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Clarice hunched over her cup of coffee when she saw Bella trudge in with her backpack and her old walkman. She frowned seeing the device. "What are you doing with that? I had that tucked away in my closet."
"It was left on my nightstand this morning with this note." Bella stated before tossing the paper onto the counter in front of Clarice and plopping down onto the barstool. "Why did he leave? I was just getting used to having him around."
Clarice quickly read the note, a small smile gracing her lips. A similar note was left on her own nightstand when she woke up. "He's getting arrangements made for when we decide to leave. He also thinks that being here could be dangerous for us. I don't think he's gone far though."
Bella rolled her eyes, plugging her earbuds into the walkman. "What makes you say that?"
Clarice smirked and set the note down behind her on the counter before grabbing one of the covered breakfast plates that Hannibal had most likely prepared before he left. She set down the warm food in front of Bella at the island. "He'll want to be around in case something goes wrong with the case or with our plans. Besides, he was more than happy to learn you were in the ballet. He will find a way to come watch you perform." She jutted her chin back to the walkman. "Now, what's going on there?"
"He left a tape for me." Bella sighed with a shrug. "I guess he probably didn't want to wake me last night."
Clarice smiled knowing exactly why Hannibal had decided to make a tape for Bella. "Just make sure that you keep that on you at all times. The last thing we need is for someone to listen to that and figure out that the doctor has been here and is your father. With Chet's comments to you yesterday, I'm guessing that those rumors aren't as dead as I was hoping."
Bella scoffed. "Like Chet's words could really compete against mine." She stabbed her fork into the cinnamon french toast on her plate. "The world will never know who my father is. When my kids go to put our family tree together, the paternal side will forever have to be blank."
"It will if you want to live a life away from the eyes of federal agents. If they find out you are his daughter, they will want your house wired and phones bugged. It wouldn't last forever, but you would always be under suspicion like I am." Clarice stated firmly. "Although there is no way for the feds here to get to you once we're in Europe. They can't charge you with crimes, because you haven't done anything wrong."
"Yes, but then you will be hunted by law enforcement." Bella sighed before moaning at the taste of the food from her plate. She quickly took another bite and spoke with food bouncing between her upper and lower jaw. "You'd be on the run all the time."
Clarice smirked. "I'll be on the run no matter what. I'll be with your father. We both know how to evade the police. He's an expert at it, and I know what they look for. Still, sending a revised birth certificate does not warrant anyone to charge me with anything. At best it would be withholding information from a case file. The fact that Hannibal is your father was not imperative to that night where your father cut open Paul Krendler's skull."
Bella stared back at her mother. "Except for the fact that it would look more like you were a coconspirator rather than a person forced to watch him with your injuries."
"I still stayed with the FBI for another eighteen years. I have pushed finding your father more than anyone else in the FBI. That case would be thrown out the window before it hit the director's desk." Clarice breathed with a shake of her head. "Funny how I'm seeing the truth when we're about to spin the biggest web of lies just to leave everything." She glanced back at the clock on the microwave before walking back towards the stairs. "Eat up. I'll meet you in the car in a few minutes."
Clarice jogged up the stairs and closed her bedroom door before pulling out the small black flip phone that had been left with her note. A burner phone with one number preprogrammed into it. With one click, she had the speaker pressed to her ear as the ringing pierced her eardrum.
"Miss me already, Clarice?"
"Always." Clarice smiled, biting her index finger between her teeth. "I have a request for you that might prove to be impossible."
Hannibal hummed softly. "A challenge I approve of. Tell me, Clarice. What is it you wish?"
"It's actually a request for your daughter. She would like history to show that you are her father." Clarice whispered. She could already see the smile on his face, showing the small white teeth that had frightened many. "A line on a birth certificate shouldn't stir too many feathers."
Hannibal's voice was smooth like velvet as he spoke. "And done in the right way, it could go under the radar for many years. I have a few favors in that area I plan on using before we leave anyway. I'll make the necessary arrangements and call on you when things are ready."
Clarice smirked, remembering the first phone call her and Hannibal had ever shared together. "You'll call on me, huh? I thought the world was more interesting with me in it. Planning on making me your famous dinner, Doctor?"
"Oh Clarice, I think the world will be fascinating with you by my side, and I plan to feast on you every chance I get." Hannibal nearly purred into the phone. Clarice flushed as a heat rolled through her body like thunder. "I must go. If I need to get a hold of you, I will use other means so you can hide the phone I gave you. I'd hate for someone to find it if you were to run into the wrong hands. But please, call me at any time."
"Will do. Good luck with your favors." Clarice smirked before grabbing her badge off her dresser and heading back out of her room. She moved to the bench in her foyer and opened the hidden compartment she kept some of Lecter's gifts from over the years hidden.
