Palatial Intimacy

VI - The Missing

April 5, 2030

Jack Crawford was in an even worse mood than he normally was. When Will walked into his office for the first time in a few days, having been taken away from HQ thanks to the week's events, he found the man muttering to himself and clenching his hands into fists. Will was pretty sure he could see a tear dripping from his cheek down onto the dark oak desk.

"...Jack?" He said gently, knocking on the open door. "You want me to come in?"

"We need to go. Now." Jack wiped his face with his broad hands and looked up with hatred in his eyes. "That motherfucker needs to talk. I don't care if we have to torture him."

"Hold on, Jack." Will chased after him. Jack's long strides and fast pace made that difficult. "You can't torture him."

"Mentally, I can. And that's what I'm gonna do," he growled. "You can't kidnap one of my own and get away with it."

Miriam Lass had been missing for two years, having disappeared without a trace one day while investigating the same case that Will was investigating now. Jack had put her on the case as a strapping young student. She was hopeful to advance quickly in the field, and she was able to sweet-talk Crawford into giving her a try. The two of them were friendly, in a mentor-student sort of way.

She'd gone on a quest to find the Chesapeake Ripper and impress Jack Crawford, and instead she'd vanished for two years. Now, however, she'd emerged; or, her body had. Jack had spent the earlier part of the week examining one of the more recent leads — data had finally come back on some of the tree bark that had been used in the Ripper's mural of Sheldon Isley. It led Jack to a cabin, whereupon digging into the basement he found the emaciated, weak body of Miriam Lass. She'd died of dehydration only days after both Hannibal and Chilton were arrested, according to the coroner.

"One of them kept her in a fucking pit for two years, torturing her, and then she died a slow and painful death. God knows what she would have been like if she'd lived. One of them did this to her, and whoever did is going to pay."

"I get it, Jack. It's a tragedy. I really wish things had been different. But all this is going to do is get you in trouble and increase sympathy for Doctor Lecter. That's not what you want, right?"

Jack was breathing heavily like a bull. "She still had every organ, Will. Every limb. This motherfucker did this just for fun. Starved her and tortured her because he felt like it. Hell, he probably fed her human meat for fun."

"We don't know for sure that it's Hannibal. It could be Chilton. Or someone else entirely."

"She was dehydrated right after both of them were arrested. Whoever knew where she was, whoever was keeping her, wasn't around to give her the water she needed. The timing is too convenient. It has to be one of them."

"I'll talk to Hannibal. We'll get this figured out."

"Oh, yeah, you'll talk to him. And, what, he's just gonna hand all the evidence right over to you? 'Oh, of course, here's what I really did. Now put me in jail for life!' That's fucking stupid, Will!" Jack yelled, and his voice echoed through the hallway. Will stood there and took it, unwilling to defy him too openly. He waited for his boss to calm down before speaking.

"Talking to me like that isn't going to get us anywhere," he said. "I know you're upset. I'm sorry. It's a damn shame what happened to her, and I know you feel guilty for sending her out there. But that's not going to help us."

Jack closed his eyes, tension still simmering underneath. "They're going to let them both go."

"Letting—"