In a few days they would cap it, the oaf reported.
Dolarhyde watched them calmly working between the jaws of the tiger's terrible striped face.
"May I touch your face?" said Miss Reba McClane.
He wanted to tell Reba McClane something. He wished she had one inkling of what she had almost done. He wished she had one flash of his Glory. But she could not have that and live. She must live: he had been seen with her and she was too close to home.
He had tried to share with Lecter, and Lecter had betrayed him. Still, he would like to share. He would like to share with her a little, in a way she could survive.
Chapter 34
"I know it's political, you know it's political, but it's pretty much what you're doing anyway," Crawford told Graham. They were walking down the State Street Mall toward the federal office building in the late afternoon. "Do what you're doing, just write out the parallels and I'll do the rest."
TheChicagopolice department had asked the FBI's Behavioral Science section for a detailed victim profile. Police officials said they would use it in planning disposition of extra patrols during the period of the full moon.
"Covering their ass is what they're doing," Crawford said, waving his bag of Tater Tots. "The victims have been affluent people, they need to stack the patrols in affluent neighborhoods. They know there'll be a squawk about that - the ward bosses have been fighting over the extra manpower ever since Freddy lit off. If they patrol the upper-middle-class neighborhoods and he hits the South Side, God help the city fathers. But if it happens, they can point at the damned feds. I can hear it now - 'They told us to do it that way. That's what they said do."'
"I don't think he's any more likely to hitChicagothan anywhere else," Graham said. "There's no reason to think so. It's a jerkoff. Why can't Bloom do the profile? He's a consultant to Behavioral Science."
"They don't want it from Bloom, they want it from us. It wouldn't do them any good to blame Bloom. Besides, he's still in the hospital. I'm instructed to do this. Somebody on the Hill has been on the phone with Justice. Above says do it. Will you just do it?"
"I'll do it. It's what I'm doing anyway."
"That's what I know," Crawford said. "Just keep doing it."
"I'd rather go back toBirmingham."
"No," Crawford said. "Stay with me on this."
The last of Friday burned down the west.
Ten days to go.
Chapter 35
"Ready to tell me what kind of an 'outing' this is?" Reba McClane asked Dolarhyde on Saturday morning when they had ridden in silence for ten minutes. She hoped it was a picnic.
The van stopped. She heard Dolarhyde roll down his window.
"Dolarhyde," he said. "Dr Warfield left my name."
"Yes, sir. Would you put this under your wiper when you leave the vehicle?"
They moved forward slowly. Reba felt a gentle curve in the road. Strange and heavy odors on the wind. An elephant trumpeted.
"The zoo," she said. "Terrific." She would have preferred a picnic. What the hell, this was okay. "Who's Dr. Warfield?"
"The zoo director."
"Is he a friend of yours?"
"No. We did the zoo a favor with the film. They're paying back."
"How?"
"You get to touch the tiger."
"Don't surprise me too much!"
"Did you ever look at a tiger?"
She was glad he could ask the question. "No. I remember a puma when I was little. That's all they had at the zoo inRed Deer. I think we better talk about this."
"They're working on the tiger's tooth. They have to put him to sleep. If you want to, you can touch him."
"Will there be a crowd, people waiting?"
"No. No audience. Warfield, me, a couple of people. TV's coming in after we leave. Want to do it?" An odd urgency in the question.
"Hell fuzzy yes, I do! Thank you... that's a fine surprise."
The van stopped.
"Uh, how do I know he's sound asleep?"
"Tickle him. If he laughs, run for it."
The floor of the treatment room felt like linoleum under Reba's shoes. The room was cool with large echoes. Radiant heat was coming from the far side.
A rhythmic shuffling of burdened feet and Dolarhyde guided her to one side until she felt the forked pressure of a corner.
It was in here now, she could smell it.
A voice. "Up, now. Easy. Down. Can we leave the sling under him, Dr. Warfield?"
"Yeah, wrap that cushion in one of the green towels and put it under his head. I'll send