Title: "The Blood of a Cannibal"
Chapter 5 "'Psychology isn't really a science.'"
Author: Jerome Mullins
Rating: R. I'll get to it eventually, but it's safer this way. If not for the content, at least the swearing. Warning, F-Bomb is dropped in here towards the end.
Disclaimer and Summary: See previous chapters.
Author's Notes: Starling compares Lecter notes with Barney, apparently she sees something of his father in the young Jerome. But is this a good thing or a bad thing?
* * *
Clarice Starling was packed and ready to go up to Massachusetts, her files and notes on Dr. Lecter were packed in her brief case and a modest wardrobe was packed away in her suitcase. She was ready to go. There was just one last stop to make before joining the Harrington family who had invited her to stay with them.
Barney was still studying medicine while working at the hospital where she had seen him last. His smile brightened when he saw her walking up to his front door in the snowy afternoon. He had been shoveling his walk all afternoon, it was just about time for him to take a break anyway.
"Hey, Barn." She waved slightly.
"Agent Starling, come back for more illegal stuff on Dr. Lecter? I'm clean out." He laughed.
Starling smiled.
"You heard about his son, didn't you?"
"It's everywhere," he nodded not bothering to remove the smile from his lips. "Every channel, they all want to know where he is."
"I have to ask you, Barney," she paused and smiled.
Barney nodded knowingly.
Inside his apartment, they sat at his kitchen table drinking a warm cup of coffee. Barney flipped through the medical file on Annabelle Lecter and slid it back to Starling.
"He never mentioned her," he shook his head. "Not to me, definitely not to Dr. Chilton."
"I just find that so hard to believe," Starling shook her head. "He didn't even mention them to his lawyer. He just requested that these files be put away."
"That's Dr. Lecter for you." He laughed. "He never gave me much of an answer as to why he murdered all those people. Of course, Dr. Chilton was asking him that all the time. He got frustrated with all the unanswered questions and then tried to get into Dr. Lecter's head."
"That couldn't have been an easy task."
"He never did it. Dr. Lecter has a steel trap for a mind. Stronger than that. Very calculating."
"I bet Dr. Chilton hated hearing that from you."
"I never told anyone. Dr. Chilton thought of him as a monster, so did a lot of the academics who passed through the dungeon. They just wanted to have Dr. Lecter stored away, somewhere they wouldn't have to worry about him."
"You never thought he belonged there, did you?"
"Absolutely not." Barney shook his head. "They put him there because he was a danger to others, not because he was in danger. But I think a part of him wanted to be shut away, to be kept away from others."
Starling didn't respond. She couldn't quite see what Barney had meant, she saw the photograph of Boyle and Pembry down in Memphis, he loved doing that to both of them. Then again, they had been extremely rude. An unforgivable sin in the eyes of Dr. Lecter.
"Do you think he missed his wife and son?" she asked softly.
"I don't know. He never showed remorse for anything, but of course he felt that all his victims had deserved their punishments. He once compared his victims to those trapped in Hell, the ones Dante wrote about. _cantrapasso_ I think is the term he used to describe their fates. No idea what it means," he shrugged.
He then paused and leaned forward to her.
"What's his son like?"
"In many ways, he's like Dr. Lecter."
"And in other ways?"
"I don't know, I like to think that we each have some of our parent's good qualities and the rest are our own, whether they're good or bad."
Barney smiled.
"Do you think he might try to contact his own son?" she asked.
"Dr. Lecter loved Florence, he draw it completely from memory. Told me everything that was there, I could see it in his eyes that he would give anything to return to that city. And he did, despite the risk." He shrugged. "I think if he truly loves something, he'll find a way to get back to it."
Starling nodded. That didn't settle well with her stomach, by implication both she and Jerome would be key targets in a surprise visit from her former mentor.
"Thanks Barney," she placed a hand on his forearm and squeezed slightly.
Starling was on her way out when Barney caught up to her.
"Agent Starling, I hope you're right about him being different, but it would be a shame if he didn't have some of his father's good qualities. Had the circumstances been different, I'm sure Dr. Lecter would be..." he stopped himself and smiled slightly, embarrassed for bringing it up.
