[Abel Gideon would face consequences for his actions, but so would Chilton. To say that Abel wasn't to blame would a lie, in Hannibal's opinion. Chilton had pushed him, definitely, of that he had no doubts. But he did not put him on strings and force his hands, physically. Nor had he sliced off a portion of his brain that...

Another time, perhaps.]

We have known each other for some time now, Frederick. The story was intriguing, there is no doubt about that. If you are loathed to mention it because you followed what little information there was to be found on his appearance and subsequent death in my office, I cannot hold it against you. It makes sense that you would be concerned about my well-being. [As much as he wants to add something about how it must have been concern and not morbid curiosity overtaking him, he refrains. That's not a road he wants to go down. Not so soon, at any rate. Not with Chilton free and able to fully function—

—well, perhaps not fully, but Hannibal had no part in that, meaning it doesn't really count.]

I'd hardly want to be around anyone who I saw as a sheep. I told you that I'd rather eat [them] sheep than anything else. Leave that to the farmers who raise them; I'm certainly not one to fuss and fret over the uninteresting.