Chapter 6

Thursday, 6.30 p.m.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Bill," Mrs. Surrey said when she was grabbing her bag.

"Don't worry. My husband is at a teacher's conference downtown and won't be back until very late. But I will soon close up as well. I promised Gilbert to do the dishes and I haven't really gotten myself to do that yet," Will said.

"See you tomorrow," Mrs. Surrey said and left.

Now Will was alone with the animals. He went another round cuddling every one of the dogs and then started locking all the doors. He left for the carpark and began to drive home. It was briefly after seven o'clock that he was flashed at the speed trap near the exit of the city center. When he returned home, he immediately left through the back yard and headed for the parking lot near the forest where they had parked Mr. Kale's car last night. He took another route back to the animal shelter, just to make sure that he wouldn't be seen on the same traffic cameras.

It was shortly before eight o'clock that he arrived back there. The sun was luckily already setting and what was even more luck was that the shelter was in an industrial area where most other shops were already abandoned as well. Will parked Mr. Kale's car at a parking lot on the other side of the shelter. He then put on a black hoodie and pulled the hood into his face. He grabbed his rucksack and headed out. There was a camera at the outside of the animal shelter but if he kept his head down, there was no way he could be recognized. Just in case, he had put on several layers of clothes under his wide hoodie so that he would appear more massive on the cameras. Hannibal had also given him shoes with higher heels so that he appeared taller.

The glass broke with a silent clinking. Will grabbed the handle from inside and opened the door. Then he stepped to the side as if he had just noticed the camera. He pulled out a pry bar and smashed the camera. Inside the shelter there were no more cameras and there was no alarm. He walked straight to the cages with the dogs. The dogs started barking but as soon as they recognized the smell, their barking became that of friendly expectation. Had their human friend returned to play?

Will grabbed the leashes from the wall and opened the cages with the pry bar. A robber would not know where to find the keys to the cages and he certainly would not have the patience to look for them. He calmed the dogs by cuddling them so that they would not make noises. He freed all the dogs but only chose to take five with him. He guided them out through the front door. He did not want the robber to know that there was also a way out through the back. He avoided the cameras of all other stores on the way back to the car park. The dogs obeyed willingly when he guided them into the trunk of the car.

"You're my good boys," Will said and caressed them. Then he closed the trunk and drove back to the suburbs. He chose yet another route. It had become dark, and the streetlights turned on. It must have been around a nine o'clock when he arrived at the main street at the side of Mr. Noakes' corner house. Luckily, from this side, there was no opposite house. From this angle, no one could see him. He parked the car right next to the house and opened the trunk. He cuddled the dogs again to keep them from barking. Then he walked to the porch at the back side of the house and tied them to one of the pylons. "Be good boys," he said and left them. He also carried his freezer box and a rucksack with a plastic bag and replacement clothes to that spot. Back at the front of the house he could see Mr. Noakes sitting on the sofa and reading a book. How could a man so cruel – oh, Hannibal also loved to read.

Will took off his hood, put on plastic covers onto his shoes (shoes are difficult to get clean!) and stepped up to the door and rang the doorbell. Mr. Noakes arrived a minute later, and the first thing Will noticed was the smell of alcohol in the old man's breath. Why was everyone in this district drinking? Was it so difficult to live here?

"Mr. Leuchtenberg, good evening," Mr. Noakes said politely. "What can I do for you?"

"I think my dog ran into your backyard," Will explained. "May I go have a look?"

"Of course."

Until two weeks ago, Mr. Noakes had seemed like an average old man who liked tranquility and an American suburb. Will now knew that behind the calm face a monster was hiding, so he was attentive when he entered the house.

"This way," Mr. Noakes said and guided Will to the back. The entry hall was decorated with masks and relics from Australian indigenous. Before he had reached the porch door, however, Will grabbed Mr. Noakes head and shoved it against the wall. The old man stumbled but did not fall to the ground. He was several inches taller than Will and heavier. He turned around and Will only barely escaped his fist. Will then grabbed the knife from his pocket and stabbed Mr. Noakes in the groin. The man gave a groan and pushed his hands into the wound to stop the blood from flowing. Will stepped back and kicked him into the face.

"How long have you been raping Theresa?" he hissed.

"Fuck you," Mr. Noakes answered and crawled towards the living room. Hannibal pulled him back. The living room lights were on, and the window was rather big. He wanted him to stay in the corridor. Mr. Noakes, however, was stronger and kicked Will's legs away. Will stumbled and fell against the staircase. He then rushed after Mr. Noakes who was back on his feet but bent over in pain. Will switched off the lights in the living room when he stepped through the door threshold. The only light now shone from the entry hall and scarcely illuminated the scenery in the living room.

"How long? Did you also abuse her mother?" Will tried to moderate his yelling. He did not want any neighbors to catch his attention.

Mr. Noakes grabbed the half empty wine bottle on the table. "Did she tell you? How did you get her to tell you?," he replied, heavily panting for the blood trickling down his waist. "I have told her that if she opened her mouth, she'd end up like her mother."

