Hannibal - Thomas Harris [22]
Starling rose to get a nurse, but his voice stopped her before she reached the door..“I'm fine, it's all okay now.”
Maybe a direct question would be better than trying to lead him. “Mr. Verger, had you ever seen Dr Lecter before the court assigned you to him for therapy? Did you know him socially?”
“No,”
“You were both on the board of the Baltimore Philharmonic.”
“No, my seat was just because we contribute. I sent my lawyer when there was a vote.”
“You never gave a statement in the course of Dr Lecter's trial.”
She was learning to time her questions so he would have breath to answer.
“They said they had enough to convict him six times, nine times. And he beat it all on an insanity plea.”
“The court found him insane. Dr Lecter did not plead.”
“Do you find that distinction important?” Mason asked.
With the question, she first felt his mind, prehensile and deepsleeved, different from the vocabulary he used with her.
The big eel, now accustomed to the light, rose from the rocks in his aquarium and began the tireless circle, a rippling ribbon of brown beautifully patterned with irregular cream spots.
Starling was ever aware of it, moving in the corner of her vision.
“It's a Muraena Kidako,” Mason said. "There's an even bigger one in captivity in Tokyo. This one is second biggest.
“Its common name is the Brutal Moray, would you like to see why?”
“No,” Starling said, and turned a page in her notes. “So in the course of your courtordered therapy, Mr. Verger, you invited Dr Lecter to your home.”
“I'm not ashamed anymore. I'll tell you about anything. It's all okay now. I got a walk on those trumpedup molestation counts if I did five hundred hours of community service, worked at the dog pound and got therapy from Dr Lecter. I thought if I got the doctor involved in something, he'd have to cut me some slack on the therapy and wouldn't violate my parole if I didn't show up all the time, or if I was a little stoned at my appointments.”
“This was when you had the house in Owings Mills.”
“Yes. I had told Dr Lecter everything, about Africa and Idi and all, and I said I'd show him some of my stuff.”
“You'd show him . . . ?”
“Paraphernalia. Toys. In the corner there, that's the little portable guillotine I used for Idi Amin. You can throw it in the back of a jeep, go anywhere, the most remote village. Set up in fifteen minutes. Takes the condemned about ten minutes to cock it with a windlass, little longer if it's a woman or a kid. I'm not ashamed of any of that, because I'm cleansed.”.“Dr Lecter came to your house.”
"Yes. I answered the door in some leather, you know. Watched for some reaction, didn't see any. I was concerned he'd be afraid of me, but he didn't seem to be. Afraid of me hat's funny now. I invited him upstairs. I showed him, I had adopted some dogs from the shelter, two dogs that were friends, and I had them in a cage together with plenty of fresh water, but no food. I was curious about what would eventually happen.
“I showed him my noose setup, you know, autoerotic asphyxia, you sort of hang yourself but not really, feels good while you - you follow?”
“I follow.”
“Well, he didn't seem to follow. He asked me how it worked and I said, you're an odd psychiatrist not to know that, and he said, and I'll never forget his smile, he said, `Show me.' I thought, I've got you now!”
“And you showed him.”
“I am not ashamed of that. We grow by our mistakes. I'm cleansed.”
“Please go on, Mr. Verger.”
“So I pulled down the noose in front of my big mirror and put it on and had the release in my hand, and I was beating off with the other hand watching for his reaction, but I couldn't tell anything. Usually I can read people. He was sitting in a chair over in the corner of the room. His legs were crossed and he had his fingers locked over his knee. Then he stood up and reached in his jacket pocket, all elegant, like James Mason reaching for his lighter, and he said, `Would you like an amyl popper?' I thought, Wow! He gives me one now and he's got to give them to me forever to keep his