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H A N N I B A L

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日期:2006-8-7 17:55:16
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H A N N I B A L
                                    

                            Screenplay
                                by
                          Steven Zaillian



                                  
                         Based on the Novel
                                by
                           Thomas Harris


        Revision
     February 9, 2000





     INT. PANEL VAN - DAY

     Clarice Starling is dead, laid out in fatigues across a bench
     in the back of a ratty, rattling undercover van.  Three other
     agents sit perched on the opposite bench, staring at her
     lifeless body.

                          BURKE
               How can she sleep at a time like this?

                          BRIGHAM
               She's on a jump-out squad all night;
               she's saving her strength.

     INT. UNDERGROUND GARAGE - DAY

     Gray cement walls blur past as the panel van descends a
     circular ramp to a lower level.  As it straightens out, the
     view through the windshield reveals a gathering of men and
     vehicles - marked and unmarked DC police cars - and two black
     SWAT vans.

     The panel van - with Marcell's Crab House painted on its
     sides - pulls to a stop.  The back doors open from the inside
     and Starling is the first one out - well-rested and alert -
     hoisting down her equipment bag.

     One of the DC policemen, the one whose girth and manner
     say he's in charge, watches the woman by the van slip into a
     Kevlar vest, drop a Colt .45 into a shoulder holster, and a
     .38 into an ankle holster.  She straightens up, approaches
     the men and lays a street plan across the hood of one of
     their cars.

                          STARLING
               All right, everyone, pay attention.
               Here's the layout -

                          BOLTON
               Excuse me, I'm Officer Bolton, DC Police.

                          STARLING
               Yes, I can see that from your uniform
               and badge, how do you do?

                          BOLTON
               I'm in charge here.

     Starling studies him a moment.  He sniffs as if that might
     help confirm his weighty position.

                          STARLING
               You are?

                          BOLTON
               Yes, ma'am.

     Starling's glance finds Brigham's.  His says, Just let it
     go.  Hers says back, I can't.

                          STARLING
               Officer Bolton, I'm Special Agent
               Starling, and just so we don't get off
               on the wrong foot, let me explain why
               we're all here.

     Brigham shakes his head to himself in weary anticipation of
     her 'explanation.'

                          STARLING
               I'm here because I know Evelda Drumgo,
               I've arrested her twice on RICO warrants,
               I know how she thinks.  DEA and BATF, in
               addition to backing me up, are here for
               the drugs and weapons.  You're here, and
               it's the only reason you're here, because
               our mayor wants to appear tough on drugs,
               especially after his own cocaine
               conviction, and thinks he can accomplish
               that by the mere fact of having you tag
               along with us.

     Silence as the gathering of agents and policemen stare at her
     and Bolton.

                          BOLTON
               You got a smart mouth, lady.

                          STARLING
               Officer, if you wouldn't mind, I'd
               appreciate it if you took a step or two
               back, you're in my light.

     Bolton takes his time, but eventually backs away a step.

                          STARLING
               Thank you.  All right.
                   (re: the street plan)
               The fish market backs on the water.
               Across the street, ground floor, is the
               meth lab --

     EXT. FISH MARKET AND STREETS - DAY

     The Macarena blares from a boom box.  Snappers, artfully
     arranged in schools on ice, stare up blankly.  Crabs scratch
     at their crates.  Lobsters climb over one another in tanks.

     One of the black SWAT vans turns down a side street.  The
     other takes an alley.  The Marcell's Crab House van continues
     straight along Parcell Street.

     INT. PANEL VAN - DAY

     A 150-pound block of dry ice tries to cool down the heat
     from all the bodies in the van - Starling and Brigham, the
     two other agents, Burke and Hare, and her new best friend,
     Officer Bolton.  As they drive along, Bolton watches as she
     takes several pairs of surgical gloves from her equipment
     bag, slips one pair on, and hands the rest to the others, the
     last pair offered to him.

                          STARLING
               Drumgo's HIV positive and she will spit
               and bite if she's cornered, so you might
               want to put these on.
                   (Bolton takes the gloves and
                    puts them on)
               And if you happen to be the one who
               puts her in a patrol car in front of the
               cameras, and I have a feeling you will
               be, you don't want to push her head down,
               she'll likely have a needle in her hair.

     EXT. FISH MARKET AREA - DAY

     The swat vans pull into position, one to the side of the
     building across from the fish market, the other around back.
     As the battered van pulls to the curb in front, a mint low-
     rider Impala convertible, stereo thumping, cruises past.

     INT. PANEL VAN - DAY

     The thumping fades, leaving the Macarena filtering in.
     Starling pulls the cover off the eyepiece of a periscope
     bolted to the ceiling of the van and makes a full rotation
     of the objective lens concealed in the roof ventilator, catching
     glimpses of:

     A man with big forearms cutting up a mako shark with a
     curved knife, hosing the big fish down with a powerful hand-
     held spray.

     Young men idling on a corner in front of a bar.  Others
     lounging in parked cars, talking.  Some children playing by
     a burning mattress on the sidewalk; others in the rainbow
     spray from the fishmonger's hose.

     The building across from the fish market with the metal door
     above concrete steps.  It opens.

                          STARLING
               Heads up.

     A large white man in a luau shirt and sandals comes out
     with a satchel across his chest, other hand behind the case.
     A wiry black man comes out the door behind him, carrying a
     raincoat, and behind him, Evelda Drumgo.

                          STARLING
               It's her.  Behind two guys.  Both
               packing.

                          BRIGHAM
                   (into a radio)
               Strike One to all units.  Showdown.
               She's out front, we're moving.

     Starling and the others put on their helmets.  Brigham racks
     the slide of his riot gun.  The back doors opena and Starling
     is the first one out, barking -

                          STARLING
               Down on the ground!  Down on the ground!

     No one gets down on the ground - not Evelda Drumgo, not her
     men, none of the merchants or bystanders.  The Macarena keeps
     blaring.

     Drumgo turns and Starling sees the baby in the blanketed
     sling around her neck.  She can also hear the roar of a big
     V8 and hopes it's her backup.

     Drumgo turns slightly and the baby blanket flutters as the
     MAC 10 under it fires, shattering Brigham's face shield.  As
     he goes down, Hawaiian Shirt drops his satchel and fires a
     shotgun, blowing out the car window next to Burke.

     Gunshots from the V8, a Crip gunship, a Cadillac, coming
     toward Starling.  Two shooters, Cheyenne-style in the rolled-
     down window frames, spraying automatic fire over the top.

     Starling dives behind two parked cars.  Hare and Bolton
     fire from behind another.  Auto glass shatters and clangs on
     the ground.

     Everyone in the market scrambling for cover, finally hitting
     the fish-bloodied cement.  The Macarena still blasting.

     Pinned down, Starling watches the wiry black man drop back
     against the building, Drumgo picks up the satchel, the gunship
     slowing enough for someone to pull her in.

     Starling stands and fires several shots, taking out Hawaiian
     Shirt, the other man by the building, the driver of the accel-
     erating Cadillac, one of the men perched on the window frames
     - drops the magazine out of her .45 slams another in
     before the empty hits the ground.

     The Cadillac goes out of control, sideswiping a line of
     cars, grinds to a stop against them.  Starling moving toward
     it now, following the sight of her gun.  A shooter still
     sitting in a window frame, alive but trapped, chest
     compressed between the Cadillac and a parked car.  Gunfire
     from somewhere behind Starling hits him and shatters the rear
     window.

                          STARLING
               Hold it!  Hold your fire!  Watch the door
               behind me!  Evelda!

     The firing stops but the pounding of The Macarena doesn't.

                          STARLING
               Evelda!  Put your hands out the window!

     Nothing for a moment.  Then Drumgo emerges from the car, head
     down, hands buried in the blanket-sling, cradling the crying
     baby.

                          STARLING
               Show me your hands!
                   (Evelda doesn't)
               Please!  Show me your hands!

     Evelda looks up at her finally, fondly it seems, doesn't show
     her hands.

                          DRUMGO
               Is that you, Starling?

                          STARLING
               Show me your hands!

                          DRUMGO
               How you been?

                          STARLING
               Don't do this!

                          DRUMGO
               Do what?

     She smiles sweetly.  The blanket flutters.  Starling falls.
     Fires high enough to miss the baby.  Hits Drumgo in the neck.
     She goes down.

     Starling crawling in the street, the wind knocked out of
     her from the hits to her chest, to her vest.  Reaches Drumgo,
     blood gushing out of her onto the baby.  She pulls out a
     knife.  Cuts the harness straps.  Runs with the baby to the
     merchant stalls as enterprising tourists click shots from the
     ground with disposable cameras.

     Starling sweeps away knives and fish guts from a cutting
     table.  Lays the baby down.  Strips it.  Grabs the handheld
     sprayer and washes at the slick coating of HIV positive blood
     covering the baby, a shark's head staring, Macarena pounding,
     disposable cameras clicking, the river of bloody water
     running along a gutter to where Brigham lies dead.

     EXT. ARLINGTON CEMETERY - DAY

     Gray sky.  Rain coming down.  A large gathering, many in
     uniform, standing in wet grass around an open grave, the rain
     spilling off the rims of their umbrellas.

     A casket is being lowered in.  Starling watches as it
     decends, watches the gears of the hoist working and the box
     disappearing beneath the edge of the muddy hole, not allowing
     herself to cry, or to meet the eyes of certain other mourners
     watching her.

