If there is an asylum on the road to hell, it must be like the ambulance entrance of Mercy Hospital in Maryland.The whimpering of the siren's finale, the howling of the dying, the ticking of drippers, cries and screams, all wrapped up in puffs of steam emerging from sewer holes, rescued by giant neon emergency The logo was reflected in red, as if it had risen into the sky and turned into a cloud.
Barney emerged from the mist, tucking his strong shoulders into his jacket, and strode across the broken pavement through the eastern dawn, his crew-shaven head thrust forward.
He was 25 minutes late for get off work - because the police had brought in a delirious pimp.The man liked to hit women, and he got shot, and the matron kept Barney—they always keep Barney when violence hurts them.Clarice Starling peered at Barney through the hood of her jacket.She let him walk the half block across the street before throwing her tote bag over her shoulder and following him.She was relieved to see him pass the parking lot and bus stop on foot, which was easier to follow.She didn't know where he lived and had to find out where he lived before meeting him.
The street behind the adjacent hospital is a blue-collar and mixed-ethnic area, quiet and quiet.Here, you only need to add a Chapman lock to your car at night, without removing the battery, and children can play outdoors as much as possible.
After three blocks, Barney waited for a van to cross the zebra crossing before turning north onto a street.The houses here are small, but some have marble steps, and there are beautiful flower beds in front of the door.The windows of some of the empty shop fronts were still spotlessly scrubbed with soap.The store opened gradually, and people were already coming in and out.Starling's view was blocked by cars parked overnight on both sides of the road for half a minute, but she still walked in the direction of Barney, not realizing that Barney had already stopped.She was across the street from Barney when she saw him.Perhaps he had seen her, she was not sure.
Barney stood with his hands in his jacket pockets, his head stretched forward, his eyes fixed on something moving in the middle of the road—a dead pigeon lying on the road, blown by the wind from a passing car, The wings fluttered.The dead bird's mate hopped around the corpse, squinting at it now and then, its little head quivering with every leap of the pink feet.She spun around and around, making soft cooing noises.Several cars and a van passed by, and the widow always flew away a little at the last moment.
Barney might have looked up at her, Starling wasn't sure.She must keep going, or she will be discovered.When she looked back, Barney was already squatting in the middle of the road, raising a hand to the vehicle.
She turned the corner, out of Barney's sight, and took off her hooded jacket, and took out a sweater, a baseball cap, and a sports bag from her tote bag.She changed quickly, stuffed the jacket and tote into the sports bag, tucked her hair into the hat, and turned the corner with the cleaning lady coming home, back to Barney's Street.
Barney held the dead pigeon in his hands, and the pigeon's mate rustled up to the wire overhead to watch him.Barney put down the dead pigeon on a green field, trimmed its feathers, and then turned his face to say something to the bird on the wire.As he continued walking, the survivor of the pair flew onto the grass, and continued to circle the corpse, jumping on the grass.Without looking back at it, Barney stepped up the steps of an apartment a hundred yards away.As he reached for the keys, Starling sprinted half a block to get to him before he opened the door.
"Hi, Barney!"
Barney turned slowly on the steps and looked down at her.Starling forgot that Barney's eyes were wide apart, unnaturally.She saw the intelligence in his eyes and felt a spark of connection.
She took off her hat and let her hair fall down. "I'm Clarice Starling. Remember me? I'm—"
"The FBI agent?" Barney said blankly.
Starling put her hands together and nodded. "Yes, I'm the FBI agent. Barney, I need to talk to you. Informally. Want to ask you a few things."
Barney came down the steps.She still had to look up at him when he stood in front of Starling.She wasn't as afraid of his massive stature as the man was.
"Should you take it on record, Officer Starling, you haven't read my rights to me yet." His voice was high and rude, like Tarzan.
"Of course I didn't read it to you."
"How about a word to your bag?"
Starling opened her bag and spoke loudly to it as if it contained a friendly mischievous dwarf. "I didn't read the Miranda card to Barney. He didn't know his rights."
"The coffee down the street is pretty good," Barney said. "How many secrets are there in that bag of yours?" he asked as the two walked.
"Three," she said.
As the handicapped-plated car passed, Starling realized that everyone in it was looking at her, but often those who suffered were brutal, as if they had every right to be so.At the next corner, the people in the other car were also looking at her, but they didn't speak because of Barney's presence.Anything sticking out of the window immediately alerted Starling—she was wary of retaliation from the Krips.But she had no choice but to bear this silent wink.
As she and Barney entered the cafe, the handicapped car backed into an alley and turned in the direction it had come.
The two of them had to wait for the cubicle to be vacated, then stood in the crowded ham and egg area while the waiter yelled at the cook in Hindi.The cook tore the meat with long-handled tongs with an apologetic expression.
"Let's get something to eat, yeah," Starling said when they sat down. "How's it going, Barney?"
"Good work."
"What job?"
"Guard, chartered nurse assistant."
