table and chair bolted to the floor. The table was stacked with softcover books and correspondence. He walked up to the bars, put his hands on them, took his hands away.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter lay on his cot asleep, his head propped on a pillow against the wall. Alexandre Dumas' LeGrand Dictionnaire de Cuisine was open on his chest.
Graham had stared through the bars for about five seconds when Lecter opened his eyes and said, "That's the same atrocious aftershave you wore in court."
"I keep getting it for Christmas."
Dr. Lecter's eyes are maroon and they reflect the light redly in tiny points. Graham felt each hair bristle on his nape. He put his hand on the back of his neck.
"Christmas, yes," Lecter said. "Did you get my card?"
"I got it. Thank you."
Dr. Lecter's Christmas card had been forwarded to Graham from the FBI crime laboratory inWashington. He took it into the backyard, burned it, and washed his hands before touching Molly.
Lecter rose and walked over to his table. He is a small, lithe man. Very neat. "Why don't you have a seat, Will? I think there are some folding chairs in a closet just down that way. At least, that's where it sounds like they come from."
"The orderly's bringing one."
Lecter stood until Graham was seated in the hall. "And how is Officer Stewart?" he asked.
"Stewart's fine." Officer Stewart left law enforcement after he saw Dr. Lecter's basement He managed a motel now. Graham did not mention this. He didn't think Stewart would appreciate any mail from Lecter.
"Unfortunate that his emotional problems got the better of him. I thought he was a very promising young officer. Do you ever have any problems, Will?"
"No."
"Of course you don't."
Graham felt that Lecter was looking through to the back of his skull. His attention felt like a fly walking around in there.
"I'm glad you came. It's been what now, three years? My callers are all professional. Banal clinical psychiatrists and grasping second-rate doctors of psychology from silo colleges somewhere. Pencil lickers trying to protect their tenure with pieces in the journals."
"Dr. Bloom showed me your article on surgical addiction in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry."
"And?"
"Very interesting, even to a layman."
"A layman... layman - layman. Interesting term," Lecter said. "So many learned fellows going about. So many experts on government grants. And you say you're a layman. But it was you who caught me, wasn't it, Will? Do you know how you did it?"
"I'm sure you've read the transcript. It's all in there."
"No it's not. Do you know how you did it, Will?"
"It's in the transcript. What does it matter now?"
"It doesn't matter to me, Will."
"I want you to help me, Dr. Lecter."
"Yes, I thought so."
"It's aboutAtlantaandBirmingham."
"Yes."
"You read about it, I'm sure."
"I've read the papers. I can't clip them. They won't let me have scissors, of course. Sometimes they threaten me with loss of books, you know. I wouldn't want them to think I was dwelling on anything morbid." He laughed. Dr. Lecter has small white teeth. "You want to know how he's choosing them, don't you?"
"I thought you would have some ideas. I'm asking you to tell me what they are."
"Why should I?"
Graham had anticipated the question. A reason to stop multiple murders would not occur readily to Dr. Lecter.
"There are things you don't have," Graham said. "Research materials, filmstrips even. I'd speak to the chief of staff."
"Chilton. You must have seen him when you came in. Gruesome, isn't it? Tell me the truth, he fumbles at your head like a freshman pulling at a panty girdle, doesn't he? Watched you out of the corner of his eye. Picked that up, didn't you? You may not believe this, but he actually tried to give me a Thematic Apperception Test. He was sitting there just like the Cheshire cat waiting for Mf13to come up. Ha. Forgive me, I forget that you're not among the anointed. It's a card with a woman in bed and a man in the foreground. I was supposed to avoid a sexual interpretation. I laughed. He puffed up and told everybody I avoided prison with a Ganser syndrome - never mind, it's boring."
"You'd have access to the AMA filmstrip library."
"I don't think you'd get me the things I want."
"Try me."
"I have quite enough to read as it is."
"You'd get to see the file on this case. There's another reason."
"Pray."
"I thought you might be curious to find out if you're smarter than the person I'm looking for."
"Then, by implication, you think you are smarter