout, did you find her to be a trustworthy person? Punctual, huh? Punctual is good.
Dana Scully
No, no, ma'am. This is just a routine background check. Mister-- mr. Garber is not in any legal trouble whatsoever. Yeah. Okay. Thanks for your time.
Fox Mulder
Hey, Scully, if we get lucky, next time they'll let us clean toilet bowls.
Dana Scully
You ready to quit?
Fox Mulder
No. That would make way too many people way too happy.
[ rings ]
Dana Scully
Scully. I'm on my way. I've been called into Kersh's office. Just me.
Fox Mulder
Just you? Don't forget your toilet brush. No. No, ma'am, not you.
[ knock on door ]
Alvin Kersh
Agent.
Dana Scully
Sir.
Alvin Kersh
Dana Scully, this is agent peyton Ritter with the bureau's new york office.
Dana Scully
Agent Ritter.
Agent Ritter
Hi.
Alvin Kersh
Show her what you have.
Agent Ritter
Our office is currently updating its case filing system. While I was involved in this project-- scanning old crime scene photographs into the computer-- I came across this.
Dana Scully
"margareta stoller, age 57, cause of death, an overdose of nitraz."
Agent Ritter
Look at when they found her.
Dana Scully
A neighbor called the police at 11:14 p.m.
Agent Ritter
Right. So what's wrong with that picture?
Dana Scully
Clock says it is 45 minutes earlier. Well, a clock can be wrong.
Agent Ritter
They certainly can, so I checked the post from the following day. These are straight from their photo files.
Dana Scully
Hmm. Almost an hour and a half later.
Agent Ritter
Right. Two different negatives, same photographer. The guy's name is Alfred Fellig. He's rattled around manhattan for years. Apparently a stringer for the wire services, an on-call guy for n.y.p.d.
Dana Scully
And you suspect this man Fellig? You think that mrs. Stoller wasn't a suicide?
Agent Ritter
Well, this guy's into taking pictures, right? So I'm thinking, what if-- what if he poisons this woman... And gets his jollies by snapping a few of her dead body, then winds up back in the same apartment an hour later... After midtown north calls him over to do the job?
Dana Scully
That's quite a theory.
Agent Ritter
Yeah, well, the thing is, he might have done it on more than one occasion. Now, I sifted through probably 2,000 of his police photos. Now, these three have measurable solar shadows. Since we know the location--
Dana Scully
You can tell the time of day by the shadows.
Agent Ritter
Right. And with it, these three are looking every bit as hinky.
Dana Scully
You've got another suicide here, a heart attack... And a very obvious murder for which another man was convicted. There's no consistent m.o.
Agent Ritter
There's no consistent anything. I could sure use your help.
Alvin Kersh
Agent, step outside, please.
Agent Ritter
Sure.
Alvin Kersh
I would say he has a promising career ahead of him. So did you... At one time. With your expertise in forensic pathology, you would be a substantial asset to this investigation. I know it'd provide more challenge to you than running background checks.
Dana Scully
Agent Mulder and I will begin immediately.
Alvin Kersh
Agent Mulder's a lost cause. I'm taking the chance you're not. It's you and Ritter. Do not let me down.
[ groaning ]
Unidentified speaker
Ohh!
[ flashbulb charging ]
Scene 04
Scene 04
Dana Scully
Mulder.
Fox Mulder
Hmm?
Dana Scully
What are you doing?
Fox Mulder
Being nosy. Eating my heart out. They're sending you on an X-File.
Dana Scully
It's not an X-File.
Fox Mulder
That's not what I'm reading. I'm thinking murder by telekinesis, maybe a shamanistic death touch. I'm thinking about the muslim superstition... That to photograph someone is to steal their soul.
Dana Scully
Thank you. All very helpful.
Fox Mulder
So they're splitting us up, huh?
Dana Scully
No. This is a onetime thing.
Fox Mulder
Who told you that? Obviously, if you do a good job, they're not going to stick you back here. Right?
Agent Ritter
Agent Scully, we're all set.
Dana Scully
Peyton Ritter, this is Fox Mulder.
Agent Ritter
It's a pleasure to meet you, Fox.
Fox Mulder
Pleasure to meet you, peyton.
Dana Scully
We should get going.
Agent Ritter
Off to new york.
Scene 05
15TH STREET PRECINCT, MANHATTAN
Agent Ritter
Alfred Fellig. What can you tell us about him?
Desk sergeant
What's to tell? He's one of about 10,000 people in town... Who have an official license to piss people off.
Dana Scully
He sometimes doubles as a crime scene photographer for your precinct.
