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CHAPTER 7

Dr. Frederick Chilton, chief of staff at the Chesapeake State Hos?pital for the Criminally Insane, came around his desk to shake Will Graham’s hand.

“Dr. Bloom called me yesterday, Mr. Graham - or should I call you Dr. Graham?”

“I’m not a doctor.”

“I was delighted to hear from Dr. Bloom, we’ve known each other for years. Take that chair.”

“We appreciate your help, Dr. Chilton.”

“Frankly, I sometimes feel like Lecter’s secretary rather than his keeper,” Chilton said. “The volume of his mail alone is a nuisance. I think among some researchers it’s considered chic to correspond with him - I’ve seen his letters framed in psychology departments - and for a while it seemed that every Ph.D. candidate in the field wanted to interview him. Glad to cooperate with you, of course, and Dr. Bloom.” “I need to see Dr. Lecter in as much privacy as possible,” Graham said. “I may need to see him again or telephone him after today.” Chilton nodded. “To begin with, Dr. Lecter will stay in his room. That is absolutely the only place where he is not put in restraints. One wall of his room is a double barrier which opens on the hall. I’ll have a chair put there, and screens if you like.

“I must ask you not to pass him any objects whatever, other than paper free of clips or staples. No ring binders, pencils, or pens. He has his own felttipped pens.” “I might have to show him some material that could stimulate him,” Graham said.

“You can show him what you like as long as it’s on soft paper. Pass him documents through the sliding food tray. Don’t hand any?thing through the barrier and do not accept anything he might ex?tend through the barrier. He can return papers in the food tray. I in?sist on that. Dr. Bloom and Mr. Crawford assured me that you would cooperate on procedure.” “I will,” Graham said. He started to rise.

“I know you’re anxious to get on with it, Mr. Graham, but I want to tell you something first. This will interest you.

“It may seem gratuitous to warn you, of all people, about Lecter. But he’s very disarming. For a year after he was brought here, he behaved perfectly and gave the appearance of cooperating with at?tempts at therapy. As a result - this was under the previous adminis?trator - security around him was slightly relaxed.

“On the afternoon of July 8, 1976, he complained of chest pain. His restraints were removed in the examining room to make it easier to give him an electrocardiogram. One of his attendants left the room to smoke, and the other turned away for a second. The nurse was very quick and strong. She managed to save one of her eyes.

“You may find this curious.” Chilton took a strip of EKG tape from a drawer and unrolled it on his desk. He traced the spiky line with his forefinger. “Here, he’s resting on the examining table. Pulse seventytwo. Here, he grabs the nurse’s head and pulls her down to him. Here, he is subdued by the attendant. He didn’t resist, by the way, though the attendant dislocated his shoulder. Do you notice the strange thing? His pulse never got over eightyfive. Even when he tore out her tongue.” Chilton could read nothing in Graham’s face. He leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his chin. His hands were dry and shiny.

“You know, when Lecter was first captured we thought he might provide us with a singular opportunity to study a pure sociopath,” Chilton said. “It’s so rare to get one alive. Lecter is so lucid, so per?ceptive; he’s trained in psychiatry . . . and he’s a mass murderer. He seemed cooperative, and we thought that he could be a window on this kind of aberration. We thought we’d be like Beaumont studying digestion through the opening in St. Martin’s stomach.

“As it turned out, I don’t think we’re any closer to understanding him now than the day he came in. Have you ever talked with Lecter for any length of time?” “No. I just saw him when . . . I saw him mainly in court. Dr. Bloom showed me his articles in the journals,” Graham said.

“He’s very familiar with you. He’s given you a lot of thought.”

“You had some sessions with him?”

“Yes. Twelve. He’s impenetrable. Too sophisticated about the tests for them to register anything. Edwards, Fabré, even Dr. Bloom himself had a crack at him. I have their notes. He was an enigma to them too. It’s impossible, of course, to tell what he’s holding back or whether he understands more than he’ll say. Oh, since his commit?ment he’s done some brilliant pieces for The American Journal of Psychiatry and The General Archives. But they’re always about problems he doesn’t have. I think he’s afraid that if we ‘solve’ him, nobody will be interested in him anymore and he’ll be stuck in a back ward somewhere for the rest of his life.” Chilton paused. He had practiced using his peripheral vision to watch his subject in interviews. He believed that he could watch Graham this way undetected.

“The consensus around here is that the only person who has dem?onstrated any practical understanding of Hannibal Lecter is you, Mr. Graham. Can you tell me anything about him?” “No.”

“Some of the staff are curious about this: when you saw Dr. Lecter’s murders, their ‘style,’ so to speak, were you able perhaps to reconstruct his fantasies? And did that help you identify him?” Graham did not answer.

“We’re woefully short of material on that sort of thing. There’s one single piece in The Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Would you mind talking with some of the staff - no, no, not this trip - Dr. Bloom was very severe with me on that point. We’re to leave you alone. Next trip, perhaps.” Dr. Chilton had seen a lot of hostility. He was seeing some at the moment.

Graham stood up. “Thank you, doctor. I want to see Lecter now.”

The steel door of the maximumsecurity section closed behind Graham. He heard the bolt slide home.

