Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, especially armen66 (I'm so glad that you're a member of the Studiolo!) and Lecter-in-love. The Good Doctor will be absent for this chapter (we do hear from him though), but he'll come back in the next one. Not to worry! Enjoy!
Chapter Six: Musings
Michael walked out of the club very disappointed. He didn't see anyone that was his type. It had been a couple of days now since his last act of redemption. When he was walking home he thought of that blond woman. Starling was her name. It sounded very familiar to him. He could've swore he'd heard it before. He shook her from his thoughts. He needed to find someone to redeem and fast. God wouldn't like it if he slowed down or stopped.
Clarice woke up to the sound of her cell phone. She had fallen asleep, propped up against her headboard. Her spine popped a couple of times as she reached for it.
"Starling."
"Starling, this is Pearsall, get down here immediately. A kid found a woman posed and wearing a white ribbon on her wrist. We're at the victim's home, 5914 Delaware Street. Get down here fast."
He hung up on her. She washed up quickly and threw on a pair of jeans and a shirt. Her gun and badge gleamed as she put on her belt. She was at the crime scene a half hour later. The house was blocked off by yellow police tape. Pearsall met her at the door.
"We're in luck, Starling. One of the guys here managed to find a couple of hair samples off of the victim's clothing. I sent them to the lab already. I wanted you to see this though..."
Clarice walked into the house. It smelled as though the victim had been there for a couple of days. The furniture was all upturned with shattered glass everywhere. Blood was splattered and smeared on the walls. The corpse itself was on the left wall of the room. It was hanging there due to the arrows piercing its nude body. An arrow was also sticking out of its chest. There was only a small pool of blood at its feet.
"What do you think, Starling?"
Clarice didn't have to think. She had seen this pose before but only in a photograph.
"He copied Dr. Lecter this time. This guy like to show that he can copy other killers. It might be a way to accost us or it just might be pride."
She stepped closer to the body. She examined the arrows and the dried blood. The white ribbon on the woman was still clean and unstained. 'The son of a bitch had waited until the body had cooled and the blood was dry to tie it on,' thought Clarice.
"We need to set up a twenty-four hour surveillance at the Vibe. That is where he is choosing and abducting his victims."
Pearsall agreed and sent several officers down there. Starling drove to the lab and only had to wait an hour for someone to fill her in. Dr. Andrews showed her in.
"Special Agent Starling, we were able to get a DNA sample but we didn't get a hit on the computer or through VICAP. If you catch this guy, we have enough evidence to hold up in court."
"Thank you, Dr. Andrews."
She didn't have anything really to work on except to type out another report on the victim. She drove home and decided to rest a couple hours. It was around four in the morning when she got a call from one of the surveillance officers.
"We've got him!"
She drove to the bureau, her spirits higher than they've been in months. She ran into the building where there were several reporters hanging around.
"Shit."
One of the younger and more watchful ones spotted her and pointed her out.
"Special Agent Starling!"
"Is it true that you've caught the serial killer known as The Crusader?"
"How did you do it?"
"What was your relationship with Hannibal Lecter?"
She glared at all of them and pushed her way through the throng. Pearsall was waiting for her in one of the interrogation rooms.
"We caught this guy trying to drag a young kid into the kid's own car. We're sure its him."
Clarice glanced into the two-way mirror. She gasped when she saw the man. It was the same man who came and sat down next to her at the club.
"What is it, Starling?"
"I-I saw him when I was there, at the club."
"Don't think on it, Starling. You didn't know," said Pearsall quietly.
She nodded. Sitting in the next room was Michael Talivaldis. He was sitting straight-backed against the chair, his hands folded in his lap.
"He let us swab his mouth, take a hair sample, and he also gave us a blood sample. We should have the results from one of them any minute."
Dr. Andrews came into the room. His face was long. Clarice felt her stomach drop.
"It's a no go, sir. The DNA doesn't match. Strangely though, the hair samples were a perfect match. I can't explain it. Anyway, we can't hold him."
"Damn it," swore Pearsall.
"Wait a moment, Doctor. How can the hair samples match and not the DNA?"
"I'm not really sure. I've never seen a thing like this happen before. It's strange."
Clarice stared out one of the windows in the building and watched Michael walk to a waiting cab. She was sure this was not the last time she would see him.
"Sir, I need to ask you something," said Clarice back in Pearsall's office.
"What is it, Starling?"
" I want to ask a higher specialist how it was possible to have the hair samples match but not the DNA. I will have to use a coded message. I'm not even sure he'll reply."
"And who is this person?"
"Dr. Lecter."
Later that day, Clarice posted this message in the National Tattler, the China Post, and the Washington Post.
666,
I need help. Hair is the same but different DNA. Please respond. I am ready to talk.
Hannah
Nothing significant happened for two weeks. Clarice found no other leads and the Crusader was oddly quiet. No reports of missing people were filed and no bodies were found. She a strange sense of foreboding. At the end of the second week, she found a reply to her message in all three newspapers.
Dear Hannah,
So nice to hear from you. Greek mythology. Look for the monster who was killed by Bellerophon. That is your reason why. Ready? We'll see.
Ta Ta,
666
Greek mythology? She went straight to her computer and began searching for Bellerophon. She skimmed through several sites before she found what she was looking for.
Chimera: a fierce mythological creature with the head of a loin, body of a goat, and tail of a snake. Each part of this creature has it own unique identity.
The phrase "own unique identity" sparked something in Starling. She called Dr. Andrews at once.
"Hello Dr. Andrews speaking."
"Dr. Andrews, this is Special Agent Starling. Is there any kind of disorder or disease that when a person has it, they are referred to as a Chimera?"
"Hmm...that sounds vaguely familiar. Let me check it out and I'll get right back to you."
"Right."
She hung up, feeling that she was on the right path again. Fifty minutes later, Dr. Andrews phoned her back.
"There is a disorder which the patients are called Chimeras. It's extremely rare. People who are chimeras have more than one genetic code. We took the liberty of running another series of tests on that blood sample and the second one came up."
"We had the right guy."