"It would be quite something to know him in private life." She repeated the words Dr. Lecter had spoken to her eleven years before.
Barney nodded.
* * *
Luke and Dana Harrington were standing outside in the winter snow playing fetch with their golden retriever when Starling pulled up in her Mustang. They waved to her and came over to greet her.
"Agent Starling, this is my wife, Dana. Dana, this is Special Agent Starling." Luke introduced the two women.
"Clarice." She smiled shaking her hand.
Dana was a petite woman with short auburn hair. She was nine inches shorter than her six foot husband, but Starling could tell that she too had a strength about her. The same as both her husband and her nephew. This was a strong family.
The dog ran over and yelped happily at her owners, Luke turned and bent down to scratch behind the dog's ears.
"This is Debra, our guard dog. Don't let her sweetness fool you, if she catches anyone around here she knows it's welcome, she'll go strait for the neck."
Starling smiled at the dog that came over and dropped the stick at her feet.
"You've made a friend already." Dana smiled. "Throw the stick and she'll love you for life."
Not wanting to make enemies and always happy to please animals, Starling picked the stick up and threw it towards the woods. Debra barked and ran after it while Luke and Dana lead Clarice towards the large two story cabin.
"You'll be staying here with us," Luke opened the front door for her. "The guest room is down in the basement, complete with bed, office space and bathroom. You'll have privacy down there and to get into the kitchen you just walk up the stairs."
Starling looked around the cabin, from the front door, the living room was to the immediate left. Furnished with two black leather sofas and three leather chairs as well as an entertainment center and fire place. The coffee table in the center of the room was cluttered with various magazines and newspapers. Starling could easily guess it was the favorite room of the house. Connected to the living room to the immediate right was the dining room complete with a large table that was fit for a large family. The kitchen was at the rear of the cabin hidden behind the stairs which lead the second story set along the left wall near the fireplace.
The interior had been decorated with several large color landscapes of the Irish countryside. Starling also noted the family portraits that adorned all the walls, several of Luke and Dana, others with young children, including several of Jerome. His membership in Harrington family was undeniable.
"Thank you very much, it's very kind of you to put me up like this, but the FBI can fund me the money to stay at a hotel."
"Nonsense," Dana protested. "You'll be staying here where you can get free room and board. Where else are you going to get a hot meal?" she smiled.
Starling couldn't hear any Irish accent in the woman's voice, but her Irish heritage was more than apparent from the way she carried herself and the way she spoke which was similar to her husband. Starling guessed she was second generation American, he parents were most likely from Ireland.
They heard laughter come from the top of the stairs where two young children, a boy and girl no older than eight and seven, came down to the living room.
"Clarice, these are our youngest children, our son, Alex, and our daughter, Anna. This is a friend of ours, Ms. Starling. She'll be staying with us for a while."
Starling bent down and shook their hands.
"Mommy says you work for the FBI." Anna said. She had a slight lisp to her speech which Starling found to be darling.
"That's right, I do." She nodded.
"Do you have a gun?" Alex asked. His eyes were bright and inquisitive.
"Yep, sure do." She nodded patting her side where her gun was holstered.
"That's right, so she can protect us." Dana said. "And to make sure you're behaving." Dana winked to Starling.
"Speaking of which, you two have been cleaning your room like your mother asked haven't you?" Luke asked.
The kids laughed as their father playfully chased them up stairs leaving Dana and Starling alone in the living room.
"I wanted to thank you, Clarice. You're a great help to protecting my family, especially my children. We consider Jerome our own, we would hate to see him effected by this more than he all ready has been."
"Is he here?"
"No, he and our oldest children are out getting things for dinner. It's been so long since we've been up here that we forgot to place and order with the local grocery store, they usually deliver to us." They sat down on a sofa. "I can't tell you how bad I feel for Jerome, he was so young when he found out about his father. Now, to have all this brought up again. All those people he killed. How can you live with it?"
"It comes with the territory," Starling smiled briefly. "I want to make sure that nothing happens to Dr. Lecter, or his family. He belongs back in custody, but I would hate to think that someone out there would want to harm Jerome just because he was Dr. Lecter's son."
