Second Chance
by elfin
Jack Crawford smiled up at Clarice Starling as she took the seat opposite
him. The small coffee shop was quiet at this time of the morning.
"Morning, Starling."
She regarded him with scrutinising eyes. He looked tired, an exhaustion
that the Double Expresso in the Styrofoam cup in front of him wouldn't touch.
"Morning, Sir. You asked to see me?"
He nodded. "I wanted to speak to you before the rumour grapevine
had a chance to start the Chinese Whispers on this one."
Jack hardly ever spoke sense on the best of occasions.
Starling, bright eyed and sipping her Vanilla Iced Latte, watched him steadily,
expectantly. When he didn't elaborate, she prompted, "Sir?"
His gaze dipped into the murky depths of his rapidly-cooling drink.
"I though you should know. We've taken Lecter off the Ten Most Wanted
list."
Her eyes widened. "What?" She couldn't believe that there were
a couple of people more dangerous than Dr Lecter, never mind ten.
There'd been no major escapes or manhunts recently that would have cost
Lecter his lofty position. "Why? I mean... how can they do that,
Sir?"
He took a deep breath. "Because I asked them to. And in Lecter's
case, they trust my judgement."
"Your judgement?" Her latte forgotten, she was leaning across the
table, head tilted, eyes questioning.
"I told them he was no longer a viable threat and in times of global terrorism
and that, in my personal and professional opinion, there were more important
people to be hunting."
Her expression told him all he needed to know of her personal opinion.
"I don't understand. Sir, he kills for pleasure and without remorse.
He's a cannibal, he eats people, anyone who might cross him. His picture
on that list gave Interpol some jurisdiction, some chance if they thought...."
He was waving her quiet, taking an envelope from his jacket's inside pocket.
"What's that, Sir?"
"I received this yesterday morning." The envelope was white, and
it looked expensive.
She stared at it. "He's threatened you, hasn't he? That's why...."
"It's nothing like that, Starling." He dropped the envelope to the
table in front of him.
"Sir, if that's from Lecter it should be run through Documents, at the
very least printed...."
"Starling!" His eyes were clearer now, locking with her's.
"It isn't from Lecter. It's from Will Graham."
She frowned, processing the name, coming up with a link. "The FBI
Investigator who caught Lecter?"
"Yes." Jack smiled sadly. "He's a close friend of mine.
We've know one another a long time and we've been through a lot."
He reconsidered. "He's been through a lot. Most of it because
of me." Running his thumb over the letter's open seal, he continued,
"He was never an FBI agent. He used to train students at Quantico,
Forensic Psychology. He's brilliant. He has this unique gift...."
"He's an eidecteker," Clarice supplied, and Jack nodded. "I've read
that it's more of a curse than a gift, Sir."
Jack winced. "I used him when I was stuck. When I was scared.
He hated it, but he did it anyway, because I blackmailed him into it, emotionally.
That's the flip side. He's easy to manipulate because he feels guilty
if he doesn't use this gift to help people."
"He caught Garrett Hobbs."
"Yes, shot him, saved the girl he was attacking. Lecter helped him
out on the profile. They became friends. When the Chesapeake
Ripper case came up, Will went back to Lecter for help on the profile.
Only, it turned out to be Lecter that he was after, and Will was almost killed."
Clarice felt slightly sickened when she said, "Lecter stabbed him with
a letter opener."
"Will has a scar about seven inches long. Lecter sliced him, we're
sure he'd have eaten some part of him had Will not fought back." Jack
shook his head, trying to shake the memories. "Somehow, Will pulled
through. And four years later I set him on the trail of the Dragon
- the Tooth Fairy as he was known at the time."
"Lecter gave this one Graham's home address."
"We thought Dolarhyde was killed in a fire, but it turned out he was more
clever than that. He went after Will and again, Will wound up in the
hospital. I didn't think he'd make it that time, didn't think he'd
want to."
Clarice thought she saw a tear in Crawford's eye, and she looked away.
"He did make it though."
