Will exhaled the air slowly as he let his eyes wander over the scene.
Laying on the back of the couch he could identify Mrs. Sevilla in her blue dress under a coat of blood. She was on her back, the head and arms hanging down the back of the furniture, making them invisible to anyone who didn't come close enough to look at the body from above. Abdominal organs were hanging out of her Stomach.
Across from her Will discovered the remains of her husband, who appeared to be starring at her with his dead eyes. He had been victim of a similar fate, but only his upper half was sitting in the chair, while his legs laid careless on the floor beneath him. Sitting on his own organs he still was bleeding onto the blood soaked cushion.

Will looked over to Hannibal who took in the crime scene, his expression vigilant.

Careful to not leave any traces the man stepped closer to the body on the couch. Even now his movements where elegant and smooth.
As Will followed his example he saw that the woman's throat was cut and the blood running down had created a puddle of blood on the marble floor.

"These wounds are still fresh. If my senses don't deceive me Mr. and Mrs. Sevilla were still alive half an hour ago." Hannibal bend down to get a closer look of the neck wound. "Someone was quicker than we were."

"Somebody must have followed them after the concert.", Will said, looking around, scanning the room for something that indicated what exactly they had just stumbled into. His eyes rested on the silver phone on the floor. Pulling his sleeve over his hand he picked it up and went through the list of calls that had been made in the last days.
He almost let out a sigh of relieve when he was sure the Sevilla's hadn't made an emergency call.

"I think they were about to call the police. It was either a reaction to the break-in of the killer or a reaction to us. Either way I hardy believe this is a coincidence."

Hannibal stepped beside him. "Convenient for us. We would have probably been to late to prevent a call that would have brought the authority's attention on us."

Will placed the phone on the floor where he found it.

"But in who's interest would doing us a favor be?"

The whole picture didn't make sense. The only person that had come to his mind as willing to kill for them in order to guarantee protection was Chiyoh. But giving it a second thought he tossed the idea away. She didn't know that the were in Argentina and even if she did she would have killed more precised and in an inconspicuous manner.

"The primary motive for doing someone a favor is usually the expectation that this favor will be returned in the future."

Will left the crime scene on Hannibal's side with the feeling he would have to revisit his days as a criminal profiler soon.


After Hannibal had slipped under the blanket, Will turned off the light. He laid back with an exhausted sight. "I don't think I will be able to sleep."

Hannibal pressed himself against his back, one hand running through his hair. The tickling sensation made Will smile. "I can still smell blood on you, Will. It has settled in you hair, your skin. Does it frustrate you that were denied spilling it yourself tonight?"

"More than you would think," He admitted, sucking in the air as Hannibal's mouth was exploring his neck area. "But my excitement is overshadowed by all the questions I have about this. The crime scene almost seemed to reflect our murders, Hannibal."

"Someone is admiring us."

"With killing the Sevilla's the killer solely wanted to do us a favor?" Regretfully he stopped Hannibal's kisses by turning around to him. He couldn't ignore the worrying aspects about the murders, couldn't give into pleasure now. "For that the benefit their death presents is too little….Such a violent crime on such rich people comes to the attention of the media."

"I dare to doubt an attack on our behalf wouldn't have had the same effect.", Hannibal objected "the moment Mrs. Sevilla connected your face to what she saw in the papers her life came to an end. From there on it was all about mitigation measures."

Will looked down, sure that even in the dark Hannibal could see his face. "We should have thought about the repercussions of showing our faces in public earlier."

"Don't say you weren't warned about what life with me would be like. Never solely in a save cage, but always on the dangerous hunting grounds.", the man whispered, the sharpness of the words petrifying Will. The argument about his distaste for luring who they left behind here and his fear of getting caught had been held and was long over now. But he still remembered Hannibal's words in his ears as he had hugged him tightly. I'm aware of what you are capable of. And I'm confident that you will catch whatever slips through my fingers before it can do us any harm, Will.

"And I don't regret coming with you."

As he reached out for Hannibal's strong torso, he felt his hand lifting up his chin.

"Then you want to talk about damage control when the hunting grounds become a risk to walk on?", He asked conciliatory.

Will pulled himself closer to him to put his head on the mans chest. The steady breathing calmed him down. "Seclusion is our friend again from now on. I don't want us to be caught in the spotlight this incident is throwing on this place." He closed his eyes as Hannibal's arm slid around his chest. "We should try to find this killer, before he can do us any harm."

"Stopping him would be nothing more than damage control. Sooner or later we will have to turn to the root of what is haunting us."

Hannibal was well aware of what had held Will back from fully enjoying their life together. He had often been already waiting when Will woke up from an upsetting dream about Baltimore.

They were barely a year in Argentina now and he had just settled down in the new environment. For the first time since their escape in Palermo Will had felt save and free from distracting thoughts about Baltimore poisoning his mind. But now the past and the fear of Alana or Jack invading his new life was tugging on his mind again. And Hannibal just waited for him to give in to the reality that he could never shake off the past completely without following him back to kill them all.