"I'm sure Hannibal was worried about that too," Luke said as he descended the staircase. "Dana and I both feel that's why he stored away those files, to protect both is wife and son."
Dana nodded.
"Jerome seems to think so too." Starling nodded.
Outside, a green SUV pulled up into the driveway next to Starling's Mustang. Luke opened the front door to let a young girl inside the cabin, she was eighteen with long flowing auburn hair and had braces. She was carrying in two bags of groceries into the kitchen while followed by her was a young man who appeared to be about Jerome's age. The last one in was Jerome Lecter. The three of them laid the groceries down on the kitchen countertop and came back into the living room to hang their coats.
"Clarice, this is our daughter, Sarah, and our oldest child, Mike." Luke introduced them.
Mike Harrington was the spitting image of his father from the black hair and blue eyes to the height and frame but he had his mother's smile. If Starling didn't know better, she would have assumed that Jerome and Mike were twin brothers. Jerome came back into the living room and smiled at her.
"Good afternoon, Clarice." He bowed slightly.
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Starling." Mike shook her hand. "We're happy to have you staying with us."
"Thanks for the hospitality." Starling nodded.
"Our pleasure," Sarah shook her hand. "Besides if anyone needs protecting, it's Jerome."
Jerome brushed past her and knocked her off her balance playfully. She slapped his back as he hung his coat.
"Shall we prepare dinner?" Luke looked to his wife.
"We should, Jerome, you get a fire going and the rest of you into the kitchen." Dana stood and the four of them moved into the kitchen together chatting.
"Very nice family," Starling watched Jerome open the flue and place a log into the fire place. "Very close."
"Yes, very." He nodded as he lit the log and closed the curtain.
"It is good to know that you had a family like that to be around while growing up."
"I think so." Jerome sat down across from her in the second leather sofa. "What about you, Clarice? Who was in your up bringing?"
"Orphanage, I told you I lost my parents when I was young." Jerome nodded. "I wasn't with any one family for very long. Unlike you," she added lightheartedly.
"Nineteen years and counting," Jerome smiled. "Hopefully more years will pass just a peacefully and happily."
"I hope so too, which is why I'm here of course." She sat back in her seat.
"You're going to ask more questions about my father aren't you?" he reclined fully with his hands resting on his chest.
"I asked if that was all right, you said it was." She smiled.
"Of course. Go on, please do ask."
"Has your father ever contacted you, during his incarceration or after?"
"No." He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Did you ever contact him?"
"I wrote him a Christmas card once, I don't think Luke ever sent it though." He shrugged. "Can't blame him if he didn't."
"Did you have any idea that he was in Florence?"
"Io non so mio padre é stato in Firenze." Jerome winked at her.
Starling smiled.
"I'll take that as a no. You sure do like to play mind games, don't you?"
"I read in an interview Dr. Fredrick Chilton gave to _The Tattler_ once, what he thought about my father, he said that he suspected that my father never took his status as a practicing psyciatrist seriously. I don't understand how anyone could. Psychology isn't really a science you know, it's just a fun and challenging way to fuck with someone's mind. The more you know about psychology, the better you are at messing around with people."
"Do you think that's what your father was doing in the asylum?"
"If I was trapped inside of a box with no windows for eight years, I would imagine that I would try to amuse myself the best way I know how." He nodded. "You have to keep preoccupied some how, Clarice."
* * *
That's it for this chapter, as always, more is coming. Chapter six will feature a whole different kind of dinner party that Starling gets to be apart of. Yes, it could be as boring as that sounds, but there is a romance I'm trying to get to here people.
Keep the feedback coming, I love to read what others have to say about my work. even if I am a hack. Thanks especially to all you wonderful fellow lecterphiles. I love the words of encouragement. Cannabilistic Fish, please don't injure yourself while smacking your head against your keyboard anymore. My wife's a doctor, she says it's not exactly a "healthy thing" as she puts it.
I deeply apologize for offending anyone, including my wife, for the swearing. I promised her I would give it up for Lent, including in my stories.
