The knife swiftly and smoothly sliced the meat into equal sized chunks before swiping it all into a pot as the board was lifted.
"I have it on good authority that this rabbit took its last breath this morning, fresh meat is quality meat." Hannibal peered at the camera with his maroon eyes and smirked a little before going on to chop a range of vegetables and add them to the pot.
Only just getting to the house, Will Graham quietly came in not wanting to disturb the filming. Closing the front door, he turned and jumped out of his skin as his eyes met with the black stag Hannibal had gotten from the Charity auction just two nights ago.
"Jesus christ." He whispered to himself, placing a hand over his heart and blowing air up into his face.
Quickly going into the kitchen area he nodded in greeting to a few people, glancing at the filming as he crept over to stand with Beverly and Brian Zeller, one of the setup crew.
"Morning, oversleep?" Beverly whispered, giving him a small smile.
"No... I left on time, but I got stuck in a jam. The police had blocked the road off, found a body or something." Will wiped the back of his hand over his forehead, he was sweating slightly from rushing.
"Wow really? Did you get out and have a look?" Both Beverly and Brian looked at him expectantly, though it was soon replaced with disappointment.
"No, that would be troublesome for the police... I did see a couple of FBI agents though."
He'd seen more than that. But telling them anything more would mean he'd have to explain his past.
But he'd been surprised that when he got out of his car to see what was going on, he was recognised by one of the two FBI agents, even though five years had passed.
"Okay cut! That's it for today, thank you for your hard work."
Will turned and walked over to Hannibal. "Sorry I'm late, there was a traffic jam, the police had blocked the road."
Lecter didn't answer straight away, he washed his hands and removed his apron; handing it to Beverly before turning to Will.
"You have nothing to apologise for Will. You could not have foreseen the apparent jam you were stuck in."
Will opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as his phone started to ring. Frowning he dug through his bag and answered it.
"Hello? Abigail, has something happened, are you okay?" Will asked hurriedly, Abigail was a younger childhood friend. She'd been adopted by his neighbours when her parents were killed and he'd tried to look out for her since.
"Oh... You're in town? Yeah that's great."
Hannibal looked over the managers face as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt back down, noticing how much happier he looked.
"Meeting sounds good, if you're free this evening I finish at five today. Just give me the name of the hotel you're staying at and I'll come pick you up."
A few minutes later he hung up, apologising once again.
The two had finally got the work day started, Hannibal having driven them to a french café in town for an interview with the food columnist of a national paper.
He didn't really feel like answering questions, but it was part of his job even though his mind was somewhere else.
Will Grahams' good mood wasn't putting him in a better one, it somewhat annoyed him that someone else had put that smile on his normally straight face.
He hated to admit to himself that he was jealous, but he was. He'd only just found someone that actually interested him, and they were already being pulled away.
"Many Chef's have tried to recreate some of your dishes but many have failed, do you have a secret ingredient you use?"
"If I let such a thing slip, my food wouldn't just be mine anymore now, would it?" He gave the interviewer a small smirk, still half in his own thoughts.
Vaguely remembering young Will mention a new wine bar in town, he inwardly frowned; Claricé's maybe? Now should he accidently bump into them, or simply hunt.
"No arguments, I'm taking you home after this drink." Will frowned at the girl across the table as he took a swig from his glass of red wine.
"And I'm telling you a taxi will be fine. I'm not the ten year old girl you used to look after now you know." Abigail gave him a smile, pushing her empty glass to the center of the table. "I'll be fine, really Will you worry too much."
Frowning, he shook his head, he wasn't taking no for an answer.
His phone rang as he was about to say something, he felt like this happened to him too often.
"Hello? Sorry I can't- Hang on a second." Looking at Abigail he pointed at her "stay..."
Taking his phone outside he spoke again. "Sorry about that. Cancelled? Oh that's fine, yeah sure. I'll let Hannibal know... You've done it? Thank you, that's much appreciated."
Hanging up he sighed; the morning shoot had been cancelled and moved back to later in the day. A long overdue lay in was going to be happening in the morning, he thought to himself as he went back inside.
"Sorry about..." He looked around, Abigail had gone. Slightly panicking he started to look for her number in his phone until he saw a small note on the table next to his glass.
'Got a taxi, call you tomorrow!'
"Women..." He mumbled, giving a relieved sigh as he scrunched the note up, leaving it on the table and pulling his coat on.
Arriving at the afternoon filming Will couldn't help be feel a small smile take over his mouth. He'd woken up in a good mood, seeing an old face and sleeping in for an extra hour made all the difference.
