Scully's former student, Det. Kelly Ryan, asks the agents to help her catch a runaway government scientist responsible for several mysterious disappearances. Mulder realizes that the man is deathly afraid of his shadow for some reason.
Three deaths have occurred around Richmond, Virginia. The only traces which each of the victims seem to have left behind are black scorch marks of unknown origin. Mulder and Scully are called in by an old student of hers, and the search for the truth begins in its shadows.—EJS