Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen

"Dr. Lecter had a lot of mental patients come to Dr. Lecter before we got him for murder," said Crawford. He's seen a lot of psychiatric criminals. Who knows which one he'll let go, just for fun? That's something only he might know. Besides, he's met Raspail in the company, And Raspail told him something during the treatment. Maybe Raspail told him who killed Klaus." Crawford and Starling sat across from each other in a swivel chair in the back of the surveillance vehicle.The car sped along U.S. 95 toward Baltimore, thirty-six miles north.Jeff sat in the cab and was strictly ordered to speed up.

"Lecter offered to help, but it wasn't for me. I've had his help before. He didn't give us anything useful, but last time someone stabbed a knife in Will- Graham's face. For fun!" "But Klaus had a worm in his throat, and the girl in West Virginia had a worm in her throat, and I couldn't ignore that. This particular trick, Ellen Bloom, had never heard of it before, and neither did I." No. Have you met one before, Starling? I've seen the documents and you've seen them, too." "Never. I've plugged other things in, but I never let bugs in."

"Two things first. First, let's assume that Dr. Lecter does know something specific. Second, we have to remember that Lecter is just looking for fun. Don't forget about fun. He has to take advantage of Buffalo Bill was caught while Catherine Martin was still alive. All the fun and rewards were if he made an effort in that direction. We have nothing left to threaten him—his toilet seat is gone, book No more. He's been cleaned." "What if we just told him the situation and offered to give him something—a cell with a view? That's what he asked for when he offered to help."

"He offered to help, Starling. He didn't offer to reveal a secret. Revealing a secret wouldn't give him a chance to show off adequately. You have to be a little skeptical. You have to agree with the truth, listen, Lecter isn't in a rush, he's following this method like he's playing baseball. We're telling him to reveal something, and he's going to wait, he won't say it right away." "Wouldn't it be said if there was a reward? He'd get nothing if Catherine Martin died?" "Let's say we told him we knew he knew the situation, and if we asked him to reveal the secret, he would wait and act, week after week, as if trying to remember, to hang up Senator Martin's hopes and let Catherine die, And to torment the next mother, and the next, and stir up hope, always just when he almost remembered--that's what he got the most pleasure out of, and it was as much fun as getting a landscape. That's what he lives on. It's his nourishment."

"I'm not sure if one gets wiser with age, Starling, but one does learn to avoid some of the pain in clever ways. There we can devise clever ways to avoid some." "That must make Dr. Lecter think we're coming to him solely for his theories and opinions," Starling said. "correct." "Why did you tell me? Why didn't you send me in and just ask him that?" "Let's be honest with you, if you are in command, you will do the same, and nothing else will be rooted." "Then don't mention the worm in Klaus' throat, or the relationship between Klaus and Buffalo Bill."

"No. You came back to him because he was able to predict that Buffalo Bill was going to start scalping, which made a very deep impression on you. I've made it public that I won't be aggressive, Allen-Boo Same goes for Rumm, but I've got you here just for fun - you can offer him some special favors - the kind of stuff only someone as powerful as Senator Martin can get him. Make him believe that he must hurry up, because with Catherine's death, the favor offered to him is over. If that happens; the Senator has no interest in him at all. And if he can't, it's because he Not shrewd enough to be knowledgeable enough to be what he says he is--not because he insists on being obstinate against us.

"Will the Senator lose interest in him?" It would be best if you could say that bound by oath never knew the answer to this question. " "I see." It seemed that this was done without the knowledge of Senator Martin, and it took a bit of guts.Obviously, Crawford is afraid of being disturbed, afraid that the senator will make a mistake and ask Dr. Lecter. "Do you understand it?" "Understood. But how can he lead us to Buffalo Bill with sufficient specificity if he doesn't disclose that he has special information? How can he do it on theory and good opinion?"

"I don't know, Starling. He's been thinking about it for a long time, and he's already waiting for the lives of six victims." The security phone in the car buzzed; Crawford had arranged for the FBI switchboard to put him through a series of calls, the lights on the first of which were already blinking. For the next 20 minutes, he talked with officials from the Dutch National Police Agency and the Royal Mejosi that he knew, an official from the Swedish special police department who had studied in Kun-di, and an official from the Danish government police department. A private conversation and a sudden French conversation with the Belgian Interpol night podium surprised Starling.Every time he called, he emphasized the need to quickly find out the identity of Wu Luosi and a certain friend.Each of the districts could have provided him with the requested content through their respective telexes of the Interpol. It can't be kept on the machine for many hours in a row.

Starling could see that Crawford had chosen the car for its communications equipment—it had a new secret voice statement system—but it was easier to do the work in his office.Here, the laptop needs to be held steady, the desk is a bit big, the light is low, and the tires don't get bouncing every time they roll over the seams of the tarmac.Starling didn't have much experience in the field; but she knew how rare it was to have the head of a department rumble around in a car like this.He could have made a simple arrangement with her on the cordless phone.He didn't, and she was glad he did.

Starling had a feeling that the peace and tranquility in the car, the time agreed to allow this mission to proceed in an orderly manner, had been bought at a high price.Listening to Crawford on the phone from there confirmed that. At this time, he was talking on the phone with the director's house. "No, sir. Did the fairies turn over and look for it? . . . how long? No, sir. No. No wiretapping. That's my suggestion, Tommy, and I stand by it. I don't want her Wiretapping. Dr. Bloom said the same thing. He's all over the place at O'Hare, and he'll be here as soon as it's cleared up. Good." Then Crawford and the night nurse at his home On the phone, the words were like a mystery.After he finished speaking, he looked out the one-way glass window of the car for about a minute, with his glasses resting on his knees with his fingers hooked: the oncoming light crawled across his face, illuminating his face at a glance, he Putting on the glasses again, he turned to face Starling.

"We have three days to ask Lecter. If we don't get any results, Baltimore will give him a hard time until the court comes out to fight." "Tried him hard last time, but it didn't work. Dr. Lecter doesn't like that much." "What did he give them after all that fuss? A chicken made of paper." "Paper chicken, yes." The squashed paper chicken was still in Starling's bag.She flattened it on the little table so that it would peck. "I don't blame the police in Baltimore. He's their prisoner. If Catherine's floating body turns up, they've got to be able to tell Senator Martin that they did everything they could." "How's Senator Martin?" "Tough and aggressive and hurtful. She's a shrewd woman with a lot of knowledge, and not easy to deal with, Starling. You'll probably like her." "Will Johns Hopkins and the Baltimore County Police Department's Homicide Unit keep quiet about the worm in Krause's throat? Can we keep it out of the papers?" "At least three days." "It used to be kind of hard to do that." "We can't trust Frederick Chilton, and neither can anyone else in the hospital," Crawford said. "If Chilton finds out, the whole world knows. Go there Leon must know, but you were just doing the Baltimore homicide department a favor to get the Krause case closed--had nothing to do with Buffalo Bill." "You want me to do it late at night?" "That's all I've got to give you. I gotta tell you, it's going to be in the morning papers about the West Virginia bug. The Cincinnati coroner's office got wind of it, so it's no longer a secret. A little internal detail that Lecter wants you to give him, as long as he doesn't know that we also found a worm in Klaus' throat, telling him that detail is actually irrelevant." "What shall we do with him?" "I'm thinking about it," Crawford said, then turned to make the phone call.