"He did. His wife left him and he left the US. He wouldn't
leave us a forwarding address and we didn't try to trace him. Not,
that is, until Lecter escaped six months ago."
"It looks as if he found you." She indicated the envelope, trying
to lighten the conversation with her tone. But her smile was as false
as the cheer in her voice.
Nodding, he pushed the letter over to her. "Read it. But promise
me something first." He looked up then, and the guilt and sadness
had been replaced by a hard determination. "You can't tell anyone
what it says. This is just between you and me, Starling."
She frowned. But she owed Jack Crawford much, and finally she nodded.
"You have my word."
He lifted his hand from the envelope and let her open it, pulling out the
two-page letter.
Sipping his cold coffee, he watched her expression as she read.
'Jack,
I know you're concerned about me, but I need you to know that I'm fine.
I'm happy, Jack.
I need to ask you a favour, and I know when I tell you what it is you're
going to panic. Please don't. Please take my word that after
so much pain, I've found safety in the strangest place.
I'd like you to request that Dr Lecter be removed from the FBI's Ten Most
Wanted list.
I know what you're thinking now. You're wrong.
He's here. I think we're both where we belong at last.
Don't worry, Jack. This isn't a suicide note, from either of us.
Let me explain.
A month ago, we walked into one another in the street. After the
initial surprise we went for a coffee and talked the way we used to talk
before everything happened.
It's not that I've lost the will to live, Jack. I haven't.
In fact, that morning, I found a reason to stay alive.
We spent the day together. We went to a museum! And then I
took him back to my rooms and we spent the evening in bed. You never
knew how close we were once, did you?
That night, he asked me something. 'Would you ever say to me, 'Stop.
If you loved me, you'd stop.'?' I thought about it for a long time.
I knew the right answer, but it wasn't the one I wanted to give.
I asked him if he did love me. And he said yes. So I asked
him if he'd stop. I can't promise no more deaths, Jack. But
I can promise it won't be mine. I know you can't understand this,
I know the mere thought must repulse you. But I'm safe, and I'm known.
He won't run from who I am.
I don't want him taken from me, Jack. We have more of a chance if
he's off that list.
I'm asking you Jack. You know why.
Take care.
Will'
Starling looked up from the neat writing. "Lecter's a killer, a psychopath.
Graham's in danger."
"It didn't read like that to me."
She glanced back down. "I don't understand. Why would the man
who caught Lecter... I mean, he knows what the doctor is! Graham was
married... he...."
"He's a very complicated person," Jack interrupted. "He and Lecter...
they're more alike than Will would ever admit. Their imaginations
fuel them. They're both profilers, they both know things the rest
of us can't - and don't want to - imagine."
"You sound like you're justifying this to yourself. Sir." The
final word was an afterthought.
Playing with a napkin, Crawford took a deep breath. "Will's one of
the best friends I have. What Dolarhyde did to him was my fault.
If he's found somewhere he can be happy, who am I to question that?"
Starling stared at him. "There's more, there has to be." She
shook her head slowly. "He's living with a man he was once terrified
of."
"So maybe now he can stop running scared."
It made sense, in an odd sort of way, but she still couldn't accept it.
"You can't let Lecter just walk free!"
"I'm not. All I'm doing is taking him off the TMW list. That's
all. I don't know where he is."
"You can't trace the letter?"
"Why would I want to do that? Will's not a criminal, he isn't a missing
person."
"But if he's with Lecter...."
Jack held up his hand, fingers up, palm out, unconsciously mimicking a
gesture used by Will many times to silence Crawford. "It's done, Starling.
I just thought you deserved an explanation."
"You've given a convicted killer a chance to stay free."
"I owe Will." Jack turned his head to gaze out of the window at the
steadily falling rain. "I at least owe him a chance."
*
Somewhere thousands of miles away, Hannibal Lecter touched his hand to
Will's back and pointed out a tiny detail in one of the world's most famous
paintings.
It couldn't last forever, Will knew. He wasn't fooling himself.
But he was happy and he was safe, and for now, it was enough.
fin
elfin
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