     EXT. ARLINGTON CEMETERY - LATER - DAY

     Long line of parked cars, some marked, most not, many with
     government plates.  Smoke plumes from the exhaust of the one
     idling nearest, a Crown Victoria.

     Inside the car, Starling sits in the front passenger seat
     with a cardboard box on her lap, a middle-aged man in Marine
     dress blues beside her at the wheel.  The wipers slap back
     and forth.

                          HAWKINS
               You like to think when it's over your
               things would fill more than one cardboard
               box.

     Starling touches the things in the box:  a BATF badge, a
     couple of laminated clip-on ID cards with Brigham's face on
     them, a medal, a pen set, a compass paper-weight, two guns
     and a framed desk photo of a dog.

                          HAWKINS
               John's parents don't want it.  Any of
               it.  Except the dog.  Don't want to be
               reminded.

                          STARLING
               I want to be reminded.

                          HAWKINS
               I figured.  He was your last compadre on
               the street, wasn't he.

                          STARLING
               My last compadre.

     He sits watching her touch the things, and will continue to
     do so as long as she wants.  Eventually, she folds down the
     cardboard flaps.  Hawkins looks up ahead -

                          HAWKINS
               All they'll get with tinted windows is
               pictures of themselves, but it won't stop
               them from trying.  You ready?

     She is.  He pulls away from the curb.  A handful of wet
     photographers appears in the windshield's view up ahead.  As
     the car passes, their cameras swing around to point at
     Starling's side of it and flash like stars.

     INT. CONFERENCE ROOM - FBI DC FIELD OFFICE - DAY

     The words "Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity" skew as a glass
     door opens.  Starling comes in to find several men awaiting
     her, all balanced on Florsheim wingtips and tasseled Thom
     McAn loafers.

                          PEARSALL
               Agent Starling, this is John Eldredge
               from DEA; Assistant Director Noonan, of
               course you know; Larkin Wayne, from our
               Office of Professional Responsibility;
               Bob Sneed, BATF; Benny Holcome, Assistant
               to the Mayor; and Paul Krendler - you
               know Paul.  Paul's come over from Justice
               - unofficially - as a favor to us.  In
               other words, he's here and he's not here.

     A couple of the men bobbed their heads at the mention of
     their names; none offered his hand.  Starling sits a thin
     manila folder on her lap.  A silence stretches out as each
     man regards her.  Finally -

                          SNEED
               I take it you've seen the coverage in
               the papers and on television.
                   (nothing from Starling)
               Agent Starling?

                          STARLING
               I have nothing to do with the news, Mr.
               Sneed.

                          SNEED
               The woman had a baby in her arms.  There
               are pictures.  You can see the problem.

                          STARLING
               Not in her arms, in a sling across her
               chest.  In her arms, she had a MAC 10.
               Mr. Pearsall?  This is a friendly
               meeting, right?

                          PEARSALL
               Absolutely.

                          STARLING
               Then why is Mr. Sneed wearing a wire?

     Pearsall glances to Sneed and his tie clasp.  Sneed sighs.

                          SNEED
               We're here to help you, Starling.
               That's going to be harder to do with a
               combative attitude like -

                          STARLING
               Help me what?  Your agency called this
               office and got me assigned to help you on
               the raid.  I gave Drumgo a chance - two
               chances - to surrender.  She didn't.  She
               fired.  She shot John Brigham.  She shot
               at me.  And I shot her.  In that order.
               You might want to check your counter
               right there, where I admit it.

     A silence before the man from the Mayor's Office speaks up -

                          HOLCOME
               Ms. Starling, did you make some kind
               of inflammatory remark about Ms. Drumgo
               in the van on the way?

                          STARLING
               Is that what your Officer Bolton is
               saying?
                   (he chooses not to say)
               I explained to him, and the others in
               the van, that Drumgo was HIV positive and
               would think nothing of infecting them,
               and me, any way she could given the
               chance.  If that's inflamma -

                          HOLCOME
               Did you also say to him at one point
               that a splash of Canoe is not the same
               as a shower?
                   (she doesn't answer)
               Did Officer Bolton smell bad to you?

                          STARLING
               Incompetence smells bad to me.

                          HOLCOME
               You shot five people out there, Agent
               Starling.  That may be some kind of
               record.  Is that how you define
               competence?

     A beeper goes off.  Every one of the men checks the little
     box on his belt.  It's Noonan's.  He excuses himself from the
     room.

                          STARLING
               Can I speak freely, Mr. Pearsall?
                   (he nods)
               This raid was an ugly mess.  I ended
               up in a position where I had a choice of
               dying, or shooting a woman carrying a
               child.  I chose.  I shot her -

     FLASHCUT to Drumgo - hit in the neck by Starling's bullet -
     silently falling to the ground -

                          STARLING
               I killed a mother holding her child.
               The lower animals don't do that.  And I
               regret it.  I resent myself for it.  But
               I resent you, too - whichever of you
               thinks that by attacking me, bad press
               will go away.  That Waco will go away.  A
               mayor's drug habit.  All of it.

     FLASHCUT to Drumgo, lying dead in the road, then back here
     again to Starling, "watching" her in silence.

     Noonan pokes his head in, gestures to Pearsall to join him
     in the anteroom.  Krendler invites himself along.  Sneed and
     Holcome get up and stare out the window.  Eldredge paces, his
     wingtips soundlessy dragging on the carpet.

                          WAYNE
               I know you haven't had a chance to write
               your 302 yet, Starling, but -

                          STARLING
               I have, sir.  A copy's on its way to
               your office.  I also have a copy with me
               if you want to review it now.  Everything
               I did and saw.

     She hands it to him.  He begins leafing through it.
     Pearsall and Krendler reappear -

                          PEARSALL
               Assistant Director Noonan is on his way
               back to his office, Gentlemen.  I'm going
               to call a halt to this meeting and get
               back to you individually by phone.

     Sneed cocks his head like a confused dog.

                          SNEED
               We've got to decide some things here.

                          PEARSALL
               No, we don't.

                          SNEED
               Clint -

                          PEARSALL
               Bob, believe me, we don't have to decide
               anything right this second.  I said I'll
               get back to you.
                   (Pearsall's look to Starling
                    says she's free to leave; she
                    gets up)
               And, Bob?

     Pearsall grabs the wire behind Sneed's tie and pulls it down
     hard, the adhesive tape taking some chest hair along with it -
     judging from the grimace - as it comes away from his skin.

                          PEARSALL
               You ever come in here wired again, I'll
               stick it up your ass.

     INT. HALL OUTSIDE - MOMENTS LATER

     Krendler - the only man who didn't speak in the meeting -
     idles outside.  As Starling approaches -

                          KRENDLER
               That was no free lunch, Starling.
               I'll call you.

     She keeps going.  He admires the back of her legs.

     EXT. COUNTRY CLUB - MIAMI - DAY

     Jack Crawford misses a 20-foot putt by inches.

                          GOLF PAL
               Oh ... bad luck, Jack.

     Crawford stares at the missed shot.  Then spikes across the
     18th green, taps it in, and groans the way anyone over forty
     does as he bends down to retrieve it.

     Pocketing it he turns, sees Starling standing outside the
     club house.  She waves, bending just a couple of fingers, and
     he smiles, pleased, but not surprised to see her.

     EXT. MIAMI - DAY

     Crawford and Starling driving in his car, the clubs in the
     back seat.  Palm trees float by.

                          STARLING
               What's your handicap?

                          CRAWFORD
               My handicap is I can't play golf.

                          STARLING
               Maybe better clubs would help.

                          CRAWFORD
               I play with the best clubs money can buy.
               It's not the clubs, it's a woeful lack of
               talent.

                          STARLING
               Or interest.

     He nods - yeah, that's the real problem with it - turns onto
     another street.

                          CRAWFORD
               Were my flowers at John's service okay?
               Lot of times, flowers by wire, you never
               know.

                          STARLING
               They were canary daffodils.
                   (he groans)
               I put your name on my flowers.

                          CRAWFORD
               Thank you.

                          STARLING
               Thank you.  For the call.  At the
               Inquisition.  I don't know what you said
               to them, but it worked.

                          CRAWFORD
               Don't thank me too quickly.

     EXT. MIAMI - DAY

     Downtown.  Skyscrapers.

     INT. BUILDING - DAY

     Frameless glass doors in a sleek office building, etched:
     Allied Security, Threat Assessment, Miami, Los Angeles, Rio
     de Janeiro.  Crawford holds one open for Starling and
     follows her into a handsome reception area.

                          RECEPTIONIST
               How was it?  Better today?

                          CRAWFORD
               The clubs are in the dumpster downstairs
               if anyone wants them.

     He leads Starling deeper into the place, past pairs of men
     in nice suits conferring in the doorway of a kitchenette and
     over by a long bank of filing cabinets.  Male and female
     secretaries move about.

                          CRAWFORD
               Nice, huh?  This could all be yours,
               Starling.  I can get you a PI ticket in
               Florida tomorrow, you can chase insurance
               scams, extortion against the cruise
               lines, put down the gun and have some fun
               with me.

     Crawford accepts a handful of pink phone-message slips as
     they come past his secretary's desk, holds another door open
     and Starling steps into his office.