"I reckon you're an RN by now, maybe in medical school."
Barney shrugged, looked up at Starling, and reached for the cheese bottle. "Because they killed Iin Erda, they made you suffer?"
"Got to see. Do you know her?"
"I saw her once when they brought her husband, Dijon. Dijon was dead before they put him on a stretcher. Got them covered in blood. When they brought him to us, Poop and shit. The infusion doesn't come in, it goes out. She grabs Dijon and beats the nurse. I have to...you know...beautiful woman with a great body.They didn't let her come, in her husband--"
"Yeah, she is very eye-catching at the scene."
"I think so."
"Barney, when you handed Dr. Lecter over to the people in Tennessee—"
"They were rude to him."
"over you--"
"Now they're all dead."
"Yes, several of his guards barely survived for 3 days before dying. But you guarded Dr. Lecter for 8 years."
"Six years—I wasn't there when he went to prison."
"How did you do it, Barney? If you don't mind me asking, how did you get along with him for so long? It's all about being polite, isn't it?"
Barney looked at his own shadow on the spoon protruding first, then concave again, thought for a while and said: "Dr. Lecter's manners are impeccable, not blunt manners, but kind and elegant manners. I was studying several correspondence courses at the time. course, he would give me his opinion. It doesn't mean he doesn't want to kill me if he has the chance - one quality in a person doesn't necessarily negate another quality in him. They can co-exist, they can be both kind and Terrible. Socrates articulated this much better. You must never forget this in the toughest confrontation. As long as you remember this, you will be fine. Dr. Lecter probably regrets introducing me to Socrates ’” Socrates was a fresh experience for Barney, who had previously lacked schooling, the quality of an encounter.
“Security is a completely different thing than conversation,” he said. “Security was never personal, even if I had to freeze his letters and lock him up.”
"Have you talked to Dr. Lecter a lot?"
"Sometimes he wouldn't say a word for months at a time, and sometimes he just talked to me, late at night, after the madman's cries had died down. In fact, I was studying by correspondence, and knew vaguely something, and he actually It showed me the whole world." Barney picked up his glass.There was a fresh bruise across the back of his hand, painted in orange betaine.
"Did you ever think that he would come to deal with you after he escaped?"
Barney shook his big head. "He told me once that he'd eat the rough ones if he could. He called them 'thug gangsters.'" Barney laughed, a rare laugh.His teeth were small, like a baby's, and he was a little mad when he was happy, as happy as a baby blowing baby food in the face of his uncle who liked him.
Starling wondered if it was because he spent too much time in the basement with the madman.
"How do you feel, after he ran away, did you feel... creepy? Do you think he will come to you?"
"No."
"why?"
"He said he wouldn't."
Strange to say, this answer seemed to satisfy them both.
Here comes the egg.Both Barney and Starling were hungry and ate for several minutes without stopping.Then……
"Barney, after Dr. Lecter was transferred to Memphis, I asked you to give me his drawings in his cell, and you brought them to me. What about the rest—books? Documents? Even in the hospital? Not even his medical records."
"What a big deal," Barney paused, banging the salt shaker on the palm of his hand, "the hospital was turned upside down, you know. I got fired, a lot of people got fired. Stuff got lost, Can't tell—"
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't hear what you said, it's too noisy here. I found out last night that there was a Dr. Lecter annotated and signed n two years ago at a private auction in New York Dumas's Culinary Dictionary. Bought by a private collector for $16,000. Seller's certificate of title is Cary Flaux. Do you know Cary Flaux, Barney? I hope you know because your application to the hospital you are currently working at is in his handwriting but signed 'Barney'. Your tax return signature is also in his handwriting. Sorry I don't have it Heard what you just said. Would you say it again? What did you get from that book, Barney?"
"Around $10,000," Barney said, looking straight at her.
Starling nodded. "The receipt says $10,500. How much did you get when the Tattler interviewed you after Dr. Lecter escaped?"
"15000."
"That's nice. That's good for you. Is all that nonsense you said to those people made up?"
"I'm sure Dr. Lecter won't mind. He'll be disappointed if I don't waste their time."
"Weren't you at Baltimore State Hospital when he attacked the nurse?"
"No."
"His shoulder was dislocated."
"I heard so."
"Did you take an x-ray?"
"Probably done."
"I want this x-ray."
"meet--"
"I found Lecter's manuscripts divided into two categories. One was written before he was in prison, and he used ink; the other was written in the madhouse, with charcoal or felt-tip pen. Charcoal is worth money A lot. I reckon you know that, though. I take it all in your hands, Barney, and you're going to be in the handwriting business and spread them out over a number of years."
Barney shrugged and said nothing.
"I think you're waiting for him to be a hit. What do you want, Barney?"
"I want to see all the works in the world before I die."
"Do I need to ask you who aroused your interest in Vermeer?"
"I talked to him about a lot of things in the middle of the night."
"Have you talked about what he would like to do if he were free?"
