Chapter Text
Will hadn’t really meant to kill his Dog Groomer. If he had to describe it to his students in the FBI college, he would have called it a case of Second Degree murder. This was because although it was not premeditated, he did indeed intend to inflict grievous bodily harm on Mr Ronald Weston. Mr Weston was a Dog Groomer that did home visits which was rather handy for Will as he didn’t often have time to drag all six of his dogs to the groomers on a regular basis, it was just much easier for the groomer to come to him. He had employed Mr Weston’s services for only a few months when he arrived home from work at the college earlier than usual and found the man hitting Buster.
Will saw red.
So yes, Will murdered the Dog Groomer. He only wished that he had beaten him to death with his fists rather than stabbing him. It would have been poetic justice.
It was easier than it should have been to clean up after stabbing the man to death. He was well versed in forensics and knew how to make sure that there was no evidence of the crime to be found. There was the issue that it would be down in Mr Weston’s work diary that he was coming to Will’s place and he would need to get rid of the car…
He wrapped the body in a tarp and shoved it into the man’s own car. It was a hideously yellow Mini which meant that it was rather distinctive. He rolled up the bathroom mat which the majority of blood had landed before scrubbing the floor with bleach. He took the bloodied mat out the back and put it in the trash can before dousing it in petrol and lighting it on fire. It seemed to take an age to burn down but eventually all that was left were ashes. To further hide the ashes, after he dumped a cup of water in the can to make sure all the fire was out, he took out his trash from the kitchen and filled it.
He checked on his dogs. Thankfully they all seemed to be okay. Buster wasn’t hurt despite how nasty the hit had looked. Will sagged in relief and spent a few moments fussing over all of them before refilling their water and food bowls. He made sure the front door was locked behind him. The evening was far from over. He had a car and body to hide.
In the end he decided to drive the car for a few miles. The body in the trunk of the car weighed heavily on Will’s mind and he desperately hoped that he wouldn’t be pulled over by the police for any reason so he made sure to keep to the speed limit. Two service stations away from his home he finally pulled over. He would think about how he would get home afterwards. He could only focus on what he was doing at that moment, his heart beating loudly in his ears. He had never felt so alive.
There was only one other car in the lot and it was rather fancy looking. Other than giving it a cursory look Will ignored it. The owner was most likely in the rest stop. It was too dark to see if there was anyone in the car so it was definitely too dark to see Will clearly.
Will pulled the body from the trunk, grunting at the weight, his right rotator cuff straining. Thankfully Mr Weston hadn’t been a large man. It took a little maneuvering but He had the tarp-wrapped body over his good shoulder in a fireman’s lift as if it was a heavy sack of potatoes.
A car door slammed.
Will froze. It felt as if his heart had stopped. Slowly he turned towards the noise and saw a shadow of a man pulling something eerily similar to what Will had over his shoulder, out of the trunk of the fancy car he had seen earlier. What were the chances of two murderers disposing their victims in the same place at the same time? Apparently quite high.
The crunch of gravel under foot filled the air as the man approached Will with his own corpse wrapped in tarp. Will forced himself to breathe evenly so he wouldn't hyperventilate. Oh god, the man was coming towards Will instead of going on with his own business! Seriously, he felt like screaming at the guy, you do your business and I'll do mine. There was no need to- Will's frantic thoughts were cut off abruptly by the other man speaking.
“Nice evening for a walk.” The man had a smooth voice with a slight european accent. He couldn't quite place where it was from though.
“A bit cold.” Will shrugged his free shoulder wondering where they were going to go from there. His heart hammered in his chest. They were both clearly carrying corpses but it was too dark to see each other’s faces. He wished he had thought to bring along his gun. Will winced at that thought. He had already killed one man and suddenly he was willing to kill another?! He dropped out of the police force because he couldn’t fire his gun and yet here he was after stabbing a man for hitting his dog and thinking of killing another for having seen him trying to dispose of it. There was something seriously wrong with him. Maybe this time he would just use his hands, wrap them around the stranger’s throat and squeeze until the life left his eyes.
“I’ll be your alibi if you be mine?” The other man offered.
Will recoiled in surprise. What the hell?! He had honestly not expected that. He was instantly suspicious. Surely a man with such a nice car wouldn’t need an alibi from some random bloke? He most likely had enough money to make the police look away.
“Mutually assured destruction?” Will replied and was thankful that his voice came out clear and steady. It wasn’t a bad idea. Oh who was he kidding it was a terrible idea! How did he know if this guy was going to keep his word? He didn’t even know his name or anything about him or why he had murdered his victim.
“Exactly.” Will had a feeling the man was smiling. “Dr Hannibal Lector, I would shake your hand but…” He trailed off.
Now Will had the opportunity to give a fake name. He could just throw Dr. Hannibal Lecter under the bus if the police came sniffing but instead found himself giving his own name in return.
“Will Graham.” Shit.
“Pleasure.”
“We uh, we should probably get a move on.” Will felt incredibly awkward and Mr Weston was starting to feel rather heavy in his good shoulder.
“Of course.” Hannibal agreed. “I hope you don’t mind if I lead the way? We can display the bodies together which will make it more difficult to find the culprit.”
“Display?” Will repeated. “Why display? I had planned on just, I don’t know, burying the body.” What kind of a creep was this guy?! Then again Will didn't really have a leg stand on seeing as he was there for the same reason: body disposal. God he wished he had a drink.
“How pedestrian.” Hannibal tsked in disappointment as he strode ahead. “Tell me Will, what did that pig do that drove you to murder him. I am assuming that this is your first kill yes? So it must have been rather bad.”
“I walked in on him hitting my dog.” Will sighed. Hannibal already knew his name, he might as well tell him. “He’s a home visiting Dog Groomer. I came home early and saw him hit my dog.”
“How rude.” Hannibal commented. “This pig,” Will had a feeling that he was now speaking about his own victim. “Had the audacity to be rude to my receptionist. The poor dear was left distraught and I had to force her to take some paid leave. " He frowned." he wasn't even at my office for an appointment."
"Then he deserved it." Will drawled sarcastically but the retort seemed to go straight over Hannibal's head.
"Precisely."
Will rolled his eyes behind Hannibal’s back. “So what exactly are you a doctor of, Dr Lecter?”
“I’m a psychiatrist.” Ugh.
“I’m not sure I can be your alibi anymore.” Will couldn’t help but quip. “I don’t like psychiatrists.”
“And what exactly do you do Mr Graham?”
“I teach classes on how to psychoanalyze.”
“Ah here is perfect.” Hannibal announced instead of responding to Will.
“Oh thank god.” Will dropped Mr Weston’s corpse on the ground with a groan and stretched his back. The weight had started to really hurt his back and pull on his rotator cuff injury.
“Now let’s see what we have to work with.”
As Hannibal unwrapped Will’s corpse from its tarp, he took the opportunity to pull out his phone and with the flash on he snapped a photo of Hannibal unwrapping said corpse. The flash lit up the little forested area.
“Delete that Mr Graham.” Hannibal’s cold voice cut through the blinding darkness that descended after the flash had ended. Both had been blinded by the sudden light.
“It is merely for insurance.” Will explained.
Another flash filled the forest.
“It is merely for insurance.” Hannibal paroted back.
“Touché.”
It was a tense standoff as they both waited for their eyes to readjust to the darkness but eventually they got back to work on displaying the bodies how Hannibal wanted. It was as Hannibal was arranging the bodies that Will finally realised who he was with.
Dr Hannibal Lecter was the Chesapeak Ripper. Shit. Play it cool Graham, it's bad enough that he knows that you know he is a murderer and has a photo of him, Will told himself sternly as he took a deep breath. He can't know. God he wished he had his knife or gun with him.
Will helped the Ripper display the kills. It was beautiful. He had never had the chance to be at a Ripper's crime scene and had only seen photos so this was a real treat. He had gotten the chance to see art in the making. Will couldn't hold himself back, he was never good at being a bystander.
Under torch light from their phones the two of them worked to twist and force the bodies into Hannibal's design. The corpse that Hannibal had brought was missing his tongue and lungs.
"I took his tongue because of his rude thoughtless words." Will mumbled to himself as he slipped into the Ripper's head space. "I take his lungs as he does not deserve to breathe the same air as me." Will swayed on the spot like a pendulum. "The body is discarded on the floor because he is not worth my time." This one would not be found and seen as done by the Ripper, it was not one of his sounders.
"My what an intriguing boy you are." An accented voice broke will from his trance.
Will flinched as he found Hannibal in his face. His warm minty breath brushing across his cheek, rosy from the cold. He should take a step back. He really should and yet he couldn't make his feet move.
"Haven't you ever heard of personal space?" He retorted instead of trying to deal with the comment.
"Of course, my apologies." The Ripper took a step back. "How would you like your dog groomer displayed, dear Will?"
Will was not going to think about what the term of endearment meant for him and instead focused on getting this over and done with, already he had been out here longer than he wanted.
"He hit my dog." Will said slowly as an idea started to form. "I want him to take the form of the creatures he abused, humiliated and dehumanised."
"So it will be done, dear Will."
Will tried to convince that the shiver that ran down his spine was from the cold and not arousal from the dark and lustful tone that Hannibal used. It then occurred to him that so long as he kept the Ripper interested in him the safer he would be.
Once finished they walked back to the parking lot in silence. The scene that they had left behind was burned into the back of Will’s eyelids. It was simply magnificent. The evil Dog Groomer was stripped naked and forced onto all fours, generic rope that could be found from any and all hardware stores was wrapped around his neck in a mimicry of a collar. And the pièce de résistance was the broken branch that was shoved up the corpse’s anus to act as a tail. There was nothing sexual about it. It was merely done to finish the depiction of a dog.
“I must ask whether that yellow monstrosity that you arrived in belongs to you?” Hannibal broke the silence as they reached the gravel parking lot.
“No, it is, or rather was the Dog Groomers.” It brought up the question on how Will would be getting home. “I had planned on abandoning it here.”
“Then let me wipe it down just to make sure that there is no evidence of your presence.” Hannibal offered.
“I wouldn’t say no to using your equipment for it, but I would prefer to be the one who does it.” Will made sure to turn down the offer politely. From what he had gathered from Hannibal and his persona as the Chesapeake Ripper, was that he did not abide rudeness in any form.
“Very well.”
The entire time that Will was wiping down the inside of the car he felt Hannibal’s eyes on him with a dark intensity. When he felt that the car was free from any and all evidence that he had been inside it he stood back from the vehicle.
“I find myself curious, dear Will.” Hannibal spoke from behind him. “How exactly did you plan on returning home.”
Now this was tricky to answer. If he said that he had planned to walk then that would let the serial killer know that he lived close but if he said that he didn’t know or he planned to call a cab that would make him look like a fool.
“No matter.” The serial killer continued after Will did not answer. “I shall give you a lift and we can discuss the particulars of our alibis.”
Was he really going to accept a ride home from a serial killer? To let said serial killer know where he lived? Was seriously that stupid or insane?!
“Okay, thanks.” Apparently he was.