Chapter 19 Chapter Eighteen

Security took Clarice Starling to the second story above the stuffed elephant at the Smithsonian.The elevator doors opened, revealing a dark expanse of floor, where Crawford waited alone, his hands in his rain pockets. "Good evening, Starling." "Hello," she said. Crawford turned to the security guard behind her and said, "We can do it ourselves, officer, thank you." Crawford and Starling walked side by side along a corridor lined with trays and boxes of anthropological specimens.There were a few lights on the large ceiling, not many, and as she and he began to hunched their heads in contemplation as if walking on campus, Starling realized that Crawford wanted to put his six hands on her shoulders. on, realizing that if there was a chance of touching her, he would have done so.

She waited for him to say something.Finally: she paused and put her hands in her pockets too.The two looked at each other in the aisle, surrounded by silent bones. Crawford leaned his head back against the box and exhaled deeply through his nose. "Katherine Martin is probably still alive," he said. Starling nodded, keeping her head down after the last point.Perhaps he thought it was easier for her to talk without looking at him.He was very still, but something held him back.For a moment, Starling wondered if his wife had died?Or, could it be because of spending all day with Catherine's grieving mother?

"Memphis was a pretty big hit," he said. "He caught her in the parking lot, I don't think anyone saw it. She went into the apartment and then came out for some reason. She wasn't going to be outside. Stayed for a long time - she left the door ajar and had the safety on so it wouldn't lock behind her. Her keys were on the TV. Nothing, nothing moved inside. I don't think the time she was in the apartment Not long, and it didn't even get to the answering machine in her bedroom. When her stupid boyfriend finally called the police, the light was still on." Crawford casually let one of his The hand fell into a plate containing the bones, and was quickly thrown out again.

"So now he's holding her, Starling. The network promised not to have a countdown on the evening news—Dr. Bloom thought it would piss him off. There's always some tabloid going to do it anyway." In the previous kidnapping, when the victim was still being held alive, her clothes cut from the bottom up were quickly found, proving that she was indeed killed by Buffalo Bill.Starling remembered the black-framed countdown readouts on the front pages of those crappy newspapers.Eighteen days later, the floating corpse appeared. "So Katherine Baker-Martin is waiting in Bill's 'lounge,' Starling, and we've got maybe a week. That's about it at best—Bloom thinks he's been kidnapped and killed." It's getting shorter and shorter."

For Crawford, that seems like a lot to say.To quote the theatrical term "lounge" always sounds a bit gibberish.Starling waited for him to get down to business.He said it. "But this time, Starling, this time we may have a little breakthrough." She raised her eyebrows and looked up at him, hopeful and focused. "We got another bug. Your buddy, Pilcher, and that... that other one." "Roton." "They're identifying it." "Where's the bug--Cincinnati?--that girl in the freezer "No" come, I'll show you.Let's see what you think. "

"The insect department is in the other direction, Mr. Crawford." "I know," he said. They came around the corner to the door of the Anthropology Department.Lights and voices came through the frosted glass.She walked in. In the center of the room, under a bright lamp, three men in lab coats were busy at the table.Starling couldn't see what they were doing.Jerry Burroughs of the Behavioral Sciences Department was looking in behind them, taking notes on a clipboard.There was a familiar smell in the house. Then she saw clearly that one of them, in white, left the table and put something in the sink.

On a stainless steel tray on the workbench was "Klaus," the head she'd found in a mini-storage in Split. "The worm is in Klaus' throat," Crawford said. "Wait a minute, Starling. Jerry, are you talking to the communications room?" Burroughs was reading from the clipboard into the phone.He covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "Yes, Jack, they're drying Klaus's picture." Crawford took the microphone from his hand. "Bobby, don't wait for Interpol, find a video channel and send the photo now, attach the medical report. Send it to the Scandinavian countries, West Germany, Holland, etc. Be sure to say Klaus was probably a sailor on a merchant ship who sneaked away. Mention that the health department in their country can ask for an explanation for a fractured cheekbone. Let it be called what it is, a zygomatic arch. Make sure both Both dental records were sent, the regular one and the Commonwealth Dental hospital one. It will take a while for the chart to come out, but stress that it's just a rough estimate - that kind of thing depends on the sutures on the skull It can't be settled." He handed the phone back to Burroughs. "Where's your stuff, Starling?"

"It's in the security room downstairs." "The bug was found at Johns Hopkins," Crawford said as they waited for the elevator. "They're testing the head for the Baltimore County Sheriff. The bug was in the throat, like the one in West Virginia. girl." "It's like West Virginia." "You're negligent" The Johns Hopkins found the bug around seven o'clock tonight.The Baltimore District Attorney called me as soon as I was on the plane.They sent over all the stuff, Klaus and all, so we could see what it was like.They also wanted Dr. Angel's opinion on Klaus's age, and how old he was when his cheekbones were broken.They came to consult with the Smithsonian just like we did. "

"I've got to talk a little bit about that. You mean maybe Buffalo Bill killed Klaus? Years ago?" "Seems far-fetched? Too coincidental?" "This moment is yes." "Let's take a look later" "Dr. Lecter told me where to find Klaus," Starling said. "Yes, he told you." "Dr. Lecter told me that his patient, Benjamin Raspail, claimed to have killed Krause; Lecter said he believed the cause of death was probably accidental sexual asphyxiation." "That's what he said." "You think Dr. Regent might know exactly how Klaus died, neither by Raspail nor by sexual asphyxiation?"

"Klaus had a worm in her throat, and that girl in West Virginia had a worm in her throat, and I've never seen, never read, never heard of that anywhere else, What do you think?" "I think you told me to pack two big bags. You wanted me to ask Dr. Lecter, didn't you?" "You're the only one he's willing to talk to, Starling." Crawford looked very sad when he said this. "I guess you are mentally prepared." She nodded. "We'll talk on the way to the mental hospital," he said.