Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 39 of Messed Up World. Thank you to those who have left reviews for this story. It really does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this story. I am of course going to try my best to make sure that chapters are posted weekly, even though it might be a bit hard for me to keep up with the schedule but I am going to try my best with it. I hope that everyone enjoys this next chapter. Without further ado Chapter 39. ENJOY!

Chapter 39

Margarita came down the stairs slowly smelling food, knowing Hannibal must've been home by now long after she had put her daughter to bed. Margarita slowly walked into the dining room seeing Hannibal pouring Tobias a glass of wine.

Tobias smelled it before slowly taking a sip of it.

"A late harvest Vidal from Linden." Hannibal explained noticing his wife standing there.

"Virginia? I thought it was French."

"The Virginia wine revolution is upon us. I apologize for being so blunt, Tobias, but I have to ask... did you kill that trombonist? And do you mind if my wife joins us for dinner since I do have her plate prepared."

"Do you really have to ask?" Tobias asked, looking up at Margarita standing there. "Wonderful to see you again Mrs. Lecter."

Margarita's lips quirked a little bit slowly sitting down. "You too, Tobias right?"

Tobias nodded his head.

Hannibal poured his wife a glass of water. "No. Just changing the subject."

"Franklyn gave you my message."

"The murder is being investigated by the FBI. They're going to find you."

"Let them." Tobias said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You want to be caught?"

"I want them to try." Tobias mused with a small smirk. "They may question me because I own a string shop. They'd send two men to conduct an interview, I'd kill them. Then I would find Franklyn, kill him. Then I would disappear."

Hannibal slowly went to sit down in his chair. "Don't kill Franklyn."

"I've been looking forward to it. Actually, I was going to kill you."

Margarita shifted in her chair not liking the idea that Tobias was thinking of killing her husband.

"Of course you were. I'm lean. Lean animals yield the toughest gut."

"I make my own string. Tell anyone who asks, it's imported from Italy."

"What stopped you from wanting to kill me? Or have you stopped?"

"I stopped after I followed you one night. Out of town. Out of state. To a lonely road. To a bus yard."

Hannibal's face went still. He hadn't known that someone had followed them out of town.

"Have you ever wanted to get caught? To see what would happen?"

Hannibal took a bite of his food looking up at Tobias. "You're reckless, Tobias."

"I'm not going to tell anyone what I saw you do and do well. So my recklessness doesn't concern you."

"It concerns me because you won't be drawing attention just to yourself."

"I could use a friend. Someone who can understand me. Who thinks like I do, and can see the world and the people in it the way I do."

"I know exactly how you feel. But I don't want to be your friend."

"Then why would you invite me to dinner? It wasn't just to restring your harpsichord."

"I was going to kill you."

Tobias glanced at his food, then back to Hannibal.

"I didn't poison you, Tobias. I wouldn't do that to the food."

Margarita's head went up when she heard the doorbell.

"Expecting someone?" Tobias questioned looking at the two of them.

"No." Hannibal said as he got up to his feet.

Margarita slowly got up to her feet not feeling comfortable being in the same room as Tobias.

Hannibal wrapped his arm around his wife and led her towards the front door. Hannibal made it to the door and opened it seeing Will shaking off his raincoat.

"I kissed Alana Bloom."

Hannibal blinked a few times imperceptibly. "Come in." Hannibal said leading Will into the room, surreptitiously looking for Tobias.

Will noticed the half-eaten meals as Hannibal closed the garden door, locking it and pulling the shades before Will could see the footsteps in the snow outside. "Did you have a guest?"

"A colleague. You just missed him." Hannibal said as he cleared the plates with the half-eaten meals.

"Didn't finish his dinner."

"An urgent call of some sort. Had to leave suddenly. This benefits you because I have dessert for two." Hannibal said as he walked towards the kitchen to take the plates.

Margarita slowly walked to the kitchen and grabbed the container of homemade whipped cream that she had made a few days prior.

Hannibal carefully made up two plates both with Ramekins and an exotic bread pudding.

Margarita handed Hannibal the whipped cream.

Hannibal whisked it a few times before tossing a dollop onto each of the Ramekins. "Tell me, what was Alana's reaction?"

"She said she wouldn't be good for me and I wouldn't be good for her." Will said as he stuck his hands into his jean pockets.

"I don't disagree." He noticed the look on Will's face. "She would feel an obligation to her field of study to observe you. And you would resent her for it."

"I know."

"Wondering then why you kissed her and felt compelled to drive an hour in the snow to tell me about it."

"Wanted to kiss her since I met her." Will admitted softly looking down.

"You waited a long time, which suggests you were kissing her for a reason in addition to wanting to." Margarita said softly as she carefully picked up the one plate to hand it to Will.

"I heard an animal trapped in my chimney. I broke through the wall to get it out. Didn't find anything inside. Alana showed up. She looked at me, maybe her face changed, I don't know. She knew."

"What did she know, Will?" Hannibal questioned his brow raising.

"There wasn't an animal in the chimney. It was only in my head."

"Did she say that?"

"She didn't have to. I sleep walk. I get headaches. I'm hearing things. I feel unstable."

"That's why you kissed her. A clutch for balance."

"Because I'm losing mine."

"You said yourself what you do is not good for you."

"Unfortunately, I'm good for it."

"Are you still hearing this killer's serenade behind your eyes?"

Will nodded his head. "It's our song."

"I hesitate telling you this as it borders on a violation of doctor patient confidentiality. I've never been in this position before. A patient told me today he suspects a friend of his may be involved with the murder at the symphony."

"What did he say about his friend?" Will questioned his brows furrowing slightly wondering what exactly was said.

"He owns a music store in Baltimore, specializing in string instruments. Perhaps you should interview him."

Margarita pursed her lips together knowing that Jack wouldn't let Will go alone which meant that he would have to have two police officers with him and probably an agent. Her heart gripped in her chest in worry. She was afraid that Jack would send her with him and she already knew that Tobias was rather dangerous, admitting that he wanted to kill her husband.

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This is the end of Chapter 39. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know that there isn't all that much going on in the chapter. And I know that Margarita kind of puts their daughter to bed early but she is a toddler and they tend to sleep often… at least I think. I wouldn't fully know since I don't have any kids myself and I wasn't about to ask my sister who had two, almost 3 year old, how her daughter acts. Do you think Jack will make Margarita go with Will? I know it would put Hannibal in a lot of worry knowing his wife is going with Will and two officers. It'll be a surprise of what will really happen. Please leave a review and let me know what you think. I will try to update next Friday. Until next time.