Thanks to the attention of one lunatic and the obstinacy of another, what Starling had always wanted was now temporarily available: an office in the hallway of the multi-level basement of the Behavioral Science Division.Something poignant to get your hands on like this.
When Starling graduated from the FBI Academy, she never had the luxury of rising straight into the elite Behavioral Sciences Division.But she believes she can fight her way to a position there.She knew she had to work in the field for a few years first.
Starling is great at her job, but not office politics.It took her many years to realize that she would not be able to get into the Behavioral Sciences Division, even though the director, Jack Crawford, wanted her to.
There was one major thing she didn't see, and that was Paul Krendler, Assistant Deputy Inspector General.She discovered Krendler because of the effect he had on surrounding "celestial bodies"—a discovery that was like an astronomer discovering a celestial black hole.It turned out that she walked in front of Krendler without authorization when she was investigating the serial murderer Jaime Garm, and received the attention of the press. Krendler had always been worried about this and did not forgive her.
Krendler had called her one rainy winter night.When she answered the phone, she was only wearing pajamas, rabbit fur slippers, and wrapped her hair in a towel.She will always remember that day clearly, because it was the first week of Desert Storm.Starling was a technical agent at the time and had just returned from New York.In New York, she smuggled out radio equipment on the luxury car of the Iraqi mission to the United Nations.The new equipment looks exactly like the old equipment, except that the new equipment can relay the conversations in the car to the US Department of Defense satellites overhead.It was a dangerous job in a private garage, and she was still nervous when she got home.
When she heard the call, she fancied for a moment that it was Krendler who wanted to praise her for a job well done.
She thought of the rain on the window that day and Krendler's muffled voice on the phone, against the noise of the bar in the background.
Krendler asked her out and said he would be there in half an hour.Krendler is married.
"I don't want to go, Mr. Krendler," she said, pressing the record button on the answering machine, which made the necessary legal beep.The voice on the phone line stopped.
Now, Starling is sitting in the office she has dreamed of for many years. She finds a note, writes her name on it, and sticks it on the door with transparent glue. .
There was a letter in her inbox, a questionnaire from the Guinness Book of World Records, intending to admit her as the female law enforcement officer who killed the most criminals in American history.The publisher explained that the term criminal was deliberate because all of the deceased had been identified as having multiple criminal histories, and three of them had high-profile arrest warrants.The questionnaire was thrown into the wastebasket along with her name.
She had been typing away at the computer for the second hour and was blowing out her loose hair when Crawford knocked on the door and poked her head in.
"Brian called from the lab, Starling, and said Mason's x-ray was the same as the one you got from Barney, it was Lecter's arm. He said they were still going to digitize the image, but he Said no problem. We're going to post this in VICAP's Lecter case file."
"What about Mason Verger?"
"Tell him the truth." Crawford said, "You and I both know that unless he encounters something he can't push, he won't share the information with us, but if we want to occupy His first will inevitably fail."
"You told me not to touch Brazil, and I didn't."
"You've been rewarded here."
"Mason's X-rays were delivered via DHL. DHL recorded the barcode and label information, and provided the exact pick-up location, which is the Ibarra Hotel in Rio de Janeiro." Starling held out her hand to prevent him from interrupting, "Now these The sources of the information are all in New York, and have not been checked in Brazil.
"A lot of Mason's work is done on the phone, through Las Vegas casino switchboards. The volume of their calls can be imagined."
"May I ask how you got these things?"
"Absolutely legal," Starling said, "or rather, quite legally—I left no trace in his house. I got the code to access his phone bill, that's all. It's something any tech agent can do." Arrived. If he obstructed justice, with his huge influence, how long would it take to apply for an order to investigate him, and then design to arrest him? Even if he is found guilty, what can you do with him? He used It's just the business account of the casino."
"I'm worth it," Crawford said. "The Nevada Entertainment Commission can tap their calls or force them to turn over their casino business books and get what we want, and that's where the calls go. go."
She nodded. "I did not touch Mason as you requested."
"I understand that," Crawford said. "You can tell Mason that we intend to assist him through Interpol and the embassy, and tell Mason that we need to send someone over there to design an extradition plan. Lecter is likely to commit crimes in South America." guilty, so we'd better get him back before the Rio police track down the cannibal file—if he's in South America. Starling, would you feel sick if you were asked to negotiate with Mason?"
"I gotta get myself used to this situation. You taught me that when we were dealing with it in West Virginia. What did I just say? Floating corpses. No, it was a woman called Frederica Beamer. Yes, Mason did Makes me sick, but there's so much that makes me sick these days, Jack."
Starling was taken aback and stopped suddenly.She had never addressed Chief Jack Crawford by his first name, it had never occurred to her to call him Jack.She startled herself by doing so.She studied his face, a face famous for its unfathomable depth.
He nodded and smiled wryly and bleakly. "I'm sick of a lot, Starling. Want to chew a few bismuth proteases before you talk to Mason?"
Mason Verge didn't bother to answer Starling's call.A secretary thanked her for the information and said Mason would call her back, but Mason didn't call her back himself.Mason was a few ranks higher than Starling on the intelligence list, and the matching information of the two X-rays was already out of date for him.
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Notes: