Breakup Blues
Suddenly Will Graham was gone. He was now an inmate in the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane after killing a bunch of people, including his own neurologist Dr. Donald Sutcliffe.
I knew that the Ripper was responsible for the murders and for framing Graham.
Do not get me wrong. I am no fan of Will Graham. He has a dark soul, he had betrayed the agency that he is sworn to, and he had made no moves to bring the Chesapeake Ripper to justice.
But Graham did have a positive impact on the Ripper. Their affair consumed both men to the point that the number of petty kills committed by Lecter declined simply due to their high rate of fornication. Well, that and the high spirits that the frequent sex left the man in. I even heard Lecter acknowledge to his actual butcher that his recent orders had increased due to a new partner. I imagine that the woman thought that he was referring to cooking for two, rather than marathon sex that left him too exhausted to hunt and butcher his own meat.
As for the Ripper, Graham seemed to have more serious incentives for killing than the social superiority that drove the Chesapeake Ripper. And he seemed to have enough influence over the monster to actually sway his activities.
I am not fan of vigilantism. It has no place in a society based on law. But I will acknowledge that I prefer that the Ripper punish child abusers and slum lords rather than impertinent teenagers who blow smoke in his face.
…………….
Lecter did not take the loss of Will Graham well.
He would sit at the harpsichord, sadly tapping out maudlin notes, and singing about hurting himself to see if he still feels and lamenting that everyone he loves goes away in the end.
In between, he made typical post-breakup moves.
He ordered new suits, primarily solid colors and clean lines. I hate that that I was enthusiastic about this, but, as a ladder, I genuinely cannot resist a straight line in any sort of design work.
He also seduced Dr. Alana Bloom. Considering what the monster had just done to two of his former lovers, Will Graham and Donald Sutcliffe, I began to despair for the safety of his one time protege.
He continued to consult for Jack Crawford, who supposedly lamented the collapse of his agent but also asked Lecter’s opinion of how much of a photograph of a charred corpse could be tastefully displayed in his museum. Lecter told him that a photo might be too offensive but that he would be happy to draw the scene.
And just like that Crawford agreed to a sketch of the crime scene by the actual unsuspected killer. Lecter’s mirth was so great in that moment that I think that he temporarily forgot about his breakup.
But only temporarily.
Because every Thursday evening, at the official appointment time of Will Graham, the psychiatrist would sit in his consulting chair across from the empty seat once occupied by the fallen agent. He would open a bottle of whiskey, turn on Johnny Cash, and sit cradling one of the Louisianan’s faded flannel shirts.
I would see tears gently rolling down his face, presumably from heartbreak although the obscene amounts of Old Spice that he sprayed on each shirt could not have helped.
The bastard seemed incapable of understanding that he was the architect of his own despair.
…………………
It all came to a head when Alana stopped by one Friday morning.
She entered the office looking at her lover with concern. Lecter was doing a poor job at disguising both his rough night and his indifference toward her.
She sniffed the air and commented that it smelled of liquor and drug store aftershave.
Lecter asked why she was there.
She gave the usual speech of concern and wanting to see more of him and asking if she could borrow some money because taking care of Graham’s canine army was more expensive than she had expected.
He smiled at the mention of the dogs, even asking after a few by name. I would have found it heartening except I know what serial killers sometimes do to animals.
And then she mentioned that she had tried to visit Will the prior day but he was refusing all guests. In fact, the hospital director Chilton (not a former Lecter lover but not for lack of trying on the director’s part) had told her that Graham just sat in his cell all day, singing “Rocket Man” and crying.
Alana left shortly after, almost colliding with Margot Verger in the doorway. It was clear from their mutual reactions that the dalliance with Lecter ended at that very moment. And I was glad for them both as they deserve happiness. But I do hope that they will find somewhere other than this space for their assignations because this is actually supposed to be a medical office.
As for Lecter, he looked elated and completely uninterested in the fact that he had just been dumped. He had also clearly come to the long overdue decision to free Will Graham.
And I could tell by his physical stance that this meant that people were going to die.