The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris [60]
“But then?”
“I found something strange in the barn. They had a little tack room out there. I thought this thing was some kind of old helmet. When I got it down, it was stamped ”W. W. Greener's Humane Horse Killer.“ It was sort of a bellshaped metal cap and it had a place in the top to chamber a cartridge. Looked like about a .32.”
“Did they feed out slaughter horses on this ranch, Clarice?”
“Yes, they did.”
“Did they kill them at the ranch?”
“The glue and fertilizer ones they did. You can stack six in a truck if they're dead. The ones for dog food they hauled away alive.”
“The one you rode around the yard?”
“We ran away together.”
“How far did you get?”
“I got about as far as I'm going until you break down the diagnostics for me.”
“Do you know the procedure for testing male appli?cants for transsexual surgery?”
“No.”
“It may help if you bring me a copy of the regimen from any of the centers, but to begin: the battery of tests usually includes Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, HouseTreePerson, Rorschach, Drawing of SelfConcept, Thematic Apperception, MMPI of course, and a couple of others--- the Jenkins, I think, that NYU developed. You need something you can see quickly, don't you? Don't you, Clarice?”
“That would be the best, something quick.”
"Let's see... our hypothesis is we're looking for a male who will test differently from the way a true transsexual would test. All right--- on HouseTreePer?son, look for someone who didn't draw the female figure first. Male transsexuals almost always draw the female first and, typically, they pay a lot of attention to adornments on the females they draw. Their male figures are simple stereotypes--- there are some notable exceptions where they draw Mr. America--- but not much in between.
"Look for a house drawing without the rosyfuture embellishments--- no baby carriage outside, no curtains, no flowers in the yard.
“You get two kinds of trees with real transsexuals?--- flowing, copious willows and castration themes. The trees that are cut off by the edge of the drawing or the edge of the paper, the castration images, are full of life in the drawings of true transsexuals. Flowering and fruitful stumps. That's an important distinction. They're very unlike the frightened, dead, mutilated trees you see in drawings by people with mental disturbances. That's a good one--- Billy's tree will be frightful. Am I going too fast?”
“No, Dr. Lecter.”
“On his drawing of himself; a transsexual will almost never draw himself naked. Don't be misled by a certain amount of paranoid ideation in the TAT cards--- that's fairly common among transsexual subjects who cross-?dress a lot; oftentimes they've had bad experiences with the authorities. Shall I summarize?”
“Yes, I'd like a summary.”
“You should try to obtain a list of people rejected from all three genderreassignment centers. Check first the ones rejected for criminal record--- and among those look hard at the burglars. Among those who tried to conceal criminal records, look for severe childhood dis?turbances associated with violence. Possibly intern?ment in childhood. Then go to the tests. You're looking for a white male, probably under thirtyfive and siz?able. He's not a transsexual, Clarice. He just thinks he is, and he's puzzled and angry because they won't help him. That's all I want to say, I think, until I've read the case. You will leave it with me.”
“Yes.”
“And the pictures.”
“They're included.”
“Then you'd better run with what you have, Clarice, and we'll see how you do.”
“I need to know how you---”
“No. Don't be grabby or we'll discuss it next week. Come back when you've made some progress. Or not. And Clarice?”
“Yes.”
“Next time you'll tell me two things. What happened with the horse is one. The other thing I wonder is... how do you manage your rage?”
Alonzo came for her. She held her notes against her chest, walking head bent, trying to hold it all in her mind. Eager for the outside air, she didn't even glance toward Chilton's