(Authors Note: I feel really bad about holding my story hostage…I just desperately wanted appreciation. I felt very frustrated I was working so hard and so few were reading it. Anyway, I'm over that, no more review demands I promise. Keep in mind this is my first Lecter fic, so it will be rough around the edges. It is also the first Hannibal/Other woman fic as far as I know. I have never seen another. Please tell me if I am mistaken. I wanted also to thank all the people who reviewed, it means a lot to me. And now…on with the story!)
"But all
God's angels come to us disguised..."
-James Russell Lowell
The
car had been silent for almost twenty minutes, the type of silence that is born
of tension, begging to be brought to an end by a single word.
"I think I should show
you something, it might help explain things better", Alissa said. She reached
over Dr. Lecter, towards the glove compartment, and extracted a small manila
envelope. The flap was unsealed. It was clean, organized, and somehow worthy of
his attention, just like Clarise. And
it was Clarise the envelope smelled of.
She handed it to him,
careful not to touch fingers in the process. He opened it carefully, absorbing
the smell of Clarise. It was also tainted with a touch of lavender, from Alissa
no doubt, but he found it almost familiar by this time. He reached into the
envelope and extracted a piece of plain, unlined paper, there was a neat scroll
across it, steady, no big loops, no extravagance, he knew the writing was
Clarise's. It read:
Dear Alli,
Looks like you found my letter.
Either you are snooping around on my side of the house, or I am no longer with
you. First, I want to tell you not to be sad, because death is apart of life,
and I'm with my dad now.
Second,
I love you, I know I will miss you, and I know you'll miss me too. Since I am
dead, I must ask that you make sure I am buried next to my father, in Shady
Lane Cemetery, West Virginia.
Lastly, I have to ask one more thing of you. I didn't speak
of Dr. Lecter very much, but I know you'll remember I interviewed him in
Baltimore a while ago. I have to tell you most certainly Dr. Lecter is not
crazy, he plead insanity to avoid the death penalty. But, he is also far from
sane by anyone's standards.
Dr. Lecter has a genius beyond measurement, beyond
comparison. He has a certain honesty to him, he never lies, and does not
tolerate liars, whatever you may do, never lie to him. Despite all his crimes, Dr.
Lecter should be free. That's right, no bars, no restrictions; it's the way it
is suppose to be. He was meant to live in the world, I can't explain how I
know, but I know he doesn't belong in a cell.
Knowing all this, I guess you understand my respect for him,
crazy, as it seems. Dr. Lecter helped me in ways no one else would, or could.
He made just a few moments of my life so clear, that suddenly, I understood
everything, everything. But, with his absence, the knowledge fades, and I
wonder what I really did see.
Dr. Lecter, right now, is at large, and I am on the case, you
know all that. If Dr. Lecter was ever captured, I know I couldn't do what I'm
asking you to. As I have said, Dr. Lecter doesn't belong in jail, so if he is
caught, someday, I am asking you to do everything in your power to free him.
Absurd as the request my sound, it's what I want, and I know
you'll do your best, if you ever have to fulfill this request. The chances of
him being caught are slim, and I hope you never have to act on this.
It's funny, I searched night and day for him, and even now,
if I had found him, I don't know weather I would have warned him or arrested
him.
Take care of yourself Alissa,
Love Clarise
Dr. Lecter sat quietly for a moment. The torture his poor
Starling must have gone through when she contemplated weather or not to write
this. Good girl, Clarise, he thought. She had made the right decision
for herself.
"That was rather
interesting to say the least", He said at last. A smile, "I'm sure Clarise would
be proud of you. You got very personally involved, when you could have hired
people to break me out."
"I didn't want to take
any chances, it was too important."
"You risked your freedom,
your reputation, and even your life. You could have easily been caught" He
mused.
"I don't really have
anything to loose. It doesn't really matter anymore. Clarise's last wish is
more important then anything else remaining in my life" She said.
"You two were very
close." It was a statement.
"I knew her for twelve years,
we shared a house these last six years, went to college for four together, even
went to the academy with her for a year" The words were sharp, breathy, and
they stung.
"Why only one year?"
"Decided it wasn't for
me"
"And what is for you?" he
hissed, more then asked.
Alissa vaguely remembered
Clarise describing the danger of letting Lecter into your head.
"I'm a lawyer," She said
at last.
The grin on his face
stretched.
"Fighting for good? For virtue?
For justice? Fighting just like little Starling, hum?"
"I fight for justice,
considering the circumstances involved"
His interest perked.
"Please, elaborate" he said pleasantly.
They were up in the
remote mountains now, forest, trees, dirt roads, the stars shining brightly,
almost lighting a way. And yet, when you turned you face from the clouds, all
around you was still dark, so dark…
"To give a rough
description of an exception...let me think. Well, let's say a husband cheats on
his wife, beats her, drinks, and she's afraid to seek help, afraid he might
kill her. Then, one night, he pushes her over the edge; he beats their kids or
something. If she killed him then, in anger, in defense for the lives of her
children, then in my mind she should walk free."
Dr. Lecter placed his
hands beneath his chin, closing his eyes, contemplating. There were steady
beats of silence, but not tense, silence like the type when friends discuss a
debatable matter, and one considers the other. Beats of silence filled with
judgment, and thought.
"You and Clarise must
have had quite a few interesting discussions," he reasoned. And wasn't that the
truth!
"Yes." She found here was
an uneasy feeling in thinking Clarise had gone up against him, in a dark
prison, when she had been so young, so naïve. He must have seen her potential
to understand such things, or he wouldn't have wasted his time.
"So, if a child witnesses
his family murdered, and seeks revenge in the death of others, that's alright
then?" he asked.
"No. That would justify 80%
of the serial killers out there, or similar situations. I make my decisions
case-by-case, history-by-history. It also depends on the person. A weak person
whom had turned to killing for relief, is more forgivable then a person whom is
strong, but gave in, made excuses for themselves."
"Well, I'm certainly
violent, am I weak?" The game had been a nice one, but now, checkmate.
She caught her breath,
and turned to look at him, realizing whom she had been talking to.
"That's not what I was
implying, I was just stating an over all view, which doesn't necessarily apply
to you. For a time there, it was like talking to, just a…"
"Normal person" he
finished for her.
She actually found
herself flustered with embarrassment.
"Not to be insulting, but
after everything, well, surly you can't be expected to be considered like
everyone else" she said in her defense.
"Oh no. And I would loath
to be considered so" He said distantly.
At that moment, they
pulled up to the cabin, far out in the remote woods. They were far from the
city, far from paved roads, far from sight.
She realized that there
was a very good chance she wouldn't leave this cabin alive, but the thought
didn't really disturb her. Her soul was empty.
"The incomparable beauty of
life is not discovered with the eyes or the mind, but with the soul."
-George Webster Douglas