To pursue the heart of Agent Grace Williamson

Part 22

——— the theatre———

I inspected the body on the stage. The spotlights shone down onto the body and it had violin strings in their cut open throat. I walked up the stage and saw Jack approach me.
"Grace, where's Hannibal?" He asked me.
"With a patient. What's happened here?" I asked Jack, looking around myself.
"Not sure. We know the murderer likes his instruments and an audience." He informed me. I walked over to the body and put my gloves on. I traced my finger down the violin strings and they felt clean.
"They're clean, brand new." I traced my hand further down and I saw it went all the way to his stomach. I lifted up the victims shirt and saw he had no intestines, I could see that from the victims cut open stomach.
"Aren't violin strings made out of cats guts or something?" I asked Jack. He just shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh I see where you're going with this" Jack smirked. I just smiled and rubbed my tired eyes.
"How've you slept?" Jack asked me.
"Not good. I'm fine though, but the lights aren't helping" I then remembered what Hannibal's patient was saying.
"I think we... might have a suspect" I said as I pulled out my phone and called Hannibal. A few moments later, Hannibal picked up.
"Grace?" He asked me.
"Hi. Uhh, I heard something about your patient worried about a friend. Does he play violin at all?" I asked him. There was a moment of silence and I heard whispering in the background.
"He does, and owns a violin shop in the centre of town. Is everything okay?" He asked me.
"Mhm. Okay, that's all I needed. Thank you, I'll see you later" I put my phone back into my jacket pocket and I had a grin on my face and Jack smirked as he scratched his chin.
"Where to now?" Jack asked me.

——— the violin shop ———

I stepped inside and the bell went off. I shut the door and I looked around the shop. Violins of all shapes and sizes were everywhere, filling the room to the max.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
I looked over at the desk and saw a man standing behind it. He had the shades of blue as the colour scheme of his outfit and he had a fake smile on.
"Hi, I'm Agent Grace Williamson. An incident was reported at the theatre, do you mind if I ask you a few questions. It won't be long" I promised him.
"Can I see some form of ID?" He asked me.
"Certainly" I pulled out my FBI badge and showed it him. He leaned forward for a closer look and did a faint smile.
"I've heard of you somewhere. Oh yes, the Chesapeake rippers lover" he said to me. I slanted my head at him and I knew he was planning on getting on my nerves today.
"If you'd call it that." I replied, a little uneasy.
"Come. I know where we can go where ears won't prick up to listen" he exclaimed to me as he left the front desk and began to walk somewhere. I followed behind him and he began to walk down some stairs. I quietly checked to see if my gun was loaded and knew the danger I was in. He turned on the basement light and it flickered on, faintly lighting the dim basement.
"I shall be right back. I have a book somewhere on my violins" he exclaimed as he went out of view. I sighed and looked around his basement and started to wander around. I approached a curtain and I moved it away using One finger and saw two police officers with a thin lead around their heads and being caught on a line. Behind them were strung up intestines and I rolled my eyes, expecting this. I swung my head around and saw Tobias sneaking up behind me with a thin string as a weapon. He whipped it at me and I dodged, clashing into a table beside me and it knocked over all over the equipment. He hurried over to me and put the lead around my neck and tightened. I searched the floor and grabbed some scissors and stabbed into his hand. He shouted out loud and loosened his grip on the string. I pulled it off my neck and I quickly got to my feet then he used dust to blind me. I yelped and started to wipe at my eyes and I opened them to see he was gone. I grabbed my gun out and my eyes were still in pain but I could still manage to see. The basement light kept flickering off and on, blinding me for a second at a time. I listened out for any footsteps and all I heard was the lightbulb flickering. I crept around and swung around to check a corner, he wasn't there. I slowly turned around and continued to walk around and then the string suddenly wrapped around my neck from behind me and he put force onto it. I gasped and tried to pull it off and it was no use.
"Shh... it's okay..." Tobias whispered in my ear. I used my gun and aimed it over my shoulder but he was restraining my arm. I used more and more force then pulled the trigger. He let me go and I fell to the floor, hearing a loud ringing noise in my ear. I turned my head to where Tobias was last standing and I saw him clasping his hand against his ear and leaning on the wall, heading towards the fire exit. I tried to get up but I just collapsed again. I put my hands around my throat and saw there was a bit of blood. The ringing noise was ear aching from the gun shot and I couldn't even hear my own whimpers.  I slowly got up and I followed his blood trails, sometimes having to stop. It lead to the fire exit and I opened it slowly and saw it was the streets. There was too many pedestrians walking around, making the blood trail invisible. I went back inside and fell back onto the floor again. I crawled to wall and I leaned on it as I brought my radio out.
"Jack... he-he got out. Ugh, fuck." I muttered into the radio. There was static at the other end for a moment before Jack answered.
"Grace? Are you alright?" He asked me.
"I'm fine... I'm going to the head quarters, come to the violin store in the centre of Baltimore and go to the basement" I slowly stood up and I headed to the stairs and I limped to my car.

——— head quarters ———

I was woken up from a phone call. I jolted my head up to see I was in my office and I had fallen asleep on some papers. I rubbed my tired eyes and I picked up my phone to see it was my mum. I answered the call and put the phone against my ear.
"Hi mum." I said down the line.
"Hi honey. Did I wake you?" She asked me, sounding a little concerned.
"You did but thank you, I shouldn't be sleeping on shift. Anyway, whats up?" I asked as I cleared up my desk.
"I was just checking in. See how things are" she said to me - and no she has not seen the article about my 'affairs'. Not from my knowledge anyway.
"They're... good apart from work. How's Alice and Buddy?" I asked her.
"Oh they're loving each other's company. Considering getting Alice a dog for her birthday because we can't keep Buddy forever" she chuckled. I smiled and felt my throat go sore again.
"You could get her a french bulldog" I suggested to her.
"Their faces look weird, like they ran into a wall" she joked. I laughed and shrugged my shoulders.
"Oh but their ears are adorable!" I laughed, hurting my throat. I heard her laugh down the line and I missed that laugh, she hasn't laughed much since dad died.
"Okay.. I have to go sweetie, I love you!" She shouted to me.
"I love you too" I smiled. She then ended the call and I put my phone down on my desk and bit the inside of my cheek. I then got a text off Jack.

Jack:
Come to Hannibals