                          STARLING
               Tempting.

                          CRAWFORD
               Just wait.

     The door closing softly behind her says, "expensive
     hardware."

     INT. CRAWFORD'S OFFICE - DAY

     They sit, Crawford behind his mahogany desk, Starling in a
     comfortable chair.  As he rifles through the phone
     messages -

                          CRAWFORD
               The call I made wasn't to Assistant
               Director Noonan.  Whoever called him, I
               don't know.  I called Mason Verger.

     He lets the name sink in, lets her dive for it, try to
     place it.  She can't.  It's familiar but doesn't connect to
     anything stable.

                          CRAWFORD
               Lecter's fourth victim, Starling.
               The one who lived, if you can call it
               living.  The rich one.

     He slides over a couple of photographs of a young man with a
     kind, trusting face.  Now she remembers him.

                          CRAWFORD
               I told Mason I wanted you off the
               street.  I told him what I told you when
               I left the Bureau, "You go out with a gun
               enough times, you will be killed by one."
               I told him I want you where you belong,
               in Behavioral Science.  Know what he said?

                          STARLING
               He can speak?

                          CRAWFORD
               It's about the only thing he can do.
               He said, after a very long pause, "Oh,
               what a good idea, Jack."
                   (Crawford tries to smile)
               Who he called, I don't know.  Someone
               higher up than anyone in that room with
               you.  Maybe Representative Vollmer, who
               Mason may not own, but does rent from
               time to time.

     Silence as Starling tries to take it all in.  She looks up
     with a question forming in her mind, and Crawford nods before
     she can say it.  Very matter of fact -

                          CRAWFORD
               Yeah, that's right, it means going back
               on the Lecter case.

     He busies himself with the phone messages again, arranging
     them in little, prioritized piles on his desk, as if perhaps
     this conversation is about nothing more important than a
     simple missing person case.

                          STARLING
               What if I said to you I'd rather not
               do that?  What if I said to you I prefer
               the street?

                          CRAWFORD
               You think this is a cheap deal?  What
               you were getting was a cheap deal.  What
               they say about federal examiners is true:
               they arrive after the battle and bayonet
               the wounded.  You're not safe on the
               street anymore.

     Starling takes another look at the photographs of Verger.

                          STARLING
               Has something happened on the case?

                          CRAWFORD
               Has Lecter killed anybody lately?  I
               wouldn't know, I'm retired from all that.
               Mason doesn't know either, but he does
               apparently have some new information -
               which he'll only share with you.

     They consider one another for a long moment.  Finally -

                          CRAWFORD
               He's not pretty, Starling.  And I don't
               just mean his face.

     EXT. MARYLAND - DAY

     Bare trees.  Overcast sky.  Starling's Mustang growling along
     the rain-slicked expressway.

     INT. MUSTANG - MOVING - DAY

     A Maryland state map spread out across the passenger seat.
     Starling's eyes darting back and forth between the black and
     red route-veins and the shrouded countryside out beyond the
     slapping wiper blades.

     An exit sign - and the exit itself - looms suddenly and
     rushes across the right side of her windshield.  She curses
     to herself.  It's the exit she wanted, but now it's gone,
     shrinking in her rearview mirror into the mist.

     EXT. THE VERGER ESTATE - DAY

     Coming back the other way along a service road, Starling
     slows to consider a chain-link gate stretched across a muddy
     road, then continues on.

     At the gate house of the main entrance, a security guard
     checks her name against a list.  He seems reluctant to get
     himself or his clipboard wet, but not her identification,
     handing it out past the edge of his umbrella to her.

     The Mustang negotiates a long circuitous drive, taking her
     deeper and deeper into vast forest land.  Eventually, though,
     a good mile from the gate house behind her, the trees give
     way to a clearing, and she sees the big Stanford White-
     designed mansion emerging from the mist up ahead.

     A man waits under an umbrella out front, indicates to her
     where to park - anywhere, one should think - there's enough
     space for fifty cars - then comes around to the driver's side
     and opens the door.

                          CORDELL
               Ms. Starling.  Hi.  I'm Cordell.  Mr.
               Verger's private physician.

                          STARLING
               How do you do?

     She gathers her things out from under the map:  file folder,
     micro-cassette recorder, extra tapes and batteries.  He helps
     her out, then presses up against her to help maximize the
     umbrella's effectiveness.

                          CORDELL
               Shall we make a run for it?

     As they hurry toward the porch - if it can be called a
     porch, as grand an entrance as a king's, or English rock
     star's manor - Starling notices the building's one modern
     wing, sticking out like an extra limb attached in some
     grotesque medical experiment.

     INT. VERGER'S MANSION - DAY

     They cross through a living room larger than most houses,
     then down a hall, their shoes moving along a Moroccan runner,
     sleeves past portraits of important-looking dead people.

     As they cross a threshold there's an abrupt shear in style:
     the rich carpet giving way to polished institutional floors,
     the portrait-lined walls to shiny white enamel.

     Cordell reaches for the handle of a closed door in the new
     wing, and Starling notices line of lights appear around the
     jamb where there were none.

     As the door opens, she squints.  Two small photographer's
     spots on stands pitch narrow beams of light into her face and
     seem to follow her progress into the room.

                          CORDELL
                   (a whisper)
               One's eyes adjust to the darkness.
               This way is better.

     He leads her to a sitting area where a print of William
     Blake's "The Ancient of Days" hangs above a large aquarium
     divided in two by a wall of glass - an ell gliding around on
     one side, a fish on the other.  A bank of security monitors
     completes the decor.  To the spotlight -

                          CORDELL
               Mr. Verger, Ms. Starling is here.

     The light stands flank a hospital bed, the beams effectively
     camouflaging the figure on it in their glare.

                          STARLING
               Good morning, Mr. Verger.

                          MASON
               Cordell, do you address a judge as Mr?

     The voice is steady and resonant.  An "educated" voice, not
     unlike Lecter's.  Before Cordell can answer him -

                          MASON
               Agent Starling is her proper title,
               not "Ms."

                          CORDELL
               Agent Starling.

                          MASON
               Correct.  Good morning, Agent Starling.
               Have a seat.  Make yourself comfortable.

                          STARLING
               Thank you.

     Starling sits with her things.  Snaps open the little door of
     her cassette recorder to verify there's a tape inside.

                          MASON
               Was that a Mustang I heard out there?

                          STARLING
               Yes, it was.

                          MASON
               Five-liter?

                          STARLING
               '88 Stroker.

                          MASON
               Fast.

                          STARLING
               Yes.

                          MASON
               Where'd you get it?

                          STARLING
               Dope auction.

                          MASON
               Very good.

                          STARLING
               Mr. Verger, the discussion we're going
               to have is in the nature of a deposition.
               I'll need to tape record it if that's all
               right with you.

                          MASON
               Cordell, I think you can leave us now.

                          CORDELL
               I thought I might stay.  Perhaps I could
               be useful if -

                          MASON
               You could be useful seeing about my
               lunch.

     Starling gets up, but not to see him out.  Once he's gone -

                          STARLING
               I'd like to attach this microphone to
               your - clothing, or pillow - if you're
               comfortable with that.

                          MASON
               By all means.

     She walks slowly toward the bed, or rather to the lights,
     uncertain exactly what position Verger may be in - on his
     back, his side; she has no way of knowing.

                          MASON
               Here, this should make it easier.

     A finger like a pale spider crab moves along the sheet and
     depresses a button.  The lights suddenly extinguish and
     Starling's pupils dilate.  As her eyes adjust to the darkness
     Verger's face materializes in it like something dead rising
     up through dark water:

     Face is the wrong word.  He has no face to speak of.  No
     skin, at least.  Teeth he has.  He looks like some kind of
     creature that resides in the lowest depths of the sea.

     She doesn't flinch.  Maybe the hand with the microphone
     recoils an inch or two, but that's it.  She clips it to the
     flannel lapel of his pajamas, drapes the skinny cord over the
     side of the pillow and sets the recorder on the medical table
     next to the bed.

                          MASON
               You know, I thank God for what happened.
               It was my salvation.  Have you accepted
               Jesus, Agent Starling?  Do you have
               faith?

                          STARLING
               I was raised Lutheran.

                          MASON
               That's not what I asked -

                          STARLING
               This is Special Agent Clarice Starling,
               FBI number 5143690, deposing Mason R.
               Verger, Social Security number -

                          MASON
               - 475-98-9823 -

                          STARLING
               - at his home on the date stamped above,
               sworn and attested.
                   (she drags over a chair)
               Mr. Verger, you claim to have -

                          MASON
               I want to tell you about summer camp.
               It was a wonderful childhood experience -

                          STARLING
               We can get to that later.  The -

                          MASON
               We can get to it now.  You see, it all
               comes to bear, it's where I met Jesus and
               I'll never tell you anything more impor-
               tant than that.  It was a Christian camp
               my father paid for.  Paid for the whole
               thing, all 125 campers on Lake Michigan.
               Many of them were unfortunate, cast-off
               little boys and girls would do anything
               for a candy bar.  Maybe I took advantage
               of that.  Maybe I was rough with them -

                          STARLING
               Mr. Verger, I don't need to know about
               the sex offenses.  I just -

                          MASON
               It's all right.  I have immunity, so
               it's all right now.  I have immunity from
               the U.S. Attorney.  I have immunity from
               the D.A. in Owings Mills.  I have
               immunity from the Risen Jesus and nobody
               beats the Riz.

