Page 106
Story: Hannibal (Hannibal Lecter 3)
“It’s been eighteen years,” Margot said. “I just had three sessions with him and he always just stood up behind his desk when I came in, he didn’t walk around. He was really still. I remember his voice more than anything else.”
Cordell’s voice on the intercom. “Mr. Verger, Carlo is here.”
Carlo smelled of the pigs and more. He came into the room holding his hat over his chest and the rank boar-sausage smell of his head made Krendler blow air out his nose. As a mark of respect, the Sardinian kidnapper withdrew all the way into his mouth the stag’s tooth he was chewing
“Carlo, look at this. Cordell, roll it back and walk him in from the door again.”
“That’s the ¡tronzo son of a bitch,” Carlo said before the subject on the screen had walked four paces. “The beard is new, but that’s the way he moves.”
“You saw his hands in Firenze, Carlo.”
“Sì.”
“Five fingers or six on the left?”
“…. Five.”
“You hesitated.”
“Only to think of cinque in English. It’s five, I’m sure.”
Mason parted his exposed teeth in all he had for a smile. “I love it. He’s wearing the mitten trying to keep the six fingers in his description,” he said.
Perhaps Carlo’s scent had entered the aquarium via the aeration pump. The eel came out to see, and remained out, turning, turning in his infinite Möbius eight, showing his teeth as he breathed.
“Carlo, I think we may finish this soon,” Mason said. “You and Piero and Tommaso are my first team. I’ve got confidence in you, even though he did beat you in Florence. I want you to keep Clarice Starling under surveillance for the day before her birthday, the day itself, and the day after. You’ll be relieved while she’s asleep in her house. I’ll give you a driver and the van.”
“Padrone,” Carlo said.
“Yes.”
“I want some private time with the dottore, for the sake of my brother, Matteo. You said I could have it.” Carlo crossed himself as he mentioned the dead man’s name.
“I understand your feelings completely, Carlo. You have my deepest sympathy. Carlo, I want Dr. Lecter consumed in two sittings. The first evening, I want the pigs to gnaw off his feet, with him watching through the bars. I want him in good shape for that. You bring him to me in good shape. No blows to the head, no broken bones, no eye damage. Then he can wait overnight without his feet, for the pigs to finish him the next day. I’ll talk to him for a while, and then you can have him for an hour before the final sitting. I’ll ask you to leave him an eye and leave him conscious so he can see them coming. I want him to see their faces when they eat his face. If you, say, should decide to unman him, it’s entirely up to you, but I want Cordell there to manage the bleeding. I want film.”
“What if he bleeds to death the first time in the pen?”
“He won’t. Nor will he die overnight. What he’ll do overnight is wait with his feet eaten off. Cordell will see to that and replace his body fluids, I expect he’ll be on an IV drip all night, maybe two drips.”
“Or four drips if we have to,” said Cordell’s disembodied voice on the speakers. “I can do cut-downs on his legs.”
“You can spit and piss in his IV at the last, before you roll him into the pen,” Mason told Carlo in his most sympathetic voice. “Or you can come in it if you like.”
Carlo’s face brightened at the thought, then he remembered the muscular signorina with a guilty sideways glance. “Grazie milk, Padrone. Can you come to see him die?”
“I don’t know, Carlo. The dust in the barn disturbs me. I may watch on video. Can you bring a pig to me? I want to put my hand on one.”
“To this room, Padrone?”
“No, they can bring me do
wnstairs briefly, on the power pack.”
“I would have to put one to sleep, Padrone,” Carlo said doubtfully.
“Do one of the sows. Bring her on the lawn outside the elevator. You can run the forklift over the grass.”
“You figure on doing this with one van, or a van and a crash car?” Krendler asked.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106 (Reading here)
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137