HANNIBAL: The Art Of Obsession (slow updates)

Ep. 0 PROLOGUE

Changes Done: 12/29/2023

Beltrán, Madrid, Spain

Gentle sounds from the piano filled the home with serenity and warmth for Morgan and Raymond. The siblings nodded silently to the music, each to their devices.

Raymond sat on the floor, using the couch as a back support as he worked on a case on the coffee table. While Morgan played the piano in a small library across from the living room. S

Morgan had just finished grading her student's papers on Behavioral Issues In Children and Adolescence. She was bored and a little bit tired from two cups of her pricy wine when Raymond's phone began to ring beside him.

Although Morgan continued playing, she'd occasionally eavesdrop on Raymond's phone calls and play just a little slower.

"Julian? What up?" She heard him ask in Spanish. His accent was a little off, but enough to pass the level of understanding. 

Morgan could hear the man mumble through the speaker. She didn't look over and simply focused on the movement of her hands on the white and black keys. Morgan didn't look up until she felt the floor boards dip and stopped when she realized her brother approaching hesitantly and solemnly.

She immediately knew it was bad, Raymond was almost always calm and had a smile on his face everywhere they went.

Morgan adjusted in her seat to help face him, "What happened?"

Raymond sighed through his nose and leaned his side on the doorway, "A man and a woman were found dead in Virginia, in the old house. You remember the one-."

"I remember."  Morgan nodded, staring at the wall absentmindedly.

"They're informing you that they've had a judge sign the warrant to search the house." Raymond paused, noticing Morgan's new attention, "They're only treating the house like a crime scene, nothing more."

"How'd they find bodies? It's private land, and I had it locked after we left."  Morgan stood up calmly and closed the fallboard.

"Some guy reported it. Julian says he was an agent of some kind. Maybe a special agent?"  Raymond shrugs.

"Does Julian know if the same guy is in charge of the case?"  

"No, but he works with him." "Who?" "Jack."

"He's in charge of the case?" "Yeah. And he wants to see us."

Morgan narrows her eyes at him, puzzled by that statement, "Why? Because of the house?"

"Not just that." Raymond paused again, feeling even more hesitant, "Julian says one of the bodies looked exactly like you."

Morgan's face fell, and her mind went blank. 

"Jack told Julian, 'that it has Saint Burgess written all over it'. Jack wants us there."

Morgan downed her the rest of her third cup. She stared at her empty glass for a second before giving up. She swiftly turned her heel, throwing her glass at the wall behind them,  "Mierda!"

Raymond didn't flinch out her outburst. But he did flinch as if the particles of the glass would somehow bounce off and hit him in the eye. Even though Morgan purposefully threw it away from them both.

Raymond fell in thought as he let her cool down for a while. 

He leaned off the doorway, "Cat. I know we left to start fresh, but I think - I think we need to face it. Every time we moved on, we thought we left it. Even with Dad, but this -this still follows us." Desperation drips from his tongue with each word, "We need to end this game, Cat. Or it might drag us back in again." Raymond saw his sister lift her head but not look at him.