                          STARLING
               What I'd like to know is if you'd ever
               seen Dr. Lecter before the court assigned
               you to him for therapy?

                          MASON
               You mean - socially?
                   (laughs)

                          STARLING
               That is what I mean, yes.  Weren't you
               both on the board of the Baltimore Phil-
               harmonic?

                          MASON
               Oh, no, my seat was just because my
               family contributed.  I sent my lawyer
               when there was a vote.

                          STARLING
               Then I'm not sure I understand how he
               ended up at your house that night, if
               you don't mind talking about it.

                          MASON
               Not at all.  I'm not ashamed.

                          STARLING
               I didn't say you should be.

                          MASON
               I invited him, of course.  He was too
               professional to just sort of "drop in."
               I answered the door in my nicest come-
               hither leather outfit.

     FLASHCUT of the door opening, revealing Verger, in his
     leather gear, his face young and pretty.

                          MASON
               I was concerned he'd be afraid of me,
               but he didn't seem to be.  Afraid of me;
               that's funny now.

     FLASHCUT of Verger leading Lecter upstairs, each with a glass
     of wine in hand.

                          MASON
               I showed him my toys, my noose set-up
               among other things - where you sort of
               hang yourself but not really.  It feels
               good while you - you know.

     FLASHCUT to some dogs watching Verger with the noose around
     his neck, and Lecter offering him some amyl nitrite.

                          MASON
               Anyway - he said, Would you like a
               popper, Mason?  I said, Would I.  And
               whoa, once that kicked in I knew it was
               more than simple amyl, it was some kind
               of custom meth-angel-acid highball.
               Lovely.  I was flying -

     FLASHBACK to Mason's image in a full-length mirror shattering
     as Lecter kicks it.

                          MASON'S VOICE
               The good doctor came over with a piece
               of broken mirror.  Mason, he said -

                          LECTER
               - show me how you smile to get the
               confidence of a child.

     Lecter holds a shard of mirror glass in front of him.

                          LECTER
               Uh-huh.  Do you ever smile?  Oh, I see
               how you do it.
               Now Mason, let's say you had to hide
               that kindly, fictitious mask?  How would
               you do it?

     Verger tries to look serious, or mean, but his features are
     just too sweet, even with a noose around his neck.

                          LECTER
               No, I still see it.  Try again.
                   (Verger tries again)
               No.  No, I'm afraid not.  Try this.
                   (hands him the glass)
               Try peeling off your face with this and
               feeding it to the dogs.

     As Verger lifts the broken glass to his face -

     BACK TO the faceless Verger in the bed, his claw of a hand
     gripping invisible glass -

                          MASON
               Well, you know the rest.
                   (shrugs)
               Seemed like a good idea at the time.

     Starling looks like someone who has just received much more
     information than she ever needed or wanted.  Cordell comes in
     quietly with Verger's lunch on a rolling cart, and trying not
     to interrupt, arranges the silverware and pours some water.

                          STARLING
               Mr. Verger, you -

                          MASON
               Are you shocked, Agent S?

                          STARLING
               You indicated to -
                   (her eyes dart to the tape, and
                    his follow them)
               - to my office - that you've received
               some kind of new information.

                          MASON
               Look in the drawer of the end table.

     Starling takes out a pair of thin cotton gloves and puts
     them on.  In the drawer she finds a large manila envelope and
     in it, an x-ray of an arm.

                          STARLING
               Where did this come from?

                          MASON
               Buenos Aires.  I received it two weeks
               ago.

                          STARLING
               Where's the package it came in?

                          MASON
               The package it came in... good question.
               I don't know.  There was nothing written
               on it of interest.  Did I throw it out?

     Starling smells a rat, but keeps it to herself.  Takes a
     closer look at the x-ray while Cordell busies himself climb-
     ing a step ladder next to the aquarium.

                          MASON
               Think it will help?  I hope so.  I hope
               it'll help you catch him, if for no other
               reason than to heal the stigma of your
               recent dishonor.

     She switches off the tape recorder.

                          STARLING
               Thank you, that's all I -

                          MASON
               Did you feel some rapport with Dr.
               Lecter in your talks at the asylum?
               I know I did while I was peeling.

                          STARLING
               We exchanged information in a civil way.

                          MASON
               But always through the glass.

                          STARLING
               Yes.

                          MASON
               The eel and fish become accustomed to
               each other through the glass.  They're
               even company for one another.

     Cordell's gloved hand grips the snapper and transfers it to
     the other side of the aquarium, where the eel at once rips a
     piece out of it.  Starling tries to ignore it and reaches to
     unclip the microphone from Verger's pajames lapel.

                          MASON
               Isn't it funny?

     Nothing is particularly funny to her right now.

                          STARLING
               What's that?

                          MASON
               You can look at my face, but you shied
               when I said the name of God.

     INT. EVIDENCE STORAGE - QUANTICO - DAY

     A clerk is cataloging strange items from another case as
     Starling inspects what he brought her on Lecter.  There's not
     much there.  One cardboard box-worth, some files, video tape.

                          CLERK
               Not finding what you want?

                          STARLING
               Are you sure this is all of it?

                          CLERK
               That's all of it now.  There used to be
               more, but it's been picked over little by
               little over the years.  It's worth a lot
               of money in certain circles.  Like the
               cocaine that disappears around here.
               Little by little.

     INT. BASEMENT - BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE - DAY

     The room Starling's been given to work out of used to be
     the department's basement darkroom.  There's almost nothing
     in it now.  Couple of old enlargers, chemical trays, an ugly
     rented couch, a metal desk, a computer, and a blackboard on
     wheels she has chalked with the headings "Lecter" and
     "Verger," a few scribbled notes under each name.

     She's taken the video tape from the paltry contents of the
     evidence box and puts in in a VCR.  In a moment, a scene in
     black and white, captured by a security camera at the
     Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, plays out
     in silence:

     Lecter wired up for an EKG.  A female nurse getting too
     close.  Lecter attacking her.  Biting her.  A black orderly
     rushing in and roughly subduing him, breaking his arm in the
     process, then attending to the fallen nurse.

     INT. BASEMENT - BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE - LATER

     A cursor blinks in a search panel.  Starling types in
     "Hannibal Lecter," enters it and waits.

     The laptop screen fills with a listing of sites, the first
     20 of 611,046, according to the engine.  A banner to one side
     offers, "Amazon.com ... Hannibal Lec ... Save up to 50% ...
     Shop-4-Pokemon."

     One of the listings is the FBI's own consumer site, others
     refer to published articles by and about Lecter, but most
     have names like, "Hannibal's Chamber of Horrors," and
     "Fava Beans Anyone?"

     Starling scrolls down to the bottom query panel to narrow
     her search.  Adds, "memorabilia," and hits Enter.  The screen
     fills with another listing of sites, like, "Kenny's Trading
     Post," and, "World Wide Collectibles," with brief
     descriptions of some of the wares offered:

     "Credit card receipt from Dean & DeLuca w/genuine signature
     of Hannibal Lecter, $550 OBO / PP."

     "Mark McGuire 1998 season home run ball (#67), w/papers,
     all reasonable offers considered."

     "Flatware w/etched lions on handles, owned by Hannibal
     Lecter.  24 pieces, one spoon missing.  Real.  No dealers.
     $6,500."

     "Hockey, basketball (and non-sports) trading cards."

     "Lecter victim (#3) Sam Sirrah's death certificate.  Not a
     Xerox.  Nice frame.  Price upon request."

     "Hannibal Lecter's '62 Mercedes.  Really.  Only two owners
     since incarceration.  Clean.  85,000."

     "Valentine card from H. Lecter.  Signed.  Sweet sentiment.
     Hate to part with it but need money.  $950."

     No x-rays.  Starling thinks.  Clears the address in the top
     panel and types something else.  A new screen appears, headed
     with bold, colorful lettering:  "eBay."

     She types in "Hannibal Lecter" again.  Hits the "Find it!"
     button.  An auction screen appears.  14 items.  "H. Lecter x-
     ray" second from the top.  "Item #194482661."  61 bidders.
     In red:  "Ends in 49 Mins."

     She highlights the item and is taken to the details screen.
     Scrolls down.  No photo, but there is a description:  "Left
     arm x-ray of Hannibal Lecter.  Very rare.  Slightly used
     metal light box included."

     She backs up to the previous screen.  Last bid, "$7,200."
     Next increment, $100.  She types in "$10,000" and hits Enter.

     INT. SCI-FI COMICS - DAY

     Strange denizens - collectors - roam the shelves lined with
     plastic-sheathed science fiction comic books - browsing and
     humming - each in his own world.

     In truth, they're not really browsing; they're stealing
     glances at Starling, the only woman in the place, and the
     most beautiful one any of them has ever seen in real life.

     In truth, she isn't really browsing either.  She's stealing
     glances at the proprietor behind the glass-top, trading card-
     filled, counter.

                          CUSTOMER
               December you mean -

                          PROPRIETOR
               No, not December.  November.  Volume
               Four, Number Four.  Worst.  Issue.  Ever.

     The customer moves on.  Starling wanders over and several
     pairs of eyes wander with her.  A tape of the X-Files plays
     on a small television set at one end of the counter, which
     the proprietor pays more attention to than her.  Quietly -

                          STARLING
               I'm interested in Hannibal Lecter
               memorabilia.

