Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except for the ones that I've made up myself.

Family Blood

Chapter 12: A New Player

"I can't believe this!" Clint Pearsall slammed a fist hard onto his oak desk, frustration burning in his eyes. "You guys haven't been on the job for even a week and already two of our best agents are dead! What's the matter with you people?!"

Elaine stayed silent as she continued to glare at the three beside the fuming Pearsall. She had yet to say a word to them today other than 'You three are wanted in Pearsall's office, now.'

Dr. Lecter took the time that Pearsall was using to catch his breath to speak for the group. "Agent Pearsall, I assure you that none of us are responsible for the deaths of Agents Vermont and Lawrence. The security tapes should confirm that."

"There are no security tapes doctor," Pearsall's voice lessened in volume, but not in tone. "Once Mapp and Krendler get back from the hotel with some evidence we'll see if you're off the hook or not. But until then you three are our top suspects."

Clarice spoke up, "Have you guys considered the possibility that it might be another Silversted killing?"

Elaine finally spoke. "So far we don't think so. Neither of the bodies has the brail signature nor seemed to have suffered. From the looks of things they were each knocked out, stabbed, and sliced open. So far none of Silversted's victims were killed in this manner."

"What about the possibility that Silversted or someone is trying to frame us?" Jadis suggested.

Pearsall sighed. "We're still open to that possibility, though at this point we're not jumping to any conclusions."

"Not jumping to any conclusions?" Dr. Lecter echoed. "Less than two minutes ago you were blaming us for the two agents' deaths, clearly under the assumption that one of us is their killer."

"Doctor," Elaine said. "I'm sure Agent Pearsall was just a little upset at that moment, and we apologize for it. We want to find out the truth about this just as eagerly as you three do. Trust me, once we find something at the scene that could identify who did this, you guys will be one of the first to know."

The three looked at Elaine with untrusting eyes, but remained in accepting silence. Now all they could do was wait.

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"What have you found so far Matthew?" asked Ardelia.

Matthew sighed, "Not much unfortunately, though we did find something quite interesting."

Ardelia lifted an eyebrow. "Which is?"

Standing up from his crouching position on the floor, Matthew indicated the whole scene in the room. The bodies had been taken to the morgue a few hours earlier already. At the moment FBI and other investigators were inspecting the still bloody scene. "This seems to be way too much work for only one person to do, or even two." Matthew hesitated and said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that three people were involved with this."

Ardelia shook her head in disbelief. "You couldn't be suggesting that Clarice, Dr. Lecter and Jadis are responsible for this. Why would they do something like this and stay here with us still?"

"Agreed. To tell the truth, I doubt very much that they are responsible. I'd say that one of the killers is in fact Richard Silversted, but the rest I have no clue."

"But there's no signature on either of the bodies," Ardelia countered. "Unless he's trying to make this look like the trio did this, we haven't found anything that could suggest that Silversted's involved with this."

"Yet," Matthew argued sharply.

Ardelia was about to reply when an agent called them over to the dresser. "What did you find?" she asked him.

The agent indicated the shiny pine surface of the dresser. Upon it was a facecloth that had been handled by some bloody hands. "We found some fingerprints that might help out. It's nothing much but there you go."

Matthew patted the agent on the back. "Good work," he muttered to him. Looking over to Ardelia, he asked, "Should I call Pearsall and Parker about this Agent Mapp?"

Ardelia nodded. "Yeah, you do that. I'll gather up the prints and anything else we can find. Meet me at the car."

**********************************

"What do you guys have?" Pearsall asked Ardelia and Matthew as they entered the office. Elaine, Dr. Lecter, Clarice and Jadis were already there.

"Well," Matthew responded. "We found some fingerprints on a facecloth and as we were leaving a couple hair samples. They're now getting everything tested right now. In a few minutes we'll have the results."

Elaine nodded. "Good work you two. Anything else?"

"Actually yes," Ardelia said. "At the scene we had come to the conclusion that there was more than one person involved with this. We're leaning towards three at the moment."

Clarice spoke up. "Three? You aren't suggesting that..."

"We're not suggesting anything Clarice," Ardelia quickly informed her friend. "We're just reporting what we saw."

Dr. Lecter asked, "What makes you so sure that there were three individuals involved?"

"Well, for one," Matthew answered. "The murders must have happened very quickly, seeing as how no one heard anything last night. One person alone couldn't bring down two federal agents just like that. Another thing was that there was a lot of indication of movement in the room, and seeing as how Lawrence and Vermont were killed very quickly, there was enough evidence there of the presence of three intruders." Matthew shrugged. "It's a lot clearer if you actually saw the scene I guess."

Elaine was about to say something when the ringing of Pearsall's telephone interrupted her.

"Great," Pearsall said into the receiver, "We'll be down right away."

"The results are ready?" Jadis asked as soon as he hung up, obviously eager for the news.

Pearsall nodded. "Yeah, they are. They said that they had only found out two of the killers so far. The third one they're having problems with. But we're allowed to go down and view the results right now."

Standing up, the group made their way to the room where the results were being held. An agent at a computer greeted them and quickly moved away to the other side of the room. Elaine sat down at the computer and pulled up the first results.

Silversted, Richard

"Well," she muttered, "guess you guys were right about that one."

The next results evoked some surprising reactions from the group. Pearsall went completely pale, as did Matthew. Elaine's and Ardelia's eyes almost bulged out of their eye sockets. Dr. Lecter for the most part remained emotionless, but a look on his face indicated a hint of uneasiness. Jadis let out a gasp.

"Oh my God..." Jadis practically whispered.

Clarice shook her head, unable to believe it. "No," she said, her voice unsteady. "This can't be right, it can't be at all..."

On the screen the results read:

Crawford, Jack