“Sein und Zeit” is episode ten of season seven of The X-Files.
Parents watch their daughter pray and then tuck her into bed. The husband, Bud, watches television (as it happens, another Chris Carter show, Harsh Realm) as the wife, Billie, readies their bed. She suddenly stops and tears a piece of paper from dry cleaning. Bud hears a noise and heads upstairs; he sees his wife writing a note. He doesn’t see that it’s a message to her and her husband about their daughter being kidnapped and a threat to kill her unless they do what is said. Bud checks on his daughter; she seems asleep, but briefly he sees her dead. The wife finished the note with ‘No one shoots at Santa Claus’ as Bud leaves their daughter’s room. The door slams shut and blood seeps out. Bud calls for Billie and breaks open the door to find the daughter gone.
Mulder arrives at Skinner’s office where a lot of agents are working. He tells Skinner he wants the case and, with some persuasion, gets until noon. Skinner tells Mulder the other agents have a pool going. On the missing girl, Amber-Lynn LaPierre, being dead.
Mulder arrives at the LaPierres’ home in Sacramento, California. He’s let in and speaks to a Harry Bring, their lawyer. Real estate and conveyancing law. Mulder asks if he’s ever handled a murder case. This isn’t one. Mulder warns it might be when the facts about Amber-Lynn’s disappearance get out; if he really wants to help his clients, get them a real lawyer.
Mulder introduces himself to the LaPierres and asks them to answer any of his questions they and their lawyer are comfortable with. Bud explains what happened, though it sounds like he isn’t telling the truth about the note and everything that happened. Not surprising. Mulder says that, no matter what happens, the FBI will try their hardest to find their little girl. He hopes she’s still alive.
Scully arrives at a motel at nought and knocks on Mulder’s door. Skinner is annoyed; Mulder was supposed to have a report at noon and sent Scully here to get it. Mulder doesn’t have one. Scully says they had to move on with the case; the media got word of the police findings and were going to broadcast them, so the LaPierres were brought in for further questioning. Mulder doesn’t think they’re guilty. Mulder says the parents lied about where they found the note. Scully asks why. Mulder has been thinking about that. Then his phone rings; it’s his mother. She’s watching the news about the LaPierres.
Skinner and the agents are looking at the note when Mulder and Scully arrive back. They’ve matched the pen and paper to pen and paper found at the house, only Billie’s prints were found on it and the handwriting partially matches hers. Mulder says that Bud said he watched TV then went to bed, but the TV was still on when the police came. And no-one saw anyone enter a locked and lighted home. Mulder thinks Bud’s lies don’t explain what happened to the little girl.
Mulder leaves and heads for his office to look through his files. When Scully arrives, he says something in the note was familiar. Scully thinks Mulder is identifying with the case because of his sister. Mulder says his sister was taken by aliens; he hasn’t mentioned aliens. He finds what he was looking for. A case in Idaho in 1987 with a note finishing with ‘No one shoots at Santa Claus.’
In California, someone is filming children playing.
Mulder and Scully arrive at Idaho Women’s State Prison. They are seeing a Kathy Lee Tencate. Mulder recaps her case; she was convicted 12 years ago for killing her son. The body was never found and she pled innocent. Tencate had a vision of her son dead then found he was missing from his bed. Three years ago, she confessed to the crime, of killing her son in a fit of insanity. Mulder shows her the new note and asks her to explain Santa Claus. She can’t, and that’s because Mulder thinks she isn’t guilty. She only changed her story to get a chance at parole. The new parents need her help.
Mulder isn’t doing a good impression of not being personally affected by the case and his protestations get less and less convincing, and that’s before matters get really personal.
The story continues in the next episode, “Closure”.