The Silence of the Lambs Page #12

Police forms, some handwritten... Typed lab reports; we catch

words, phrases:
"Autopsy Protocols", "Histamine Analysis"...

Grainy enlargements of bullet slugs, showing matched

grooves... And then a stack of victim photos. The first one,

taken from a good distance away, shows a nude female body,

face down on a pebbly riverbank, surrounded by bits of litter.

Clarice hesitates again, then flips this photo to look at

the next. It makes her flinch, just slightly. Quickly she

turns through several more photographs, trying hard to

concentrate.

CRAWFORD (O.S.)

He keeps them alive for three days.

NEW ANGLE:

shows Crawford standing over her, swaying with the plane's

motion. Behind him, the open cockpit door, the pilot's back.

Crawford sits, removing sunglasses. He rubs his eyes.

CRAWFORD:

Why, we don't yet know... There's no

evidence of rape or physical abuse

prior to death. All the mutilation

you see there is post-mortem.

(a beat; he glances

at her)

I'm hot, are you hot? Bobby, it's

too damned hot back here...

The pilot adjusts a valve. Crawford turns to her again.

CRAWFORD:

So. Three days. Then he shoots them,

skins them - usually just the torsos -

and dumps them. Each body in a

different river, in a different state,

downstream from an interstate highway.

The water leaves us no fingerprints,

fibers, DNA fluids - no trace evidence

at all. That's Fredrica Bimmel, the

first one...

A COLOR PHOTO - IN CLARICE'S HANDS

shows a pretty, plump-cheeked brunette, in her high school

graduation cap and gown. She smiles at us with touching

optimism.

CRAWFORD (O.S.)

A big girl, like all the rest. Went

about 160... Her corpse was the only

one he took the trouble to weight

down, so actually, she was the third

girl found. After her, he got lazy...

NEW ANGLE:

as Clarice stares at the girl's face, moved. Crawford pulls

a map from the file, spreads it out. It shows the central

and eastern U.S., with widely-spaced, hand-drawn markings.

CRAWFORD:

Blue square for Belvedere, Ohio,

where the Bimmel girl was abducted.

Blue triangle where her body was

found - down here in Missouri. Same

marks for the other four girls, in

different colors. This new one,

today... washed up here.

(he marks with a Flair

pen)

Elk River, in West Virginia, about

six miles below U.S. 79. Real boonies.

CLARICE:

There's no correlation at all between

where they're kidnapped and where

they're found...?

(he shakes his head)

What if - what if you trace the

heaviest-traffic routes backwards

from the dump sites? Do they converge

at all?

CRAWFORD:

Good idea, but he thought of it,

too. We've run simulations, using

different vectors and the best dates

we can assign. You put it all in the

computer, and smoke comes out. No,

this one is different. This one has

seen us coming...

CUT TO:

INT. RENTAL CAR - DAY (DRIVING)

Crawford steers, following a highway patrol car along a

winding mountain road. Clarice has the file open on her lap.

He glances at her, inscrutable behind his sunglasses.

CRAWFORD:

Talk about him, Starling. Tell me

what you see.

CLARICE:

(choosing her words

carefully)

He's a white male... Serial killers

tend to hunt within their own ethnic

group. And he's not a drifter - he's

got his own house, somewhere. Not an

apartment.

CRAWFORD:

Why?

CLARICE:

What he does with them - takes

privacy... Time, tools... He's in

his 30's or 40's - he's got real

physical strength, but combined with

an older man's self-control. He's

cautious, precise, never impulsive...

This won't end in suicide, like they

often do.

CRAWFORD:

Why not?

CLARICE:

He's got a real taste for it now.

And he's getting better at his work.

CRAWFORD:

(a beat; impressed)

Maybe you've got a knack for this...

I guess we're about to find out.

CLARICE:

(quietly, evenly)

Like I have a "knack" for Dr. Lecter?

He studies her a few moments, measuring her anger.

CRAWFORD:

Okay, Starling. Let's have it.

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