501 You're very frank, Clarice. 502 I think it would be quite something to know you in private life. 503 Quid pro quo, Doctor. 504 So tell me about Miss West Virginia. Was she a large girl? 505 - Yes. - Big through the hips? Roomy? 506 - They all were. - What else? 507 She had an object deliberately inserted into her throat. 508 Now, that hasn't been made public yet. We don't know what it means. 509 Was it a butterfly? 510 Yes. A moth. 511 Just like the one we found in Benjamin Raspail's head an hour ago. 512 Why does he place them there, Doctor? 513 The significance of the moth is change. 514 Caterpillar into chrysalis, or pupa, 515 and from thence into beauty. 516 Our Billy wants to change, too. 517 There's no correlation between transsexualism and violence. 518 - Transsexuals are very passive. - Clever girl. 519 You're so close to the way you're gonna catch him, do you realise that? 520 No. Tell me why. 521 After your father's murder you were orphaned. What happened next? 522 I don't imagine the answer is on those second-rate shoes, Clarice. 523 I lived with my mother's cousin and her husband in Montana. They had a ranch. 524 - Was it a cattle ranch? - Sheep and horses. 525 - How long did you live there? - Two months. 526 - Why so briefly? - I ran away. 527 Why, Clarice? Did the rancher make you perform fellatio? 528 Did he sodomise you? 529 No. He was a very decent man. 530 Quid pro quo, Doctor. 531 Billy is not a real transsexual. But he thinks he is. He tries to be. 532 He's tried to be a lot of things, I expect. 533 You said that I was very close to the way we would catch him. What did you mean? 534 There are three centres for transsexual surgery: Johns Hopkins, 535 the University of Minnesota and Columbus Medical Centre. 536 I wouldn't be surprised if Billy had applied for sex reassignment at all of them 537 and been rejected. 538 On what basis would they reject him? 539 Look for severe childhood disturbances associated with violence. 540 Our Billy wasn't born a criminal, Clarice. 541 He was made one through years of systematic abuse. 542 Billy hates his own identity, you see, 543 and he thinks that makes him a transsexual. 544 But his pathology is a thousand times more savage 545 and more terrifying. 546 It rubs the lotion on its skin. It does this whenever it's told. 547 Mister, my family'll pay cash. Whatever ransom you're asking for, they'll pay it. 548 It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. 549 Yes, it will, Precious. It will get the hose. 550 OK, OK. |