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Walking back to the car, Mulder flashes back on the El Camino in his dream. It's Roche's car, sold at auction when he went to prison. He doesn't have the hearts with him in the Big House; maybe they're still in the car? "Don't you think the car might have been searched at least once already?" Scully asks. "Not by me," Mulder tells her.

Hollyville, Delaware. The current owner lets our duo into the garage where he's been customizing the Camino. "Honest-to-God serial killer owned my car? For real?" he asks, a little too delightedly, because he is a dumb dumbass who has clearly never suffered a loss in his doltish life. Punk. Mulder ignores him and he and Scully hop in and start groping all over the inside of the vehicle. Not each other. Patience, y'all. Mulder whips out a knife, a Leatherman I think, and without preamble slices open the seat upholstery stem-to-stern. Eek. My sister collects and restores classic cars; I think this scene would make her pass out. "Helpin' him detail," Mulder shrugs when Scully gives him a look. No hearts. Scully gets out to check the underside of the car, and that's when Mulder realizes the Camino's camper shell is missing.

Cut to the dipshit owner's backyard shed, from which Mulder drags the camper shell in a frenzy, sliding on the fallen leaves. He dumps it upside-down, yanks off the plastic tarp and starts stomping around frantically on the quilted upholstery; Scully wisely hangs back a little. Mulder finds the lump he's looking for and rips the lining from the frame: there in a well of the camper shell is a hardcover copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Ew. Whatever you may think about Lewis Carroll and his relationship with the real Alice Liddell, I personally have always found that book creepy as hell. The baby that turns into a pig? Criminy. Meanwhile…I've also long thought that the original Tenniel illustrations, little Alice with her stern, sharp profile, look rather like our Scully, actually. So disgruntled, always, with all the kooky whimsy. Ju st me? Okay.

Anyway. "Mad hat…" Mulder mutters. "Mad Hatter." Together he and Scully riffle through the book, and there are the hearts, tucked between the pages. Scully identifies Addie Sparks's PJs. They count. Fourteen…fifteen. Sixteen. Ohhhhh, shit.

Prison. Mulder and Scully check their weapons with the guard station, Mulder stooping to remove the gun from his ankle holster as well. That'll be important later. They're ushered into the prison gymnasium, where Roche is shooting solitary hoops.

Okay, kids, John Lee Roche is played by Tom Noonan, who is number two, right behind Nick Chinlund as Donnie Pfaster, on my list of Actors Whose Portrayals Of X-Files Villains Will Prevent Me From Accepting Them In Any Other Role Ever Again for the Rest of Our Mutual Lives. Seriously. I saw Noonan in some indie move, once, where he played a lovelorn guy looking for romance in the personals, and I swear I spent the whole time convinced he was going to lure some lady friend back to his place and then brain her with a cast-iron skillet. He's also like six foot five, freakishly tall. Whoa: a quick stumble 'round the Internet reveals that he also played the "Tooth Fairy" serial killer in the 1986 movie "Manhunter," part of the Hannibal Lecter triptych and chock-full of FBI profiling. Is that an in-joke, do you think? This episode is layered like an onion. I'll spare you my doctoral dissertation.

Anyway… seriously, y'all. Pfaster versus Roche: it's a very close race. In some ways, I find the character of Roche more frightening. I mean, Donnie is obviously a complete freak from the get-go. You get a look at him, you run for your lives! But Roche…man. Roche is smart and genial and completely vile; he abducts and molests and strangles little girls, he messes with people's heads, and he relishes every second of it. It's fucking terrifying.