Chapter Text
When Will woke up, it was dark. “Lecter? Lecter?”
“I am here, sir,” he said, turning on the lights. “It is almost time for dinner. Per your instructions, I made a pork chop with a side of potato pancakes and steamed vegetables.”
“It smells lovely,” said Will. He sat down at the table and found himself eating again with his valet. “You really should’ve woken me up after half an hour.”
“You needed to sleep. I could not take your rest away from you. Anyway, it gave me time to consider your situation and find some solutions.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes.”
“What are . . .”
“Eat first then I will tell you.”
His appetite refreshed, Will ate his meal with relish, especially the chop. After he had eaten his last bite, Will said, “What have you come up with?”
“I have asked Chilton to stop by in the morning.”
“What?” That was the furthest thing from a solution he had ever heard of.
“Do not worry. You will not be the one to talk to him. It shall be me.”
***
That night, Will slept poorly. He had a strange dream where Chilton had already turned Brian’s estate into a sanitarium and locked him in a private room on the upper floor. He was being forced into something that was a combination of a straight jacket and a wedding tuxedo. Jack was looking at him through the bars with approval, smiling and nodding with satisfaction.
He woke up and was about to ask Lecter to make him some tea when he heard Lecter open the door and greet Chilton. He hid behind his bedroom door and was about to go back to bed and pretend to be asleep when he saw his valet looming over the smaller man. Now he had not paid that much attention to Lecter’s size because they were the same height. Now that Lecter had taken off his jacket and only had his white shirt on top, Will noticed how broad and muscular his shoulders were. Lecter was whispering something into Chilton’s ears that made Chilton turn pale and look as if he was about to swallow his tongue. Lecter then smiled and gave him a wink before motioning him to leave. Before Lecter closed the door, Chilton could be seen running all the way back to his car. Lecter turned and saw him peeking from behind the bedroom door.
“I heard the door open and it woke me up,” said Will.
“Chilton stopped by.”
“I thought that he was going to have breakfast with us.”
“Breakfast, no. He had no appetite for what I had offered him.”
“What precisely did you offer him?”
"I’ve heard some very interesting stories about this particular man from a servant who was once in his employ. I told Dr. Chilton that unless he signs the contract to buy Brian’s estate and promise not to darken your doorstep, I would share certain information to the general public, information that would make it hard for him to continue working as a nerve specialist.”
“He didn’t kill someone, did he? He doesn‘t seem the type.”
Lecter scoffed. “The man is not a killer. All I will say is that the words ‘panty girdle’ played a part.”
“Really?” Will did not care at all for the kind of images that combined Chilton with panty girdles. "What kind of part?"
“I can not give you any more information than that. What I told him should be enough to push Chilton into signing the contract so Brian can more actively court your former flame. However, just to make sure that she does not start chasing you, I telephoned someone last night, someone who owes me a favor.”
***
“Good news, Will,” said Brian as Will stepped out of his car in front of Brian's estate. “Chilton has just given me a check for the full amount. I can finally take Beverly out for the best time in London! Oh, I didn’t see you were . . .”
“This is my fiancee, Lady Bedelia Du Maurier. She missed my company so much she drove down to visit me,” said Will, introducing the blond woman who had gotten out of the car from the passenger side. He wondered how his valet had managed to win the cooperation of such a formidable woman. There was a rumor that she had once single handedly fought off a burglar, knocking him unconscious.
“You never told me about an engagement!” said Brian.
“It is not official,” said Bedelia. “There still needs to be discussions with his uncle.”
“Oh, that should be a breeze,” said Brian, laughing. “His uncle’s been dying to get him paired off for years now.”
“Is that so?” said Bedelia, giving Will a look that was a prickly mix of amusement and chilliness.
“How did you two ever meet?” said Brian.
“He was fishing while I was shooting quail,” Bedelia said. “We made a meal out of a productive afternoon. Will has told me that you have a most excellent wine cellar.”
“I do though it will be Chilton’s once I move out in a couple months’ time. I hope you both love champagne!”
***
“I hope that you did not come to believe in the little charade that we performed for your friends,” said Bedelia as he drove her back to the cottage where her car was parked.
“No. I don’t think Brian and Beverly were too believing of it, either,” said Will. Beverly had popped an eyebrow and appeared somewhat skeptical throughout lunch at Bedelia‘s telling of the less than romantic version of their imaginary courtship. Will had caught Brian and Beverly discussing how mismatched they seemed while sitting out of their sight, behind a row of hedges.
“In any case, they couldn’t accuse the both of us of being liars about our supposed engagement. Besides, it will be less shocking when there is the inevitable breakup. In any case, Brian and Beverly seem to be well on their way to becoming a pair.”
“I’m sorry that you ended up involved in this because of me,” said Will. "It is a long way to drive."
“It is not your fault. I know who is truly responsible for making me come down here. Besides, as far as favors go, it is a relatively small and simple one that does me little harm and costs me just as little.”
Will stopped his car and she got out. “Goodbye, Lady Du Maurier.”
She gave him a little nod of her head. “Goodbye, Mr. Graham, it may be that circumstances may cause us to see each other again. With that, she drove off.
Lecter walked out of the cottage. “I hope everything has happened according to your satisfaction, sir.”
“It has, thank you Lecter. I owe you a great deal.”
“But you seem down at the mouth.”
“Seeing Brian and Beverly together . . . It just reminds me of how utterly alone I am.”
“You’re not alone, Will, I‘m standing right beside you.”
“Lec . . .”
“Please call me Hannibal, at least when it is just the two of us . . .”
“Hannibal.”
The End