Disclaimer: The characters of Hannibal Lecter, Clarice Starling, Jack Crawford, Clint Pearsall and Paul Krendler do not belong to me, but to Thomas Harris. No copyright infringement intended. I won't make any money of it. Just borrowing them for a while. Lecter' s blue eyes belong to Anthony Hopkins, though (I'm not sure there's a copyright on this).


Chapter 12: Waiting for a sign

The sun was already high in the sky when she woke up. No doubt she would be late in office, but at the moment, it was the last of her concerns. She had to stop a group of student from massacring people just for fun. And all the help she could expect for now was the one of an ex serial killer. Although she was not sure about the 'ex' part. She got up and got dressed.

When she arrived in the living room, the couch was empty. She found a little note on the pillow:


" Dear Clarice,

I though I would spare you the embarrassment of finding me in your house this morning.

I hope you know me well enough not to take it as a token of discourtesy, but to consider it as a modest sign of my gratitude for your wonderful hospitality.

As far as the little matter we discussed is concerned, I believe we will soon hear from each other. That is, if you want it.


Truly yours,
H. "

Clarice smiled. Always the gentleman, aren't you doctor ? At least the note proved she had not dreamt all that. She sat on the couch. A highly masculine scent was impregnating the pillows. No, she had not dreamt.

She switched on her computer and sat before it. There was one thing she wanted to check, but she did not want to do it from the office, where connections were logged.

She connected the site of the university of West Virginia. She had already heard of the Forensic Identification Program. She navigated through the links and finally found the page of presentation of the professors. "Criminology: Neil Lanterbach". She burst out laughing. It was only when she saw his name written that she knew for sure he had told her the truth. "Still playing with anagrams, doctor ? When are you going to grow up".


Clarice had spent the next three days in routine work. In the morning she was having 'valuable discussions' with Peter Malone who, unfortunately, was deserving his reputation. She had decided not to fight on this battle front, and was telling him exactly what he wanted to hear: yes, Hannibal Lecter was a monster; yes, he scared and manipulated her all the way along; yes, Paul Krendler was an incredible loss for the Bureau; no, we could not let Lecter go away with what he had done to Krendler ... Bla bla bla ... Malone swallowed everything and more. After a couple of hours, he had started being 'protective' with her: poor little Clarice who had been sent to the freak and could not measure up ... His sticky attention was giving her the nausea, but she didn't show.

Her afternoons were much more pleasant though. She was working with Brad and Ted Wallace. They had started again analyzing the crime scenes and made a huge progress when they managed to match tire prints on two different murder cases. Then they went on with deep investigation of the victims pasts. When Brad suggested they divided the work, she offered to take care of Elizabeth Carter. She knew it was the only case worth searching, and her colleagues were loosing their times, but she could not tell anybody.

Every evening, they had a recap meeting in Price' s office. On the third day, Price held her back after the session. He waited for the two other agents to leave them alone.

" - You're still angry with me, aren't you, Starling ?" She looked at him straight in the eyes and took a moment before answering.
" - You're my boss, sir. I do not have to approve an order to execute it.
- Yeah. But you think I traded you, ain't that right ?
- Looks very much like it, sir."

He sat on the top of his desk and looked at her in silence for a few seconds.

" - I guess you got it right, Starling. I made a kind of deal. But not with Pearsall, though.
- You do not have to provide explanations, sir. As I said, you're my senior officer.
- And that exempts me ?" He looked genuinely surprised. Clarice was intrigued.
" - It definitely does.
- OK. Then let's say I'm not obliged to, but just willing to. This is authorized, ain't it ?".

She did not answer. What the hell was he trying to do ? What kind of game was he into ? Price continued.

" This unit was my idea, and in a way, it is competing with the group of Pearsall. Has not been easy to convince the big boss to trust me, but I did. And that little weasel of Pearsall has been on my back ever since. We got pretty good results at the start, but we have not made major progresses in the daffodil case since we're working on it. Pearsall never lost an occasion to point it out to our common boss."

Clarice was beginning to understand where he was going to. Though she was still angry, she wanted to hear the end of his story now.

