The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris [24]
“Taking you along today, Jack's showing confidence in you where nobody can miss it,” he said. “In case, say, somebody in the Office of Professional Responsibility has your jacket in front of him and his bowels in an uproar, understand what I'm telling you?”
“Ummm.”
“Crawford's a standup guy. He made it clear where it matters that you had to secure the scene. He let you go in there bare--- that is, bare of all your visible sym?bols of authority, and he said that too. And the re?sponse time of the Baltimore cops was pretty slow. Also, Crawford needs the help today, and he'd have to wait an hour for Jimmy Price to get somebody here from the lab. So you got it cut out for you, Starling. A floater's no day at the beach, either. It's not punishment for you, but if somebody outside needed to see it that way, they could. See, Crawford is a very subtle guy, but he's not inclined to explain things, that's why I'm tell?ing you... If you're working with Crawford, you should know what the deal is with him--- do you know?”
“I really don't.”
“He's got a lot on his mind besides Buffalo Bill. His wife Bella's real sick. She's... in a terminal situation. He's keeping her at home. If it wasn't for Buffalo Bill, he'd have taken compassionate leave.”
“I didn't know that.”
“It's not discussed. Don't tell him you're sorry or anything, it doesn't help him... they had a good time.”
“I'm glad you told me.”
Brigham brightened as they reached the airstrip. “I've got a couple of important speeches I give at the end of the firearms course, Starling, try not to miss them.” He took a shortcut between some hangars.
“I will.”
“Listen, what I teach is something you probably won't ever have to do. I hope you won't. But you've got some aptitude, Starling. If you have to shoot, you can shoot. Do your exercises.”
“Right.”
“Don't ever put it in your purse.”
“Right.”
“Pull it a few times in your room at night. Stay so you can find it.”
“I will.”
A venerable twinengined Beechcraft stood on the taxiway at the Quantico airstrip with its beacons turn?ing and the door open. One propeller was spinning, riffling the grass beside the tarmac.
“That wouldn't be the Blue Canoe,” Starling said.
“Yep.”
“It's little and it's old.”
“It is old,” Brigham said cheerfully. “Drug Enforce?ment seized it in Florida a long time ago, when it flopped in the 'Glades. Mechanically sound now, though. I hope Gramm and Rudman don't find out we're using it--- we're supposed to ride the bus.” He pulled up beside the airplane and got Starling's baggage out of the backseat. In some confusion of hands he managed to, give her the stuff and shake her hand.
And then, without meaning to, Brigham said, “Bless you, Starling.” The words felt odd in his Marine mouth. He didn't know where they came from and his face felt hot.
“Thanks... thank you, Mr. Brigham.”
Crawford was in the copilot's seat, in shirtsleeves and sunglasses. He turned to Starling when he heard the pilot slam the door.
She couldn't see his eyes behind the dark glasses, and she felt she didn't know him. Crawford looked pale and tough, like a root a bulldozer pushes up.
“Take a pew and read,” is all he said.
A thick case file lay on the seat behind him. The cover said BUFFALO BILL. Starling hugged it tight as the Blue Canoe blatted and shuddered and began to roll.
The Silence of the Lambsr
CHAPTER 11
The edges of the runway blurred and fell away. To the east, a flash of morning sun off the Chesapeake Bay as the small plane turned out of traffic.
Clarice Starling could see the school down there, and the surrounding Marine base at Quantico. On the as?sault course, tiny figures of Marines scrambled and ran.
This was how it looked from above.
Once after a nightfiring exercise, walking in the dark along the deserted Hogan's Alley, walking to think, she had heard airplanes roar over and then, in the new silence, voices calling in the black sky above her--- airborne troops in a night jump calling to each other as they came down through the darkness. And she wondered how it felt to wait