Desk sergeant
Yeah, he comes in, snaps a picture. Keeps to himself.
Dana Scully
There's not much in the way of personal information there.
Desk sergeant
There's not supposed to be. It's just a yearly renewal form.
Dana Scully
Would you happen to know when the original background check was done?
Agent Ritter
Here he is again. Yearly renewal dating back to january 1970, but still no original.
Dana Scully
I think I've got it. 1964.
Agent Ritter
Whew. Old-timer. Anything interesting?
Dana Scully
Maybe.
Agent Ritter
What you doing?
Dana Scully
Take a look at this. 1996. '87, '85, '73.
Agent Ritter
Guy's a regular dick clark. I don't know what to tell you, Dana. Other than the fact that this guy's always been a geezer, this is looking like a dead end.
Scene 06
JEROME AVENUE, THE BRONX
Young man
Help! Help! Somebody call the police! Man, what do you want from me? Are you crazy? Please! Please help me! Please! Come on, lady! Please help me! Man, what do you want from me, man? No! No! No! [ screaming ]
[ camera clicks ]
[ clicking continues ]
[ switchblade clicks open ]
[ groans ]
Scene 07
Scene 07
Agent Ritter
Prints are Alfred Fellig's. Positive match, right off his 1964 background check. I took the liberty of slipping them into the safis database. First thing this morning, boom! Up they came.
Dana Scully
You're thinking this is Fellig's work?
Agent Ritter
It's a lock. The wound measurements match with the knife. He got sloppy in his old age.
Dana Scully
What's this?
Agent Ritter
A whole lot of blood.
Dana Scully
Yeah, I got that.
Agent Ritter
It's pretty clear he took a second victim.
Dana Scully
Where's the second body?
New York detective
They found your boy.
Agent Ritter
Fellig? Where?
New York detective
Home, watching TV. They're bringing him in now.
Agent Ritter
Yes!
Scene 08
Scene 08
Agent Ritter
Check. Check. January 4, 11:36 a.m. 15th precinct, manhattan. Agents present: Dana Scully and peyton Ritter. Initial interview with...
[ door opens ]
Agent Ritter
Alfred Fellig.
Alfred Fellig
Hello.
Agent Ritter
You're a photographer. I've seen some of your work. You specialize in some pretty dark subject matter. You're around death a lot. It must fascinate you. Am I boring you, mr. Fellig?
Alfred Fellig
Ask me a question already.
Agent Ritter
All right. I want to know how you always happen to be... Johnny-on-the-spot every time somebody dies. You're always there to take the picture. How does that happen?
Alfred Fellig
I have a-- a nose for news.
Dana Scully
Mr. Fellig, your fingerprints were found... On a murder weapon at a crime scene. Could you give us a full accounting of your activities last night?
Alfred Fellig
The bronx. I was on the job. Saw some gibbon' stealing a kid's tennis shoes. He chased me. Ran off.
Agent Ritter
He ran off? Some unidentified murderer.
Alfred Fellig
I guess I could identify him.
Dana Scully
Your fingerprints were found on the knife. How did they get there?
Alfred Fellig
He left the knife behind. I guess I touched it... Briefly.
Dana Scully
Why would you do that? Were you injured, mr. Fellig? You seem to be in pain. Were you attacked? We found other blood at the crime scene, and when we have it tested, I'm wondering if we're going to learn that it's yours.
Alfred Fellig
I got cut some.
Dana Scully
May we see? May I help you?
Agent Ritter
Hey. Hey. Take mr. Fellig to get his blood drawn. And photograph his back too. Hey, I'm confused. I thought we were trying to bust this guy, not look for reasons to let him go.
Dana Scully
I thought we were looking for the truth.
[ phone line ringing ]
Dana Scully
Scully.
Fox Mulder
Hi. My name is Fox Mulder. We used to sit next to each other at the FBI how's your X-File coming?
Dana Scully
Mulder, it's not-- we haven't made much headway. We arrested Alfred Fellig, and we just released him.
Fox Mulder
You can't hold him? What about the stabbing?
Dana Scully
How do you know about that?
Fox Mulder
I told you, I'm nosy. Why are you letting him go?
Dana Scully
We were able to pull another set of prints off of the knife. They belong to a convicted murderer by the name of malcolm wiggins. That and the fact that Fellig's blood was found all over the crime scene... Tells me that his story checks out. At least that particular story anyway.
Fox Mulder
But you still think Fellig's a murderer, huh?
Dana Scully
I don't know what to think. He's, uh, unusual.
