Hannibal - Thomas Harris [36]
“Do I want to know how you found that out?”
“Strictly legit,” Starling said. “Well, pretty much legit - I didn't leave anything in his house. I've got the codes to look at his phone bill, that's all. All the tech agents have them. Let's say he obstructs justice. With his influence, how long would we have to beg for a warrant to trap and trace? What could you do to him anyway if he was convicted? But he's using a sports book.”
“I see it,” Crawford said. “The Nevada Gaming Commission could either tap the phone or squeeze the sports book for what we need to know, which is where the calls go.”
She nodded. “I left Mason alone just like you said.”
“I can see that,” Crawford said. “You can tell Mason we expect to help through Interpol and the embassy. Tell him we need to move people down there and start the framework for extradition. Letter's probably committed crimes in South America, so we better extradite before the Rio police start looking in their files under Cannibalismo. If he's in South America at all. Starling, does it make you sick to talk to Mason?”
“I have to get in the mode. You walked me through it when we did that floater in West Virginia. What am I saying, `floater.' She was a person named Fredericka Bimmel, and, yes, Mason makes me sick. A lot of stuff makes me sick lately, Jack.”
Starling surprised herself into silence. She had never before addressed Section Chief Jack Crawford by his first name, she had never planned to call him “Jack” and it shocked her. She studied his face, a face famously hard to read.
He nodded, his smile wry and sad. “Me too, Starling. Want a couple of these PeptoBismol tablets to chew before you talk to Mason?”.Mason Verger did not bother to take Starling's call. A secretary thanked her for the message and said he'd return her call. But he didn't get back to her personally. To Mason, several places higher on the notification list than Starling, the Xray match was old news.
Hannibal
Chapter 14
MASON KNEW that his Xray was truly of Dr Letter's arm well before Starling was told, because Mason's sources within the justice Department were better than hers.
Mason was told in an Email message signed with the screen name Token287. That is the second screen name of U.S. Representative Parton Vellmore's assistant on the House Judiciary Committee. Vellmore's office had been Emailed by CassiusI99, the second screen name of the justice Department's own Paul Krendler.
Mason was excited. He did not think Dr Letter was in Brazil, but the Xray proved that the doctor now had the normal number of fingers on his left hand. That information meshed with a new lead from Europe on the doctor's whereabouts. Mason believed the tip came from within Italian law enforcement and it was the strongest whiff of Letter he had had in years.
Mason had no intention of sharing his lead with the FBI. Owing to seven years of relentless effort, access to confidential federal files, extensive leafleting, no international restrictions and large expenditures of money, Mason was ahead of the FBI in the pursuit of Lecter. He only shared information with the Bureau when he needed to suck its resources.
To keep up appearances, he instructed his secretary to pester Starling for developments anyway. Mason's tickler file prompted the secretary to call her at least three times a day.
Mason immediately wired five thousand dollars to his informant in Brazil to pursue the source of the Xray. The contingency fund he wired to Switzerland was much larger and he was prepared to send more when he had hard information in hand.
He believed that his source in Europe had found Dr Lecter, but Mason had been cheated on information many times and he had learned to be careful. Soon proof would come. Until it did, to relieve the agony of waiting Mason concerned himself with what would happen after the doctor