Graham knew that Lecter slept most of the morning. He looked down the corridor. At that angle he could not see into Lecter’s cell, but he could tell that the lights inside were dimmed.

Graham wanted to see Dr. Lecter asleep. He wanted time to brace himself. If he felt Lecter’s madness in his head, he had to contain it quickly, like a spill.

To cover the sound of his footsteps, he followed an orderly push?ing a linen cart. Dr. Lecter is very difficult to slip up on.

Graham paused partway down the hall. Steel bars covered the entire front of the cell. Behind the bars, farther than arm’s reach, was a stout nylon net stretched ceiling to floor and wall to wall. Through the barrier, Graham could see a 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’ Le Grand 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 af?tershave 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 in Washington. 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 secondrate 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 govern?ment 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 about Atlanta and Birmingham.”

“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 any?thing 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 mate?rials, 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 Mf 13 to 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 than I am, since you caught me.”

“No. I know I’m not smarter than you are.”

“Then how did you catch me, Will?”

“You had disadvantages.”

“What disadvantages?”

“Passion. And you’re insane.”

“You’re very tan, Will.”

Graham did not answer.

“Your hands are rough. They don’t look like a cop’s hands any?more. That shaving lotion is something a child would select. It has a ship on the bottle, doesn’t it?” Dr. Lecter seldom holds his head upright. He tilts it as he asks a question, as though he were screwing an auger of curiosity into your face. Another silence, and Lecter said, “Don’t think you can persuade me with appeals to my intellectual vanity.” “I don’t think I’ll persuade you. You’ll do it or you won’t. Dr. Bloom is working on it anyway, and he’s the most-” “Do you have the file with you?”

“Yes.”

“And pictures?”

“Yes.”

“Let me have them, and I might consider it.”

“No.”

“Do you dream much, Will?”

“Goodbye, Dr. Lecter.”

“You haven’t threatened to take away my books yet.”

Graham walked away.

“Let me have the file, then. I’ll tell you what I think.”

Graham had to pack the abridged file tightly into the sliding tray. Lecter pulled it through.

“There’s a summary on top. You can read that now,” Graham said.

“Do you mind if I do it privately? Give me an hour.” Graham waited on a tired plastic couch in a grim lounge. Or?derlies came in for coffee. He did not speak to them. He stared at small objects in the room and was glad they held still in his vision. He had to go to the rest room twice. He was numb.

The turnkey admitted him to the maximumsecurity section again.

Lecter sat at his table, his eyes filmed with thought. Graham knew he had spent most of the hour with the pictures.

“This is a very shy boy, Will. I’d love to meet him . . . Have you considered the possibility that he’s disfigured? Or that he may be?lieve he’s disfigured?” “The mirrors.”

“Yes. You notice he smashed all the mirrors in the houses, not just enough to get the pieces he wanted. He doesn’t just put the shards in place for the damage they cause. They’re set so he can see himself. In their eyes - Mrs. Jacobi and . . . What was the other name?” “Mrs. Leeds.”

“Yes.”

“That’s interesting,” Graham said.

“It’s not ‘interesting.’ You’d thought of that before.”

“I had considered it.”

“You just came here to look at me. Just to get the old scent again, didn’t you? Why don’t you just smell yourself?” “I want your opinion.”

“I don’t have one right now.”

“When you do have one, I’d like to bear it.”

“May I keep the file?”

“I haven’t decided yet,” Graham said.

“Why are there no descriptions of the grounds? Here we have frontal views of the houses, floor plans, diagrams of the rooms where the deaths occurred, and little mention of the grounds. What were the yards like?” “Big backyards, fenced, with some hedges. Why?”

“Because, my dear Will, if this pilgrim feels a special relationship with the moon, he might like to go outside and look at it. Before he tidies himself up, you understand. Have you seen blood in the moonlight, Will? It appears quite black. Of course, it keeps the distinctive sheen. If one were nude, say, it would be better to have outdoor pri?vacy for that sort of thing. One must show some consideration for the neighbors, hmmmm?” “You think the yard might be a factor when he selects victims?”

“Oh yes. And there will be more victims, of course. Let me keep the file, Will. I’ll study it. When you get more files, I’d like to see them, too. You can call me. On the rare occasions when my lawyer calls, they bring me a telephone. They used to patch him through on the intercom, but everyone listened of course. Would you like to give me your home number?” “No.”

“Do you know how you caught me, Will?”

“Goodbye, Dr. Lecter. You can leave messages for me at the num?ber on the file.” Graham walked away.

“Do you know how you caught me?”

Graham was out of Lecter’s sight now, and he walked faster toward the far steel door.

“The reason you caught me is that we’re just alike” was the last thing Graham heard as the steel door closed behind him.

He was numb except for dreading the loss of numbness. Walking with his head down, speaking to no one, he could hear his blood like a hollow drumming of wings. It seemed a very short distance to the outside. This was only a building; there were only five doors between Lecter and the outside. He had the absurd feeling that Leeter had walked out with him. He stopped outside the entrance and looked around him, assuring himself that he was alone.

From a car across the street, his long lens propped on the window sill, Freddy Lounds got a nice profile shot of Graham in the doorway and the words in stone above him: “Chesapeake State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.” As it turned out, The National Tattler cropped the picture to just Graham’s face and the last two words in the stone.