When Clarice came back, she stopped in front of Will's cell. He looked at her, eyes running over the small details but not looking at her eyes. "Mr. Graham, Agent Crawford has agreed to hand these files to Dr. Lecter but he wants your opinion on this case."
"He wants my opinion?" asked Will with a raised eyebrow, honestly shocked by this.
"Yes. He wants to take you back into the field."
The answer shocked Will and it took him a few moments to get over this. "Are you sure you heard him right? I highly doubt he wants me to see the light of day ever again."
"Yes. I'm positive. I'll admit, it appeared he didn't want to do this, but everyone knows that before all this you and Dr. Lecter made an excellent team."
"Before all this? I can assure you Agent Starling. If these bars and glass walls weren't here we'd still make an excellent team." The slight shiver that ran down her back made Will smile.
"So will you agree to it?" asked Clarice.
"How could I refuse?" he said with a smile. "I'd give the reports over to Hannibal now. I can see them afterwards."
She nodded and then walked over to Hannibal.
He looked up at her with piercing eyes. "So did Jack agree to my condition?"
"Yes. I have the document," Clarice replied. She put it, along with the case file, into the compartment that slid from one side of the cell to another. As Hannibal began to leaf through the papers, after some pause, Clarice added, "I can understand why you'd want to be moved. Dr. Chilton isn't the nicest of people."
"He also couldn't tell which way is up or down even if you gave him two guesses," put in Abigail as she listened to their conversation. "He likes to think he's all that but he's really terrible at his job."
"Yes, he likes to think he's as smart as me but all he really has is that inflated ego of his," murmured Hannibal, still going through the case. He looked up. "Sit down Clarice. Tell me something else about yourself. What happened after your father died?"
"I went to go live with my uncle."
"Was he a bad man Clarice? Did he abuse you?" asked Hannibal. He had seen the flicker of sadness in her eyes upon talking about her uncle. "Or did he die as well?"
"No. He was a very kind man," she replied. "But one night, I woke up and heard screaming. I followed the sound even though I was terrified. It was coming from his barn. I didn't want to look in but I finally did. When I did, I saw him slaughtering little lambs."
"How did that make you feel? What did you do Clarice?" asked Hannibal softly. He was studying, seeing what her reaction would be.
"I tried to save one. I dragged it through the woods. I ran as fast as I could but I couldn't save it. A police man found me in the morning," finished Clarice. "Now tell me about the Bachelor. Last time you suggested he actually might be a she. Why?"
Hannibal didn't reply immediately. He liked to see her on the edge of her seat, waiting, wondering. Finally he spoke. "Looking at the victims, you can tell that none of them were particularly strong. Not necessarily weak but not strong either. A more broad-shouldered woman with bigger bone mass or a body builder could have killed these men. Especially if she had a weapon and they didn't."
"But there has to be something else that makes you think it's a woman. Why unmarried men? Why cutting off the ring finger?"
"She has very bitter feelings for these men, at least the idea of them anyway. Though it is clear that the ring finger is her priority she does not hesitate to try and damage the bodies. She isn't a psychopath, to much passion in the killings. This is because of some memory or event that still boils her blood. Some mishap that occurred some time ago."
"But why a woman?" Clarice asked one more time. The look Hannibal gave her clearly told her to not interrupt him again if she wanted to find out. In response, she snapped shut, giving a small nod.
"Though not always true, women hold grudges much longer than men. Also, the cuts on their wrists and chests are not from a knife. Most likely from long nails," Hannibal said. "That and the method of killing has so far always been poison. Women, at least the ones that have been caught, are more likely to use poison. Really, I don't understand why more people don't use it. It's much easier to get away with a murder unless of course it's a rare type of poison."
"You say that Doctor but you didn't use poison in any of your killings. Yours were always murdered in brutal ways," said Clarice.
"I believe every butcher enjoys watching the pig squeal before he crushes the life in it. Don't you?" asked Hannibal.
"I haven't known enough butchers to make an accurate answer to your question."
Hannibal smiled at her reply. Her voice was sure, firm. "I highly doubt that Jack will allow me out of my cell so until then, I will wait until Will comes back with more information. When does Jack plan to take him?"
"The day after tomorrow."
"Has there already been another murder?" asked Will. He'd remained silent up until this point.
"No, not yet."
"Aw, so he wants to give it to me fresh does he," Will murmured, a small smile playing on his lips. "Those were the days."
"May I ask a question of you Mr. Graham?" Clarice suddenly asked.
He raised an eyebrow at her, a bit surprised that she really wanted to talk to him now but shrugged his shoulders. "Why not?"
She nodded and replied, "It seems like you liked life before now. I do believe that you enjoyed catching killers so why go to killing yourself? Did you not like catching a murderer anymore? Did you think it was more fun to become one?"
Will cocked his head to the side, looking at her curiously. "No one has ever suggested that I did all of this simply for fun. You're the first one," he said with a happy grin. "To answer you, I still liked catching killers. It was fun, seeing what they had done wrong."
"Because you hadn't been caught so far," put in Clarice.
"Hmm, you're smarter than you look. Anyway, before I gave in to my true feelings, I had horrid nightmares. When I started killing, I realized that the nightmares didn't scare me anymore. They were just dreams then. That and I am good at killing. It comes naturally to me, like breathing. If you try to make a fish breath air instead of water what happens to it Agent Starling?"
"It dies," she answered.
"Precisely," said Will. "I can't go against my nature. Even if I didn't give in, I automatically can think of a number of possibilities of killing you, my mind mixing with all the killers I've gone over. My level of thinking would destroy me if I didn't go with it. Which would you choose, insanity or murder?"
Clarice took a deep breath as shifted from foot to foot. "I'd like to think I'd put everyone before me and choose insanity. However, no one can really no until they're put into that kind of situation."
Will smiled and nodded. "You'll make an excellent FBI agent."
She nodded her thanks though she wasn't sure if she should really consider his comment a compliment or not. "I'm sure I'll see you later. Agent Crawford will be here two days from now."
"I'll remember that. Good bye Agent Starling. Go over the cases, look over your notes, myself and Hannibal aren't the only resources you can use. I do believe that head of yours could give you a good bit of help," Will said.
"Thank you Mr. Graham, Dr. Lecter," she said again and walked back down the hallway.
The next day was uneventful and the day after Jack came. Before Will saw him, Will got ready for transport. He was fully strapped down, barely even able to move a toe. A mask was placed over his face so that he could still talk through it but couldn't bite anyone either. They would be traveling by plane seeing as most of the murders had occurred about two states over.
Will had already said good bye to Hannibal. He said good bye to Abigail as he passed her cell. Will was put on a truck and then taken to the airfield where he finally saw Jack. Will could easily see the utter disgust in the other's face, even when he was still a ways off.
"Come on Jack. It's a nice day. Why are you looking so down?" asked Will as the person who was pushing him stopped him beside Jack.
For a moment, it looked like Jack might reply but he finally turned away and said, "The moment you don't corporate you're getting shipped back to Baltimore and the deal of you, Dr. Lecter, and Ms. Hobbs being moved to a different facility is off. Understood?"
"You always were good at giving directions." Will sighed. "Alright, I understand. I'll give you everything you need to know."
The man behind Will began to push Will up a ramp that had already been put there for him but before he could get out of earshot from Jack he added, "Keep Starling on the case. She's a good one. Maybe she'll even be your new protégé."