It took Will approximately eleven seconds to process this new information.
"Are you sure?" he asked for the umpteenth time.
Jack Crawford rolled his eyes, "You want me to run percentages with you Will? Yes, I'm sure! Lake was involved with the Shrike murders somehow."
Will Graham sighed and turned his gaze to Eden who was currently getting paper stitches placed along her left cheekbone.
"Do you think she was involved?" inquired Lecter.
William shook his head, "No way. As psychologically scarred as Eden Lake is, she would never stoop to her father's level."
"Scarred? From her time with the Butcher?" asked Jack.
Will shook his head but said nothing. Raising more questions than answers for the men before him.
He sighed, "It's a long story."
"An intriguing one I am sure." said Lecter as he followed William's gaze to the young girl.
"She'll need to be questioned." stated Jack.
"I'll do it, just give her a minute." replied Will.
William allowed Eden to rest for a while in the ambulance before walking over and sitting down next to her.
"Hey." she smiled at him.
"Forgive me for the generic question but how are you feeling?" he asked her.
She laughed, "Well, I have a fractured rib but I suppose I'll live to fight another day. They still want to take me to the hospital though for some tests, just in case."
William listened quietly before awkwardly clearing his throat, "Listen, Eden, we found some of your father's DNA at a crime scene from a case we're working on and we're gonna need you to answer a couple of questions if that's alright?"
Eden swallowed, "Okay."
"We can talk now or I can come by the hospital if you'd feel better doing it there." he told her.
For a minute, Will wasn't sure that she had heard him but when he turned to see what she was staring at, he saw Agatha Lake being carried out of her own home in a body bag, with Joseph Lake's body on another gurney just a few metres behind.
He turned to Eden, "I'm sorry you had to go through all of this."
She smiled gratefully, "You don't choose your family Will."
He nodded in understanding, "I'll see you at the hospital then."
When Will Graham arrived in room twenty-seven of the hospital, he walked in to find Eden reading silently and upon seeing him, she placed the book down on the bedside table and placed her hands neatly by her sides.
"They want to keep me in overnight." she told him. "I think they're scared I'll have a mental breakdown or something."
Will smiled, "They're just being cautious. You've been through quite an ordeal."
Eden looked at him carefully, "I've been through several in the past few months William, to which are you referring to?"
He frowned, "I was wondering when you'd bring this particular subject up again. Eden, you know why we had to arrest him."
She blinked, "Oh I know, it's not that that's annoying me."
Will looked at her, "Then what is it?"
"It's the fact that you still don't understand how I felt about him."
He was about to argue before she cut him off, "You don't seem to grasp that it's possible for someone like me to fall in love with what you would deem a monster. You keep seeing me as a victim when I'm not."
William sighed; Eden Lake was like the annoying, unstable little sister he never wanted. He felt protective over her and well, she was right when she said he didn't understand.
"Let's not get into this now, shall we?" he said.
Eden shrugged, "Fine, but one day we're going to have to talk about it."
William took a calming breath.
She looked at him "You said you wanted to ask me some questions?"
He nodded, "Yes."
He shifted uncomfortably in the chair beside the bed for a second or two before deciding to continue, "We believe your father may have been involved somehow with a man by the name of Garrett Jacob Hobbs."
"The Minnesota Shrike." realised Eden.
William nodded again, "We think your father may have been helping him in some way."
Eden looked at William with terror in her eyes as a million things passed through her mind at once until suddenly, something clicked inside her head.
"The man on the phone."