"So you killed her to?"

"She died…"

"While you were raping her?"

The flashing smirk on Mr. Noakes face was enough for Will to rush forward. He tried to counter the wine bottle which burst at his arm and splintered all over the scene. Will hoped that the dogs would not hurt themselves on the splinters. He rammed the knife into Mr. Noakes belly, hoping to miss his stomach. Stomach fluid was acidic enough to destroy other parts of the body which might disappoint Hannibal.

"I've been raping her since she was ten," Mr. Noakes spit into Will's face. Will did not know whether his actions or his words made his blood boil more, but he stabbed again and again into the chest of Mr. Noakes, not caring whether he cut vital organs or not. The pain on the old man's face and the drooling of blood from his mouth into his beard gave Will a sense of satisfaction that he had not felt in a long time. It was definitely better to kill a pedophilic rapist than a random drunk driver.

Eventually, Mr. Noakes fell down onto the floor and Will got to work. At the beginning, Hannibal had taught him how to harvest a person. Will remembered Hannibal's strong hands softening around his, guiding him to the cuts he had to make. It had felt like the day that Hannibal had vetted his hand when Will had shown up on his doorstep with bloody knuckles. Hannibal could be so gentle and yet so cruel.

He got the freezer box and removed the lungs, heart, kidneys, loin, spleen. He skinned the arms and legs and took some muscle tissue. He also lay bare some of the bones, but he took none of them. He removed the bones of the thighs. When he had gathered all the parts that Hannibal had a recipe for, he closed the freezer box. Hannibal had wanted some pieces of the flesh and the tongue, but a missing tongue would be too suspicious and if the flesh was being burnt on a grill, the smell might be recognized by someone who had attended a cremation.

Will observed his piece of art for a while. The blood had soaked not only the carpet and mingled with the spilled wine, also Will himself was covered. He then walked back to the porch door. The dogs were expecting him curiously. He untied them and guided them into the living room. The tiniest dog began to bark but Will petted it until it stopped. The other dogs followed his example and did not even start to bark. They trusted Will.

Will stepped over to Mr. Noakes'… remains and began to remove the intestines. He then threw them to the dogs who looked at it suspiciously. It was not the dog food they got at the animal shelter. Eventually, one of them bit into it and another dog followed. Will took one of the bones he had removed and gave it to another of the dogs who immediately started chewing on it. Another of the dogs had then gotten the attention of Will who seemed to hand out gifts. Will took the dog's leash and brought him closer to the body. He cursed himself for abusing the dogs for his goal. But it was the only way to make this work. He dipped the dog's snout into the bloody, hollow upper body of Mr. Noakes. He then proceeded to do the same with the two dogs who were chewing on the intestines. One of them even started chewing on the body.

Will stepped back and looked at his work in disgust. Hannibal would love it. There was a millisecond of a thought where Will pictured Hannibal laid bare and being eaten by dogs. Will shook himself. He left without looking back. He turned off the light in the corridor and the light in the living room back on. In the darkness he took off the bloody slippers on the porch. He stripped and stuffed his bloody clothes into the plastic bag that he had brought. He put on new, other clothes and gathered all the evidence to return to Mr. Kale's car. He drove back to the carpark near the forest. He parked the car in the middle of the empty carpark. Will lay out the bloody clothes and the plastic bag and plastic cover and the knife on the backseat. Then he took out the jerry cans from the floor of the backseat and began to pour it all over the car. He needed to be thoroughly and he needed to be careful not to stain himself.

When the fire was ablaze, Will left in the straightest way back to his own house. He entered through the back. Knowing that his clothes stank of gasoline, he stuffed them into the washing machine and turned it on. Being entirely naked, he took a shower. There was still blood washing off of his skin and when it did not stop, he realized that he had hurt himself. A shard of the wine bottle had pierced his elbow. He pulled it out and mouthed a scream of pain. After the shower he bandaged himself. He hoped that he did not leave too much blood at the crime scene. Was his DNA in the system? It was definitely in the system of the Minnesota FBI to eliminate his DNA from murder scenes when he had been there as a profiler and might have accidentally left his DNA. He was not sure whether Jack Crawford or anybody else had given his DNA profile to the missing persons or the wanted criminals databases after his disappearance ten years ago.

In any way, there was no way to go back now. It was way past ten o'clock and Hannibal had only guaranteed to keep Theresa away until at minimum half past ten. Knowing Hannibal, he had probably entertained his colleagues from high school even longer. Will then made himself ready for bed, only to pretend. He knew that soon all hell would break lose in this little community, and he would be one of the people without an airtight alibi. The only thing that would throw the police off his track was the radar trap that had flashed him on his way from work. They had installed it less than a week ago, so it was still reasonable that he got caught in it even though he had passed it every day. Most drivers don't get used to a new radar trap within a week.

Will hoped that was the only trap that caught him tonight. Lying in bed, unable to even close his eyes, he wondered how Hannibal would react when he saw his crime scene.