Red Dragon Page #5

what l am becoming.

l know that you alone can

understand this transformation.

l have some things

l'd love to show you.

lf circumstances permit,

l hope we can correspond.

l have admired you for years

and have...

a complete collection

of your press notices.

Actually, l think of them

as unfair reviews.

As unfair as mine.

They do like to sling demeaning

nicknames, don't they?

''The Tooth Fairy. '' What could be

more inappropriate?

lt would shame me for you to

read that, if l didn't know...

you had suffered the same

distortions in the press.

l'm fed up with this

bloody stupid building!

Every day something breaking.

l swear they ought to tear

the whole f***ing place down.

-How much longer do we have?

-Ten minutes, max.

lnstructions for answering...

were probably in the section

Lecter tore out.

Why not just throw

the whole note away?

lt was full of compliments.

He couldn't bear

to part with them.

Now we can mash just a little.

You're so sly.

But so am l.

Aniline dyes and colored inks

are transparent to infrared.

These could be the tips of ''T's''

here and here.

On the end, that's a ''P, '' or possibly an ''R. ''

Maybe this is where he's telling

Lecter how to answer him.

There's only one way to carry on

a conversation...

that's one-way blind.

Publication. Wait a minute.

We know this guy reads the Tattler.

That's in his note, right?

The Tooth Fairy,

they made that up.

Three ''T's'' and an ''R''

in ''Tattler.''

How do you communicate

through a tabloid?

-You got what? News stories.

-Personals.

Maybe he wants Lecter to answer

him through the personals?

-That could be it.

-We need proofs of the pages...

before the next Tattler's published!

l'm on it!

lnvestigator Graham

interests me.

Not your standard gumshoe,

is he?

More alert.

Purposeful looking.

You should have taught him

not to meddle.

Forgive the stationery.

l chose it because

it'll dissolve very quickly...

ifyou should

have to swallow it.

lf l hear from you, next time

l might send you something wet.

Until then, dear Doctor...

l remain your most...

avid fan.

The Tattler got an ad order

signed 666...

Baltimore postmark

on the envelope.

lt's set to run this afternoon.

Chicago field office is sending

the text through now.

-''Dear Pilgrim.''

-That's it.

Lecter called him a pilgrim

when we talked.

''You honor me.

You're very beautiful.'' Christ!

''l offer 100 prayers

for your safety.

''Find help in John 6:22, 8:16...

''9:
1, Luke 1 :7.''

-Code.

-Has to be.

We've got 19 minutes to get in

a message if we can break this.

The Tattler can't hold

its presses any longer.

lt's simple.

They only needed cover

against casual readers.

-l'm thinking it's a book code.

-Code?

The first numeral...

''100 prayers,''

may be the page number.

The numbers after could be

line and letter. But what book?

-Bible?

-No, he's got ''Galatians 15:2.''

lt has only six chapters.

Same with ''Jonah 6:8.''

lt has four chapters.

He wasn't using a Bible.

Then the Tooth Fairy

named the book to use.

He specified it in his note,

in the part Lecter tore out.

lt would appear so.

What about sweating Lecter?

ln a mental hospital...

-l would think drugs--

-No.

They tried sodium amytal on him

three years ago, to find out...

where he buried

the Princeton student.

He gave them a recipe for dip.

lf we sweat him,

we lose the connection.

lf the Tooth Fairy

picked the book...

he knew Lecter would have it

in his cell.

-Can we get a list of his books?

-From Chilton, maybe.

No! Wait! Rankin and Willingham,

when they tossed his cell...

took Polaroids so they could put

everything back in place.

Ask them to meet me with

pictures of his bookshelves!

-Where?

-The Library!

l'm leery of letting

Lecter's message run...

without knowing what it says.

l say let this one run.

We keep working on the code.

At least it'll encourage

the Fairy to contact him again.

What if it encourages him

to do something besides write?

l don't like this any better than you.

But it's our best shot.

National Tattler Building,

Chicago, ll

Library of Congress,

Washington, D.C.

Oh, my God!

Hello?

Jack, it's Lloyd Bowman.

l solved the code.

You need to know what it says

right now.

Okay, Lloyd.

lt says,

''Graham home, Marathon, Florida.

''Save yourself. Kill them all.''

-Yeah?

-Bowman just broke the code.

-What does it say?

-l'll tell you in a second.

Now, listen to me. Everything is okay.

l've taken care of it. Stay on

the phone when l tell you.

Tell me now.

Lecter gave the bastard

your home address.

Wait.

Mom?

Head down, ma'am.

ls he after you now?

No, Lecter just suggested it

to him.

l hate this, Molly.

l'm sorry.

-lt's a sick feeling.

-l know it is.

But you'll be safe here.

Crawford's brother

owns this place.

No one in the world

knows you're here.

l'd just as soon

not talk about Crawford.

-What are you using as bait?

-Sometimes l use worms.

You like those?

Beneath the yellow folder...

you'll find

your latest rejection slip...

from the archives.

lt was brought to me by mistake

with some of my archives mail.

l'm afraid l opened it

without looking.

Sorry.

l think we'll remove

Dr. Lecter's toilet seat.

Atlanta P.D. nailed him.

He had a fake Bureau lD...

and was trying to get

the Leeds family autopsy photos.

lt's a Federal beef, so Atlanta

kicked him back to us.

Personally...

l'd like nothing better

than to see the dirt sandwich...

pulling five at Leavenworth.

But maybe there's a better way

to handle this.

Yeah? What's that?

l think we ought

to give him a story.

The Tooth Fairy's ugly...

and he's impotent with members

of the opposite sex.

Also, he sexually molests

his male victims.

While they're alive?

Sorry, l can't go into

those details.

But we do also speculate...

that he's the product

of an incestuous home.

No wonder the creep's

such a loser, right?

That's a tip we got

from Dr. Lecter, by the way.

So it's true that Lecter's

helping with your investigation?

Yes, it's true.

The Doctor was offended

a bottom-feeding lowlife like...

the Tooth Fairy would consider

himself in the same league.

Okay, tell me about this place you got here.

Will, your little

Washington hideaway.

This is an apartment l'm borrowing...

till this creep

goes down in flames.

l keep copies of the evidence

so l can work on it at night.

Make sure you can read the name

on that building.

Yeah.

All right, l got enough.

Just remember, l scratch

your back, you scratch mine.

lf my story draws the Fairy

in an attack on Graham...

and you nail the scumbag,

l get an exclusive.

F*** you, Lounds.

When we see the story,

we'll consider what to do...

about your sealed indictment.

All right, it was a pleasure

doing business with you, chumps.

l feel like l need a shower.

You okay with this?

Better he comes after me

than Molly and Josh.

So, yeah, l'm okay with it.

l wish we had

something better...

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