They were clueless, Will Graham had no who they were looking for. A man probably, white. He couldn't be any older than 35 years. The bodies were all found in different states. So it could be anyone, anywhere.
Will didn't expect this sudden change. Clarice was supposed to go see Hannibal, nothing more. Will didn't like being sociable, the last person he let into his life was Molly. And she had left him.
And there was Hannibal… also gone. It was partially his own fault but it was better like this.
Abigail, dead.
Alana, left the country with her family. Morgan had become her whole world.
Molly had taken the dogs with her when she had filed for divorce. After a two months alone, Will had found a new stay dog. He had named her Luna, after the moon.
It does look black in the moonlight.
It was just the two of them. Actually the three of them if you count the liquor in. In the worst nights, Luna would lay her head on Will's chest to calm him a bit. Sometimes it worked.
That's why Will didn't like getting this young girl involved. Also Jack would totally push her into self-destruction, just like he and Hannibal had done to him.
"I guess we're both getting involved now, professor Graham," she said softly while they were still staring at the cork board.
Will remembered how it all started here, the pictures of the victims of the Minnesota Shrike were replaced by the victims of Buffalo Bill. Hannibal wasn't there, Clarice was standing at the same spot where he had been standing. It felt all so familiar.
"I think you can call me Will," he said while he forced himself to smile at her. It seemed to calm her down a bit.
'"Then Will it is," Clarice smiled hesitantly at him. This was all new to her, she's never been in the field. Clarice knew the life, her dad had told her everything about the life. Catching the bad guys, it all seemed so awesome to Clarice. Until her father had bought that lifestyle with his own life.
Will had seen enough. The girls' dead eyes looking at him. Couldn't you have saved us? He sat down in one of the chair's in front of Jack's desk trying to stay in the real world. It was difficult but he succeeded.
"He asked...," Will swallowed hard, "asked about me?"
Clarice hesitated. Shit. Will meant Dr. Lecter.
She took a seat in the chair next to him before she nodded her head. His face was blank. His bright blue eyes looked sad before he looked away.
In that moment Clarice felt sorry for him. Will had seen things that most people would traumatise for the rest of their lives. He reminded her of one of her foster friends that had gone to Afghanistan when he was old enough to leave the foster home.
"He asked me if I knew you," Clarice said with a low voice.
Will sighed. He wanted to ask her so much, how was he looking? Did he look happy? Still drawing? Is he…? He couldn't ask her. Maybe later. He could get it out of her sooner or later.
"Jack told me you snarled at him?" Will turned his head slightly, smiling a bit at the thought of it all. A young woman having a sass off with Hannibal. A smirk on Hannibal's lips while thinking about eating her organs.
"He called me 'white trash' so he kind of asked for it," she smiled at the hilarity of it all. If Hannibal the Cannibal weren't locked up, she'd probably be a lovely dinner buffet right now. They both smiled at each other like two morons.
He's pushing all your buttons all at once. Typically Hannibal. So typical.
"Do you think Raspail has got something to do with Buffalo Bill?" Clarice asked him.
"Maybe in some way. Hannibal's… testing you. You noticed?" Will's eyed had a dark sparkle when he said his name. Almost like a lover would do.
"Like Jack Crawford is testing me? I noticed and I think I can handle it just fine. I just don't like lying. Sending me in there, telling me it was about a profile, was smart. I had doubts about the true reason behind it but I thought I wouldn't be told lies at the BSU. If there's something I need to know, then please tell me." Clarice didn't want to be fooled again. She needed to know who she could trust.
"Jack likes to lie," Will replied. By the way he said those words, it seemed that he's been played before by Jack Crawford. Maybe he was. Will didn't seem to enjoy Jack's presence.
"What do we know about Raspail?" Will asked her.
"Well," she started, "the notes of Dr. Hannibal Lecter's patients are lost, they've been burned."
Yes, I've burnt those with him. Will got lost in thoughts while he listened to Clarice' sweet voice.
