Thank you for the reviews. The good doctor made his appearance in this new chapter...
Disclaimer : Dr. Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling are the intellectual property of Thomas Harris. I'm just borrowing them.
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Chapter 3 : Manhunt - Part 2
Clarice's plane took off on May 17th, going to the Charles de Gaules airport in Paris. She would arrive one week before the sale at Christie's and she was going to take her time to discover the city and to familiarize herself with the place.
On the plane, she read again one last time the elements of her file and her eyes remained a long moment on the name of Henri Bacellant. The more she looked at it, the more she thought that it hid something. She took a pencil and started to think :
''One H, one B, two L, two N... Could it work if I change the letters order ? Here we are... Still playing with anagrams, doctor ? I see you haven't change...''
On the paper Clarice held was now written a new name : Hannibal Lecter...
Time seemed to pass slowly for the FBI agent who waited impatiently for the day when she could perhaps see again the doctor. She felt at the same time the desire to know if her deductions were correct but also an apprehension because she didn't know how she was going to react with him. Clarice tried to relax by visiting the famous Parisian museums but only by thinking that they could be together again and her stomach tightened.
Since she had arrived in Paris, her nights were agitated and the memories of this evening on Chesapeake Bay came to haunt her dreams. He had said so many things this evening, so many truths. Then he had kissed her in the kitchen and then, he has... Clarice generally awoke at this moment, she wanted to forget what happened next, not to think of it.
May 24th finally arrived and the young woman was ready to act. She could have access to the surveillance room at Christie's from where she could observe all the rooms without showing herself. The doctor would be discrete, he would surely approach the manuscript to examine it more closely but he would not take part in the auctions. However, he would follow all that with great attention.
14. 45, the sale was soon going to start and still no Doctor Lecter. All the objects which would be sold today were exposed in a large room close to the one's where would be held the auctions. The potential buyers could admire the works before the beginning of the 'hostilities'.
Ten minutes before the beginning of the sale, a man approached the old manuscript. He was not very tall and had long dark hair. Clarice recognized him at once. Even with his long hair, she knew that it was Doctor Lecter. His way of walking or of leaning his head on one side when he examined Dante's work were too familiar to her.
After having spent some time in front of the manuscript, the doctor joined the remainder of the guests who moved in the next room. He took a seat in the back of the room and waited patiently until the auctioneer arrived finally at the item that interested him.
Clarice watched him on the screen. He sat with his legs crossed, a great elegance and a great serenity emerged from his person. The young woman tried to remember if she had already met a man like him before but the answer was negative. He was unique and not only for the murders he had committed. Never did she see somebody who could be at the same time refined, intelligent and attractive but also the incarnated evil. The various facets of the personality of Hannibal Lecter had always fascinated the special agent. Clarice had to acknowledge that sometimes she missed the discussions they had together.
The manuscript of Dante was finally put up for sale. The auctions went at a good pace and Clarice could see a light smile on the doctor's lips who seemed to be amused by the situation. When the hammer of the auctioneer resounds in the room indicating the end of the auctions, Hannibal Lecter rose and moved towards the exit.
Clarice couldn't lose him. She left quickly by a back door and went on the other side of the street where was the main entrance. Ten seconds later, the doctor appeared, he glanced at the neighbourhoods then started to walk. Starling hoped that he had not seen her, she was at a good distance behind a newspaper kiosk.
It was the hardest part now. She had to follow him without drawing his attention. A difficult task when you know the mistrust of Doctor Lecter. She waited until he was at a good distance before started to walk. Clarice remained far behind him, far enough to lose sight of him sometimes. Her adrenalin rate increased with each step she took. They walked during five minutes before she saw in the distance that he got into a car.
Panic seized her. She could not arrest him now, not in the street, someone could be hurt. But she could not let him leave either. ''For Christ's sake ! Shit !'' she grumbled.
The doctor was going to leave his parking space when she saw a taxi coming in her direction. Clarice crossed the road to stop it. She climbed in the back seat and told the driver to follow Lecter's car. After having given some instructions to the driver, she relaxed a little. ''I hope I haven't done all that for nothing.''
In the back of the taxi, Clarice's eyes fixed the car they followed. It was a black Jaguar XKR. She would never have thought of seeing the doctor at the wheel of such a model. She would have rather chosen something more 'common' like a Jaguar XJR ''supercharged''. The XKR was more sporting and more nervous. Clarice heard the humming of the V8 engine when they were close enough. She imagined the feeling one could have by driving that kind of car...
They had left the centre of Paris and they drove now in the direction of the West. After ten kilometers, the Jaguar turned on the right on a private road. It became increasingly difficult not to be pointed out. Clarice hoped that the sight of a taxi would draw less attention from the doctor.
There were large plane trees on the edge of the road and the entrances of the villas, sometimes equipped by video cameras, seemed to indicate that they were in a rich district of the Parisian suburbs. Clarice had asked to the driver to leave an important distance with the doctor's car and, after a turn on the left, the Jaguar had disappeared.
Clarice had a lump in her throat. She could not lose him now. The taxi continued its ride when Clarice saw a gate open on her right and she had just the time to distinguish the back of the Jaguar before it disappeared one second later at the end of the alley.
Starling asked the driver to make a second passage in front of the entrance. The grids were closed and she could not see the house which was hidden by the vegetation. She knew now where Hannibal Lecter lived.
Back to her hotel room, Clarice took a shower. She was exhausted physically and mentally. This evening, she went to bed early after her meal. The hardest remained to be made...
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To be continued...
Reviews are truly appreciated.
Lecter-in-love.