Losing You Terrifies Me

Chapter 23

Will denied the tactical armor that was offered to him and Jack just about blew a fuse when all Will wanted was his gun when he went into the house. But Will had to do this. He knew what Jordan was capable of. He had seen enough pictures, rescued Walter from one before, to know exactly what would be waiting for him if he didn't play by Jordan's rules a little longer.

Will made sure that the team stayed a good street away from his in-law's house. Nothing that would set off alarms for the Witch Hunters who were dictated by ritual, but could break from it if needed. Rituals of sixes and thirteens.

A family of six. Molly's parents, Walter, Molly, Molly's sister who had picked the very unfortunate time to visit, and Will Graham.

A gated community, Will finally having reports of the employees for the communities read to him in the car. Casey had been the missing link between all of them. He worked weekends as the gate guard. People knew him, liked him. He could let them in or his coworkers were comfortable enough to let them into the communities without them having to be on the lists. And this community had been no different, Casey willing to travel for work if it meant their killing ground became larger, harder to build a geographical profile.

A large house that screamed expensive, far away from the others so no one could hear any screams. Someone wealthy, someone having come into money that they didn't deserve. Sins unforgivable to the killing couple. A father who had failed his family.

Will stepped up to the house and looked over the dark windows, the porch lights on. All cars were accounted for in the driveway. Nothing out of place for someone not looking or caring to notice details. There were no dogs barking, meaning either all of them had been moved onto better homes or they had been silenced. Will hoped it was the first, was nearly certain that it was the first. Molly wouldn't let her elderly parents take care of nearly a dozen dogs, especially if she wasn't around to help.

Will pulled his gun from his holster and pushed open the front door that had been left slightly ajar. Not enough to be noticed from the street, but enough that the door swung open freely. Will stepped cautiously into the house, glancing around the entryway that was decently open. Nothing, no one. The sun was still setting, so the house wasn't quite as dark as it could have been, a burning red decorating the white walls.

They would be in the dining area. The murders had been committed in the largest areas of the houses. Areas that made it easy to grab weapons and that had places to tie people down. The dining room was the largest area of this house, Molly's parents enjoying all of their grandkids visiting during the summer, their family rather large compared to Will being the only one left of his as far as he was aware, not sure and not caring enough to track down anyone from his mother's side of the family.

Will knew this house. Had been dragged here many times by Molly for dinners that he found horribly uncomfortable. Dinners where they treated him like he was a teenager again. Not understanding his odd ticks and quirks, wanting to know when they were going to get married, wanting to know when they would have more grandchildren. And Molly was ever graceful, knew all the right things to say when Will didn't. And Will could tell them what he thought, wanted to tell them that he would never have a child to pass on the worst of himself into, but he couldn't, Hannibal's warnings of Will being rude forever in his mind. Because even if Hannibal had been locked away, he still lived on forever in Will's head, always in the shared spaces of their mind palace, forever Will's own mental voice.

Will made his way through the circle that was the main floor until he came to the dining room. It was a massive room with a large ornate dark wooden table and chairs in the center of navy blue walls. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, highlighting the crown molding and the expensive art that Will had always been curious if Hannibal would approve of.