If Jack Crawford Did His Own Detective Work For Once Instead of Leaving It All to Will and FBI Trainees (Like Mariam and Clarice)

Note: This story starts in the scene in episode 12 in Hannibal's office when he convinces Jack that Will is the killer, and goes AU from there.

Jack Crawford was in Hannibal Lector's office, and he was having doubts about Will's sanity. Now was the perfect time to close the trap.

Hannibal turned on the recorder. His own voice asked Will how he'd felt after seeing Marissa's body, and Will replied, "Guilty…Because I felt like I killed her."

Jack looked at the recorder with horror. Hannibal finished explaining that Will's mind was dissociating into becoming Garrett Jacob Hobbs. Jack looked increasingly horrified.

Then he shook his head, like a dog shaking off water after a bath. "Wait a second. I'm the one who came here because I was worried about Will's behavior, and you're supposed to be his loyal friend who is protecting him from me. Why did you happen to have a recorder, set to the exact moment where Will says something very incriminating, with you? Because unless my grasp of technology is worse than my wife thinks, normally the recorder would start at the beginning of your session with Will, not skip right to the exact moment he talks about feeling like he killed that girl."

Hannibal recovered quickly, as he usually did. "I must admit to you, Jack, that I've been concerned about Will for much longer than I let on. I know I should have said something sooner, I'm sorry. I think my doubts first materialized when I realized that Will was the last person to see both Dr. Sutcliffe and Georgia Madchen alive."

However, Jack didn't take the bait. Instead, he said, "If you're so concerned about Will, then why haven't you gotten him another brain scan, after the re-do with Dr. Sutcliffe went horribly wrong? I don't think he ever got any results back after his doctor was found with his throat slit. Will has been saying that he has an appointment tomorrow, and he's been saying that over and over again for days now."

Hannibal said, "I've noticed that Will has become confused about time."

Jack said, "All the more reason to get him treatment quickly. I don't even know why I'm still letting him in the field." He considered. "Probably because he's so damn good. He deduced that Georgia Madchen and Dr. Sutcliffe were murdered by Garret Jacob Hobb's copycat." Jack gave Hannibal a piercing look. "And your recorder implies that Will is the copycat killer. So Will killed all of them."

Hannibal said, "I don't want to believe it, of course-"

Jack shook his head. "Nah. Doesn't hold water. If Will goes into a dissociating state and kills Dr. Sutcliffe while being Georgia, why didn't we find any physical evidence of him at the crime scene? He should have at least gotten blood on those skimpy hospital clothes."

Hannibal said, "You didn't find evidence of anyone except Georgia, who was framed. The killer must have used gloves, which there are plenty of in a hospital."

Jack said, "But Will didn't have time to drive away and come back, so he would have had to throw away the gloves and probably his clothes inside the hospital, and we would have found them when we searched the building. Besides, the whole theory was that Will killed the doctor thinking he was Georgia, right? But Georgia never used gloves or tried to hide her DNA. She wasn't that kind of crazy. So if Will thought he was Georgia, he should have left massive amounts of physical evidence at the crime scene."

Hannibal suggested, "Unless Will was much more coldblooded and manipulative than I have ventured to consider."

Jack snorted. "Will? Coldblooded and manipulative? He wears plaid. Besides, he was the one he insisted that Georgia didn't kill Dr. Sutcliffe, and that Georgia's death was murder instead of an accident. If he's a self-aware, calculating psychopath it makes no sense for him to go around revealing his own murders, and if he's crazy, then he shouldn't have been in a state of mind to clean up the evidence from Dr. Sutcliffe's murder. So we've come full circle. Will's not the killer."

Hannibal leaned back in his chair. "Then I am very, very relieved. Poor Will."

Jack continued, "Also, even if he's become increasingly disturbed, I know he was acting normal during the first copycat killing, Cassie Boyle. Actually, the more I think about it, it's strange that these cases have pushed him so far off the edge. I know what he does disturbs him, but he's done it for me many times and it's never been as bad as it has been recently. Almost like he's the victim of subpar medical care."

Hannibal winced. "Dr. Sutcliffe might have been a mistake on my part."

"Subpar medical care which conveniently set him up to look like a potential killer. And Will himself said that the copycat knew too much, had to be someone connected to the investigation…"

Under his desk, Hannibal readied a hypodermic needle.

Abruptly, Jack jumped, and shouted, "Dr. Alana Bloom!"

Hannibal dropped the needle. "What."

"She's the copycat killer! And she's the one who has been manipulating Will! It's the only explanation that makes sense." Jack shook his head. "She never wanted me to bring Will into my investigations because she's completely obsessed with him. She has to have him all to herself. You might be her next target, Dr. Lector. You should be careful."

Hannibal said, "Alana. I'm not sure I really see it, but-"

Jack said, "I'm very concerned about your safety, I don't want to leave you here alone. Could you get your coat and come with me, doctor?"

Hannibal went to the coat stand. As soon as his back was turned, Jack hit him over the head with the butt of his gun.

Hastily, Jack Crawford leaned over to check that Hannibal Lector was actually unconscious and not just faking it. Then he pulled out his handcuffs, muttering to himself, "Thank god he brought the last-minute story about Alana, I think I was almost pot roast as his next dinner party. Oh god, what might have been in all that food he's served me? I feel sick."

Several hours later, Jack spoke into the phone. "Will! I'm glad I finally got a hold of you. What, you just got off the airplane? Minnesota? Well, you and Abigail can turn around and come straight back, because I caught the killer. Yes, I caught the killer, I'm an agent of the FBI, occasionally I catch killers without you. No, don't come to the office, I want you to go straight to the hospital. Alana is waiting for you there. We're going to get you some proper medical treatment from a doctor who isn't a cannibalistic psychopath…"