Nodding to a crew member who was coming out of the front door as he got to it he smiled and greeted them. "Morning!"
He was a little taken back though as they gave him a strange look and hurried off. Frowning he went in, noticing how a few more crew members avoided him.
Getting to the kitchen he finally realised why.
"Will Graham, we meet again so soon." Special Agent Jack Crawford, head of behavioral sciences stood before him, another agent behind him.
"Are you stalking me now?" Will asked, his frown getting deeper.
"No, I'm here about Abigail Hobbs."
Will felt like his body had turned to ice, he didn't need Jack to tell him; he knew.
"I'm afraid she was found the early hours of this morning," Jack sighed. "We need to take you in for questioning."
Graham didn't say anything, keeping his head down he took his planning diary from his bag and walked over to Hannibal, who had been standing to the side with the others.
"Today's schedule is all written down, I'll try and get back as soon as I can." He allowed himself to look up at the man, meeting his eyes for a split second before being escorted off the premises.
"Am I under arrest?" Will sat in the uncomfy plastic chair, up to the interviewing table.
"No, not yet at least." Crawford answered, sitting opposite him. "We found your hair on Miss Hobbs clothing, luckily we had your DNA on record from your student days."
Jack paused at that, opening the file he had in front of him.
"When was the last time you saw Abigail Hobbs?" Crawford looked up from the file he'd been looking through as he asked the question.
Will looked back for a bit, keeping eye contact for as long as he could before looking away.
"Last night. She called me to say she was in town, so we went out for a drink at the new wine bar that opened last month." His hands fidgeted in his lap as he frowned at the table.
"I told her I was going to give her a lift back to the hotel since I'd picked her up, but she was adamant she would be fine getting a cab."
Jack listened, tapping his fingers onto the table before speaking again. "And that's the last time you saw her?"
"I suppose it was." He frowned more "I got a call, I couldn't hear the person on the other end so I went outside to talk. It was work. When I went back in she'd gone, and left me a note saying she'd caught a cab and that she'd call me tomorrow...today."
"Do you still have this note?" Crawford asked.
Will shook his head. "No, I left it on the table."
Jack lent forward, leaning his arms on the table and linking his hands. "Were you and Abigail involved in a romantic relationship with one another?"
Arching an eyebrow Will looked at him. "No, we were childhood friends."
"Would Abigail of maybe wandered off somewhere else after? Maybe to meet other friends?"
"As far as I know, I was the only one she knew here. I would have thought she'd go back to her hotel, but I don't know. It's been a couple of years since I've seen her in person."
"Any reason why it's been so long?" Crawford was digging for more information. Will couldn't see how any of this was relevant. He took his time before answering again.
"Life got in the way, and I don't speak to my father anymore so I never go back to my hometown." He frowned at Jack before speaking again. "Shouldn't you be catching who actually did this rather than sit here and ask me these ridiculous questions?"
He rarely got irritated or angry, but he could feel it bubbling at the bottom of his stomach as he continued to frown at Jack.
"I think I have everything I need to know from you now." Jack smiled a little and sat back in his chair. "I'm just waiting for your alibi to be confirmed."
Will sighed and took his glasses off, pinching the bridge of his nose as he calmed himself down, there was no need to get so angry.
"So, Will. Is the everyday normal life everything you imagined?" Crawford asked, obviously meaning his dropping from college.
"Normal has been satisfactory." Will answered, placing his glasses back on his face.
"You don't wonder 'what if'? I only met you twice while you were a student, but I knew even then the talent and potential you held, and still do. I was hoping to scout you into my department once you had graduated."
Will kept his eyes on the table in front of him. He didn't want to hear this, or even think about it.
"No, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't either."
Both sat in silence for a short while, Will staring at the table and Jack staring at Will.
A knock at the door interrupted them, and a FBI agent walked in, handing Jack another folder.
"Well Will, it looks like I have no reason to keep you here. I may have to speak to you again though."
Will didn't wait for Crawford to give him permission to leave, he immediately got to his feet and walked out of the room. If he stayed here any longer he felt he'd go crazy.
Reaching the front desk waiting area he was welcomed by the sight of Hannibal Lecter, looking too elegant and graceful in his three piece suit for the dim, and damp local police station.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" Will asked as he walked up to the waiting man.
"I cancelled my appointments for the rest of the day. I was more concerned about my friend's well-being." Hannibal looked at him and smiled. "Come, let us leave. I'll cook us something to eat and you can talk to me if you want to."
Will was slightly shocked at the man's concern for him. Getting over the shock he nodded slightly, looking down and following Hannibal out to his shiny black range rover.