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"Agent Starling," one of her watch dogs addressed her with an informal, yet panicked, voice, "your daughter is missing."

"You lost her?" Clarice's eyes went wide before she stormed towards the auditorium with them hot on her heels. "How the fuck could you lose her? She's seventeen and in a ballerina costume."

The agent that had stayed behind to wait for Bella cleared his throat. "Uh, she went backstage saying she needed to change. I said I'd wait for her out here. After a few minutes, I knocked on the door. When I didn't receive an answer, I went through the side stage door, but she was gone. She did change though. Her bags were left, and she wrote a note telling us to bring them home for her. She'd meet us back at the house."

Clarice rolled her eyes, trying not to smirk at how much that sounded like something Hannibal would do if he were in the position. She saw Bella's bag and duffel with a bouquet of flowers hanging from the agent's hand. She took the bag from him and pushed aside the layers of the costume to see a white box inside. The note taped to it was clearly Hannibal's writing, but she was one of few agents who knew the handwriting well enough to identify it.

With a sigh, she turned on her heel, heading for the front doors of the school. "She must have left with her ex-boyfriend - Joe. They broke up a couple months ago, and she wanted to leave with him after the show. I said no. I guess she decided to risk meeting a serial killer anyway. His full name is Joseph Mackenzie, college freshman. His parents are Matt and Rebecca, still married. I'm not sure what he's driving now, but, last I knew, it was a black 2014 Chevy Malibu." She didn't stop as she pulled out her phone and dialed Bella's number.


Bella sat Ray's car after snatching his keys, waiting for Joe to park at the corner with Chet's car, when her phone started vibrating with Clarice's name popping up on the screen. She quickly answered it, "hey."

"Where are you?" Clarice asked.

Bella could hear the murmur of their agents nearby. "I'm outside Ray's house."

"Is he there with you?" Clarice's voice made it clear she wasn't referring to Joe. The word he from her lips would always mean the one man who she trusted most in the world, even if the rest of world didn't believe him.

Bella's eyes darted towards the other end of the block, seeing the worn farm truck parked off the street. "He's here. I can see him." She slid further down in the the driver seat when a car drove by her. "We're only going to stay for a little bit. I should be home around midnight. Joe said he would drive me home."

Clarice glanced up when one of the agents circled around her with expectant eyes. "Bella, I told you not to go with Joe. You need to come home right now. I know you saw the same thing I did on our front door last night."

"I did, and, honestly, I really am looking forward to coming home. I need to talk to you." Bella sighed before seeing Joe pull up in Chet's car. "I gotta go. Joe's waving me over. Love you." She stated quickly before gently opening the door and tossing her phone into Joe's car parked alongside Ray's. Her phone landed beside Joe's, facedown on the leather seat, knowing that agents and Clarice would continue to try to get ahold of her. If her and Joe's phones pinged off the cell towers around Ray's house, it was evidence that could exonerate her and Joe if fingers ever pointed to them.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the farm truck's headlights spring to life before she started up Ray's car. With the music raging, the plethora of cars on the property, and the attention focused on booze, she drove off without attracting attention to herself or the car.


Hannibal cut off his engine when Bella pulled her car up, with the headlights off, into a small parking lot leading up to a boat dock. The area was heavily wooded, but only a quarter mile or so from the number of boats tied up at a small country club and bar where he knew Paul Krendler's boat sat docked. Glancing up and down the road, Hannibal hopped out of the truck and jogged on the crunchy leaves and across the road to the parking lot.

Bella didn't seem to notice him until she closed the car door gently and turned to face him. He felt relief flood him when her eyes widened the slightest in surprise and her arms flung around him. "Dad!"

He held her tightly, cupping the back of her head and pressing his face into her hair. "Bella." He inhaled sharply before daring to look down at her. Physically, she looked fine. No marks or scratches. But, he could smell it on her breath. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." Bella breathed into his chest. He pulled her back though, carefully touching to feel out for bodily harm. "Chet cornered me. I got him off, but Joe came out of nowhere with the stage light and-"

Hannibal inhaled again. "I smell blood on you, Bellona. If you are hurt, you are to tell me."

"I swear. He didn't hurt me." Bella stated again. When her breath hit his face, she could see the look in his eyes. "I did bite Chet's finger though." She swallowed thick, touching her lips with the tips of her fingers. "His blood was all over my mouth when I tore the skin from his finger."

He reached out and took her hand into his, removing it from her lips. He gently kissed the back of her hand. "Then, you did well." He kissed her forehead when they both spotted Chet's car pull into the parking lot of the country club. The place was closed, and Joe parked far enough away that the cameras couldn't reach him in the darkness.

With a quick glance to Bella, Hannibal swiftly pulled her hair back and tied it. "We can't risk evidence getting on board that boat, especially your DNA." Once her hair was done to his liking, he captured it in a black beanie. "I have another for your friend, along with gloves." He pulled out two sets of leather gloves and held out a pair for Bella to slip her hands into.

He briefly wondered if this was what would've happened if he were her father all her life. Winters in snowy countryside. He pictured his little bird fumbling to pull on snow pants that were slightly too big so that she could go build a snowman with Clarice or himself. When she stood with wool pants and thick boots waiting for her winter coat, he would hold out her little mittens for her to slide her hands into before pulling on a thick hat to cover her ears. After helping her into her coat and zipping it up, he could imagine watching his little bird wander into the snow walking more like a penguin than the hawk she was now. With her hand in Clarice's, he'd watch them frolic in the snow and build Frosty while he played the piano.

The would be memory was tucked away though when Bella took the extra hat and set of gloves from him, hers already on. She took a deep breath and hugged him again. "Thank you, Daddy."

Hannibal smiled. "You're most welcome. Now, go. The quicker, the better. I'll wait here and signal you if I see trouble." He watched as she took off running through the woods towards the parking lot where Joe waited, feeling the compulsion to follow her. "Be careful."


Clarice, changed from her formal attire to the ballet, paced the length of her living room with her phone pressed to her ear. The two agents supposed to be watching her and Bella were also both on the phone trying to get information on Bella and Joe and their whereabouts. She knew Joe had traded cars shortly before going to college, and they were working blindly with the location of 'Ray's house,' since they believed Ray was still a high school student. Although Clarice knew of Ray's significance in her daughter's sex life, Bella had never introduced the two. It didn't stop Clarice from researching and knowing the boy's face in a line-up though.

"Bella, it's me again. Answer your phone. You're really freaking me out here." Clarice sighed into the phone before hanging up. She bit her lip and glanced between the two agents again. They were both engrossed in their phone calls, giving one word answers to the other person on the phone before asking another question. From the way the questions were going, Clarice could give educated guesses as to the information they were collecting.

It didn't take them long to figure out there were three Ray's on the football team right now. Finding out if Bella was there would be another task. With warnings out for Bella's description around the three addresses, the search would be much shorter but would lead nowhere. Once they figured out that Bella wasn't at any of those houses, they would move on to talking with inside sources about house parties going on the police radar.

Until Bella got back to the property, they wouldn't know where she was. Clarice just hoped that Bella and Joe would arrive back at the party before police showed up asking for them. It would only cause suspicion if an entire house of teenagers couldn't find her and Joe with their cell phones and his car right outside. Sitting down slowly, she waited until her watchdog of the day hung up his phone and looked at her expectantly. "She's not picking up. What do you have?"

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