Disclaimer: Clarice Starling and Ardelia Mapp, are copyright to Thomas Harris; and the story plus original characters belong to me.
Author's Note: Once again, apologies for the procrastination - I can never write to schedule. So here are two chapters…
Year of Hell
by Josiah Tulkinhorn
Chapter Four: 4th January
New Scotland Yard; London. Ten a.m.
Sergeant Matt Payne hadn't moved for three hours, to the general irritation of the scientists in the crime lab, who were forced to move around him - but quite frankly Payne didn't care. It was troubling him terribly.
The scientists couldn't find the remains of the heart, but the DNA found in the apartment pointed to something else. Dr Hannibal Lecter - one of the world's most notorious cannibals.
The other part will have been eaten.
Payne couldn't understand it; he felt queasy at the very thought of it. It would have been cooked? Or did Dr Lecter prefer heart tartar?
This had once been a living, beating organ. The life pump of a human being, shunting blood throughout the body. Now it was reduced to this: remains on a plate - like the remains of a cheap steak. Was this what humans meant to Lecter? Just food?
The cold, sterile white refracted off him, and his steely grey eyes were full of pain. He knew he should keep a layer of detachment, and just focus on finding the killer, but the fact that Lecter had almost certainly fled the country, meant that Payne had little useful to do.
Bitterly shaking his head, he opened a laptop on the sterile work surface, pushing the heart to one side, and began to type yet another report. Cannibalism and paperwork. Just another day at the office.
Sort of.
--
Moscow. Three thirty p.m. (local time).
"You know, girl, that I'm indebted to you?"
"Why? You're a brilliant agent. You only got relegated to France because you pissed off to many people, after how the Bureau treated me. It should have been me that had gone."
"Yeah, but I only have another six months to go. So, what's happening?"
"Not a lot," said Clarice, "we've got several organisations trawling the globe, but we're not going to catch Lecter. He's too good at hiding. So what can we do?"
"Well, I'm starting to look around here. I've got some interviews lined up, and they're going to show me the forensics later today. The police are being really friendly…well, when they can understand me. They could be insulting me behind my back."
"Quite possible, knowing you."
"Well, thank you, Special Agent Starling. That gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, knowing that the Moscow Police are…oh, I give up. So what's with the new recruit?"
"Schulze? He seems okay. Bit eager to please, but weren't we all back at the Academy."
"Too true," said Ardelia, and Clarice continued:
"He's got some good grounding though. Should be useful with forensics, but he doesn't know psychology worth a damn."
"Nobody's perfect. Do you think he'll be able to handle what's coming?"
"No," said Clarice, "quite frankly I don't. So we'll just have to see."
"Yeah," said Ardelia, "look. Don't risk your life, on account of his word. Just be careful, girl. Take care of yourself."
"You too," said Clarice.
Ardelia put the phone down, and leaned back in her chair. In this station, there was cigarette smoke, but no fish! She was certainly going up in the world…
To Be Continued
Note: A shorter chapter, as there's another one detailing tomorrow.
Mr J Tulkinhorn.