“I knew Dr. Lecter wouldn’t mind. He’d be disappointed if I didn’t jerk them around.”
“He attacked the nurse before you got to Baltimore State?”
“Yes.”
“His shoulder was dislocated.”
“That’s what I understand.”
“Was there an X ray taken?”
“Most likely.”
“I want the X ray.”
“Ummmm.”
“I found out Lecter autographs are divided into two groups, the ones written in ink, or preincarceration, and crayon or felt-tip writing from the asylum. Crayon’s worth more, but I expect you know that. Barney, I think you have all that stuff and you figure on parceling it out over the years to the autograph trade.”
Barney shrugged and said nothing.
“I think you’re waiting for him to be a hot topic again. What do you want, Barney?”
“I want to see every Vermeer in the world before I die.”
“Do I need to ask who got you started on Vermeer?”
“We talked about a lot of things in the middle of the night.”
“Did you talk about what he’d like to do if he was free?”
“No. Dr. Lecter has no interest in hypothesis. He doesn’t believe in syllogism, or synthesis, or any absolute.”
“What does he believe in?”
“Chaos. And you don’t even have to believe in it. It’s self-evident.”
Starling wanted to indulge Barney for the moment.
“You say that like you believe it,” she said, “but your whole job at Baltimore State was maintaining order. You were the chief orderly. You and I are both in the order business. Dr. Lecter never got away from you.”
“I explained that to you.”
“Because you never let your guard down. Even though in a sense you fraternized—”
“I did not fraternize,” Barney said. “He’s nobody’s brother. We discussed matters of mutual interest. At least the stuff was interesting to me when I found out about it.”
“Did Dr. Lecter ever make fun of you for not knowing something?”
“No. Did he make fun of you?”
“No,” she said to save Barney’s feelings, as she recognized for the first time the compliment implied in the monster’s ridicule. “He could have made fun of me if he’d wanted to. Do you know where the stuff is, Barney?”
“Is there a reward for finding it?”
Starling folded her paper napkin and put it under the edge of her plate. “The reward is my not charging you with obstruction of justice. I gave you a walk before when you bugged my desk at the hospital.”
“That bug belonged to the late Dr. Chilton.”