The Silence Of The Lambs

Clarice sits outside Lecter’s cell, muddy from the Mini-Storage. Authorities questioned Lecter prior to her arrival, but he wouldn’t respond. Lecter sends Clarice a towel from his cell and asks her about Buffalo Bill. Lecter claims Raspail murdered the man in the jar—Klaus, a Swedish sailor. Raspail confided in Lecter that he killed Klaus for being unfaithful, but Lecter thinks Raspail was lying to hide an embarrassing sexual accident. Lecter killed Raspail because the flutist bored him and therapy wasn’t working. He served the man’s organs at a dinner party because it was the only meat he had on hand.

Lecter questions Clarice about her motivation, her feelings about Miggs’s death, and her relationship with Crawford to get under her skin, but Clarice remains collected. He offers to assist in the Buffalo Bill case in exchange for privileges. Without authority, Clarice can only pass on his message. Lecter guesses that Buffalo Bill will scalp his next victims and that he lives in a two-story house, hoping to prove his usefulness. He taunts Clarice with the number of girls who will die without his help.

Three days later, Clarice reflects on the various news broadcasts about her discovery. She attends a lecture separate from her classmates and worries that her superiors are preparing to expel her. Brigham pulls Clarice out of class to give her an assignment. Clarice must accompany Crawford to Elk River to investigate a potential Buffalo Bill victim. Brigham gives Clarice a field fingerprinting kit and a real gun. Without time to prepare, Clarice packs and meets Brigham in his car.

On the drive to the airstrip, Brigham reveals that Crawford doesn’t explain his thoughts at length because he is preoccupied with the stress of Buffalo Bill and his ailing wife. As they reach the awaiting plane, Brigham reminds Clarice of gun safety and wishes her well. Clarice boards the plane, finding the Buffalo Bill casefile on her seat.

On the plane, Clarice reads the casefile about what’s known of Buffalo Bill’s crimes. Buffalo Bill has killed and partially skinned five women, who were all taken and found in different states. The young women were held for up to 10 days and were either shot or hung. Clarice feels an intense sympathy for the girls and their vulnerability. Despite Buffalo Bill’s unpredictable behavior, Clarice is certain that Crawford will be the one to catch him.

Crawford climbs into the seat next to Clarice to go over details about the new victim. Crawford hopes that Clarice’s time as a forensic fellow will help them identify the young woman whose body wasn’t as damaged by the elements. Crawford repeats the erratic details of the abductions. Clarice suggests that Buffalo Bill is using the same trip to abduct and dump his victims, but Crawford dismisses the idea. The FBI’s computer simulations of routes turned up no patterns, suggesting that Buffalo Bill’s actions are disorganized.

Crawford then gives Clarice advice about being in a real investigation. He wants her to ask questions because she has a different and useful perspective. He warns Clarice that the cross-jurisdictional investigation is chaos, so she will have to focus on her own perceptions. Clarice feels confident that Crawford wants to test her in the field, and she is hungry to begin.