Fox Mulder
As in he plugs up like a cork when you stab him?
Dana Scully
Where are you getting this stuff?
Fox Mulder
Well, young man Ritter... Has been sending progress reports to Kersh. My computer may have inadvertently intercepted a few of those. He's got nice things to say about you, though, mostly. Why don't you let me do a little background check on Fellig for you?
Dana Scully
Mulder--
Fox Mulder
Come on. It's what I do now. I'm getting good at it.
Scene 09
DEAN STREET, BROOKLYN
Dana Scully
I'm parked around the block.
Agent Ritter
Fellig's asleep. I haven't seen him move in over four hours. Have a lovely evening.
[ camera clicking ]
[ clicking continues ]
Dana Scully
Mr. Fellig, open up, please! Explain this.
Alfred Fellig
What?
Dana Scully
You took that photo an hour before police arrived. You then purposely covered up that fact by photographing the scene again.
Alfred Fellig
I don't think I remember that one.
Dana Scully
You have, mr. Fellig, a long and uncanny history of being the first person at the scene of a death. You also have a history of covering up that fact. Why?
Alfred Fellig
Am I under arrest again?
Dana Scully
Are you a murderer? Well, then explain yourself, sir. Because I promise you, until you do, you will not get a moment's peace.
Alfred Fellig
You want to take a ride with me? You come with me. I'll show you.
Scene 10
Scene 10
Dana Scully
It's been an hour. Are we going to drive around all night?
Alfred Fellig
Yeah. This is it. This is what I do. Looking for the shot.
Dana Scully
What shot?
Alfred Fellig
The shot. Her. She's about to die.
Dana Scully
What are you talking about?
Alfred Fellig
It could happen in the next minute, in the next hour. But it'll happen. It's as plain as day.
Dana Scully
Look, mister-- Fellig, I don't know what you're planning, but nobody here is going to die.
Alfred Fellig
I'm not planning anything. I'm just here to tell you what's gonna happen.
Dana Scully
That that woman right there is going to be murdered?
Alfred Fellig
I didn't say "murdered." she's a smoker. She might die of lung cancer. The "how" is always a surprise. I just always know "when."
Dana Scully
You want me to believe that?
Man harassing woman
Hey, what are you doin' out here, huh? It's so cold out here. [ continues, indistinct ]
Woman
Get out of my face! Get off me!
[ charging ]
Unidentified speaker
Let go of me! Get out of here!
Man harassing woman
I've killed over that! Get out of here! Move it!
Dana Scully
FBI! Don't move!
Man harassing woman
Damn! Where'd you come from?
Dana Scully
Shut up! What? Get down! Back up!
Woman
You're not such a big man now!
Man harassing woman
That gun ain't mine, red. Yeah.
[ mutters ]
Dana Scully
You all right?
Woman
I'm out of here.
[ horn honks ]
[ brakes hiss ]
Scene 11
Scene 11
Agent Ritter
Dana, what the hell is going on?
Dana Scully
Assault and possession of an unregistered handgun. I'll be with you in a minute.
Agent Ritter
Why didn't you call me sooner?
Dana Scully
I apologize.
Agent Ritter
What, you blew off the surveillance?
Dana Scully
No offense, but the surveillance was blown before I got there.
Agent Ritter
Wait. You blew off the surveillance and took a little joyride with him?
Dana Scully
I confronted Fellig. I questioned him further about the deaths that he photographed. Is that okay with you?
Agent Ritter
What did he say?
Dana Scully
He said that he can tell when people are about to die. If new york passes a good samaritan law, we might nail him on that. But other than that, I doubt we're going to get him for murder.
Agent Ritter
Wrong. Let me show you something. They picked up mr. Wiggins last night. He says that it was Fellig who killed that kid in the alley, not him. He said he happened along and had to fight for his life.
Dana Scully
A convicted murderer half Fellig's age.
Agent Ritter
He said he would've come in on his own but was afraid we wouldn't have believed him.
Dana Scully
He's right. Tell me, Ritter, did he have any help concocting that story?
Agent Ritter
Look, Fellig is a murderer. Whether or not he did this specific one, I don't care. Not if it buys me a few days in the box with him.
Dana Scully
No judge is going to issue a warrant based on this.
Agent Ritter
I know the judge. We'll have it by noon. You know, Kersh warned me about you.
Dana Scully
He did?
Agent Ritter
Yeah. You and your partner. God knows his reputation precedes him, so I guess I should've seen this coming. You muck up my case, and Kersh will hear about it. Are we clear, Dana?
