The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris [6]
“Multiple Miggs, in the cell down there. He hissed at you. What did he say?”
“He said, 'I can smell your cunt.”'
“I see. I myself cannot. You use Evyan skin cream, and sometimes you wear L'Air du Temps, but not today. Today you are determinedly unperfumed. How do you feel about what Miggs said?”
“He's hostile for reasons I couldn't know. It's too bad. He's hostile to people, people are hostile to him. It's a loop.”
“Are you hostile to him?”
“I'm sorry he's disturbed. Beyond that, he's noise. How did you know about the perfume?”
“A puff from your bag when you got out your card. Your bag is lovely.”
“Thank you.”
“You brought your best bag, didn't you?”
“Yes.” It was true. She had saved for the classic ca?sual handbag, and it was the best item she owned.
“It's much better than your shoes.”
“Maybe they'll catch up.”
“I have no doubt of it.”
“Did you do the drawings on your walls, Doctor?”
“Do you think I called in a decorator?”
“The one over the sink is a European city?”
“It's Florence. That's the Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo, seen from the Belvedere.”
“Did you do it from memory, all the detail?”
“Memory, Officer Starling, is what I have instead of a view.”
"The other one is a crucifixion? The middle cross is empty.'
“It's Golgotha after the Deposition. Crayon and Magic Marker on butcher paper. It's what the thief who had been promised Paradise really got, when they took the paschal lamb away.”
“And what was that?”
“His legs broken of course, just like his companion who mocked Christ. Are you entirely innocent of the Gospel of St. John? Look at Duccio, then--- he paints accurate crucifixions. How is Will Graham? How does he look?”
“I don't know Will Graham.”
“You know who he is. Jack Crawford's protégé. The one before you. How does his face look?”
“I've never seen him.”
“This is called 'cutting up a few old touches,' Officer Starling, you don't mind do you?”
Beats of silence and she plunged.
“Better than that, we could touch up a few old cuts here. I brought---”
“No. No, that's stupid and wrong. Never use wit in a segue. Listen, understanding a witticism and replying to it makes your subject perform a fast, detached scan that is inimical to mood. It is on the plank of mood that we proceed. You were doing fine, you'd been courteous and receptive to courtesy, you'd established trust by telling the embarrassing truth about Miggs, and then you come in with a hamhanded segue into your questionnaire, It won't do.”
“Dr. Lecter, you're an experienced clinical psychiatrist. Do you think I'm dumb enough to try to run some kind of mood scam on you? Give me some credit. I'm asking you to respond to the questionnaire, and you will or you won't. Would it hurt to look at the thing?”
“Officer Starling, have you read any of the papers coming out of Behavioral Science recently?”
“Yes.”
“So have I. The FBI stupidly refuses to send me the Law Enforcement Bulletin, but I get it from secondhand dealers and I have the News from John Jay, and the psychiatric journals. They're dividing the people who practice serial murder into two groups--- organized and disorganized. What do you think of that?”
“It's... fundamental, they evidently---”
“Simplistic is the word you want. In fact, most psy?chology is puerile, Officer Starling, and that practiced in Behavioral Science is on a level with phrenology. Psychology doesn't get very good material to start with. Go to any college psychology department and look at the students and faculty: ham radio enthusiasts and other personalitydeficient buffs. Hardly the best brains on the campus: Organized and disorganized--- a real bottomfeeder thought of that.”
“How would you change the classification?”
“I wouldn't.”
“Speaking of publications, I read your pieces on sur?gical addiction and leftside, rightside facial displays.”
“Yes, they were firstrate,” Dr. Lecter said.
“I thought so, and so did Jack Crawford. He pointed them out to me. That's one reason he's anxious for you---”
“Crawford the Stoic is anxious? He must be busy if he's recruiting help from the student body.”
“He