The Silence of the Lambs - Thomas Harris [83]
“Did you saddle her?”
“No. I didn't take their saddle. Just a rope hackamore was all.”
“As you went off in the dark, could you hear the lambs back where the lights were?”
“Not long. There weren't but twelve.”
“You still wake up sometimes, don't you? Wake up in the iron dark with the lambs screaming?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you think if you caught Buffalo Bill yourself and if you made Catherine all right, you could make the lambs stop screaming, do you think they'd be all right too and you wouldn't wake up again in the dark and hear the lambs screaming? Clarice?”
“Yes. I don't know. Maybe.”
“Thank you, Clarice.” Dr. Lecter seemed oddly at peace.
“Tell me his name, Dr. Lecter, ” Starling said.
“Dr. Chilton,” Lecter said, “I believe you know each other.”
For an instant, Starling didn't realize Chilton was behind her. Then he took her elbow.
She took it back, Officer Pembry and his big partner were with Chilton.
“In the elevator,” Chilton said. His face was mottled red.
“Did you know Dr. Chilton has no medical degree?” Dr. Lecter said. “Please bear that in mind later on.”
“Let's go,” Chilton said.
“You're not in charge here, Dr. Chilton,” Starling said.
Officer Pembry came around Chilton. “No, ma'am, but I am. He called my boss and your boss both. I'm sorry, but I've got orders to see you out. Come on with me, now.”
“Goodbye, Clarice. Will you let me know if ever the lambs stop screaming?”
“Yes.”
Pembry was taking her arm. It was go or fight him.
“Yes,” she said. “I'll tell you.”
“Do you promise?”
“Yes.”
“Then why not finish the arch? Take your case file with you, Clarice, I won't need it anymore.” He held it at arm's length. through the bars, his forefinger along the spine. She reached across the barrier and took it. For an instant the tip of her forefinger touched Dr. Lecter's. The touch crackled in his eyes.
“Thank you, Clarice.”
“Thank you, Dr. Lecter.”
And that is how he remained in Starling's mind. Caught in the instant when he did not mock. Standing in his white cell, arched like a dancer, his hands clasped in front of him and his head slightly to the side.
She went over a speed bump at the airport fast enough to bang her head on the roof of the car, and had to run for the airplane Krendler had ordered her to catch.
The Silence of the Lambsr
CHAPTER 36
Officers Pembry and Boyle were experienced men brought especially from Brushy Mountain State Prison to be Dr. Lecter's warders. They were calm and careful and did not feel they needed their job explained to them by Dr. Chilton.
They had arrived in Memphis ahead of Lecter and examined the cell minutely. When Dr. Lecter was brought to the old courthouse, they examined him as well. He was subjected to an internal body search by a male nurse while, he was still in restraints. His clothing was searched thoroughly and a metal detector run over the seams.
Boyle and Pembry came to an understanding with him, speaking in low, civil tones close to his ears as he was examined.
“Dr. Lecter, we can get along just fine. We'll treat you just as good as you treat us. Act like a gentleman and you get the Eskimo Pie. But we're not pussyfooting around with you, buddy. Try to bite, and we'll leave you smoothmouthed. Looks like you got something good going here. You don't want to fuck it up, do you?”
Dr. Lecter crinkled his eyes at them in a friendly fashion. If he had been inclined to reply he would have been prevented by the wooden peg between his molars as the nurse shined a flashlight in his mouth and ran a gloved finger into his cheeks.
The metal detector beeped at his cheeks.
“What's that?” the nurse asked.
“Fillings,” Pembry said. “Pull his lip back there. You've put some miles on them back ones, haven't you, Doc?”
“Strikes me