Chapter 5 "'Psychology isn't really a science.'"
Author: Jerome Mullins
Rating: R. I'll get to it eventually, but it's safer this way. If not for the content, at least the swearing. Warning, F-Bomb is dropped in here towards the end.
Disclaimer and Summary: See previous chapters.
Author's Notes: Starling compares Lecter notes with Barney, apparently she sees something of his father in the young Jerome. But is this a good thing or a bad thing?
* * *
Clarice Starling was packed and ready to go up to Massachusetts, her files and notes on Dr. Lecter were packed in her brief case and a modest wardrobe was packed away in her suitcase. She was ready to go. There was just one last stop to make before joining the Harrington family who had invited her to stay with them.
Barney was still studying medicine while working at the hospital where she had seen him last. His smile brightened when he saw her walking up to his front door in the snowy afternoon. He had been shoveling his walk all afternoon, it was just about time for him to take a break anyway.
"Hey, Barn." She waved slightly.
"Agent Starling, come back for more illegal stuff on Dr. Lecter? I'm clean out." He laughed.
Starling smiled.
"You heard about his son, didn't you?"
"It's everywhere," he nodded not bothering to remove the smile from his lips. "Every channel, they all want to know where he is."
"I have to ask you, Barney," she paused and smiled.
Barney nodded knowingly.
Inside his apartment, they sat at his kitchen table drinking a warm cup of coffee. Barney flipped through the medical file on Annabelle Lecter and slid it back to Starling.
"He never mentioned her," he shook his head. "Not to me, definitely not to Dr. Chilton."
"I just find that so hard to believe," Starling shook her head. "He didn't even mention them to his lawyer. He just requested that these files be put away."
"That's Dr. Lecter for you." He laughed. "He never gave me much of an answer as to why he murdered all those people. Of course, Dr. Chilton was asking him that all the time. He got frustrated with all the unanswered questions and then tried to get into Dr. Lecter's head."
"That couldn't have been an easy task."
"He never did it. Dr. Lecter has a steel trap for a mind. Stronger than that. Very calculating."
"I bet Dr. Chilton hated hearing that from you."
"I never told anyone. Dr. Chilton thought of him as a monster, so did a lot of the academics who passed through the dungeon. They just wanted to have Dr. Lecter stored away, somewhere they wouldn't have to worry about him."
"You never thought he belonged there, did you?"
"Absolutely not." Barney shook his head. "They put him there because he was a danger to others, not because he was in danger. But I think a part of him wanted to be shut away, to be kept away from others."
Starling didn't respond. She couldn't quite see what Barney had meant, she saw the photograph of Boyle and Pembry down in Memphis, he loved doing that to both of them. Then again, they had been extremely rude. An unforgivable sin in the eyes of Dr. Lecter.
"Do you think he missed his wife and son?" she asked softly.
"I don't know. He never showed remorse for anything, but of course he felt that all his victims had deserved their punishments. He once compared his victims to those trapped in Hell, the ones Dante wrote about. _cantrapasso_ I think is the term he used to describe their fates. No idea what it means," he shrugged.
He then paused and leaned forward to her.
"What's his son like?"
"In many ways, he's like Dr. Lecter."
"And in other ways?"
"I don't know, I like to think that we each have some of our parent's good qualities and the rest are our own, whether they're good or bad."
Barney smiled.
"Do you think he might try to contact his own son?" she asked.
"Dr. Lecter loved Florence, he draw it completely from memory. Told me everything that was there, I could see it in his eyes that he would give anything to return to that city. And he did, despite the risk." He shrugged. "I think if he truly loves something, he'll find a way to get back to it."
Starling nodded. That didn't settle well with her stomach, by implication both she and Jerome would be key targets in a surprise visit from her former mentor.
"Thanks Barney," she placed a hand on his forearm and squeezed slightly.
Starling was on her way out when Barney caught up to her.
"Agent Starling, I hope you're right about him being different, but it would be a shame if he didn't have some of his father's good qualities. Had the circumstances been different, I'm sure Dr. Lecter would be..." he stopped himself and smiled slightly, embarrassed for bringing it up.
