Return Of The Cannibal(Hannibal x Reader)(Book 2)

Chapter 46

Ardelia Mapp cooked when she felt like it, and when she cooked the result was extremely good. Her heritage was a combination of Jamaican and Gullah, and at the moment she was making jerk chicken, seeding a Scotch Bonnet pepper she held carefully by the stem. She refused to pay the premium for cut-up chickens and had you busy with the cleaver and the cutting board.

"If you leave the pieces whole, Y/N, they won't take the seasoning like they will if you cut them up," She explained, not for the first time. "Here," She said, taking the cleaver and splitting a back with such force bone splinters stuck to her apron. "Like that. What are you doing throwing those necks out? Put that handsome thing back in there." Ardelia said.

And a minute later, "I was at the post office today. Mailing the shoes to my mom," Mapp said.

"I was in the post office too, I could have taken them." You said.

"Did you hear anything at the post office?" Mapp asked.

"Nope." You said. Mapp nodded, not surprised. "The drum says they're covering your mail." Mapp said.

"Who is?" You asked.

"Confidential directive from the Postal Inspector. You didn't know that, did you?" Mapp asked.

"No." You answered.

"So discover it some other way, we need to cover my post office buddy,"

"Okay."

You put down the cleaver for a moment. "Jesus, Ardelia."

You had stood at the post office counter and bought your stamps, reading nothing in the closed faces of the busy postal clerks, most of them African-American, and several of whom you knew. Clearly someone wanted to help you, but it was a big chance to take with criminal penalties and your pension on the line. Clearly that someone trusted Ardelia more than you. Along with your anxiety, you felt a happy flash at having a favour from the African-American hot line: Maybe it expressed a tacit judgment of self-defense in the shooting of Evelda Drumgo.

"Now, take those green onions and mash them with the knife handle and give them here. Mash the greens all," Ardelia said.

When you had finished the prep work, you washed your hands and went into the absolute order of Ardelia's living room and sat down. Ardelia came in, in a minute, drying her hands on a dish towel.

"Hell kind of bullshit is this?" Ardelia said.

It was their practice to curse heartily before taking up anything truly ominous, a late-century form of whistling in the dark.

"Be God Damn if I know," you said. "Who's the sumbitch looking at my mail, that's the thing." You said.

"PI's office is as far back as my folks can go."

"It's not the shooting, it's not Evelda," you said. "If they're looking at my mail, it's got to be about Dr. Lecter." You said. "You turned in every damn thing he ever sent you. You down with Crawford on that." Mapp said.

"Damn straight. If it's the Bureau OPR checking up on me I can find that out, I think. If it's Justice OPR, I don't know." You said.

The Justice Department and its subsidiary, the FBI, have separate Offices of Professional Responsibility, which theoretically cooperate and sometimes collide. Such conflicts are known in-house as pissing contests, and agents caught in the middle sometimes get drowned. In addition, the Inspector General at Justice, a political appointee, can jump in anytime and take over a sensitive case.

"If they know something Hannibal Lecter's up to, if they think he's close, they got to let you know it to protect yourself. Y/N do you ever... Fell him around you?" Mapp asked.

'All the time.' you think to yourself. You shook your head. "I don't worry about him much. Not that way. I used to a long time and not even think about it. You know that lead feeling, that heavy gray feeling when you dread something? I don't ever have that. I just think I'd know if I had a problem." Even though Ardelia's your best friend, you could never tell her how you actually feel about him.

"What would you do, Y/N? What would you do if you saw him in front of you? All of a sudden? Have you got it set in your mind? Would you throw down on him?" Mapp asked.

'I would run up to him and kiss him passionately on the lips, I would never let him go again.' You think to yourself.

"Fast as I could grab it out of my britches, I'd throw down on his ass." You say as convincingly as possible.

Ardelia laughed. "And then what?"

'I would beg him to fuck me, to make me feel full again. To not stop until I had tears running down my face.' You think.

You quickly hide how your feeling and your smile faded. "That would be up to him." You said.

"Could you shoot him?" Ardelia asked.

"To keep my own chitterlings in place, are you kidding me? My God, I hope that never happens, Ardelia. I'd be glad if he got back custody without anybody else getting hurt - including him. I'll tell you though, sometimes I think, if he's ever cornered, I'd want to take the point in for him." You say.

"Don't even say that." Mapp said.

"With me he'd have a better chance to come out alive. I wouldn't shoot him because I'm scared of him. He's not the wolf man. It would just be up to him." You say.

"Are you scared of him? You better be scared enough." Mapp said.

"You know what's scary, Ardelia? It's scary when somebody tells you the truth. I'd like to see him beat the needle. If he can do that, and he's put in an institution, there's enough academic interest in him to keep his treatment pretty good. And he won't have any problem with roommates. If he was in the slams I'd thank him for his note. Can't waste a man that's crazy enough to tell the truth." You said. None of it true though. And you hate having to talk about Lecter falsely.

"There's a reason somebody's monitoring your mail. They got a court order and it's under seal. We're not staked out yet we'd have spotted it," Ardelia said. "I wouldn't put it past those sons of bitches to know he's coming and not tell you. You watch out tomorrow."

"Mr. Crawford would have told us. They can't mount much against Lecter without bringing Mr. Crawford in on it." You said.

"Jack Crawford is history, Y/N. You've got a blind spot there. What if they mount something against you? For having a wise mouth, for not letting Krendler get in your pants? What if somebody wants to trash you? Hey, I'm serious about covering my source now." Mapp said.

"Is there something we can do for your post office buddy? Do we need to do something?" You said.

"Who do you think is coming for dinner?" Mapp said.

"All right Ardelia!... Wait a minute, I thought I was coming to dinner." You said.

"You can take some home with you." She said.

"I 'preciate it." You said.

"No trouble, girl. My pleasure, in fact." Ardelia said.