Red Dragon - Thomas Harris [108]
Their greenness disgusted Dolarhyde. “What happened to your teeth?” he asked softly.
“What's it to you?”
“Did you pull them for your boyfriend, you rotten prick?” Dolarhyde stood too close.
“Get the hell away from me.”
Quietly, “Pig. Idiot. Trash. Fool.”
With a onehand shove Dolarhyde sent him flying back to slam against the van. The oil can and spout clattered on the asphalt
Dolarhyde picked it up.
“Don't run. I can catch you.” He pulled the spout ftom the can and looked at its sharp end.
The attendant was pale. There was something in Dolarhyde's face that he had never seen before, anywhere.
For a red instant Dolarhyde saw the spout jammed in the man's chest, draining his heart. He saw Reba's face through the windshield. She was shaking her head, saying something. She was trying to find the handle to roll her window down.
“Ever had anything broken, asseyes?”
The attendant shook his head fast. “I didn't mean no offense, now. Honest to God.”
Dolarhyde held the curved metal spout in front of the man's face. He held it in both hands and his chest muscles bunched as he bent it double. He pulled out the man's waistband and dropped the spout down the front of his pants.
“Keep your pig eyes to yourself.” He stuffed money for the gas in the man's shirt pocket. “You can run now,” he said. “But I could catch you anytime.”
? HYPERLINK “” \l “CONTENTS” ??
Red Dragon
CHAPTER 36
The tape came on Saturday in a small package addressed to Will Graham, c/o FBI Headquarters, Washington. It had been mailed in Chicago on the day Lounds was killed.
The laboratory and Latent Prints found nothing useful on the cassette case or the wrapper.
A copy of the tape went to Chicago in the afternoon pouch. Special Agent Chester brought it to Graham in the jury room at midafternoon. A memo from Lloyd Bowman was attached:
Voiceprints verify this is Lounds. Obviously he was repeating dictation. It's a new tape, manufactured in the last three months and never used before. Behavioral Science is picking at the content. Dr. Bloom should hear it when he's well enough - you decide about that.
Clearly the killer's trying to rattle you.
He'll do that once too often, I think.
A dry vote of confidence, much appreciated.
Graham knew he had to listen to the tape. He waited until Chester left.
He didn't want to be closed up in the jury room with it. The empty courtroom was better - some sun came in the tall windows. The cleaning women had been in and dust still hung in the sunlight.
The tape recorder was small and gray. Graham put it on a counsel table and pushed the button.
A technician's monotone: “Case number 426238, item 814, tagged and logged, a tape cassette. This is a rerecording.”
A shift in the quality of the sound.
Graham held on to the railing of the jury box with both hands.
Freddy Lounds sounded tired and frightened.
“I have had a great privilege. I have seen . . . I have seen with wonder . . . wonder and awe . . . awe . . . the strength of the Great Red Dragon.”
The original recording had been interrupted frequently as it was made. The machine caught the clack of the stop key each time. Graham saw the finger on the key. Dragon finger.
"I lied about Him. All I wrote was lies from Will Graham. He made me write them. I have . . . I have blasphemed against the Dragon. Even so . . . the Dragon is merciful. Now I want to serve Him. He . . . has helped me understand . . . His Splendor and I will praise Him. Newspapers, when you print this, always capitalize the H in 'Him.'
"He knows you made me lie, Will Graham. Because I was forced to lie, He will be more . . . more merciful to me than to you, Will Graham.
"Reach behind you, Will Graham . . . and feel for the small knobs on the top of your pelvis. Feel your spine between them . . . that is the precise spot . . . where the Dragon will snap your spine.
Graham kept his hands on the railing. Damn if I'll feel. Did the Dragon not know the nomenclature of the iliac spine, or did he choose