Hannibal nodded. "To you as well, Clarice."
Bella popped one of her earbuds into her ear and covered it with her hair so no one would notice. She had the cord hidden underneath the loose material of her sweater and the walkman was small enough to fit in her sweatpants pocket. Saying a quick goodbye to Clarice in the car, she stepped onto the curb and hit the play button.
There was a moment of static before the metallic voice of her father filled her right ear. "Good morning, my little bird. As you already figured out, I have left to tend to some business before we start our lives over, but I will be around." Bella's eyes moved over the front lawn of the school. "But, I won't be easily spotted, my dear. You won't see me, but you will know when I'm there. I promise."
Bella pulled open the front door to the school and stepped inside before heading for her locker, watching the jocks slap each other with stupid remarks and the nerds standing in the corners with textbooks balancing in their sweaty palms. The cheerleaders crowded together to spread the latest gossip that was probably only ten percent true when the first person in their clique told it. The druggies stood in black sweatshirts and low riding jeans, and the aroma of weed surrounded them like a cloud that should've come with a warning sign.
"Are you listening to this at school to keep me with you throughout the day? Your mother told me she used to play tapes of my voice to settle you to sleep for the night. Am I giving you the same calmness now, Bella? Is my voice your metaphorical security blanket? The thought intrigues me probably as much as it does you."
"Bella!" Winnie's voice made Bella tear away from her father's voice. She quickly paused the walkman in her pocket, making it look like she was just clipping a pen to the lip of it. "You look adorable as always. I wish I could pull off the whole 'I look fab in drab' style. It just doesn't work with me."
Bella avoided rolling her eyes. Her friend meant it as a compliment after all. "What's up?"
"Rumor is Ray Thomas is throwing a party Friday night after the ballet performance. I think we should go." Winnie grinned with a wink. "He's a college boy now. Exactly what you're looking for. I heard he really wants you to be there and that's why he's throwing it after the performance. He probably wants to celebrate you in all the right ways."
Bella laughed at the ideas that Winnie was probably conjuring up in her head. All of them she was sure were purely dirty. "Ray and I are good friends. If he wanted me at his party, he can text me to invite me."
Winnie scoffed. "He probably wants you to crash it. C'mon, it would earn points too. Girls who don't follow the rules are automatic boner igniters." She wrapped her arm around Bella's as if being escorted through the halls. "Besides, you could stand to get laid. When was the last time? I bet it was the night before Joe left for college."
Bella cringed. Winnie was dead on with her assumption. Her relationship with Joe had lasted her entire junior year, his senior year. While they attempted to do the long distance relationship, it barely lasted a week before girls were posting pictures of him all over his social media pages. She knew he wouldn't cheat, but he deserved to live it up like every other college kid. Even if they had continued to date, they wouldn't have seen each other at all until Thanksgiving break. Another week and a half away. "I loved Joe for a year, Win."
"Yes, and you two were adorable." Winnie breathed as they reached their lockers. "But, that ended. Remember? Because, I remember coming over and stuffing my face with ice cream while watching Hoarders with you the night you called him to break up. C'mon! There's probably cobwebs growing up there at this point."
"You are disgusting." Bella chuckled as she opened her locker and pulled out her textbooks for the next two periods. "I'm not going to go around like there's a neon sign hanging over my vag."
Winnie smirked. "Not even if it says 'eat me'."
That broke the two into giggles. Bella playfully shoved Winnie away. "Go to your class before you get anymore bright ideas." She watched as her best friend hurried down the hall before reaching into her pocket and pressing the play button on the walkman again.
"Your view on the world has most likely changed. Society has deemed your dear daddy a monster, but do you feel the same? Knowing I am capable of killing a man with my bare teeth? I assure you that you are capable of much the same. It may even cross your mind to do so in a situation where no other options are in your grasp. Does it scare you? Does it frighten you to think you are capable of consuming human flesh? I assure you that it is normal if it does. To be afraid of your own power is quite normal, but it shouldn't hinder you. Embrace it, my little bird. You will need that power going forward. In the end, it is all one has - their own power."
"You, however, have your mother and I. Not to sound like a cliche, but I'm curious as to how that makes you feel. I am confident that you pride yourself on being independent. Does it bother you that you allow yourself to rely on us as your parents? Your fate has ultimately remained in our hands all your life with our choices. We gave you the choice to choose your future going forward, and you picked the one that permits you from living freely wherever you wish to go. My expertise on living with a target fixated on your back, as well as your mother, will be the advise most valuable to you. It begs to question whether you feel you are as independent as you want to be."
"I made the choice. I can live as freely as you do, Hannibal." Bella whispered to herself as she walked towards her first class. "And, you live with no barriers."
"I'm sure you have your opinion. Perspective on the topic would warrant different outlooks of course."
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