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Title: Careful
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Will Graham/Everett Hobbs (Original Character)
Fandom: Hannibal
Rating: PG-13
Table: writers_choice
Prompt: #553, Busy
Author's Note: Everett's face is Benedict Cumberbatch.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Will Graham or Lee Fallon, unfortunately, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

Lecter had certainly been busy lately.

Murdering a judge, then a bailiff -- Everett closed his eyes for a moment, wanting to get rid of the vision of the judge's body as he'd seen it.

He had no doubt that Lecter was behind the murders. Why, he didn't know -- but it seemed that the man was angry about Will not being freed. If that was the case, then he wouldn't have to be angry for long, Everett told himself. He would get Will out of jail.

And he would prove that Will wasn't a killer. He didn't know just yet how he would trace the murders back to Hannibal, but he'd manage it somehow.

He'd been busy himself over the past few days. He had watched Hannibal's home, following Lecter when he left late at night twice. But the other man had managed to elude him both times; Everett was becoming terribly frustrated at his inability to pin anything on him.

But then, he was getting closer, wasn't he? he thought with a soft sigh. He had managed to become Will's lawyer, and that put him right in the middle of things.

He would free Will, and prove Lecter's guilt.

Of course, it wasn't going to be easy. He'd known that from the beginning. Lecter was wily and thorough; he wasn't going to leave any loose ends hanging about.

Lecter had been doing this for a long time, and he was good at hiding the aftermath of his crimes. Everett doubted that he would simply be able to follow the man and catch him in the act; no, Lecter was much more careful than to allow himself to be discovered so easily.

But had he known that he was being followed, or had he merely taken precautions to elude anyone who might possibly be doing so?

Everett frowned at that thought; it hadn't dawned on him before.

He'd thought that Lecter had merely managed to lose him because the other man knew the city streets so much more intimately than he did, but maybe that wasn't the case.

Maybe Lecter had been taking extra care not to be seen because he had somehow sensed that he was being followed. Everett thought that he was good at tracking, but the last few nights had proven him wrong about that.

He would have to hide himself more carefully the next few times he followed Lecter; if the other man could sense that he had a tracker, then he could discover it.

And Everett knew that if he was discovered, his life wouldn't be worth much.

If he was caught, he would no longer have his life.

Everett had no doubt that if Hannibal Lecter knew the real reason he was here, why he had become Will's lawyer, he would be the Chesapeake Ripper's next victim.

Lecter was a killer; he knew that. He just wished that it wasn't going to be so hard to prove that fact; almost everyone here seemed to believe that Lecter was some kind of hero. He had spun his web well; he hadn't left any loopholes that secrets could fall through.

But he would find any crack that existed in Lecter's barriers; he would prove Will innocent, and Lecter guilty. If it was the last thing he did.

That thought made Everett shiver with apprehension.

If he wasn't extremely careful, it would be the last thing he did. Lecter would kill him as easily as he had all of those other people. He would be just another victim.

And no one would know that it was Lecter who had killed him, just as no one had known -- or would have believed -- that it was Lecter who'd killed before. Though this time, Will couldn't be blamed for the killing; he was behind bars, and safe from any more suspicion.

Everett couldn't hold back a smile at the thought of Will; the other man seemed to be holding on as best he could, given where he was, and the stress he was under.

Will was the strongest person he had ever known.

He needed to get busy preparing a defense -- this wasn't about him, after all, Everett reminded himself. It was about Will, about proving that he was innocent.

If only he could use Lecter's past against him! But no one knew about what he had seen on that night five years ago, that deadly night when his life had been so completely altered. And no one would believe him if he tried to expose Lecter for his part in it.

Lecter had been a busy man in the last five years, murdering wherever he went. Everett had no doubt that it wasn't only the Chesapeake Ripper murders that he was responsible for.

No, Lecter would have murdered many, many more people than had been laid at the Ripper's door. He was that kind of killer -- remorseless, completely without conscience. And worse than that was what Everett was sure he did with the body parts he took as trophies.

If those body parts had never turned up, then he could only speculate as to what had become of them. And his conclusions sickened him.

But he was right. He was sure of that. More sure than he'd ever been of anything.

He had to be right. He was sure that Will would be able to confirm it, with those strange visions of his. He just had to find a way to talk to Will without Chilton recording them.

How could he manage that? Everett was sure that he would find a way, even if it meant bribing one of those dour guards. For enough money, they would do him a favor; he just didn't like the fact that he would then feel as though they could hold something over his head.

Somehow, he'd find a way to talk to Will openly, without being spied on. A way would turn up; one always did, when a person looked hard enough for it.

He'd have to get busy finding that, as well as with everything else.

They had a long road ahead of them. Everett didn't doubt that. But he was determined to exonerate Will, and to put Lecter behind bars in his place. If anyone richly deserved to lose their freedom and their reputation, it was that smug bastard.

He'd make sure that happened, even if he was busy proving Lecter's guilt for the rest of his life.

***