Hannibal Lecter was sitting in his office, Will was sitting in the chair on the opposite of him. Like they used to a long time ago. Will's face wasn't scarred, back when Will was suffering from encephalitis. Will's eyes were closed. He was at peace. It calmed Hannibal a bit to see him happy. Dr. Lecter stood up and walked out of the room, looking behind his shoulder, making sure Will was still there. He shut the door with Will's name engraved on it.
The next room was filled with memories of Misha.
She was smiling at him when she tried to catch up while young Hannibal ran away. She was four. They were in Lithuania before the intruders came. They took her away from him. Hannibal could still hear her laugh when he had closed the door. It was a happy memory. The only happy memory he got.
The next door was made of oak and had a name card on it.
Clarice Starling's name was engraved on a steel plate. The room contained the conversation between them. Thoughts about Will. The similarities between her and Abigail Hobbs.
Hannibal imagined Clarice looked a bit like he imagined Misha to be all grown up. Unfortunately Misha hadn't grown older than six year.
Hannibal walked for a few minutes, the hall would go on forever. Some doors looked like they hadn't been opened for a very long time. This part of the memory palace was dark and creepy.
Hannibal didn't seem to be scared, he walked confidently to the door with the name Benjamin Raspail on it.
He entered it.
It had been a few weeks that Hannibal had seen Benjamin Raspail, he was a depressed flutist of the Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra. He was quite the extravagant type, outgoing but still searching for that missing part in his life. Hannibal was tired of listening to his adventures in the gay clubs of Baltimore.
Hannibal was getting bored until one day he mentioned his violent boyfriend Jame. The two had been romantically involved at that time but after a few weeks Benjamin had cheated on him with a Norwegian sailor. It was a brief affair because the man had more attention for his boat than for his lover. When boyfriend Jame found out, he had murdered the sailor. Interesting.
Jame had murdered the man and then made an apron from his skin. The sailor's decapitated body was found in his motel room. The killer was working in a Baltimore Curio store before he had been fired for stealing.
Hannibal wanted to know more about the Jame. Benjamin told him he had lived in an unsatisfactory foster home until the age of 10, after which he was adopted by his grandparents. They became his first victims, when he murdered them impulsively at age 12. He was then sent to a psychiatric hospital where he was taught how to be a tailor.
Benjamin was very desperate to help his friend Jame, who was convinced by his cheating lover to have a session with Hannibal. Jame Gumb was a tall, handsome man. Hannibal immediately recognised the killer inside the man. Hannibal was curious about what would happen if he exposed himself to Jame.
Jame explained that he'd been feeling 'very violent' the last few months. Without the knowledge of his boyfriend Benjamin, Gumb had begun filing in applications for gender reassignment surgery. What he felt for his lover was not real love, as Jame Gumb was not a real homosexual. All of his applications were declined because he was too psychologically disturbed.
As the session lead to its ending, Benjamin bursted into the office were Hannibal and Jame were talking. Raspail was furious about something obviously. Very very rude, Benjamin.
"JAME, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" he shouted angrily. Jame didn't flinch and looked up at his boyfriend.
Raspail walked towards Jame as if he was going to hit him.
Hannibal was done with Benjamin's rude intrusion. Hannibal stood up and snapped his neck before he could say one more word. His lifeless body fell on the floor.
"I think this is one les problem to worry about Jame." Hannibal said with a calm voice.
Jame looked from the body at his feet to Hannibal's face. Jame didn't seem to care. His calmness exited Hannibal. It seemed like he had found his new play toy.
"It seems so, Dr. Lecter," and with those words Jame stood up, walked over Benjamin's dead body and made his way to the exit of Hannibal's office.
Before he disappeared though the door opening he spoke, "It's been an eye opening session Dr. Lecter. Thank you for opening my eyes."
Those were the last words Hannibal Lecter had ever heard from him. Until a new serial killer had the front page of the National Tattler.
His name was Buffalo Bill.