     The man's head slowly turns to her with the most withering
     of looks.  She's the last person on earth who'd be interested
     in Hannibal Lecter memorabilia.

                          PROPRIETOR
               I don't handle Hannibal Lecter
               memorabilia.  Hannibal Lecter memorabilia
               - real Hannibal Lecter memorabilia -
               would have to be stolen.  I don't deal in
               stolen goods.  Try Sotheby's.

                          STARLING
               I'm confused.

                          PROPRIETOR
               You're a policeman, of course you're
               confused.

                          STARLING
               Not exactly.

                          PROPRIETOR
               Oh, all right.  Police woman.  I keep
               the politically-correct comics in the
               back.  By the toilet scrubber.

     She show him her identification.  Her FBI shield.  Some
     of the other customers see it, too, and - crushed - begin
     gliding toward the door.

                          STARLING
               I'm confused because I just paid you ten
               thousand dollars for an x-ray of Hannibal
               Lecter.  I don't want to wait for you to
               send it, I want to pick it up now.

     The dime drops.  Just a fleeting spark of realization.

                          PROPRIETOR
               No, if you paid me ten thousand dollars
               for an x-ray of Hannibal Lector, I would
               possess a money order, or cashiers check,
               for ten thousand dollars, which I do not.
               You bid ten thousand dollars for an
               x-ray of Hannibal Lecter.  I've decided,
               in the interim, not to sell it.  You're
               free to write a nasty comment about me
               on the e-Bay message board.

                          STARLING
               I'm free to write a nasty comment about
               you on your arrest report.

                          PROPRIETOR
                   (sighs)
               The x-ray I was thinking of selling,
               but have now decided against, is not of
               Hannibal Lecter.  How do I know this?
               Because it's of me.  This arm.
                   (pointing to it, then to the
                     other one)
               No, this one.

     Now she sighs.  She should just leave.

                          PROPRIETOR
               Wait a minute.  I know you.
                   (he brightens considerably)
               You're -

     He rummages behind the counter and comes up with a recent,
     plastic-wrapped issue of the National Tattler tabloid, with
     gory pictures of the shoot-out and the screaming headline -
     "DEATH ANGEL:  CLARICE STARLING, THE FBI'S KILLING MACHINE."

                          PROPRIETOR
               Would you be so kind, Miss Starling,
               as to sign this for me?  I apologize for
               my - um - my -

                          CUSTOMER'S VOICE (O.S.)
               Rude -

                          PROPRIETOR
               Rude - behavior - before.

     He delicately slips the newspaper from its plastic cover.
     Checks the condition of the tip of a fine-line Sharpie.  His
     eyes are eager now, his demeanor painfully solicitous, like a
     sweetly disarming little boy waiting for the baseball players
     to finish batting practive.  Starling turns and leaves.

     EXT. MARYLAND-MISERACORDIA GENERAL HOSPITAL - DAY

     A wailing siren.  Ambulance pulling up in front of an
     Emergency Entrance.  Paramedics climb out, hoist down a
     gurney and the bleeding gunshot victim on in, and hurry him
     in past the automatic doors.  The doors thump shut.

     A moment later they open again and an orderly - same one
     from the tape - steps out, finished with his shift, coat over
     his uniform.  He hitches up his collar and steps out into the
     drizzling rain as Starling, across the street in a hooded
     sweatshirt, watches.

     EXT. STREETS - LATER - DAY

     The orderly moves along a wet sidewalk, heading home,
     Starling following at a distance.  He stops.  She stops.  He
     glances to something in the middle of the street.  A dead
     dove, one wing fluttering in the wind.  He looks up.  Sees
     its mate pacing on a wire.  Car tires hiss past below.

     Starling watches as he crosses to the center of the street,
     picks up the dead dove and pockets it, crosses back and
     continues on.  She, and the surviving bird, follow.

     INT. APARTMENT BUILDING - UPSTAIRS HALL - DAY

     Starling knocks.  Waits.  The door opens and the orderly
     peers out with the dead dove in his hands.

                          STARLING
               Hi, Barney.  I need to talk with -

                          BARNEY
               Would you agree, for the record, Officer
               Starling, I've not been read my rights?

                          STARLING
               This is just informal.  I just need to
               ask you about some stuff.

                          BARNEY
               How about saying it into your handbag?

     Starling opens her purse and speaks down into it as though
     there were a troll inside -

                          STARLING
               I have not Mirandized Barney.  He is
               unaware of his rights.

     Barney widens the door so she can come in.

     INT. BARNEY'S APARTMENT - CONTINUOUS

     Barney sets the dove on a desk and drags a computer mouse
     to the "file close" x.  Just before the screen reverts to the
     AOL Welcome page, Starling glimpses the site he was on when
     she interrupted him with her knock - stock quotes.

                          STARLING
               How you been?

     He doesn't answer.  Sits his huge frame down on his desk
     chair.  She moves some newspapers aside on a couch, one of
     which shows a photo of her from the Drumgo raid.  They
     consider each other for a moment.  Eventually -

                          STARLING
               Barney, back when you turned Dr. Lecter
               over to the Tennessee Police -

                          BARNEY
               They weren't civil to him.  And they're
               all dead now.

                          STARLING
               Yeah.  They only managed to survive his
               company three days.  You survived him six
               years at the asylum.  How'd you do that?
               It wasn't just being civil.

                          BARNEY
               Yes, it was.

     They both hear something - a flutter - and glance out to the
     fire escape.  The dead dove's mate has landed on the railing.

                          STARLING
               Did you ever think, once he escaped,
               he might come after you?

                          BARNEY
               No.  He told me once that, whenever
               feasible, he preferred to eat the rude.
               "Free-range rude," he called them.

     He smiles.  Glances out the window again to the cooing dove.
     Picks up the dead one, carries it out and sets it down on the
     wet grating.

                          STARLING
               Any idea what happened to all his stuff?
               His books and papers and drawings and -

                          BARNEY
               Everything got thrown out when the place
               closed.

     He comes back in.  She starts to say something, hesitates.
     Once she starts on this subject, she knows one of them will
     wind up very unhappy.

                          STARLING
               Barney, I just found out that Dr.
               Lecter's signed copy of The Joy of
               Cooking went to a private collector for
               sixteen thousand dollars.

                          BARNEY
               It was probably a fake.

                          STARLING
               The seller's affidavit of ownership
               was signed, Karen Phlox.  You know Karen
               Phlox?  You should.  "She" filled out
               your employment application, only at the
               bottom she signed it, Barney.  Same thing
               on your tax returns.

     Long silence.  Then Barney sighs.

                          BARNEY
               You want the book?  Maybe I could get
               it back.

                          STARLING
               I want the x-ray.  From when you broke
               his arm after he attacked that nurse.

     Barney gets up again, but doesn't run off to get it.  He
     slowly paces around.

                          BARNEY
               We talked about a lot of things, late at
               night, after all the screaming died down.
               We talked about you sometimes.  Want to
               know what he said?

                          STARLING
               No, just the x-ray.

                          BARNEY
               Is there a reward?

                          STARLING
               Yeah.  The reward is I don't have my
               friend the Postal Inspector nail you on
               Use of the Mails to Defraud, you don't
               get ten years, and you don't come out
               with a janitor's job and a room at the Y,
               sitting on the side of your bunk at night
               listening to yourself cough.

     He stares at her, gets up finally, disappears into the
     bedroom.  Starling looks out to the fire escape again.  The
     surviving dove has dropped down and is now walking in circles
     around its lifeless mate.

     Barney returns with a file box and a large envelope.  Hands
     it all to her.  She unfurls the string-clasp.  Pulls out an x-
     ray of an arm.  A radiologist's and Lecter's names are on it.

                          BARNEY
               I'm not a bad guy.

                          STARLING
               I didn't say you were.

                          BARNEY
               Dr. Chilton is a bad guy.  After your
               first visit, he began taping your conver-
               sations with Dr. Lecter.

     He produces from his jacket pocket several cassette tapes.
     As he hands them to her -

                          BARNEY
               I was good to you.  Tried to make it
               easy for you the first time you came down
               to the violent ward to interview Dr.
               Lecter.  Remember?

                          STARLING
               Yes.

                          BARNEY
               You remember saying thank you?

     She doesn't because she didn't, and now regrets it.

                          STARLING
               I'm sorry.  Thank you.

                          BARNEY
               You mean it?

                          STARLING
               Yes.

                          BARNEY
               I'm going to show you something then.
               I don't have to show it to you, remember
               that.  But I believe your gratitude is
               sincere.

     He goes to a fuse box on the wall.  Takes something out of
     it.  Turns around to face Starling, wearing the famous mask
     from Silence of the Lambs, and her hand flashes toward her
     sidearm, a movement quickly stopped.

                          BARNEY
               This is my retirement fund.
                   (removes the mask)
               If you'll let me keep it.  I can a lot
               of money for this and get out of here for
               good.  I want to travel, and see every
               Vermeer in the world before I die.

     She thinks about it, doesn't immediately answer him.  He
     walks out onto the fire escape again and addresses the bird -

                          BARNEY
               Go on.  You've grieved long enough.

     He shoos the dove away, picks up the dead one, comes back
     in and drops it in the wastebasket by his desk.

