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Hannibal greeted the guest with a relaxed smile and took the bottle of red wine from his hands.
-Italian.
-I thought you might like it.
Dexter smiled and followed the host inside the kitchen.
-I’m impressed. - said ironic putting the bottle inside the fridge –The dinner is ready, would you take your seat?- he nodded to the dining room and took the two dishes.
-Bread and liver spiedini, tart with roasted vegetables and meat, roasted veal with marjoram.
Dexter waited Hannibal to sit and started from the tart.
-Delicious.
-I thought I heard you say you would wear something appropriate. Maybe I’m starting to have hallucinations.- said with an amused smile and pierced a piece of veal with the fork.
Dexter raised his shoulders a bit uncomfortable in his green shirt with strange and big blue flowers –I thought that being just the two of us, you would not mind.
-But you have imagined I could be offended and you bought the most expensive bottle of the shop.- his face was getting more serious as he was slipping into the role of psychiatrist.
-Does it work?
-What do you think?
-You are the psychologist. Say it for me.
-You think I think that… shirt is horrible. For truth’s sake I must admit that it is an euphemism.
-You pronounced “shirt” like a swear word.
-Calling that thing a shirt is an insult to the world of the shirts.
-Melodramatic.
-Tasteless.
They dropped the discussion for a moment, one staring in the other’s eyes until the smile raised spontaneously. Dexter ate another bite of the tart and continued.
-From my point of view I could be seen as an artist.
-Your art is far beyond art. I prefer to consider you an aesthete.- Hannibal took a sip of wine peeking at the guest who kept smiling as he was tasting the word. He liked it.
-You have a huge aesthetic sense too, even if in a more legal field.- he pointed at the dish with his knife.
-Curious to see how our arts are so connected.
The haematologist stopped to chew.
-What do you mean?
The host laugh quietly –Have you ever wonder what happens to the bodies I “dispose of”?
-Please, tell me it’s not what I’m thinking.
-Do you want me to lie?- Hannibal smiled again, openly amused and raised his fork with a piece of liver –Wanda Jackson, if I’m not mistaking, your last prey. The fresh meat is always the best. – he smirked to the friend’s expression –If you need to vomit the toilet is the second door on the right.
Dexter cleaned his mouth with the napkin shocked.
-Isn’t funny? You find your nickname almost barbaric, but it’s more appropriate than your shirt.– Dexter just kept staring at the psychiatrist.
-If our world wasn’t so self-righteous and so lacking of aesthetic sense I would boast that my trusted butcher is Bay Harbor Butcher.- he laughed, cutting another piece of veal. When the raised the gaze Dexter was already gone.