Sunday 26 September 2021

Will Graham





“I needed to see you first.

But I'm right

I know I'm right.


I'm starting to 

be able to 

Think Like 

This One.




Something still doesn't make sense to me :


[ This has NOTHING to Do with Solving The Case —

Oh, Wait : IT DOES. ]






You're the best forensic

psychiatrist I know,

and yet somehow

in all our time together —

this possibility 

never occurred 

to you.


Lecter :

Well, I’m Only Human, Will.

Perhaps I made 

a mistake.







Lecter :
Special Agent Graham.
What an unexpected pleasure.

Will Graham :
I'm sorry to bother you 
again, Dr. Lecter.
I know it's very late.

Lecter :
It's no bother.
We're both night owls
I think. Come in, please.

Will Graham :
Thank You.

Lecter :
Let me take your coat.
So, What's on Your Mind?

Will Graham :
We've been on the wrong track
this whole time. You and I.
Our whole profile's wrong.

We've been looking 
for someone 
with a crazy grudge and 
some kind of anatomical knowledge.
Decertified Doctors, 
Med-School dropouts
laid-off mortuary workers... *

( * oh, yeah — there’s gotta be just thousands and 
thousands of those  —
it’s rife. No demand, see.
Mortuaries closing down every other week lately, round these parts, the Death market is just completely flat.) 

Lecter :
From the precision of the cuts, yes,
and his choice of souvenirs.


See, that's where we're off-target.
He's not collecting body parts.

Lecter :
Then why keep them?

He's not keeping them. 
He's eating them.

No, listen —
We were at Molly's parents' 
for New Year's
and Molly's Dad was 
showing My Son, Josh
How to Carve a Roasted Chicken.

He said, 
"The tenderest part of the chicken is the oysters,
here on either side of the back."

I had never heard that expression before,
"Oysters."

Then suddenly I had 
a flash of the third victim,
Darcy Taylor.

She was missing flesh from her back.
And then it hit me.

Liver, kidney, tongue, thymus.

Every single victim lost
some body part used in cooking.

Lecter :
Have you shared this 
with The Bureau?

No, I needed to see you first.
But I'm right. I know I'm right.

I'm starting to be able to think like this one.

Lecter :
Yeah, it's fascinating —
You know, I'd always 
suspected as much.
You are an eidetiker.

I'm not psychic, Doctor.

Lecter :
No, this is different.
More akin to artistic imagination :

You are able assume 
The Emotional Point of View of Other People,
even those that might scare or sicken you.

It's a troubling gift, 
I should think.
How I'd love to get you 
on my couch.

Something still doesn't 
make sense to me.

You're the best forensic psychiatrist I know,
and somehow, in all our time together
this possibility never occurred to you.

Lecter :
Well, I am only human, Will.
Perhaps I made a mistake.

You don't strike me as a man
who makes very many mistakes.

Lecter :
Now I'm sorry to think I might
no longer enjoy your full confidence.

No, I didn't say that.
I don't know what I'm saying.
I'm very, very tired.
I almost had it.

Lecter :
It'll come to you.
Why don't you come back 
in the morning?
I'll clear some time on my schedule
and then we can get started in revising our profile.

Sound good?

Yeah.

Lecter :
Rest here, and 
I'll get your coat.





That's the same atrocious

aftershave you wore in court.


I keep getting it for Christmas.


Christmas, yes. Did you get my card?


I got it, thank you.


So nice of the Bureau's

crime lab to forward that.


They wouldn't give me your home address.


Dr. Bloom sent me your article

on surgical addiction


in the journal of forensic psychiatry.


And?


Very interesting, even to a layman.


You say you're a layman.


But it was you who caught me.


Wasn't it, Will?


Do you know how you did it?


I got lucky.


I don't think you believe that.


It's in the transcript.

What does it matter now?


It doesn't matter to me, Will.


I need your advice, Dr. Lecter.


Birmingham and Atlanta.


You want to know

how he's choosing them, don't you?


I thought you'd have ideas.

I'm asking you to tell me what there are.


Why should l?


There are things you don't have.


Research materials.

Maybe even computer access.


I'd speak to the Chief of Staff.


Yes, Dr. Chilton.


Gruesome, isn't he?


He fumbles at your head

like a freshman pulling at a panty curtle.


If you recall, Will,


our last collaboration

ended rather messily.


You'd get to see the file on this case.


And there's another reason.


I'm all ears.


I thought you might enjoy the challenge.


Find out if you're smarter

than the person I'm looking for.


Then, by implication,

you think you're smarter than I am,


since it was you who caught me.


No, I know I'm not smarter than you.


Then how did you catch me?


You had disadvantages.


What disadvantages?


You're insane.


You're very tanned, Will.


And your hands are so rough.


Not like a cop's hands anymore.


And that shaving lotion

is something a child would select.


Has a little ship on the

bottle, does it not?


And how is young Josh and the lovely Molly?


They're always in my thoughts, you know.


You will not persuade me with appeals to my intellectual vanity.


I don't think I'll persuade you at all.

You'll either do it or you won't.


- Is that the case file?

- Yes.


With photos?


Let me keep them, and I might consider it.


No.


Do you dream much, Will?


Goodbye, Dr. Lecter.


You haven't threatened

to take away my books yet!


Give me the file, then!


And I'll tell you what I think.


I'll need one hour. And privacy.


Just like old times, Will?


This is a very shy boy, Will.


I'd love to meet him.


Have you considered the possibility

that he is disfigured


or that he may believe he is disfigured?


Yeah, the mirrors.


You notice he smashes

all the mirrors in the house,


not just enough to get the pieces he wants.


And, of course, those shards in their eyes


so he can see himself there.


That's interesting.


No, that's not interesting.

You've thought of that before.


I had considered it.


- What about the women?

- Dead?


Mere puppets.


You need to see them living,

the way they caught his eye.


That's impossible.


Almost. Not quite.


What were the yards like?


Big backyards, fenced, some hedges. Why?


Because if this pilgrim


feels a special relationship with the moon,


he might like to go outside and look at it.


Ever seen blood in the moonlight, Will?


It appears quite black.


If one were nude, say,

it'd would be better to have


outdoor privacy for that sort of thing.


You think the yards might be a factor

when he selects victims?


Yes.


And there will be more of them, of course.


Victims.


So, you'll be wanting lots of these

little chinwags, I take it.


I might not have time.


I do.


I have oodles.


I need your opinion now.


Then here's one:


You stink of fear under that cheap lotion.


You stink of fear, Will,

but you're not a coward!


You fear me, but still you came here.


You fear this shy boy,

yet still you seek him out.


Don't you understand, Will?


You caught me because

we're very much alike.


Without our imaginations,

we'd be like all those other poor dullards.


Fear is the price of our instrument.

But I can help you bear it.


No comments:

Post a Comment