                          STARLING
               What did he say?  About me?  Late at
               night.

                          BARNEY
               We were talking about inherited, hard-
               wired behavior.  He was using genetics in
               roller pigeons as an example.
               They go way up in the air and roll over
               backwards in a display, falling toward
               the ground.  There are shallow rollers
               and deep rollers.  You can't breed two
               deep rollers or the offspring will roll
               all the way down, crash and die.  He
               said, "Officer Starling is a deep roller,
               Barney.  Let's hope one of her parents
               was not."

     As Starling gets up and gathers everything except the mask,
     she hears the surviving dove call out once from somewhere in
     the trees.

     INT. FBI LAB - DAY

     The two x-rays, one overlaid on the other, clipped to a
     light box.  A technician adjusts them so the bone structures
     correspond in position as closely as possible and points out
     to Starling -

                          TECHNICIAN
               They're the same arm.  The discrepancy is
               the dates.  This one -

     He slides the x-rays apart, touches a thin gray line on one
     of them -

                          TECHNICIAN
               - shows the hairline fracture he
               sustained in the fight with the orderly.
               This one -
                   (the other x-ray)
               - the more recent one, supposedly,
               doesn't.  This is the newer of the two -
                   (the other one)
               - the one from the asylum.

     INT. BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE - LATER

     Starling puts the earliest-dated cassette into a player,
     presses "play," walks up to the blackboard and under Verger's
     heading - below "Meat-packing heir" and some other notes -
     writes, "He lies."  From the tape player -

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               Surely the odd confluence of events
               hasn't escaped you, Clarice.  Jack Craw-
               ford dangles you in front of me, then I
               give you a bit of help.  Do you think
               it's because I like to look at you and
               imagine how good you would taste?

     There's a pause.  Starling, remembering the moment clearly
     even now, mouths along with her recorded voice -

                          STARLING'S VOICE
               I don't know.  Is it?

     INT. CELL - BALTIMORE STATE HOSPITAL FOR THE CRIMINALLY
     INSANE - DAY - (FLASHBACK - 1994)

     It's Lecter's cell.  And it's almost pitch black.  Then,
     as he turns a rheostat, the lights slowly rise, revealing the
     cell to be almost empty, stripped of its books.  He's lying
     on his cot.

                          LECTER
               I've been in this room for eight years,
               Clarice.  I know they will never - ever -
               let me out while I'm alive.  What I want
               ... is a view.

     EXT. FLORENCE - DAY

     One of the most magnificent views in the world.

     Drifting across it, then down, reveals a piazza below.
     Outside a cafe, a figure in a dark overcoat, his back to us,
     drops crumbs to a hundred pigeons surrounding him.

     Closer, the pigeons swirl around his shoes.  And slowly the
     figure turns to face us.  It's not Hannibal Lecter.  It's
     someone we don't recognize.

     He lets go the last of the crumbs, brushes his gloves
     together, and crosses toward the ancient Palazzo Vecchio,
     glancing once at its high, stone walls and arched windows,
     its medieval bell tower soaring into the sky.

     INT. PALAZZO VECCHIO - DAY

     Checking his watch, but in no hurry, he climbs a flight
     of marble steps.  Unlike here, one more often smokes indoors
     than out, and the man lights an MS cigarette, his reward for
     reaching the landing.

                          ECHOING VOICE
               The Capponi correspondence goes back to
               the 13th Century.  Dr. Fell might hold in
               his hand, in his non-Italian hand, a note
               from Dante Alighieri himself, but would
               he recognize it?  I think not -

     He follows the echoing voice to the open doorway of a large
     frescoed room, the Salon of Lilies, where another gentleman,
     loitering outside it, pats at his pockets.  The man we've
     been following offers, along with an outstretched hand
     holding his pack of cigarettes -

                          PAZZI
               They're still arguing.

                          RICCI
                   (nodding)
               The curatorship.  Sogliato wants the
               job for his nephew.  The scholars seem
               satisfied with the temporary guy they
               appointed.

     Pazzi lights Ricci, glances down the hall to the far end,
     where a janitor slowly guides a floor polisher back and forth
     like a big, weak motorcycle, then crosses to and peers into
     the Salon:

     It's under long-term restoration, scaffolding everywhere.
     A large assembly of men ranging in age from middle-aged to
     the Middle Ages, it seems, are gathered around a long 12th-
     century table.  The echoing voice belongs to -

                          SOGLIATO
               You have examined him in medieval
               Italian, and I'll not deny his language
               is admirable.  For a straniero.  But what
               if he came upon a note in the Capponi
               library, say, from Guido de'Cavalcanti to
               Dante?  Would he recognize it?  I think
               not.

     Pazzi isn't sure which one is Fell.  Scanning the room 
     from the doorway, he tries to locate the source of the voice,
     but it's difficult, the high ceillings playing hell with the
     acoustics -

                          DR. FELL
               Professor Sogliato, if I might.
               Cavalcanti, as we all know, replied
               publicly to Dante's first sonnet in La
               Vita Nuova.  If he commented privately as
               well, if he wrote to a Cappono, to which
               would it be?  In your opinion?
                   (Sogliato clearly can't even
                    name the Capponi)
               No?  Not even a guess?  Andrea, don't you
               think?  Since he was more literary than
               his brothers.

     Several of the other scholars nod their heads in agreement,
     which only embarrasses Sogliato more.  Pazzi knows which man
     at the table Fell is now, however he - and we - still can't
     see his face, seated as he is with his back to the door.

                          SOGLIATO
               If he is such an expert on Dante let
               him lecture on Dante - to the Studiolo.
               Let him face them, if he can.

                          DR. FELL
               I'd look forward to it.  Shall we set 
               the date now?

     Sogliato has had enough and gets up, noisily gathering his
     things.  As the meeting breaks up some of the other committee
     members shake Fell's hand.  Pazzi comes in and approaches
     Fell - from behind - as the others straggle out.

                          PAZZI
               Dr. Fell?

     Fell turns.  Of course, it's Hannibal Lecter.

                          PAZZI
               Chief Inspector Rinaldo Pazzi of the
               Questura.

                          DR. FELL
                   (shaking his hand)
               Commendatore.  How can I be of service?

                          PAZZI
               I'm investigating the disappearance of
               your predecessor, Signore de Bonaventura.
               I was wondering if -

                          DR. FELL
               Predecessor implies I have the job.
               Unfortunately, I don't.  Not yet.  Though
               I'm hopeful.  They are letting me look
               after the library.  For a stipend.

     Fell begins gathering his books and papers, placing them
     neatly in his satchel.

                          PAZZI
               Yes.  Well -

                          DR. FELL
               What do you think happened to him?

                          PAZZI
               To your - to the Signore - who can say?
               Perhaps he ran off.  Bad debts.  Bad love
               affair.  I was wondering if you might -

                          DR. FELL
               Not another victim of Il Mostro?

                          PAZZI
               What?  No.  That I'm sure.  We find Il
               Mostro's victims.  He makes sure we find
               them.

                          DR. FELL
               Or she.

                          PAZZI
               Or she.

                          DR. FELL
               I never actually met Signore de
               Bonaventura.  I have read several of his
               monographs in the Nuova Antologia.

                          PAZZI
               The officers who first checked, didn't
               find any sort of - farewell or - suicide
               note.  I was wondering if -

                          DR. FELL
               If I happen to come across anything in
               the Capponi Library, stuffed in a book or
               a drawer - yes, I'll call you at once.

     He accepts Pazzi's card and slips it under a paperclip
     holding some of his notes together.

                          PAZZI
               Thank -

                          DR. FELL
               You've been reassigned.

     Pazzi was just turning to leave.  Turns back.

                          PAZZI
               Pardon?

                          DR. FELL
               You were on the Il Mostro case, I'm sure
               I read.

                          PAZZI
               That's right.

     And it was a humiliation being taken off of it, which he
     would no doubt rather not discuss here.

                          DR. FELL
               Now you're on this.  This is much less -
               grand - a case, I would think.

                          PAZZI
               If I thought of my work in those terms,
               yes, I guess I'd agree.

                          DR. FELL
               A missing person.

     Fell says it like it's not worth saying.  Pazzi's had enough
     and turns to leave again.

                          DR. FELL
               Were you unfairly dismissed from the
               grander case?  Or did you deserve it?

     Pazzi looks back again.  Fell isn't even looking at him;
     putting things in his case.

                          PAZZI
               Regarding this one, Dr. Fell.  Are the
               Signore's personal effects still at the
               Palazzo?

                          DR. FELL
               Packed neatly in two cases with an
               inventory.  Alas, no note.

                          PAZZI
               I'll send someone over to pick them up.
               Thank you for your help.

     He starts to leave again.

                          DR. FELL
               Have you thought about Botticelli?

     Pazzi looks back again.  What is Fell talking about?

                          PAZZI
               Not since middle school art class, I'm
               afraid.

                          DR. FELL
               Those awful pictures in the papers
               of The Monster's victims.  His careful
               arrangement of the young lovers' bodies.
               The flowers.  The women's exposed left
               breast.  The tableaux remind me of
               Botticelli.  Don't they, you?

     Frankly, it never occurred to him.  Fell points to a place
     just behind Pazzi and he turns to see a beautiful Botticelli
     in a carved gold frame, the woman lying in flowers, her left
     breast exposed.  Fell shrugs as he closes his satchel.

