Theme Prompt - A Hollywood Affair

A Hollywood Affair
By Freddie Lounds

Three years ago we were introduced to the “Murder Husbands”: Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham. As I’ve written about before, Dr. Lecter is the Chesapeake Ripper, the man responsible for several grisly murders and stagings, along with cannibalism. Will Graham was consulted by the FBI to try and catch the Chesapeake Ripper. However, he appears to have fallen in love with him instead. And the feeling is mutual, to go by Dr. Lecter surrendering himself to the FBI at Will Graham’s home following their escapades in Europe.

Dr. Lecter spent the last three years in a psychiatric hospital, studied and watched over by Drs. Frederick Chilton and Alana Bloom. Will Graham moved on, moved away, and married. He lives with his family out of state. Dr. Chilton wrote a book on the Chesapeake Ripper, coining the phrase “Hannibal the Cannibal” and making quite a bit of money. So life went on for the participants in an affair worthy of a Hollywood drama. Until a new player entered the scene.

He’s called the Tooth Fairy though reports say he prefers to be called the Red Dragon. Will Graham was once again consulted in the hope of stopping him before he kills again. Somewhere, a family is living on in blissful ignorance, unaware that they have only until the next full moon to live. And, of course, one of Will’s first acts is to meet with Dr. Lecter. One can only imagine what happened between them then, the tense and overtone-filled conversation they had. But that conversation led to a series of events that left many people dead, including the Red Dragon and possibly our two Murder Husbands themselves.

Dr. Lecter was used as bait for the Dragon after he reached out in an event masterminded by Will Graham. A fake escape that would lure the dragon to Dr. Lecter’s side and the waiting handcuffs of the FBI. But this is Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter we’re talking about. Will is a walking mirror, a chameleon who can take on the characteristics of the people he studies, the criminals he assists in capturing. Is it any surprise, then, that he would take on characteristics of a daunting, charismatic, and forceful personality such as Dr. Lecter? That when each man realized their love for the other that any other path would be taken? The fake escape turned into a real one, several officers left dead in their wake.

What happened next no one truly knows for sure except for Dr. Lecter, Will Graham, and Francis Dolarhyde, the man behind the Dragon. All that authorities found when they raided the home of Dr. Lecter was the body of Dolarhyde. He was dead in the yard with the ocean roaring below the edge of the cliff. Most officers who responded to the scene refused to say anything about what they found but one, who wishes to remain nameless, explained and provided a few crime scene photos. Dolarhyde was stabbed in multiple places and covered in blood. Later tests proved that it wasn’t only his but Will Graham’s and Hannibal Lecter’s as well. His throat had been torn out, an autopsy identifying the weapon as human teeth. In the photos, his blood has spread out and pooled into rusty red wings around his body, reminiscent of the Dragon he claimed to be. His body was the only one found on the premises.

Of interesting note is the blood trail leading to the edge of the cliff. Again, tests prove that there are three types of blood, one for each of the men in this little act. What was going through the mind of either man standing on the edge is anyone’s guess. But, knowing a little of Will Graham, perhaps I can make a guess. Their plan had succeeded, Dolarhyde was dead. But Lecter had escaped and Graham had facilitated his escape. After their adventures in Europe, there was no way anyone would believe Graham hadn’t been behind the whole escape, that letting Lecter go wasn’t his ultimate plan. So the only way for them to escape was to die. Scuff marks on the edge show that they were standing there and then tipped over the edge. Both men united in their love and murder, going to their ends together. But did they really?

Following the lives of other members of this gruesome play leads to a few clues that Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter may not be as dead as the FBI assumed. Looking into Will Graham’s life before the escape leads to his family and his dogs. They were poisoned by Dolarhyde and spending time at the vet recovering. But when Molly, his wife, went to go pick them up, all of the dogs were gone. Who would care enough to kidnap his dogs other than Will himself?

Alana Bloom and Margot Verger, along with their young son, have left the city and gone into what can only be termed hiding. They left before the escape-turned-real and still have not come back. One can only assume that they believe Lecter to still be a threat and are in fear for their safety. Perhaps, if they come back, we can believe that Hannibal Lecter is truly dead.

Bedelia du Maurier, who has the dubious distinction of being the psychiatrist to Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham both, has recently been in the hospital. When Lecter escaped to Europe, du Maurier went with him. Authorities believe she was drugged and convinced she was someone else, a Mrs. Fell who was Hannibal’s wife. Whether she was or not, she was believed and allowed to go back to her practice. However, things aren’t looking so rosy for her anymore. In the hospital, she was treated for shock and a missing leg. It had been sliced off neatly and all du Maurier would say was that she’d had a lovely dinner, according to one of the nurses who’d been involved with her care.

There is one other piece of evidence that leads me to believe Lecter and Graham aren’t as dead as they seem. Jack Crawford, the man who pulled Graham into the FBI and sent him to Lecter in the first place for observation, has recently received several gruesome packages. The FBI is trying to keep it quiet but there’s a source within the department who was willing to talk about the contents of the packages. The first had a human ear which, when tested, turned out to be from a woman with the same blood type as Abigail Hobbs. The second had a human heart pierced by arrows as if in mockery of Cupid. The third was the worst of all. It contained a pair of eyes, one of the color of Graham’s and the other the color of Lecter’s, and the frontal cortex of a brain. My informant mentioned that Crawford seemed to understand the meaning behind these gruesome packages though the rest of the department was stymied.

What could the Murder Husbands be up to? Likely, at first, recovering from their battle with Dolarhyde. The prodigious amount of blood, and the gunshot residue on Dolarhyde’s hands, shows that both were wounded seriously. The fall they sustained could be survived, if luck was on their side. As long as they missed the rocks below the cliff and managed to swim to shore, they could be out there right now. Two men so devoted to each other that they work against their deepest impulses to be together. Become something different, maybe something more, when together. Wherever they may be, one thing is certain. Diverse deaths, terrible tableaus, and dreadful dinners are coming.