stjorthotic Chapter 8 Hester Mofet's Warehouse
Chapter 8 Hester Mofet's Warehouse
In the video, Titus is lying on the floor, his eyelids twitching rapidly.
He opened his eyes a moment later, half-open, and guessed that he must have seen the mechanical cultists.
Strangely, there was no one else in the video, and the surroundings were eerily quiet!
Titus dragged the progress bar, but no one appeared throughout the entire process, and no one opened the toilet door.
All that remained was Titus lying motionless on the ground.
Is it an illusion, such a vivid illusion?
……
The following morning, Titus arrived at the FBI and had just sat down at his workstation.
Good morning, Agent Gallagher!
He turned around and saw Starling's face.
"Guess what? I bought three extra breakfasts today."
Starling smiled and handed him three breakfasts, which were steaming hot American-style hot dogs.
"Offering favors for no reason?"
"I just happened to see someone's envelope downstairs."
As Starling spoke, her moonstone-like eyes sparkled.
"You brought it?"
"But I absolutely did not open it, I can guarantee that!"
Starling took out the envelope, and Titus glanced at the cover and saw the sender: Jack Crawford.
He understood why Starling was so passionate about him.
"The cunning Miss Clarice."
"Mr. Titus is very generous."
Tettus smiled. He had no intention of hiding the case from Starling, so under Starling's gaze, he opened the envelope.
The letter contains the following:
Go check your own warehouse and report back to me by 4 PM Wednesday. Titus Gallagher, you remain in charge of the operation, with Clarice M. Starling as your partner.
The chief has received the report on Lecter that you and Starling signed. Well done!
After reading the letter, Titus breathed a sigh of relief. He had been thinking that if Crawford really sent in some lousy elite agent to take over the leads, he would investigate the case himself, but that would be too troublesome. Now he had official approval, royal authority, no, FBI special permission.
Starling was equally happy. She felt that her efforts had finally paid off, and the "Well done!" at the end of the letter made her feel that Commander Crawford wasn't as cold as he seemed.
Most importantly, she found the experience of investigating cases with Agent Titus to be surprisingly good!
So during the day, the two continued to investigate clues about your own garage.
By noon, they had located the Skopje mini-warehouse, about 33 kilometers from downtown Michigan, along the western shore of Lake Michigan, near Lake County.
Today is Tuesday, and they still have a day and a half to explore this mini garage.
It's worth mentioning that the FBI provided the two with a Plymouth sedan for two days. (In John Wick 4, the protagonist Keanu Reeves also drove a black modified version of this car.)
They drove to the warehouse, which resembled a military facility, a thirty-acre building divided into spaces of varying sizes by firewalls.
At first, the staff coldly refused to inspect the items, but things became simpler the moment Titus produced the search warrant and shouted "FBL," and he no longer had to go through the tedious procedures.
The two followed the staff to Warehouse No. 31, which had been leased for 10 years with the rent paid in full upfront. The contract was signed by Hester Mofet.
Starling was certain that Hester Mofet was a pseudonym because she had searched the system for a long time but couldn't find a Miss Mofet named Hester, which clearly indicated that this was a warehouse under Hannibal's name.
It was already dark by then, and they used the headlights of their Prismow cars to illuminate the light drizzle, making it almost imperceptible.
The warehouse padlock was frozen and the key wouldn't open it. Just as Starling was about to use her lock-picking skills...
Titus took a hammer from the back of the truck and smashed it down with a thunderous thud. A momentary spark illuminated the faces of the three men. The steel padlock was completely deformed. He effortlessly tore the padlock off and threw it on the ground, leaving a white mark.
He turned around and saw the two of them looking at each other with unspoken words. He shrugged and said casually:
"The rust is completely ruined; it will break with the slightest touch."
"Don't worry, the FBI will cover all the costs."
Starling blinked, quickly accepting the fact that the padlock, which had been as hard as a high-density alloy and impossible to turn when she inserted the key, was now smashed to pieces with a hammer.
"He's a military general!" Starling thought to herself.
The three then arrived at the roller shutter door, where Starling suggested bringing the jack, to which Titus readily agreed.
Starling placed the jack under the doorknob and pressed it down with her body weight. The door creaked horribly and went up about an inch.
To make matters worse, the upper part of the roller shutter door seems to be bent, as if it's stuck!
She thought, Starling can't be trapped here, even if it means losing half an inch, so she can squeeze through the gap.
Just as she was about to exert more force, she suddenly felt her body relax.
She saw Titus grip the roller shutter with both hands, lift it up, squat down, and with a snap, push the entire roller shutter up and steadily push it to the top.
"Excellent weightlifting technique." That was Miss Starling's first thought.
Titus fanned away the dust that had suddenly risen, and turned around to see two pairs of shocked eyes again.
"I just used the jack, don't worry, the FBI will cover all the costs."
Starling took half a second to accept his statement, and then followed him into the warehouse.
The warehouse wasn't large; it contained a piano, a pile of boxes, and a Piccadilly limousine covered with a carpet—almost everything was on display.
Titus lifted the carpet, and suffocating dust danced again in the narrow space. Starling covered her mouth and nose, forcing herself not to leave.
All four windows were covered by white curtains, the kind you only see on old-fashioned cars, so you couldn't see inside. Titus punched open the front window and opened the door from the inside.
He pushed open the partition behind the driver's cab, revealing some annoying little things like rats and spider webs, and then turned on his flashlight.
The first thing that came into view was a women's shirt with a bow. As his gaze moved upward, he realized that it was a body model dressed in women's clothing, with nothing above the neck.
Titus recalled the plot and was overjoyed – this was it!
Sure enough, he saw a bottle-shaped object covered by a cloth in the model's hand.
He knew what it was: Klaus's head.
As for who Klaus is, we must mention the complex web of love and hate between Klaus, Raspel, Buffalo Bill, and Hannibal, who is caught in the middle. (Because of this, I chose to use the novel version; the film used Raspel's head and removed Klaus's scenes.)
"What's inside?" Starling asked.
Upon hearing her voice, Titus suddenly had a wicked thought, and he said...
"There's something covered by a white cloth inside, but my arms are too thick to reach through. I thought you could take a look for me."