Dana Scully
Scully. And we're done with this conversation. [ cell phone rings ]
[ ringing continues ]
Dana Scully
Yeah?
Fox Mulder
Hey, Scully, how's that X-File coming? Before you tell me that it's not an X-File--
Dana Scully
It is.
Fox Mulder
What happened?
Dana Scully
Alfred Fellig seems to know an awful lot about death.
Fox Mulder
Oh, yeah? Well, that's not surprising, given that... He's reached the ripe old age of 149.
Dana Scully
Excuse me?
Fox Mulder
I did a low-tech background check on him. This stuff is so old that they don't even keep it on record on the computer. Alfred Fellig doesn't exist before 1964, but one henry strand does. He applied for a press pass from the jersey city police in 1939 at the age of 53. His prints match Fellig's.
Dana Scully
But, Mulder, there must be some kind of a mistake.
Fox Mulder
You think? Because this henry strand does not exist before 1939. However, one l.h. Rice... Is on record as having sat for the new york state civil service exam. Now, the records don't show whether he passed or not. But his thumbprint? Fellig's. Want to know what l.h. Rice's birthday is? April 4, 1849. I'm not good at math, but I'm figuring that's a lot of candles on the cake.
Dana Scully
I have spent time with this man, and he can't be more than 65 years old.
Fox Mulder
I think that's what he wants you to think. Now, we're talking about a guy for whom the phrase... "life in prison" carries some seriously weighty connotations. I think you should get to him before he vanishes and becomes someone else.
[ horn honks ]
[ police scanner chatter ]
Scene 12
Scene 12
Dana Scully
You are going to be arrested, mr. Fellig, in two hours, charged with murder. And this time, you won't be able to just change your name.
Alfred Fellig
I showed you what I do last night. I just take the pictures.
Dana Scully
What you showed me was a contemptible lack of compassion... For another human being. You showed me that you profit off of people's deaths. Now, why shouldn't you go to prison?
Alfred Fellig
What, do you want me to cry for them? You want me to make like I feel sorry for them? I don't. Lucky bastards. Every one of them.
Dana Scully
Lucky?
Alfred Fellig
I'm just there to get the shot. I don't take those people. He does.
Dana Scully
Who's he?
Alfred Fellig
That's him. He's the one who takes them.
Dana Scully
You're saying that this is a photograph of death itself?
Alfred Fellig
It's a glimpse. Just a glimpse. It's closer than I've gotten in-- well, I can't even count the years.
Dana Scully
And this is the shot that you spoke of. This is... What you try and get.
Alfred Fellig
Mm-hmm.
Dana Scully
Mr. Fellig, I know that you know more about photography than I do, but this is just a lens flare.
Alfred Fellig
You're right. I do know more about photography than you do.
Dana Scully
Okay, I mean-- for the sake of argument, why bother? I mean, why-- why take a picture of death?
Alfred Fellig
So I can look into his face... So I can die. Pills don't work. Razors, gas, bridges-- I can't tell you how many bridges I've jumped off of. All I get is wet. I got left behind. I don't want to be here anymore. I can't even remember a time when I did.
Dana Scully
Uh--
Alfred Fellig
This is-- this is all I know to do.
Dana Scully
You know I don't believe you.
Alfred Fellig
Yes, you do. That's why you're here.
Dana Scully
How is it you know when people are about to die?
Alfred Fellig
Oh. You chase it long enough, you pick it up.
Dana Scully
Excuse me.
Fox Mulder
Mulder.
Dana Scully
Hi. Mulder, it's me. Those other two names that you said that Fellig went by-- strand and rice?
Fox Mulder
Yeah. Henry strand and l.h. Rice.
Dana Scully
What about louis brady?
Fox Mulder
Uh, no, but there's a, there's like a big gap before 1939.
Dana Scully
Will you check it out for me? I'm sticking here to make sure he doesn't bolt. Louis brady, Mulder. Tell me what you find out. Mr. Fellig?
Alfred Fellig
Oops. Excuse me. I have film out. Hold on a second.
[ cell phone ringing ]
Scene 13
FBI ARCHIVES
Agent Ritter
Ritter.
Fox Mulder
Agent Ritter, it's agent Mulder. Is agent Scully with you?
Agent Ritter
No, she's not, nor do I seem to able to find her.
Fox Mulder
Me neither, and D.C. Cellular says her phone is turned off.
Agent Ritter
What can I do for you, agent?
Fox Mulder
Well, you can find her for me.
Agent Ritter
Listen, agent Mulder, I'm on my way to arrest Alfred Fellig.