"It would be quite something to know him in private life." She repeated the words Dr. Lecter had spoken to her eleven years before.
Barney nodded.
* * *
Luke and Dana Harrington were standing outside in the winter snow playing fetch with their golden retriever when Starling pulled up in her Mustang. They waved to her and came over to greet her.
"Agent Starling, this is my wife, Dana. Dana, this is Special Agent Starling." Luke introduced the two women.
"Clarice." She smiled shaking her hand.
Dana was a petite woman with short auburn hair. She was nine inches shorter than her six foot husband, but Starling could tell that she too had a strength about her. The same as both her husband and her nephew. This was a strong family.
The dog ran over and yelped happily at her owners, Luke turned and bent down to scratch behind the dog's ears.
"This is Debra, our guard dog. Don't let her sweetness fool you, if she catches anyone around here she knows it's welcome, she'll go strait for the neck."
Starling smiled at the dog that came over and dropped the stick at her feet.
"You've made a friend already." Dana smiled. "Throw the stick and she'll love you for life."
Not wanting to make enemies and always happy to please animals, Starling picked the stick up and threw it towards the woods. Debra barked and ran after it while Luke and Dana lead Clarice towards the large two story cabin.
"You'll be staying here with us," Luke opened the front door for her. "The guest room is down in the basement, complete with bed, office space and bathroom. You'll have privacy down there and to get into the kitchen you just walk up the stairs."
Starling looked around the cabin, from the front door, the living room was to the immediate left. Furnished with two black leather sofas and three leather chairs as well as an entertainment center and fire place. The coffee table in the center of the room was cluttered with various magazines and newspapers. Starling could easily guess it was the favorite room of the house. Connected to the living room to the immediate right was the dining room complete with a large table that was fit for a large family. The kitchen was at the rear of the cabin hidden behind the stairs which lead the second story set along the left wall near the fireplace.
The interior had been decorated with several large color landscapes of the Irish countryside. Starling also noted the family portraits that adorned all the walls, several of Luke and Dana, others with young children, including several of Jerome. His membership in Harrington family was undeniable.
"Thank you very much, it's very kind of you to put me up like this, but the FBI can fund me the money to stay at a hotel."
"Nonsense," Dana protested. "You'll be staying here where you can get free room and board. Where else are you going to get a hot meal?" she smiled.
Starling couldn't hear any Irish accent in the woman's voice, but her Irish heritage was more than apparent from the way she carried herself and the way she spoke which was similar to her husband. Starling guessed she was second generation American, he parents were most likely from Ireland.
They heard laughter come from the top of the stairs where two young children, a boy and girl no older than eight and seven, came down to the living room.
"Clarice, these are our youngest children, our son, Alex, and our daughter, Anna. This is a friend of ours, Ms. Starling. She'll be staying with us for a while."
Starling bent down and shook their hands.
"Mommy says you work for the FBI." Anna said. She had a slight lisp to her speech which Starling found to be darling.
"That's right, I do." She nodded.
"Do you have a gun?" Alex asked. His eyes were bright and inquisitive.
"Yep, sure do." She nodded patting her side where her gun was holstered.
"That's right, so she can protect us." Dana said. "And to make sure you're behaving." Dana winked to Starling.
"Speaking of which, you two have been cleaning your room like your mother asked haven't you?" Luke asked.
The kids laughed as their father playfully chased them up stairs leaving Dana and Starling alone in the living room.
"I wanted to thank you, Clarice. You're a great help to protecting my family, especially my children. We consider Jerome our own, we would hate to see him effected by this more than he all ready has been."
"Is he here?"
"No, he and our oldest children are out getting things for dinner. It's been so long since we've been up here that we forgot to place and order with the local grocery store, they usually deliver to us." They sat down on a sofa. "I can't tell you how bad I feel for Jerome, he was so young when he found out about his father. Now, to have all this brought up again. All those people he killed. How can you live with it?"
"It comes with the territory," Starling smiled briefly. "I want to make sure that nothing happens to Dr. Lecter, or his family. He belongs back in custody, but I would hate to think that someone out there would want to harm Jerome just because he was Dr. Lecter's son."