" - This is why I was in New York the other day. They wanted to take the case away from us. I had to accept Pearsall' s conditions.
- I see. And so you traded me.
- It was his idea but, yes, I accepted to trade you.
- That does not make things look much better to me, sir.
- I know, Clarice. And I understand. Whatever my reasons were, you are the one who has to cope with Peter 'The Skunk' Malone everyday."

She grinned at him, then laugh.

" - OK, you've got me. I can ... understand the situation. And I will do my best not to slap Malone' s face."

He smiled. As she was heading at the door he called her back.

" - I've not finished, Starling.
- Sir, whatever your reasons were I cannot commit not to slap Pearsall' s face, so don't even ask.
- You would actually do me a favor if you did slam him.
- So, what else do you have to tell me ?
...
- I want to apologize, Clarice."

She looked at him incredulously. Whatever they had done to her in the past, none of their boss had ever apologized to her.

" - I'm ..." She started. " Apologies accepted. But don't do it again.
- I'll keep that in mind ... Thank you, Starling.
- See you tomorrow, sir."


Starling had not heard from Lecter since his visit. The day after, he had sent her the tapes via FedEx. She had listened to each and everyone of them a dozen times. He was right: they would not be enough to convince a jury. Even if she could find a way to have them produced in court.

She had spent her evenings on her computer, gathering all the information she could on Van Basten, Ramsey and Kowalski. She had even found photos on their respective high schools web sites.

Clarice was reading again her notes - for the twentieth time at least - when her look got attracted to her fax machine. She had not noticed it when she came home, but there was one foil in the receiving basket. She reached for it and read"

"
Call me at 817 - 234 - 3500.
Any time.
But not from your phone. "

Shit ! How long had this been there ? She put a coat on her pajamas and some hot boots. There was a phone box at the corner of the street. That would do.


She did not need to say her name.

" - Good evening, Clarice.
- Dr Lecter ! I though you'd never called.
- I've been a little bit busy these days. I am sorry to make you go out so late, Clarice. I trust you, but I am a little bit more suspicious about your friends.
- That's all right. I would have called sooner but I just saw the fax now.
- There's no bother.

- So, what's up, doctor ?
- I have good news for you, Clarice. I think we are making progress. From the last conversations I traced, they should go to action very soon. And it is Malcolm' s turn.
- And this is good news ? Please don't call me when you have bad news, OK ?"

He chuckled. Then explained:

" - The only way to catch them is that they make a mistake. And they won't make one if they stay quiet. Moreover, I believe Malcolm is the weakest element of the team, which increases our chances to get them. We've been continuously following him for three days now. If he leaves an envelope somewhere, we will find it.
- You and your ... assistant ?
- That's it. John. I must confess I would not have managed without his help. I think you will like him, Clarice. In some ways, he reminds me of you the first time we met."

She did not comment on his last remark. She did not want to know if he was playing with his 'assistant' the way he had played with her. She would find out soon enough.

" - Do you have a plan, Dr Lecter ?
- Well, that is the tricky part, and the reason why I asked you to call me.
- Why ?
- To be honest, Clarice, I could think of a couple of ways to stop them. But I do not believe you would totally approve of them.
- Do not take initiatives, doctor.
- That's what I thought. But you understand the range of legal moves I can make is rather limited, being who I am. I cannot just go to the local police saying 'Hey, I'm Hannibal Lecter and I think someone's gonna commit a crime'. The first thing they would do would be lock me in, and I must admit the idea is not particularly appealing to me."

Clarice thought for a moment.

" - OK, just tell me where you are and I will join you in the morning. As an FBI agent I can intervene on the whole United States territory. Could be a little bit tricky to explain what I was doing in West Virginia, but I'm afraid we have no other choice.
- We are still in Morgantown. They did not leave the campus till now. Give me a call at this number when you arrive there and I will let you know where to find me.
- All right. See you tomorrow then.
- Good night, Clarice.
- Good night, Dr Lecter."


To be continued ... Thanks for reading. Reviews welcome.
Absolut