"No. Dr. Lecter is not interested in hypotheses, does not believe in syllogisms, synthesis, or anything absolute."
"What does he believe in?"
"He believes in Chaos, and thinks that there is no need to believe in it, that Chaos is self-evident."
Starling wanted to accommodate Barney for a while.
"You say it like you believe it yourself," she said, "but your whole job at Baltimore State Hospital is to keep order. You're the hospital nurse, and you and I keep order. Dr. Lecter I didn't escape when it was under your control."
"I've already explained this to you."
"Because you never let your guard down on him, even though you were like brothers to him in a certain sense—"
"I've never been like a brother to him," Barney said. "He's not a brother to anybody. We've discussed things of mutual benefit. I've at least had fun finding out the answers to those questions."
"Has Dr. Lecter ever made fun of you for not knowing anything?"
"No. Did he take pleasure in you?"
"No," she said, not to embarrass Barney, as she realized for the first time the approbation contained in the devil's taunt, "he could have made fun of me if he wanted to. You know where those things are ?"
"Is there any reward for finding it?"
Starling folded the paper towel and placed it next to the plate. "The reward is that I won't charge you with obstruction of justice. You bugged my desk when I went to the hospital, and I let you in."
"The bug was the idea of the late Dr. Chilton."
"Dead? How do you know Dr. Chilton is dead?"
"He's been gone for seven years anyway," Barney said. "I don't think he's coming back anytime soon. Let me ask you, what do you need to be satisfied, Agent Starling?"
"I want to see that x-ray. I want that. If Dr. Lecter has a book, I want to see it."
"Supposing we found those things, what would we do with them?"
"Honestly, I don't know for sure. The federal prosecutor may have taken all the material as evidence in the fugitive investigation and let it rot in his big evidence room. But if I checked those things, And didn't find anything useful from it, and also, I'd like to put it this way, you can say those books were sent to you by Dr. Lecter. He has been absent for 7 years, and you can file a civil application. He has no known relatives , I would like to suggest that everything harmless be handed over to you. You should know that my advice is at the bottom of the totem pole. However, you will not get back x-rays, and you probably won't be able to get your medical records, because they are not His things cannot be given away to others.”
"But what if I explained to you that I don't have any of these things?"
"Then Lecter's information will be very difficult to sell, because we can issue an announcement warning the market that receiving and possessing this information will result in arrest and prosecution. I will obtain a search warrant to search and seize your residence."
"Because you already know where my house is."
"I can tell you that if you hand over the materials, you won't be implicated in possessing them, because we can consider what might have happened if you hadn't put them away in the first place. As for ensuring that you get them back, I'm not sure about commitment." As a punctuation mark for the conversation, Starling searched in her handbag. "You know, Barney, I have a feeling that maybe the reason you don't get an advanced medical degree is because you can't find a guarantee. You probably have a prior somewhere, don't you? Look, I didn't documents to examine you, not to investigate you."
"Yeah, all you have to do is look at my tax returns and job applications, I'm impressed."
"If you have a criminal record, maybe the district attorney in that judicial district can say a few words to exonerate you."
Barney wiped the plate with a piece of toast. "Finish your words, let's take a walk."
"I met Sammy, who lived in Miggs' cell after Miggs died, remember? He still lives in the building." The two went outside, Starling said.
"I thought the place was finished."
"It's over."
"Has Sammy got any arrangements?"
"No, he just lived there quietly."
"I think you should take care of him living there. He's a diabetic, weak, and dying. Do you know why Dr. Lecter made Miggs swallow his tongue?"
"I think I know."
"He killed him because he offended you. That's the exact reason. Don't feel bad about it, it's always possible he did something like that."
The two continued walking past Barney's apartment to the meadow.The pigeon is still flying around its dead lover.Barney hit the pigeon with his hand. "Go on," he said to the bird, "you've been sad long enough. If you go on like this, the cat will catch you." The dove flew away with a whistling sound, and landed somewhere where they couldn't see. place to go.
Barney picked up the dead bird, and the smooth feathers dropped gently into his pocket.
"You know, Dr. Lecter talked about you once. Maybe the last time I talked to him, maybe almost the last. This bird reminds me of what you should know about him."
"Of course," Starling said, a little sick to her stomach, but she was determined not to flinch.
"We're talking about stubborn genetic behavior. He uses the genetics of the tumbler as an example. The tumbler flies high in the sky, does somersaults backwards, and then falls down to show off itself. There are two types of pigeons, A big tumbler and a little tumbler. You can't pair two big tumblers, or their offspring will tumble all the way to the ground and die. His words were, 'Officer Starling is a big tumbler, Barney , we hope that one of her parents is not a big tumbler'."
Starling had to chew on this sentence. "What are you going to do with the bird?" she asked.
"Pluck it and eat it," Barney said. "Come on, come over to my house and I'll give you the x-rays and the book."
As Starling took the long package and headed to the hospital and her car, she heard the mournful widow wailing in the tree.
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Notes: