Later, Mulder and Scully meet with other agents about the prisoner's escape. As it turns out, the escapee is none other than Donnie Pfaster, a sexually depraved serial killer whom Scully sent to prison in a previous episode.

Pfaster has a grotesque affinity for fingers, hair and other body parts. Mulder wonders if Donnie used post-hypnotic suggestion to effect the escape.

Donnie, meanwhile, is in a diner being solicited by a prostitute, whose red nail polish he strongly admires. Suddenly, the prison chaplain, Reverend Orison, appears, telling Donnie that God facilitated his return to freedom.

Scully visits the injured chaplain in the hospital. He probes her about her religious beliefs, and, claiming to operating on behalf of God, tells her "the Devil waits for but an instant." She's puzzled by an old song she keeps hearing on the radio called "Don’t Look Any Further".

Meanwhile, Mulder's done some investigating, and finds that Orison himself is a murderer who's been released from prison, and several prisoners to whom he'd preached have mysteriously escaped.

Scully, her religious inclinations coming to the fore, wonders if there's any credibility to the chaplain's claims to be in contact with God.

Mulder, however, thinks that the chaplain has derived hypnotic powers from a self-inflicted cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain. According to Mulder, similar injuries, and the resulting amplified blood flow, allow Andean mystics to perform mental tricks such as "stopping time."

Donnie, oblivious to all these theories, has taken up residence in the Reverend's apartment. He has killed the prostitute and refrigerated her severed fingers. Another woman, a stunning redhead, rings the doorbell; she's from an escort service. "Love your hair," breathes Donnie.

She takes a bath at his request but soon grows disturbed by his fixation on her hair. When he realizes it's a wig, he seems about to turn violent, but she beats him to the punch, smashes something over his head, and runs out.

Mulder and Scully go to the hospital to see the Reverend, but he's gone -- and the marshal who was guarding him is just awakening from a daze.

Night. The clergyman is in a wooded area, holding Donnie at gunpoint and demanding repentance. Donnie cries, but then says "I cry for you...because you can't kill me."

The serial killer's features morph into those of the Devil. The Reverend is understandably taken aback.

Daylight. Mulder, Scully and others are on the scene, as the Reverend's body is uncovered. Mulder, who wants to turn the case over to the hapless marshals, thinks the recurrent pop song holds wisdom. "Don’t look any further, Scully," he helpfully intones.

But Donnie is not content to let matters rest. He's in Scully's house, hiding the Bible and lurking in a closet.

Night again. Scully comes home, and changes into her pajamas. Her suspicions are aroused by the clock once again reading 6:66. The lights go out. Seeing the closet door ajar, she rushes to it. Donnie emerges.

While Mulder tries to reach Scully by phone, Scully and Donnie engage in a brutal struggle. She knocks shelving down on him, but soon he has her on the floor with her wrists tied behind her back. He starts to run a bath and place candlelight around the bathroom in preparation for a horrible mutilation session.

But Scully, wriggling around on the bedroom floor, is gradually getting free of her bonds.

Mulder bursts in and points a gun at Donnie. All is slow motion, confusion. An unbound Scully emerges from the bedroom, her nose bleeding. Mulder is shouting. Donnie looks grim. Shots rings out.

Scully shoots Donnie. Her face indicates she hardly knows what's going on.

Soon, there are police and photographers. Scully seems disconcerted. Mulder reassures her she did the right thing by shooting Donnie. But she wonders, "Who or what made me pull the trigger?"

Mulder asks: "You mean, what if it was God?"

Scully replies: "I mean, what if it wasn't?"