Heart Still Intact

2. Da Vinci

It was his cell phone that woke him. The shrill ring rang through the house, awakening and frightening the dogs. Still half asleep, Will glanced at his alarm clock before roughly stumbling out of bed. He was preparing to curse the hell out of whoever was calling at one in the morning.  Muttering a few comforting words towards the dogs, Will went in search of his phone. He could hear the sound of a few footsteps but he disregarded them to answer the phone. Not bothering to check the caller ID, Will answered the call, bringing it to his ear. Just as he was about to start going on about what time it was when he heard the familiar and always polite voice of Hannibal.

“Will?” Hannibal answered, his voice laced with concern and some other emotion Will couldn’t comprehend, his mind still not fully awake.

Finally realising that he has to answer, Will shook away his surprise. “Dr Lecter? Is everything alright?”

“I am terribly sorry for the late call, but Agent Crawford requires our assistance.” Hannibal began explaining. “A body has been found and he has asked us to be there as soon as possible.”

Sighing in relief, Will felt himself calm down.

“I thought something had happened to you,” Will finally answered.

“I can see why you thought that but I assure you, I am not in any danger,” Hannibal replied.

Sensing the urgency in his voice, Will decided to end the conversation. “Text me the location and I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” Hannibal answered before ending the call.

Dropping his phone, Will sighed heavily before turning around to be met with all his dogs staring at him curiously. Giving them a light smile, Will patted the heads of a few dogs before he went to get changed. A few minutes later, he heard his phone go off.

As Will was buttoning his shirt, he glanced at his phone, his eyes falling onto the message sent by Hannibal.

5904 York Rd, Baltimore. The Senator Theatre. Drive safely.

- HL
Typing up a quick response, Will continued to get dressed before heading towards his car. Usually, he would be irritated by Jack’s late-night calls about a crime scene but at this point, Will was just going to endure it rather than complain. Focusing on his driving, made his way to the address sent by Hannibal.

The drive was long and yet calming. There wasn’t a soul on the roads- excluding the occasional cars.. Will simply took advantage of the silence, his eyes never leaving the road. He kept thinking about the crime scene he analysed two days ago. If Jack was being as persistent as Hannibal suggested, then he was sure that the crime scene he was driving would also belong to the Ripper. It was unusual for the Ripper to kill so quickly. His sounders usually occurred in lengthy intervals. Not only is this out of his MO, he’s also been changing his method, Subtly, yet drastically noticeable to Will.

The sudden decrease in time after each kill indicated that the Ripper was either preparing for something or was simply changing his ways. Whatever he was up to would always result in more bodies.

As Will got closer and closer to the theatre, he could see the numerous police vehicles along with some SUVs parked. The bright blue and red lights were a sight Will always detested. Parking his car, Will began walking up to the crime scene tape that was placed a few metres aways from the entrance of the theatre. Flashing his credentials to the cops standing, Wills walked towards the entrance only to be met with an angry-looking Jack. From the look on his face, Will could tell that he was about to get yelled at. In fact, he braced himself for the yelling that was about to follow.

“What the hell took you so long?” Jack started, his voice raising with every word that was spoken.

Simply sighing, Will looked at his watch. “Jack, I had to drive for an hour. I also had to get dressed. It wasn’t like you expected me to just walk in with my pyjamas on.”