The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris [66]
One more thing, Doctor. You know, Health and Human Services is right here in Baltimore. My thoughts are running to the Office of Eligibility Policy, and I expect your thoughts got there first, didn't they? What if Senator Martin, sometime after her daughter's funeral, asked the fellows over at Eligibility this ques?tion: Should the sexchange operations you perform here be considered cosmetic surgery? Maybe they'll scratch their heads and decide, 'Why, you know, Sena?tor Martin's right. Yes. We think it's cosmetic surgery,' then this program won't qualify for federal assistance any more than a nosejob clinic."
“That's insulting.”
“No, it's just the truth.”
“You don't frighten me, you don't intimidate me---”
“Good. I don't want to do either one, Doctor. I just want you to know I'm serious. Help me, Doctor. Please.”
“You said you're working with Alan Bloom.”
“Yes. The University of Chicago---”
“I know Alan Bloom, and I'd rather discuss this on a professional level. Tell him I'll be in touch with him this morning. Ill tell you what I've decided before noon. I do care about the young woman, Mr. Crawford. And the others. But there's a lot at stake here, and I don't think it's as important to you as it ought to be... Mr. Crawford, have you had your blood pressure checked recently?”
“I do it myself.”
“And do you prescribe for yourself?”
“That's against the law, Dr. Danielson.”
“But you have a doctor.”
“Yes.”
“Share your findings with him, Mr. Crawford. What a loss to us all if you dropped dead. You'll hear from me later in the morning.”
“How much later, Doctor? How about an hour?”
“An hour.”
Crawford's beeper sounded as he got off the elevator at the ground floor. His driver, Jeff, was beckoning as Crawford trotted to the van. She's dead and they found her, Crawford thought as he grabbed the phone. It was the Director calling. The news wasn't as bad as it could get, but it was bad enough: Chilton had butted into the case and now Senator Martin was stepping in. The attorney general of the state of Maryland, on instructions from the governor, had authorized the extradition to Ten?nessee of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. It would take all the muscle of the Federal Court, District of Maryland, to prevent or delay the move. The Director wanted a judgment call from Crawford and he wanted it now.
“Hold on,” Crawford said. He held the receiver on his thigh and looked out the van window. There wasn't much color in February for the first light to find. All gray. So bleak.
Jeff started to say something and Crawford hushed him with a motion of his hand.
Lecter's monster ego. Chilton's ambition. Senator Martin's terror for her child. Catherine Martin's life. Call it.
“Let them go,” he said into the phone.
The Silence of the Lambsr
CHAPTER 29
Dr. Chilton and three wellpressed Tennessee state troopers stood close together on the windy tar?mac at sunrise, raising their voices over a wash of radio traffic from the open door of the Grumman Gulfstream and from the ambulance idling beside the airplane.
The trooper captain in charge handed Dr. Chilton a pen. The papers blew over the end of the clipboard and the policeman had to smooth them down.
“Can't we do this in the 'air?” Chilton asked.
“Sir, we have to do the documentation at the mo?ment of physical transfer. That's my instructions.”
The copilot finished clamping the ramp over the air?plane steps. “Okay,” he called.
The troopers gathered with Dr. Chilton at the back of the ambulance. When he opened the back doors, they tensed as though they expected something to jump out. '
Dr. Hannibal Lecter stood upright on his hand truck, wrapped in canvas webbing and wearing his hockey mask. He was relieving his bladder while Barney held the urinal.
One of the troopers snorted. The other two looked away.
“Sorry,” Barney said to Dr. Lecter, and closed the doors again.
“That's all right, Barney,” Dr. Lecter said. “I'm quite finished, thank you.”
Barney rearranged Lecter's clothing and rolled him to the back of the