                          DR. FELL
               Maybe a clue.

     EXT. FELL'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT

     A row of family palaces in an ancient street.  A figure
     walking on the cobblestones.  Only vaguely familiar, his path
     leads us to the front of an old residence, its windows behind
     iron grates, all but one on an upper floor dark.  The figure
     continues on down the street, but we go inside -

     INT. FELL'S RESIDENCE - NIGHT

     Even though the foyer is dark, we can tell it's large and
     high-ceilinged.  We become aware of music - Bach's Goldberg
     Variations - but can't be sure where it's coming from.

     We notice a staircase and decide to climb it.  It's longer
     than we thought at first - its steps made of thick slabs of
     ancient stone, its rail of cold hammered iron.

     We reach the landing.  Notice a small darkened room to
     one side.  But the music seems to be coming from elsewhere, so
     we continue on, down the hall to a pair of tall double doors,
     open, allowing us into the main salon.  The music seems to be
     coming from somewhere in here.

     We move through the room, illuminated only faintly by the
     occasional candle, look up to see that the height of the room
     disappears into darkness, then down again as we are almost
     upon the figure sitting at a piano.

     Lecter's fingers move among the yellowed ivory keys.  He
     plays the Bach piece well, every so often glancing to a lyre-
     shaped music stand.  But coming slowing around the stand, we
     discover there is no sheet music on it, but instead a copy of
     the National Tattler with a picture of a black woman dead in
     the street, and another picture of Clarice Starling - the
     FBI's "ANGEL OF DEATH" - washing down a baby next to the
     head of a shark.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               Dear Clarice, I have followed with
               enthusiasm the course of your disgrace
               and public shaming.  My own never
               bothered me, except for the inconvenience
               of being incarcerated, but you may lack
               perspective -

     The music continues over:

     INT. FELL'S RESIDENCE - LATER - NIGHT

     Sitting at a 16th Century refectory table in a pool of lamp
     light, Lecter dips the tip of a fountain pen into an etched
     glass bottle of ink and signs the letter he has just written.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               In our discussions down in the dungeon,
               it was apparent to me that your father -
               the dead night watchman - figures large
               in your value system.

     He adds a brief post-script, folds the linen-fiber paper over
     once, careful to line up the edges, gives it a sharp crease.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               I think your success in putting an end to
               Jame Gumb's career as a couturier pleased
               you most because you could imagine your
               father being pleased.

     He places the letter in an envelope that is already addressed
     to Special Agent Clarice Starling, and seals it with wax.  He
     places it into another, slightly larger envelope that already
     has written on it a Las Vegas, Nevada, address.

     EXT. FLORENCE - DAY

     Lecter strolls across a bridge over the Arno and drops his
     envelope into a post box on the other side.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               Now you are in bad odour with the
               FBI, alas.  Do you imagine Daddy shamed
               by your disgrace?  Do you see him in his
               plain pine box, crushed by your failure?
               The sorry, petty end of a promising
               career?

     EXT. LAS VEGAS - DAY

     A U.S. Mail carrier's truck pulls into the parking lot of a
     strip mall.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               Do you dream now, not of screaming
               lambs, but of yourself doing the menial
               tasks your mother was reduced to after
               the addicts busted a cap on Daddy?

     INT. RE-MAILING SERVICE - LAS VEGAS - DAY

     Piles of mail on the counter.  A middle-aged man slits open
     the envelope from Italy, takes out the smaller envelope, puts
     a stamp on it, drops it onto a pile of outgoing mail and
     throws the larger envelope away.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               What is worst about this humiliation?
               Is it how your failure will reflect on
               them?  Is your worst fear that people
               will forever now believe your parents
               were indeed trailer camp tornado-bait
               white trash?  That you are?  Hmmm?

     INT. FBI BASEMENT - DAY

     The letter is among stacks of others in a metal cart as it is
     wheeled along a basement corridor.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               I couldn't help noticing on its rather
               dull public web site, Clarice, that I've
               been hoisted from the Bureau's Archives
               of the Common Criminal up to the more
               prestigious 10 Most Wanted list.

     The mail cart comes to and past a door on which, instead of
     a nameplate, is Scotch-taped a piece of legal pad paper with
     one hand-scrawled word:  "Starling."

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               Coincidence?  Or are you "back on the
               case?"

     INT. STARLING'S LECTEREUM - CONTINUOUS

     The mail room boy navigates the short maze of black right-
     angled darkroom walls that lead to the room itself.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               I imagine you sitting in a dark base-
               ment room, bent over papers and computer
               screens at clerk's distances that mocks
               the prairie distance in your eyes.  A
               zoo hawk, one wing hanging down.

     The mail room boy sets three or four things down on
     Starling's desk.

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               Is that fairly accurate?  Tell me
               truly, Special Agent Starling.  Regards,
               Hannibal Lecter, M.D.

     The music ends.  To the mail room boy -

                          STARLING
               Thanks.

     He doesn't immediately leave.  He watches her tack to a
     bulletin board the last of several newspaper clippings and
     Internet downloads of grisly unsolved murders world-wide.

                          GEOFFREY
               How's it going?  Any leads?

                          STARLING
               They're all leads.  They just don't lead
               to him.

     She sits at her desk to take a look at the mail.  Geoffrey
     wanders over to take a look at the clippings.  He grimaces at
     one of them.

                          GEOFFREY
               I don't know how you live with this
               stuff.

                          STARLING
               Oh, God.

     He turns.  She's looking at one of her pieces of mail.

                          STARLING
               It's from the Guinness Book of World
               Records congratulating me on being "The
               Female FBI Agent Who Has Shot The Most
               People."

     She throws it in the wastebasket, picks up the envelope
     with the wax seal and fine copperplate writing, and somehow
     immediately knows who it's from.

                          STARLING
               Geoffrey - ?  Would you excuse me.

     He sees she isn't looking at him.  Leaves with his cart.
     Annoyed at herself for getting her paw prints all over the
     letter, she reaches for her key chain, slits the envelope
     with the Swiss Army knife on it, and extracts and unfolds the
     letter with the blade.  As she reads it, there is a faint
     echoing refrain of Bach's Goldberg Variations, and -

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               P.S.  Clearly this new assignment is
               not your choice.  Rather, it is part of
               "the bargain."  But you accepted it,
               Clarice.  Your job is to craft my doom.
               As such, I'm not sure how well to wish
               you.  Ta-ta.  H.

     INT. FBI LAB - DAY

     Digitized images of the letter alongside "Early Lecter"
     handwriting samples on a computer monitor.

                          TECHNICIAN
               The letter was written by Lecter, but
               you could probably tell that just from
               reading it.

     Starling nods.  Other images replace the writing analyses:
     sets of fingerprints.

                          TECHNICIAN
               Naturally, there were several prints on
               the envelope, including yours -

                          STARLING
               - sorry -

                          TECHNICIAN
               On the letter itself there's only one
               "partial" - here - not enough to hold up
               in court, but -

                          STARLING
               We know it's him.  Where he was when
               he wrote it is what I need.

     The image changes again - a greatly magnified patch of the
     letter that reads, "screaming lambs."

                          TECHNICIAN
               The paper isn't going to help.  Yes, it's
               linen fiber.  Yes, it's on the expensive
               side.  No, it's not so rare that you
               couldn't find it in a thousand stationery
               stores the world over.
               Same with the ink.  Same with the wax.
                   (an image of the envelope
                    appears on the monitor)
               The post mark.  Las Vegas.  You could
               check it out, but odds are it came from a
               a re-mailing service.  Afraid you're out of
               luck.

                          STARLING
               What about the crease?

                          TECHNICIAN
               The what?

     INT. PERFUMERY - NEW JERSEY - DAY

     Stainless stell tweezers pluck the letter from the evidence
     bag and hold it, crease up, under an enormous nose.  The nose
     sniffs only once, but long, taking in a faint, pleasant aroma
     of residue and a lot of air.

     The hand clutching the tweezers clutching the letter are
     passed to another - feminine - hand, which holds it up to
     another enormous nose with wide nostrils.  This nose sniffs
     once and hands the tweezers to another - masculine - hand.
     This one lifts the letter to the biggest nose of all.

                          BIGGEST NOSE
               Hand soap ... Raw ambergris base ...
               Tennessee lavender ... mountain sage ...
               trace of something else ...

                          LESS BIGGEST NOSE
               Fleece.

                          LEAST BIGGEST NOSE
               Fleece.

                          BIGGEST NOSE
               It's fleece, isn't it.  Lovely.

     The other two "perfume engineers" nod.  All three, and
     Starling, are sitting in a sterile laboratory environment.

                          STARLING
               What's ambergris?

                          BIGGEST NOSE
               Ambergris is a whale product.  Alas,
               much as we'd like to, we can't import it.
               Endangered Species Act.

     The other two shake their heads as if to say, What a load of
     crap that Endangered Species Act is.

                          STARLING
               Where isn't it illegal?

                          BIGGEST NOSE
               Japan, of course.  Couple of places in
               Europe.  You'd almost certainly find it
               somewhere in Paris.  Rome.  Amsterdam.

                          LESS BIGGEST NOSE
               Maybe London.

                          LEAST BIGGEST NOSE
               But not at Harrod's.  Small, exclusive
               shops.  This bouquet was hand-engineered
               to someone's specifications.

