Silence Them

CHAPTER 3

     Clarice sat on her bed as Ardelia was drying off from her shower.
  "Should we get Chinese tonight?" Ardelia asked softly.
Clarice was nose deep in a newspaper article about Victoria and her friend left out a small sigh.
     "I'm talking to you," Ardelia chuckled and threw her towel at Clarice.
Clarice caught the towel and glared at her friend.
     "These poor women, we have no way of getting this guy without getting information from—"
     "From Dr Lecter," Ardelia mocked while cutting Starling off. Clarice breathed in deeply and held her breath for a moment trying not to get angry. "Chill. I'm only messing with you. And who knows, maybe he'll come around," Ardelia reassured Clarice as she got dressed. "Chinese tonight, yes or no?"
   "I can't. I gotta go to my place tonight. I have to unpack some more things."
Ardelia frowned and grabbed the towel from Clarice, throwing it in the hamper beside her.
"I'm sad we have to leave this place soon,"Ardelia sighed softly. She looked around the room and thought of all the memories her and Clarice had made.
    "I know." Clarice looked back down at the newspaper and smiled. "How's house hunting going for you?"
    "Good, found a place a few miles from here."
The two girls heard a small knock from outside and looked over at the door when they heard Will Graham talking to someone. Ardelia gave her friend a small kiss on the forehead.
"I gotta go."
She smiled and left the room leaving Clarice alone.

      •        •       •       •       •       •       •       •       •      •

   Clarice's shoes echoed through room as she walked out of the dining hall. She sipped her tea and decided to go get her mail.
She was so caught up in this case that she didn't think about her paychecks. Clarice smiled at Agent Burroughs as he walked by and turned the corner, Jack's office door hanging open.
She slowed down a bit and knitted her brows. A woman was sitting in front of his desk. She went to step closer and gasped loudly when Jack turned the corner, bumping into her.
   "I didn't mean to scare you," he laughed. Clarice chuckled with him and brushed some of the tea off her sweatshirt. "Where are you heading?"
The girl in his office began to turn and Jack quickly shut the door. Clarice looked down at Jack's hand and couldn't help to notice how suspicious he was.
   "I was on my way to get my mail," she replied.
He stared at her and she gave him a tight smile as they stood there awkwardly.
    "Welp. I better go. New trainee," he nudged his head to the door and she nodded, Jack excusing himself as he walked in the room.
Clarice couldn't help but watch the door close as she walked away.
    She walked down the empty hallway and eventually got to the mailboxes. Clarice set her tea down and grabbed the mail from her mailbox.
She began flipping through it, a smirk appearing on her face when she saw her cousin Saylor sent her a letter.
Saylor was a busy girl; Clarice barely heard from her, so it always made her happy when she'd get letters from family members.
Starling continued to go through her mail, her brows knitting together when she found an envelope with an unfamiliar address written on it. She stared at it as she grabbed her tea and walked back to her room.
  "What the hell," Clarice thought.
She looked up and slowed down again when she walked past Jack's office, laughter coming from inside. She wanted to stop and listen but didn't want anyone to catch her.
She walked to her room and immediately went back to work. She set the mail down beside her tea and turned her computer on. She looked over at the newspaper she was reading earlier and ran her hand through her hair.
Clarice opened up the case file and started typing the information into the system. After an hour or so of typing, she leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling while spinning her chair back and forth. She stopped and looked over at the mysterious envelope. She slowly turned her chair around and picked it up. She pulled a smaller envelope out and opened it. All she saw was a post it note. She couldn't help but laugh as she pulled it out, her laughter diminishing when she saw a phone number on the small piece of paper. 
Clarice grabbed Ardelia's phone book and began searching up the number.
"212-559-6999," she whispered repeatedly.
Her body tensed up and her blood ran cold as chills went down her spine. She swallowed hard and rubbed her chest gently trying to get the tight feeling to go away. She put away all her things and quickly ran out of her room with her brief case, Ardelia watching her run by the dining hall.
Before she could get Clarice's attention, her friend had left the building. Ardelia quickly ran to her room and looked inside. She breathed heavily and saw nothing was wrong. She closed the door to their room and looked over at Clarice's desk while locking the door. She saw her phone book was on her desk and grabbed it to pack it away.
She paused and saw a post it note poking out at the top of the page, as if it were a book mark. She took her finger and opened the book.
  "212," she whispered. Her finger stopped under 212 and she let out an audible gasp before running to Jack's office, the book dramatically falling to the floor.
  Someone had sent Clarice a letter from the Baltimore State Hospital.