After disconnecting from Clarice, Hannibal had shopping to do. That's what he'd told her, and he would not lie to Clarice. Certainly not about something so trivial. He did have purchases to make, to go along with the plans that he'd already made.
First china - Gien French china - plates and aperitif glasses; also Riedel crystal, linen place mats and napkins, and heavy silverware, finely worked with the heft of a good weapon. Then on to Hammacher Schlemmer for his cooking needs - saute pans with gleaming copper bottoms, a couple of good whisks. His last purchase was perhaps his most important. At the medical supply store, he purchased a shiny new Stryker autopsy saw.
He arranged to have everything sent on ahead, smiling to himself in anticipation. Emerging from the relative darkness of the mall, he began to cross the parking lot, slappinig at his neck at the sting of an insect. His common sense told him it was too late in the season for such a one as that, just before he lost consciousness.