Fox Mulder
Good, because that's where I think she is. And you were right. Fellig is a murderer. Under the name of louis brady, he suffocated two patients in a connecticut hospital. He says he meant to catch up with death. One year into his prison sentence, he walked off a work detail. The manhunt never officially ceased.
Agent Ritter
When was this?
Fox Mulder
1929.
Agent Ritter
Whoa, whoa, whoa. When?
Fox Mulder
Look, Ritter, don't sweat the math. It's him. Just get there and find agent Scully.
Agent Ritter
All right. I'm on it.
Scene 14
Scene 14
Dana Scully
You know, most people want to live forever.
Alfred Fellig
Most people are idiots. Which is one of the reasons I don't.
Dana Scully
I think you're wrong. How can you have too much life? There's too much to learn, to experience.
Alfred Fellig
Seventy-five years is enough. Take my word for it. You live forever, sooner or later... You start to think about the big thing you're missing... And that everybody else gets to find out about but you.
Dana Scully
What about love?
Alfred Fellig
What, does that last forever? Forty years ago, I drove down to the city hall, down to the hall of records. Record archives, whatever they call it. I wanted to look up my wife. It... Bothered me I couldn't remember her name. Love lasts... Seventy-five years, if you're lucky. You don't want to be around when it's gone. Count your blessings.
Dana Scully
Why are you this way? I mean, if this is true, give me something in the way of proof. Help me find some science that I can hang this on.
Alfred Fellig
It has nothing to do with science. Someone took my place.
Dana Scully
Took your place?
Alfred Fellig
I don't know her name. I don't think I ever knew it. I had yellow fever way the hell back then... When it killed half of new york. Washington square park was a common grave, they had so many bodies. They'd bury them shallow. They wrapped them in yellow sheets, and the yellow sheets would stick up through the mud. I was in a city-run contagion ward. I was out of my head with fever, out of my mind, then I saw him-- saw death. Wish I would've had a camera then. At first, I... Just saw him out of the corner of my eye. Then he got bolder and he started flitting around the room, and he'd take this person and he'd take that person. And I never saw his face. I didn't want to see his face. I figured if I saw it, he'd take me too.
Dana Scully
But he didn't.
Alfred Fellig
No. There was a nurse. She did the best she could. Back then, medical science was-- they couldn't find their ass with both hands. They still can't. But she did the best she could. She sat with me. Held my hand. I was on my deathbed, then he came for me. I didn't look at him. I closed my eyes and turned my head. I didn't tell her not to look at him. I wanted her to look at him. I wanted her to look at him instead of me. And then I came to and the fever broke. They were carrying her out wrapped up in a yellow sheet. Since that time, I realized you got to be careful what you wish for. I missed my chance. You're very lucky, you know that?
Dana Scully
What do you mean? Wait a minute. Say what's on your mind. You mean lucky like the others? You want me to believe that I'm about to die?
Alfred Fellig
I just want to take the picture.
Dana Scully
You took my picture. You took my picture last night. Is this why?
Alfred Fellig
No. That was different.
Dana Scully
I'm not gonna die!
[ charging ]
Dana Scully
Turn that off.
Alfred Fellig
No.
Dana Scully
Turn it off right now! Put it down!
Alfred Fellig
There is nothing to be done for it.
Dana Scully
You took my phone. Why?
Alfred Fellig
Please, just give me a chance.
Dana Scully
What don't you want me to know?
Alfred Fellig
He's coming. He's coming, and you should just make your peace.
Dana Scully
Shut up!
[ door crashes open ]
Alfred Fellig
He's here.
[ flashbulb charging ]
Agent Ritter
Agent? Oh, god. Don't. No, no, no, no, no. Come on, come on. Damn it! I'll get help. We need some help in here!
Alfred Fellig
Do you see him? Do you see him? Don't look. Close your eyes.
Scene 15
NYU MEDICAL CENTER
Fox Mulder
You're a lucky man. Coroner's report came back on Fellig. Says he died of a single gunshot wound. That's all it said. Well, I, uh, talked to your doctor, and he says you're doing great. You're making the fastest recovery he's ever seen.
Dana Scully
You know, Mulder, I don't even know how I entertained the thought. People don't live forever.
Fox Mulder
No, I-I think he would have. I just think that death only looks for you... Once you seek its opposite.
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About this transcript
The dialogue comes from the official DVD subtitle track supplied by Boggsfiles. Speaker and scene attribution was cross-checked against character-labelled reference material. Subtitle wording is preserved while capitalization and spacing are standardized for easier reading.