Heart Still Intact

1. Narcissus

Entering through the front entrance, Will immediately took in the surroundings. Picture frames of a man, whom Will assumed was the victim, were nailed onto the walls. Multitudes of awards were showcased on shelves along with a different variety of ornaments. The owner clearly had a need to show off his success. It was then that Will noticed that there wasn't a single picture or sign that showed that the victim lived alone.

"John Nichols," Jack said as he held the back door open for the profiler. "He was the owner of Nichols Pharmaceuticals."

Will frowned as he stepped out of the house. His eyes scanned the entire scene before him.

Suspended a few inches above the pool was the victim, John. He had been posed to face the water and his ribs seemed to have been cracked open. Upon closer inspection, Will noticed that all the organs inside had been taken except for the heart which had been placed on the victim's back. The heart had been stuffed with different kinds of pills varying in both size and colour.

Ignoring the other officers in the area, Will roamed the edges of the pool, taking in every angle of the scene. Settling in the far corner of the pool, Will took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. The familiar feeling of a pendulum swinging filled Will's mind and he exhaled loudly.

The chatter of the police radios had died down and even the sound of footsteps slowly faded. Fluttering his eyes open, Will found himself staring at the empty pool. Flashes of a man being stabbed repeatedly came into vision. The sound of someone thrashing in the water was muffled by the screams. With the screams soon followed the sound of ribs cracking.

Snapping out of his trance, Will slowly whispers to himself, "This is my design."

Walking toward Jack, he simply stands there, listening to what Beverly and Brian had to say. Will didn't mind the team's presence. After the first case, Will had been particularly fond of Beverly who was the only person who didn't pity Will. In fact, Beverly's presence helped Will to be at ease since he knew he wouldn't be judged or psychoanalysed.

Beverly went through everything they had found which was almost the same details Will had discovered. It was surely the Ripper and Will had no need to confirm it. Jack had already come to the conclusion by himself.

"I wonder why he went so far as to suspend the body when he could have just dumped it in the pool," Beverly spoke aloud.

"The water would ruin the art," Will replied, a grim expression taking over his features. He could feel the other's eyes on him and he regretted opening his mouth.

"Well," the voice of Jimmy, the other member of the team, gained everyone's attention. "The victim was stabbed in the bathroom and drowned in the tub before being gutted. The killer then went so far as to pose him in such a way before triggering the alarm system."

"Why trigger the alarm?" Brian asked, confusion masking the atmosphere.

"Check if Nichols was going away on vacation or anything that would have given people the excuse of not looking for him," Jack instructed one of the officers nearby. "Did you identify the murder weapon?"

"We still didn't get to analyse the body properly but I found traces of blood on some of the awards that are displayed," Jimmy informed pointing towards the entrance of the house.

"Someone literally stabbed Nichols with his ego." "Beverly muttered, causing Will to widen his eyes.

"Narcissus," Will muttered. He looked around to find everyone staring at him in confusion. Sighing softly, the professor began elaborating. "Narcissus is a figure from Greek mythology who was so impossibly handsome that he fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. The victim is posed to resemble the painting 'Narcissus' by Carravagio."

"Why in god's name did you know that?" Beverly asked, awe riddled in her words. Turning to face Beverly, they both shared a brief moment of eye contact before Will immediately looked down.

Will simply shrugged before turning his gaze back to the pool.

Knowing he wouldn't be very useful for the rest of the procedure, Will simply hung around in the corner, watching everything that happened around him. His attention was then focused on the CSI taking the body down. The way the knots had been tied was particularly interesting.

Instead of simply tieing the body from the wrists and ankles, the Ripper had gone so far as to tie intricate-looking knots onto every extending limb. From the wrist to the shoulder and the ankle to the thigh. Totally focused on the scene in front of him, Will hadn't noticed Jack creeping up on him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Feeling his soul jumping out of his skin, Will jerked around before cursing himself for letting his guard down like that. He could tell that Jack seemed disturbed by his reaction.

"We can leave now," Jack simply said before he turned around, motioning Will to follow suit. Hands resting on his messenger bag, Will quickly followed the older man.

The ride back to Quantico was as tense as it was to the crime scene but this time, Will had something to think about. The knots. To the untrained eye, they would seem like something to forget about but Will knew that there seemed to be some hint behind the way the victim had been strung up.

"The knots," Will muttered as he got down from the car. This got Jack's attention as this was the first time Will had spoken for the past two hours.

"What about the knots?"

"They seemed different to the other cases where he tied the victims," Will explained as he came to a stop. "Ask Beverly to email the pictures to me," Will said as he turned around to where his car was parked.

"Won't you stay longer?"

"Call me if you find anything new," Will simply answered as he walked towards his car. He didn't need to look back to know that Jack was still watching him. He had no reason to linger when he could be doing the same thing in the comfort of his home.

As Will drove home, he got the sudden urge to call Hannibal and tell him about what he had discovered today. If Will did so, he would have to explain to Hannibal why he had agreed to analyse a crime scene when it wasn’t good for his mental stability. Usually, Will would be quite wary of therapists but he couldn’t help but feel drawn to Hannibal; almost like a moth to a flame. Will decided to bring it up during their next appointment.

A/N. Completely different from my other fic but enjoy! The picture above is what the Ripper had based the kill on.

Thank you for reading!