The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris [47]
“But a bug in Klaus' throat, a bug in the girl's throat in West Virginia, I can't ignore that. Alan Bloom's never heard of that specific act before, and neither have I. Have you ever run across it before, Starling? You've read the literature since I have.”
“Never. Inserting other objects, yes, but never an insect.”
“Two things to begin with. First, we go on the prem?ise that Dr. Lecter really knows something concrete. Second, we remember that Lecter looks only for the fun. Never forget fun. He has to want Buffalo Bill caught while Catherine Martin's still alive. All the fun and benefits have to lie in that direction. We've got nothing to threaten him with--- he's lost his commode seat and his books already. That cleans him out.”
“What would happen if we just told him the situa?tion and offered him something--- a cell with a view. That's what he asked for when he offered to help.”
“He offered to help, Starling. He didn't offer to snitch. Snitching wouldn't give him enough of a chance to show off. You're doubtful. You favor the truth. Listen, Lecter's in no hurry. He's followed this like it was baseball. We ask him to snitch, he'll wait. He won't do it right away.”
“Even for a reward? Something he won't get if Cath?erine Martin dies?”
"Say we tell him we know he's got information and we want him to snitch. He'd have the most fun by waiting and acting like he's trying to remember week after week, getting Senator Martin's hopes up and let?ting Catherine die, and then tormenting the next mother and the next, getting their hopes up, always just about to remember--- that would be better than having a view. It's the kind of thing he lives on. It's his nourishment.
“I'm not sure you get wiser as you get older, Starling, but you do learn to dodge a certain amount of hell. We can dodge some right there.”
“So Dr. Lecter has to think we're coming to him strictly for theory and insight,” Starling said.
“Correct.”
“Why did you tell me? Why didn't you just send me in to ask him that way?”
“I level with you. You'll do the same when you have a command. Nothing else works for long.”
“So there's no mention of the insect in Klaus' throat, no connection between Klaus and Buffalo Bill.”
“No. You came back to him because you were so impressed that he could predict Buffalo Bill would start scalping. I'm on the record dismissing him and so is Alan Bloom. But I'm letting you fool with it. You have an offer for some privileges--- stuff that only somebody as powerful as Senator Martin could get for him. He has to believe he should hurry because the offer ends if Catherine dies. The Senator totally loses interest in him if that happens. And if he fails, it's because he's not? smart and knowledgeable enough to do what he said he could do--- it's not because he's holding out to spite us.”
“Will the Senator lose interest?”
“Better you should be able to say under oath that you never knew the answer to that question.”
“I see.” So Senator Martin hadn't been told. That took some nerve. Clearly, Crawford was afraid of inter?ference, afraid the Senator might make the mistake of appealing to Dr. Lecter.
“Do you see?”
“Yes. How can he be specific enough to steer us to Buffalo Bill without showing he's got special knowl?edge? How can he do that with just theory and in?sight?”
“I don't know, Starling. He's had a long time to think about it. He's waited through six victims.”
The scrambler phone in the van buzzed and blinked with the first of a series of calls Crawford had placed with the FBI switchboard.
Over the next twenty minutes he talked to officers he knew in the Dutch State Police and Royal Marechau?see, an Overstelojtnant in the Swedish Technical Police who had studied at Quantico, a personal acquaintance who was assistant to the Rigspolitichef of the Danish governmental police, and he surprised Starling by breaking into French with the night command desk of the Belgian Police Criminelle. Always he stressed the need for speed in identifying Klaus and his associates. Each jurisdiction