Hannibal paced back and forth, trying to figure out who he was. There was no one close to him. Not that close at least. Abigail, maybe, but she knew her place and wouldn't want her family to get caught in the crossfire. That only left Will.
"Preposterous," Hannibal mumbled sitting down in his usual chair. "Will is too innocent to do anything like that. His mind is too shattered…. But… what if he-" For the third time in three weeks, Hannibal's phone rang. He growled, his eyes flashing, "Yes?"
"It's Jack. Hannibal, we found another body." Hannibal nodded, unsure of how to respond. "Can you and Will make it here so he can help us out?" Hannibal sighed.
"I'll see what I can do," he hung up the phone. Sighing again, Hannibal turned around to see if he could find Will. "Will, are you here? Will?" He looked outside to see if Will was with the dogs. No, not there. Next he checked the kitchen. Abigail was sitting at the table, doing what looked like math homework. "Abigail, do you know where William is?"
She looked up at him, "Dad's in the shower," she pointed up with her pencil. Hannibal nodded and went towards the stairs. Now being closer, he could hear the shower running. He walked leisurely, liking the image of a naked Will Gram standing in the shower.
"Will, are you up here?" Hannibal called through Will's door, knocking. The water instantly shut off and Hannibal could hear Will running around his room, as if hiding something. "Will?"
"One minute Hannibal!" Will called back. The next moment, a half naked Will Gram stood in the doorway. Hannibal gestured to the inside of the room, as if saying 'May I?' "Oh yeah, come in," he moved aside. "So, was there something you wanted to tell me?"
"Yes, Jack has asked us if we could examine a crime scene. Would you like to go, or would you rather stay in the house with Abigail?" Hannibal asked.
"I'll get my shirt on," Will said returning to the bathroom. Hannibal looked around the room. He could see nothing out of place, but there was something under the covers of Will's bed. He didn't have the chance to make it out before Will returned with a solid colored brown shirt on. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes," Hannibal led them back down the stairs. "Abigail, were going out. If we're not home later there are leftovers in the fridge. Don't make a mess and no boys over." Abigail rolled her eyes, smiling at her fathers.
"Yes Hannibal, no boys," Will smiled and waved goodbye as they left.
"You can trust her, y'know. She won't do anything that could risk getting us caught. None of us will," Will touched Hannibal's leg, a reassuring motion. Hannibal looked at him, trying to hide his surprise, but failing.
"I do not expect you to keep this forever hidden. I know one day you will turn, William, in my favor or not, you will turn. I only ask you to tell me before you do anything too rash. We will need to find a new home, a more permanent home, for Abigail." Hannibal shifted his leg, a symbol telling Will to remove his hand.
"Why will Abigail need a new home? This is her home, with us. We're her family Hannibal," Will sounded frantic as he tried to find out why Hannibal was talking in such a way. "You're not leaving are you? Not going to leave us? If you leave you'll never be able to-"
"William. I do not think you understand what I am saying. I am not, nor will I ever, leave you and Abigail on purpose. If you were to ever tell Jack exactly who and what I am, I will be put down under lock and key. I would never be able to see you or Abigail again. And do you really think you will be able to take care of Abigail with your history of mental illness?" Will removed his hand from Hannibal's leg."I know that you are getting better, but that won't help if they find out about the things I do."
"Hannibal," Will started after a moment of silence. "There's something I have to tell you. The recent murders have been-"
"We're here," Hannibal cut him off. "Come, let us get this over with. What were you saying?" Will said nothing as he sighed, shook his head, and exited the car. Hannibal gave Will's figure a confused look before exiting the car himself.
"Will," Jack greeted, "it's good to see you again. How've you been?"
"I've been better," Will responded. He looked at the ground. He never was one for eye contact. "Hannibal says I'm getting better, and I think I am too. I haven't been sleep walking, at all. No nightmares, nothing like that."
Jack smirked and patted Will on the shoulder, he still moved away from the touch. "It's good to hear. Now come on, I'll show you what happened." They moved into the house, Hannibal behind them.
"We think that the Ripper came in through the back," he pointed to the broken sliding glass door. "He then waited over there," he pointed to the wall where there was little to no blood. "Then, well, the victim lost." Jack pointed to the investigators surrounding a body tied to a chair just to the right of the head of the table. "His name is Daniel Morton. His sisters found him. They come over every few weeks for a family dinner."
Will blocked Jack out a he looked around the brutal crime scene. The victim's hands were bound behind his back. Vulnerable. The killer wanted him to be vulnerable like he was. His eyes were covered, he was blind to what was in front of him. There was a slit in his throat, just like the one on Abigail's. His organs were missing from his body and placed on different plates on different places on the table. Will's mouth twitched, he had done a good job so far. If the FBI thought this was the Ripper, then Hannibal had to know who it was that was doing this.
"It's odd, he usually takes the organs, but he left them here." Jack said, breaking Will from his thoughts.
"Maybe, maybe he isn't the Ripper. Maybe this is a different person then." Jack gave it a thought, but decided that it couldn't be true.
"I don't know. It could be, but there are just too many similarities." Jack paused as he overheard one of the investigators saying that they were finishing up here and they were moving out. "I guess nothing can ever be ruled out, but I find it very unlikely that this can be two different people. Anyway, its too late to talk about now. We're finishing up here. I'll send you what I can when I can. We need to find the bastard that's doing this." Will nodded and turned to Hannibal, who had stayed silent the entire time.
"Come Will, we must be heading home." Hannibal turned and walked away from the messy kitchen. Will said goodbye to Jack, promising that he'd go down to the station and continue his analysis when he could, and went after Hannibal.
Once in the car, Will turned to Hannibal. "Who do you think it was? I know it wasn't you, so who?" Hannibal didn't respond.
"Where was Abigail four nights ago?" Will gave him a confused look.
"Do you think she did this? Hannibal, that's crazy. You said it yourself she would never-"
"Where was she William?" He snapped. Will went quite, Hannibal had never yelled at him before.
"She hasn't been out without you with her. She wouldn't do this." He didn't respond this time. Will huffed and sat back in the car.
He really is dense, Will thought to himself. He had given another clue and Hannibal still didn't get it. One more, and he will get it this time.