"I'm sure Hannibal was worried about that too," Luke said as he descended the staircase. "Dana and I both feel that's why he stored away those files, to protect both is wife and son."
Dana nodded.
"Jerome seems to think so too." Starling nodded.
Outside, a green SUV pulled up into the driveway next to Starling's Mustang. Luke opened the front door to let a young girl inside the cabin, she was eighteen with long flowing auburn hair and had braces. She was carrying in two bags of groceries into the kitchen while followed by her was a young man who appeared to be about Jerome's age. The last one in was Jerome Lecter. The three of them laid the groceries down on the kitchen countertop and came back into the living room to hang their coats.
"Clarice, this is our daughter, Sarah, and our oldest child, Mike." Luke introduced them.
Mike Harrington was the spitting image of his father from the black hair and blue eyes to the height and frame but he had his mother's smile. If Starling didn't know better, she would have assumed that Jerome and Mike were twin brothers. Jerome came back into the living room and smiled at her.
"Good afternoon, Clarice." He bowed slightly.
"Nice to meet you, Ms. Starling." Mike shook her hand. "We're happy to have you staying with us."
"Thanks for the hospitality." Starling nodded.
"Our pleasure," Sarah shook her hand. "Besides if anyone needs protecting, it's Jerome."
Jerome brushed past her and knocked her off her balance playfully. She slapped his back as he hung his coat.
"Shall we prepare dinner?" Luke looked to his wife.
"We should, Jerome, you get a fire going and the rest of you into the kitchen." Dana stood and the four of them moved into the kitchen together chatting.
"Very nice family," Starling watched Jerome open the flue and place a log into the fire place. "Very close."
"Yes, very." He nodded as he lit the log and closed the curtain.
"It is good to know that you had a family like that to be around while growing up."
"I think so." Jerome sat down across from her in the second leather sofa. "What about you, Clarice? Who was in your up bringing?"
"Orphanage, I told you I lost my parents when I was young." Jerome nodded. "I wasn't with any one family for very long. Unlike you," she added lightheartedly.
"Nineteen years and counting," Jerome smiled. "Hopefully more years will pass just a peacefully and happily."
"I hope so too, which is why I'm here of course." She sat back in her seat.
"You're going to ask more questions about my father aren't you?" he reclined fully with his hands resting on his chest.
"I asked if that was all right, you said it was." She smiled.
"Of course. Go on, please do ask."
"Has your father ever contacted you, during his incarceration or after?"
"No." He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Did you ever contact him?"
"I wrote him a Christmas card once, I don't think Luke ever sent it though." He shrugged. "Can't blame him if he didn't."
"Did you have any idea that he was in Florence?"
"Io non so mio padre é stato in Firenze." Jerome winked at her.
Starling smiled.
"I'll take that as a no. You sure do like to play mind games, don't you?"
"I read in an interview Dr. Fredrick Chilton gave to _The Tattler_ once, what he thought about my father, he said that he suspected that my father never took his status as a practicing psyciatrist seriously. I don't understand how anyone could. Psychology isn't really a science you know, it's just a fun and challenging way to fuck with someone's mind. The more you know about psychology, the better you are at messing around with people."
"Do you think that's what your father was doing in the asylum?"
"If I was trapped inside of a box with no windows for eight years, I would imagine that I would try to amuse myself the best way I know how." He nodded. "You have to keep preoccupied some how, Clarice."
* * *
That's it for this chapter, as always, more is coming. Chapter six will feature a whole different kind of dinner party that Starling gets to be apart of. Yes, it could be as boring as that sounds, but there is a romance I'm trying to get to here people.
Keep the feedback coming, I love to read what others have to say about my work. even if I am a hack. Thanks especially to all you wonderful fellow lecterphiles. I love the words of encouragement. Cannabilistic Fish, please don't injure yourself while smacking your head against your keyboard anymore. My wife's a doctor, she says it's not exactly a "healthy thing" as she puts it.
I deeply apologize for offending anyone, including my wife, for the swearing. I promised her I would give it up for Lent, including in my stories.