FOUND: A Hannigram Devil AU REWRITTEN

Chapter Three

The smell of the autopsy room was always unbearable to Will. It was a metallic, rancid mixture of chemicals, cleaning solutions, and decomposition. He stood as far away from the table as he could, listening to Beverly speak.

She, Price, and Zeller communicated in their own language. Medical terms and theories were swapped between them as they threw around every fact and theory that popped into their heads. Will had admittedly zoned out, with most of the scientific terms being lost on him. He only began to pay attention once more when Beverly called his name.

"Sorry, what?"

"Injuries were probably, but not conclusively, post-mortem," Zeller repeated. "So...not gored." He threw a sarcastic glance to Beverly, who rolled her eyes.

"She has lots of piercings that look like they were caused by deer antlers. I didn't say the deer was responsible for putting them there."

"She was mounted on them," Will said. It was the only explanation that made sense. There was no way that an animal could have done this to her; it had to have been done to her body. Like she was some type of object to be put on display. "Like hooks. She may have been bled."

"Her liver was removed," Zeller said. He pulled open the large cavity that had been dug into her abdomen, revealing the jumbled organs inside. "See that? Took it out, then...yeah, he put it back in."

"Why would he cut it out if he's just gonna sew it back in?" Price asked. 

"Something wrong with the meat," Will replied, pushing off the wall and taking a reluctant step forward. 

All three of the pathologists' heads snapped up in shock, staring at Will with fascination. 

"She has liver cancer," Zeller said, voice tinged with awe.

Will pondered. Liver cancer shouldn't affect the look or preservation— in fact, it would be rather hard to keep a liver preserved even if it was healthy. Keeping one as a trophy would be inconvenient at best and disgusting at worst.

People didn't keep liver. People ate liver.

He felt a sudden wave of nausea as the realization hit him. "Yeah, he's uh..."

The crew watched him, eyebrows raised in expectation. He felt a lump in his throat, an acidic burning that he had to swallow down. "He's eating them."

He couldn't hold back a bewildered, disturbed smile. He spun around and headed for the door, shedding his gloves. He didn't want anyone else to see him like this.

He pulled out his phone and dialed Jack's number.

"Hey, Will."

"He's eating them."

"I'm sorry?"

"The Minnesota killer. That's what he wants with his victims. He...he's eating their organs."

"Are you sure? That's a bold statement." Jack cleared his throat. Will wondered if the news had affected him at all.

"Jack, he tried to take her liver. There were signs that it was removed, but he put it back because the meat wasn't good enough. She's got liver cancer. Obviously, since there was a mass on her liver, it wasn't edible anymore." Will clutched the phone tightly. "He's...he's eating them." His voice caught in his throat.

"Couldn't he have just been mutilating her? There could be plenty of reasons for messing around with the liver."

"The rest of these girls haven't been mutilated. They've been respected. Hell, that's evident in the fact that he put the liver back. If he was just keeping them, or wanting to rob them of something, then the cancer wouldn't matter. He wants to consume them, use the organs for something. It's intimate. It fits with the profile, since the rest of the body has been well-respected."