He didn't answer and the other man said gently, "If this killer is playing with us, he will keep in touch, Will."


The killer did keep in touch. Five days later the brutal murder of a young man was in the news, a reporter describing what was known so far, standing right in front of the museum the body had been found in. Behind her police cars and a caution tape could be identified, shielding the scene from the crowd that had gathered around the building.

Standing in the doorway Will followed the report. At this point his Spanish was good enough for him to understand the majority of what was said and he listened attentively.

When the moderator switched to another topic, Hannibal, sitting upright on the couch, turned off the tv and looked at Will.

"Looks like our admirer has established contact.", Will remarked more sarcastic than he had intended.

"The police seems confident to connect this murder to our killer already and I have no doubt they are right with that assumption. However more details would give a better insight…."

Will shrugged and sat down in front of the computer on the desk. "strangled and mutilated, resembles the Sevilla murder. it is something to start with at least.", he said considering. "This time his acts might connect to us as well, maybe he caught someone else who recognized our faces."

"This young man didn't seem familiar to me." Hannibal said twisting his body uncomfortably to make eye contact with Will. "There might be no connection from the victim to us. The killer used it to establish contact once, now the connection might solely be reflective in his technique. With choosing the museum to display his art he mirrors you, Will, makes a commentary on the murder of Randall Tier. Last time his work already held a resemblance to both your and my murders."

"If he is so interested in us he might have recognized us at that evening at the concert." He paused as he scrolled through the results his search for the newest murder case in Buenos Aires had presented. "He took organs in both murders. Whatever his motive might be, he isn't just drawing our attention to him, but the attention of others on us. If no one is suspecting anything yet, they soon will."

"What now is a vague lead might become monumental if he continues. This copycat might mean some trouble to our life, Will."

Will didn't answer, didn't want to think about all the possible consequences further. In silence he read what the media offered him about the latest murder and its connection to the Sevilla case and possibly other murders. If this predator was targeting him and Hannibal, he had to find as much information about him as possible to get into his head.

The reports were way more detailed than he would have thought and he read each carefully. Except for the location the body was placed, the latest crime scene didn't seem to hold much resemblance to Will's display of Randal Tier. This way of killing had been much more violent and disorganized.

A few sources even tied a whole series of murders to the last two cases. Apparently the first murder of this serial killer reached back two years, when a middle aged woman had been found in a back alley, strangled and horribly mutilated. A year later a second victim was dumped in the area, strangled with the head sawed open and a part of the skull missing. The last case that was tied to the first two was the assault of a younger man, who's throat had been slashed. There was no further mutilation besides the severed head that remained missing to this day.
Despite no photo's being provided, Will had very clear picture of it in his mind.

When he finished his read he turned around to Hannibal, who was still sitting on the couch, now a book in his lap.
He looked up when Will stood up.

"According to some theories our admirer has been busy for the last two years. There are three cases tied to him, in which all mutilation and a high degree of brutality played a role.", he reported back, slowly walking up and down the room. The profile was a little clearer now and he could already make out a pattern. Like the Argentinian police he was careful to attribute all of these murders to one and the same person.

"And what do you see, Will?" Hannibal scrutinized him intensively and for a moment Will felt like he was back at the former psychiatrist's office, discussing one of Jack's cases with him. Here they were playing the old game again, trying to catch a killer while turning Will into one.

"He definitely isn't responsible for all the murders they would like to blame on him. The first murder doesn't fit the pattern. The modus operandi appears to be the same, but he didn't take trophies. In all the other cases he did, just like in the latest."

Ribs and two organs had been taken from the Sevilla's and the man at the museum.

Hannibal pondered. "And yet the pattern is too similar to dismiss it. He might have first sought some inspiration in the work of someone else until he decided to act upon his fantasy." He replied in his velvet voice. "I would assume him to be rather young. He is still experimenting, attempting to find his identity. With this killing spree he might let come true what he so far has only admired from a distance."

"Ignited by you and me?" Will raised an eyebrow. "No, I'm almost sure he killed before. He is a copycat killer now and he was it before when he strangled his first victim and slashed the second one's throat. This blur of signatures might be experimentation, but there is skill behind his work. His experimentation lies in another aspect than simply taking lives." Will paused searching for the right words. "is it just my paranoid mind or is the purpose behind these killings to draw attention to us? I have the feeling his intend is malicious rather than admiring."

Hannibal took a deep breath. "One truth doesn't exclude the other. You can act out of admiration to draw this person closer to you and yet this can be perceived as malicious because the outcome bears certain consequences."


In his dream Will stepped outside on the terrace and let his eyes wander over the lake. It almost felt like it was a video played in a time lapse, only allowing his consciousness to brush over the events lightly.