                          STARLING
               Is there any way of knowing which shops?

                          BIGGEST NOSE
               Of course.  We'll give you a list.
               It'll be short.

     The Biggest Nose can't resist taking one last savoring sniff
     before returning the letter to the plastic bag.

     EXT. FLORENCE - DAY

     Vespas, Fiats and Innocenti speed around a traffic circle.
     Pedestrians move along the boulevard.  We follow one man who
     seems vaguely familiar - we glimpsed him briefly several days
     ago walking past Fell's residence just before we went in, and
     once before that, if we recall, polishing the floor in the
     Palazzo Vecchio.

     Right now, though, we're more interested in Pazzi who joins
     the frame coming toward us, and we follow him instead, to and
     up the steps of the Questura building.

     INT. QUESTURA - DAY

     A black and white step-framed image of Dr. Fell entering a
     small perfume shop.  It plays on a monitor sitting atop two
     VCR decks, one on Play, the other Record, the operator, a
     young agent, smoking as he writes out a label.

     Pazzi hangs his coat on a rack, crosses through the large
     room, and sits at his desk which happens to be right next to
     the VCR, which he pays no attention to.  At the next desk,
     Ricci sits working on a crossword puzzle.

                          PAZZI
               I need opera tickets.

                          RICCI
                   (without looking up)
               Don't think I have any on me.

                          PAZZI
               It's sold out, whatever it's called.

     A couple of Pazzi's colleagues, ones who are now working on
     the Il Mostro case instead of him, surrounded by
     photographs and clippings on the crimes, exchange a look.

                          DETECTIVE
               It's the pretty young wife with the
               ever-open beak who needs opera tickets.

     Pazzi glances over at them, not sure he heard right.  One
     sneaks a glance at the other.  It's all they can do to keep
     from laughing.  The tape of the customers coming and going
     at the perfume store contines, but Pazzi doesn't notice.

                          PAZZI
               Botticelli.

                          DETECTIVE
               What?

                          PAZZI
               He arranges his victims like that
               Botticelli painting.  You hadn't noticed?

     As Pazzi glances away from them, he catches a glimpse of the
     monitor, of Fell coming into the perfume shop again.  He gets
     up and the Il Mostro detectives, thinking he's coming for
     them, decide to go out for coffee.

                          PAZZI
               Back that up.

                          YOUNG AGENT
               What?  I can't back it up.  I'm making a
               copy.  I'm recording.

     The black and white images of customers, most of them women,
     continue, until Pazzi hits the stop button and spins the jog.
     The young agent groans, but not too loud; Pazzi far outranks
     him.  The image reverses.  Pazzi freezes it on one of the
     step frames that shows Dr. Fell.

                          PAZZI
               What is this?

                          YOUNG AGENT
               Security camera from a perfume shop on
               Villa Della Scula.  FBI through Interpol
               requested a copy.

                          PAZZI
               Why?

                          YOUNG AGENT
               They didn't say.

                          PAZZI
               They didn't say?

                          YOUNG AGENT
               It was actually kind of weird.  Like
               they were making a point of not saying.

     Pazzi unpauses it.  Watches Fell approach the counter and
     then wait, it seems, for a long time as the perfumer mixes up
     some kind of concoction.  Money exchanges hands and Fell,
     with his purchase, leaves.

     INT. PAZZI'S APARTMENT - STUDY - NIGHT

     As a search engine works, Pazzi glances down at copies of
     Fell's state work permit and Permesso di Soggiorno resting
     next to the computer.  The video cassette is there, too.
     And the over-night mailer.

     The FBI's consumer home page appears on the screen.  Pazzi
     selects the 10 Most Wanted button, and in a moment, the list
     - with pictures - is displayed.

     The World Trade Center bombing mastermind is #1.  Beneath
     him, nine other, lesser bombers and murderers, none of whom
     look anything like Fell.

     He shifts back to the main page.  Selects Archives.  The
     50 Most Wanted list appears - bank robbers and killers and
     arsonists, all with photos or police sketches, all but one
     man.  He scrolls down, stops.  Dr. Fell - Hannibal Lecter -
     "Hannibal the Cannibal" - is looking right at him.

                          ALLEGRA
               Rinaldo.

     He doesn't seem to hear her as he begins reading the text
     under Lecter's digitally-enhanced picture.

                          ALLEGRA
               Rinaldo.

     He glances up finally.  His young wife - who is indeed pretty
     - stands in the doorway of the study.

                          PAZZI
               I'm sorry.

                          ALLEGRA
               Are we going to the Teatro Michahelles?

                          PAZZI
               Yes.

                          ALLEGRA
               You got tickets.

                          PAZZI
               No.  But I will.  In fact, I was just
               about to look here.
                   (on the Internet)

                          ALLEGRA
               Please not the third balcony.  I would
               like to see it.

                          PAZZI
               Not in the balcony.  No matter what the
               cost.

     Unconvinced the promise will hold, she leaves the room.

     Pazzi opens his filofax to the F tab, finds a number written
     under no heading, a code, enters it into his computer and in
     a moment is taken to the FBI's private VICAP site - Violent
     Criminal Apprehensopn Program.

     He types in Lecter and scans the internal 302 reports that
     are displayed, many of them prepared by Special Agent Clarice
     Starling.

     He returns to the server screen.  Begins a new search.
     Hannibal Lecter.  Many of the same sites Starling found are
     listed, the ones posted by nuts.

     He scrolls down to the Refine Search panel.  Adds one word
     to his Hannibal Lecter query.  Reward.  Hits Return.

     Only one site includes the word in its page name.  Pazzi goes
     to it.  No graphics other than the same picture the FBI site
     showed.  No indication of whose site it is.

     Dry text describes Lecter, reminds the reader he should be
     regarded as armed and dangerous, and encourages informants to
     call the provided FBI number with any information.

     There is also a private number listed - European dialing
     code, not U.S.  Oh, and one more small piece of information.
     The reward.  $3,000,000.

     INT. STARLING'S LECTEREUM - DAY

     The place is looking more and more like a museum, the
     bulletin and blackboards covered now with notes and newsprint
     photos, including some of Il Mostro's young victims.

     Paul Krendler makes his way through the right-angled
     passageway leading into the darkened room.  The only light is
     coming from a monitor showing Lecter's escape from Memphis,
     as caught by high-angle security cameras.

     He considers a display Starling has erected to Lecter's nine
     known victims.  One is Mason Verger.  Another, a man attached
     to a tool shop peg board with metal rods piercing his body as
     in an illustration next to it of the medieval Wound Man.

     He becomes intrigued by a sketch on a standing easel of
     Starling, signed by Hannibal Lecter.  A piece of cloth has
     been tacked at the neck and drapes down like a sari.  Is she
     naked underneath it?  Krendler has to find out.  As he
     carefully lifts the cloth -

                          LECTER'S VOICE
               What is your worst memory of childhood?

     He jumps, startled, sees Starling sitting in a corner, in the
     shadows, next to the cassette deck.

                          STARLING
               Can I help you, Mr. Krendler?

                          KRENDLER
               Jesus.  What are you doing sitting there
               in the dark?

                          STARLING
               Thinking.

     She gets up.  Lets the tape of Lecter's voice continue.
     Krendler works at slowing the pace of his heart, at regaining
     most of his unpleasant hauteur.

                          KRENDLER
               Some people in Justice are thinking,
               too.  They're thinking, what exactly is
               she doing about Lecter?

                          STARLING
               Thinking.  About cannibalism.

                          KRENDLER
               What's the point of that, are you
               catching a crook, or writing a book?

                          STARLING
               Aren't you curious why he dines on his
               victims?

                          KRENDLER
               Not particularly, no.

                          STARLING
               To show his contempt for those who
               exasperate him, I think.

     Which she wouldn't mind showing Krendler in similar fashion.

                          STARLING
               Or, sometimes, to perform a public
               service.  In the case of the flautist,
               Benjamin Raspail -
                   (shows him a picture)
               - he did it to improve the sound of the
               Baltimore Philharmonic Orchestra, serving
               the not-so-talented flute player's sweet-
               breads to the board with a nice Chateau
               d'Y quem at forty-six hundred dollars a
               bottle.  That meal began with green
               oysters from the Gironde, followed by the
               sweetbreads, a sorbet and then, you can
               read here in Town & Country:  A notable
               dark and glossy ragout, the constituents
               never determined, on saffron rice.  Its
               taste was darkly thrilling with great
               bass tones that only the vast and careful
               reduction of the fond can give.

     Krendler is looking at her, not at the magazine.  Then -

                          KRENDLER
               I always figured him for a queer.

                          STARLING
               Now why would you say that, Paul?

                          KRENDLER
               All this artsy-fartsy stuff.  Chamber
               music and tea-party food.  Not that I
               mean anything personal, if you've got a
               lot of sympathy for those people.

     There wasn't a lot of spin on his words, but they carried an
     inkling of implication which she doesn't misinterpret.  She
     ignores it, though, and him, looks through her receipts.

                          KRENDLER
               What I came here to impress upon you,
               Starling, is I'd better see cooperation.
               There are no little fiefdoms.  I want to
               be copied on every 302.  Work with me and
               your so-called career here might improve.
               If you don't, all I have to do is draw a
               line through your name rather than under
               it, and it's over.