Life of Lies

Chapter 22-Hell on Earth

Elizabeth POV

I went ahead and called Andrew to let him know that we had to set a date for the following night. Andrew was very understanding, which I am delighted. Not that I wanted him to cancel, but that he understood how close I am to Will. As I am driving to the facility, I keep thinking about what Hannibal had told me how he knew about my visits with Will. I never told anyone outside of Beverly and Andrew. Beverly doesn't talk to Hannibal as much, and Andrew doesn't trust Hannibal after all of the stories that I told him, so who told him? I can see the psychiatric facility near, and my heart starts racing. Even though it has been a week since I had seen Will, I still get nervous because I don't particularly appreciate showing up alone, but I have no choice. I park my car, and I start approaching the front door. I can hear my heartbeat, and my hand began to tremble when I opened the door. I checked my belongings in, got a pass from the guard, and headed to Will's cell. I can hear the inmates howling and screaming from the cells. As I ran closer to Will's cell, I passed by the nurse ward, where I first encountered Abel Gideon. It seemed so long ago that he and I were bitter enemies, frenemies, and finally, acquaintances. The guard punches in a keycode, and we enter another long, dark hallway. The guard points out where I am to go, and I walk by myself. I see several cells, the occupants asleep or reading a book. I finally approach Will, and he was already standing by the cell door. 

"Elizabeth," Will whispers. 

I quickly reach for Will, and I grab his hand. I was expecting the guard to yell at me, but the guard was gone. At least Chilton gave us privacy.

"Will, are you alright? What's going on?" I ask. 

Will closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. He began to breathe shakily, and he sat down on the metallic bed that was there for him. 

"I need to get out of here. I need to prove my innocence, Elizabeth, and you can help me with that." Will whispers to me. 

I sit down in the chair that was unfolded for me, and I take a moment to collect my thoughts. Even though I am already doing everything in my power to try and help Will, I am limited to what I can do due to being an intern and that I have gotten into trouble with the agency more than once. 

"Will, you know that me, Alana, Beverly, and even Andy are trying to help you out, but how do you expect for us to continue any small investigation with Crawford breathing down our goddamn necks?"

Will looks at me like he wants to eat me alive. Will stands up and gets close to the bars. He extends his hand, and my first instinct is to grab his hand, which I did. I stand from my chair and walk close to Will. Tears were streaming down Will's face, and he was looking at me. I could feel Will's soul crying to me for help. I wiped his tears away from his face, and I whispered, 

"I am trying my best, Will. Please believe me. I know that you are innocent, but if I told you who my main suspect is, you wouldn't believe me." 

Will then replies, 

"Try me. We might be after the same person."

I take a deep breath, and I say, 

"I think that Hannibal Lecter is the killer and that he has set you as his patsy to take the fall." 

As Will is about to respond, we both hear a boisterous voice that yelled, 

"BOTH OF YOU ARE WRONG!" 

I silently gasped when I saw the individual yelling: it was Jack Crawford. 

Will and I immediately let go of each other's hands, and we backed away from each other. I backed close to the next cell. Jack kept looking at me like he just caught me doing something illegal. Anger began to fill my body as if I wanted to hit Jack with the chair. Jack ignored me and went straight for Will.