éclaircissement4 ch.4

A week after placing his ad Hannibal Lecter checked his PO Box in Buenos Aires and found that there was a package there and there was no FBI activity. He then sent for it and it arrived in his home is Paris 3 days later. He opened its delicate paper and was shocked by what it contained. It was all of Clarice's letters to him.He breathed in the scent of her perfume on the pages. He read them all in order by date. Some of them were just ramblings of her troubles. Some were pages of questions about his life. Some were rhetorical questions she would write about herself. Sometimes it was almost as if she would be having a conversation with him as she wrote. Asking a question then writing her reply to what her mind thought up as his answer and he was surprised to see that most of the answers she predicted he would say were correct. This woman made him want her more with everything she did. He wondered if she understood the effect she had on him. Through these letters he learned of her screaming lambs and learned of their temporary relief by the writing of her letters. He learned she knew where his hand was even though she wouldn't say where. When he reached the latest letter he smiled. She liked the perfume. He read about what happened with Crawford and what made her decide to place the ad. He had to give her credit for taking her life into her hands for once. Maybe she was finally beginning to see what they were doing to her. They were caging his poor butterfly and she needed to be free. But she wasn't ready just yet, but soon. One of the last lines of her last letter almost made his heart stop for a second with hope.

Now that Ive told you about my screams doctor, tell me about yours. I always felt something connected us and maybe this is it, and maybe its not. Maybe its more. Who knows? But again, quid pro quo doctor.

Clarice

He folded all the letters neatly and placed them into a box and slid it under his bed. The next day he bought her another gift, that he hoped mixed with Clarice's smarts would serve as a clue to her. He sent it with a note attached saying that if she was ready, he was ready for a little game of cat and mouse and that he had supplied her so far with all she needed to go in the right direction.. He sealed the letter and sent it.

Clarice was worried. It was almost 3 weeks and still no word from him. She checked the paper and the mail every day with no luck. Then it happened.

Clarice opened this package in a hurry, ripping the paper from the box and almost knocking her coffee off the table. She calmed herself and opened the lid. She pulled out a snow globe with an Eiffel Tower inside and a small note. She opened the envelope and a curl came to her lips. A game he wanted, a game he would get. She understood this game. It was a game of trust and she was ready to play. ok. She sat and contemplated.
*He says I have all I need.....*

She turned the globe over in her hand later that night sitting in her bed in her night-gown. The moonlight caught in the sparkles and they cascaded along the walls. Then she saw the shadow of the tower along the wall and she figured it out.

*Thats it!!*

She knew where he was! That explains the french perfume and the globe. She jumped out of bed and logged onto her computer. She scheduled herself a flight in the morning then phoned the Bureau saying she was taking Crawford's advice and taking a 2 week vacation. Then she packed her things, the letters, the gown, the globe, and the shoes and dress he had given her before. Then she made sure she was dressed and wore the butterfly necklace. She took the hand from the freezer and placed it in a cooler with lots of dry ice. She packed her mustang and headed for the airport in the morning. Looking back in her mirror she watched her apartment disappear behind her. She smiled. She was going to Paris.

Hannibal sat in his recliner conducting the invisible orchestra playing in his cd player. He wondered when Clarice would try to contact him again. He hoped she would understand his clue and voice her finds to him so her could then tell her how to write back to him. He was growing fond of their correspondences. He sipped his wine and decided to have patience. He would just keep checking the paper for her next writing.