North American detective: From scoundrel to god among men

Chapter 12, First Victim

The dungeon was dark, and Titus stood in front of the glass wall, unable to see inside.

"Good morning, Mr. Lecter?"

"Good morning, Officer Gallagher."

He judged from the sound that Lecter was speaking at the same level as him.

Suddenly, the lights were turned on, illuminating the scene so brightly that Titus's heart skipped a beat, and a person appeared "out of thin air" before him!

It turns out that while Titus was staring at Lecter, Dr. Lecter was also staring at him without moving.

When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

Titus found the cell spotless; the paintings, books, and newspapers were all gone. He asked:

"Dr. Lecter, who's in the car? The one from Hester Mofet's warehouse?"

Why don't you ask me about Buffalo Bill?

Titus sighed and replied:

"Because they lack the authority, the police department is even trying to take over this case as a murder case. (Wordplay; some types of murder cases are not under the jurisdiction of the FBI; the content is too complicated to explain, so it is omitted.)"

"Once they've used you, they won't take your case."

"Perhaps. I can get your information on Buffalo Bill from my superiors, but let's talk about the guy in the warehouse now."

Lecter paused for a moment, then spoke:

"Did you see a complete person?"

Titus shook his head:

"A human head, did you do that? You provided the clue, I'm guessing there's nothing there, Miss, that's your warehouse."

Lecter sneered:

"Does the VCU (Violent Crime Unit) only employ idiots like you? Why don't you let Miss Starling behind you ask her? I think you're more suitable to be the recorder than her."

"Alright, let's save ourselves the trouble. The person was killed by one of my patients."

Ignoring his sarcasm, Titus continued to ask:

"Who is it?"

"Benjamin Raspel, a bored patient."

"boring?"

"That's right, utterly boring, just ordinary bipolar disorder, with no research value whatsoever."

"Raspel told you that he killed...that guy?"

"He killed Klaus; he told me that."

As Agent Starling's pen scratched incessantly, Dr. Lecter's gentle voice rang out again:

"Raspel was a sentimental flautist who taught at the Saint-Gobain Conservatory. A Swedish ship came by, and he fell madly in love with one of the Swedish men on board—Klaus."

"Encouraged by Raspel, Klaus escaped the Swedish ship, and they hid in the forest, stripped naked, and ran wildly like elves."

"Raspel told me that Klaus died from a single instance of asphyxiation, an accidental sexual asphyxiation."

Dr. Lecter's lips curled up slightly:

"But I think he lied to me. He only said that to make others think he was romantic and dangerous. Someone else killed Klaus."

"Who is it?"

Lecter did not answer the question:

"Mr. Titus, may I address you as such?"

"Whatever you want. And what about me? Should I call you Mr. Ogre?"

"It seems the media has misjudged you. You're not a 'violent gangster detective' but an 'rude gangster detective.'"

Lecter continued:

"Do you have an alcoholic father?"

"That's right."

"Did he hit you?"

"That's...almost none."

Lecter paused for a moment, then continued to ask:

"Do you hate him? Do you hate your father?"

"Do you harbor resentment towards him, yet often feel guilty and at a loss because he wasn't completely evil, and his bastardly behavior is somewhat forgivable?"

Titus replied:

"I don't hate him. I have no feelings for him. He is just my father in a biological sense."

Titus believed that this statement was perfectly reasonable for Frank, and that Frank was merely the original owner's father, not his own.

"A father in a biological sense..." Hannibal was so shocked by this word that he fell into deep thought.

Titus did not interrupt Lecter's thoughts; he was in no hurry.

His main purpose in coming here was simply to make the report more plausible, and secondly to learn some forgotten details. He couldn't very well tell Crawford that he had read the original book, so the murderer was Buffalo Bill and the head was Klaus, could he?

Suddenly, the TV behind me turned on automatically, playing a mystical religious channel.

Lecter was also interrupted, and he explained:

"This is a timed playback that Chilton set up, locking onto a single channel, trying to torture me and make it hard for me to fall asleep."

"I've been here a long time, Titus. I know they won't let me out alive. All I want is a prison away from Chilton, a window, a tree, a view, or even a drop of water."

"Crawford can handle this. Tell him—"

Lecter paused and said:

"Buffalo Bill has a two-story house."

"You talk as if you've actually seen it."

Dr. Lecter smiled but did not answer.

Titus knew that Lecter was trying to prove his worth, so he kept steer the conversation toward Buffalo Bill, wanting to show Crawford that he could easily see through Buffalo Bill.

His goal, of course, was not to transfer him to another prison, but to escape completely.

In the original story, he did it; he escaped after being transferred to another prison. Titus only remembered the general outline and planned to remind the prison guards to keep a close eye on this guy later.

……

After reporting the situation, Titus received a summons from Crawford.

He was summoned to helipad A, where there was a "blue canoe"—a twin-engine aircraft.

Crawford was waiting in the co-pilot's seat, accompanied by Starling and the pilot. They were sitting in the back of the cockpit.

With a bang, the door slammed shut, and the helicopter began to taxi with a rattling sound. Then Titus felt a slight weightlessness, knowing that it was starting to climb. The acceleration kept him firmly in his chair as the blue canoe slanted into the clouds.

On the plane, Crawford tossed them a file with the words "Buffalo Bill" emblazoned on the cover, and a line of literary-sounding text on the back, presumably a quote from a novel:

"Do you like this blue-eyed boy, Mr. Death?"

Titus shook his head and opened the file.

After a short while, Crawford spoke up: "Tell me your thoughts."

Starling replied:

"The killer is a wanderer who uses .38 ammunition, is almost certainly a white male, and has his own small home."

"There are currently five known victims, all of whom are women, but sexual crimes have been largely ruled out. They have a penchant for skinning people."

Crawford took off his sunglasses and put on a pair of bifocals:

"Now there are six people, and the place we are heading to is where the body of the sixth victim is stored."

Crawford hoped that Starling's forensic science degree could be of some use, and he continued:

"The bodies were dumped near interstate highways, and there were no eyewitnesses."

Starling thought for a moment and asked:

"Is it possible to deduce his movements from the location where the body was dumped, or to search for clues by pulling a net from one location to the next?"

Titus said:

"It's definitely not that simple; he must have done something to disguise it."

"Those that seem to be highly related, but are actually completely unrelated."

Crawford nodded, surprised by Titus's seasoned intuition, and said:

"We entered the location and date into a computer simulation test, and the results were a complete mess; there was nothing of substance."

"Now we can only pin our hopes on the sixth victim..."