Just for a split second he could see himself standing on the opposite shore, starring and leaving the impression he was frowning upon Will. On his shoulder rested Jack Crawford's hand and when the reflection of himself vanished, the man remained standing while his sympathetic expression turned into a grimace. His eyes seemed to be burning, but Will shivered at the sight of it. He knew the piercing eyes alone couldn't hurt him, make his empathy rebel against him and evoke so much guilt that he would drown himself in the black water. As long as Jack didn't cross the water he was safe on this shore.
The lake was laying between them now and yet only coming near the border between the two worlds, would suck both shores into its abyss instantly. Will was sure of that like one knew these things to be true in dreams.
And then he realized the water was slowly getting less and less, revealing more of the soil and rocks and he was suddenly falling.

Will's eyes snapped open as he was heavily breathing. Only slowly he calmed down and to his delight he noticed that Hannibal was still asleep. He wasn't armed for a discussion about his dreams and fears now.

Jack, Alana, his old family, they had all been more frequent visitors to his mind in the last days, forcing Will to think about them and evoking an uncomfortable feeling of lack of clarity. None of them were welcome in his head, they were following him like persistent shadows he needed to get rid of.

After he had gone to the bathroom to let the cold water run over his face, Will couldn't find any sleep. He sat down in front of the computer in the living room and again searched for the murders the latest cases had been tied to. The killer didn't leave him alone when he was awake as long he was out there and a potential danger to his life with Hannibal.

He scrolled down he found several articles on the individual cases and opened the first decent looking one. Will had just decided to dedicate the night to creating a profile of this killer by bringing all his crimes into order.

Studying different murders he bit his lip. He wasn't quite sure how to categorize this predator. The high degree of brutality tied the crimes together and the violence and mutilation seemed to escalate with each case, but there always seemed to be one common factor. In some cases he would strangle his victims, in rarer cases use a knife to take their life. The most significant aspect about the killer seemed to be his insignificance, his lack of an own signature. However at every single assault he used a knife or a saw to mutilate the body, always being particularly fascinated by the bones.

He was sure this killer had comitted more crimes, had started at some point. Despite him being a copycat killer there had to be more behind these attacks, which all could be characterized as almost disorganized. It seemed to Will that this killer was driven by something more than admiration and was unable to stop.

After a while he came across a case that caught his attention. At first sight there didn't seem to be much resemblance to the other crimes, but there was something about it that stood out for him. In the range of the four murders he attributed to the killer, this was the youngest victim and seven years had passed since.

It was a name that made the picture clear for him. Marlene Suárez; he had read this this name before. In this report she was mentioned as the older cousin of the victim, with which the girl last had been seen with, but in an article about the second murder Marlene Suárez had been listed as one of the suspects.

Will leaned back in the chair, starring at the bright screen with the picture of the young girl.

Her thirdteen year old cousin strangled and mutilated in the heat of the moment, this was the birth of the killer, he was sure now. It was the first time this predator had become aware of the dark lurking in the back of her head and she had manged to hide it back there for almost six years, because she was never caught.

He typed her name in the search engine and then scanned through the information he needed. Now the pieces all fit together, he thought. The fact that Marlene Suárez lived in Buenos Aires was more of a confirmation to what he already was sure of then actual news. This young woman could possibly be the killer he was searching for.

Careful to not make any noise he got up and got his jacket to then slowly close the door behind him. He felt forced to pay her a visit now, to make a clear picture of her true intentions. It was something he felt deep down he had to figure out for himself without Hannibal.


Marlene Suárez had her home in a middle class neigborhood, Will discovered when he turned into the wide street. Since it was almost 2 am in the morning everything was quiet here, only in the distance he could hear the noises of a heated argument.

He drove down the street once to see where her house was and then parked the car right around the corner. It was better if no one would remember his car later, even though he wasn't sure yet if this kind of cautiousness would be nessecary. On the drive to Buenos Aires he hadn't really decided if he had come here to kill the woman or what to do after all.

Will got out of the car and walked toward her house. As he got closer his legs were moving more hesitant. There was no plan, he had to admit that to himself. Why was even here? What had he thought would he do when he was so close to confronting the copycat killer?
He didn't want to kill her, not before he had understood her motives fully. On the other hand he began to question how he should even establish contact with Marlene Suárez. It seemed ridiculous to him to knock on her door in the middle of the night, demanding to talk to her about two murders.

Maybe he had to abduct her and bring her somewhere else, he considered. For now he decided to go around the house to find an entrance.

Moving slowly in the shadows he took a look into one of the windows on the side of the small house. The interior seemed to be completly dark and the narrow window didn't present any chance to get inside. When he turned around to move om to the back of the house, pressed against its wall, he bumped into something. Immediatly a loud clatter was to hear.
Will cursed himself for his stupidity when he discovered that he had knocked over a dustbin, that had now crashed into a pile of other objects. He tried to move faster now. If someone had heard the noise, it would only be seconds until they would come to see what had happened.

When he got around the corner Will sneaked to the back door, hoping it wouldn't be locked. As he tried to open it he suddenly felt someone behind him. In the next moment pain flashed through the back of his head and he fell down, quickly loosing his consciousness.