Red Dragon

Graham shows Crawford the Jacobi family movies. He notices details in the movie that would explain how the killer was so well prepared. Reviewing the Leeds home movie, Graham realizes that “everything the Dragon needed to know was on the two films” (386). He notices that both families developed their films at the same laboratory.

While flying to the Gateway laboratory, Graham and Crawford receive a report about Dolarhyde’s attack at the museum. Crawford says that the attack “means nothing” (388). The victims have recovered enough to give a description. Graham notes that the Dragon did not kill anyone. Bloom, Crawford says, has suggested that this is because the Dragon is “trying to stop” (389).

Dolarhyde flies to St. Louis. He now feels that he has the “power to choose” (390) whether to keep Reba alive because he has overpowered the Dragon. Arriving to the laboratory to speak to Reba, he notices the employees behaving strangely. He spots Graham reviewing personnel files while other officers dust vehicles for prints. Carefully, he returns to his van and grabs his gun. Driving away, he desperately worries how the “monster” (394) Graham might have been tipped off. The Dragon appears, offering to “SAVE” (394) Dolarhyde in exchange for Reba’s life. The Dragon tells Dolarhyde to pull into a service station so that they can talk.

At the lab, Graham and Crawford sort through the Gateway employee files. Graham feels the need to work fast, otherwise the Dragon will “fly” (397).

Reba has dinner with Ralph Mandy, the man she was dating before she met Dolarhyde. She formally breaks up with him and she agrees to his request to “kiss her good-bye” (398). Dolarhyde is watching. He stabs Mandy outside. Seeing Mandy kiss Reba has hurt him, transforming him at last into the Dragon. Entering Reba’s home, he knocks her out with chloroform. She wakes in his van on the way to his house and worries that Dolarhyde is “crazy” (400). At Dolarhyde’s house, he carries her into his grandmother’s bedroom. She smells gasoline. Dolarhyde tells her that she has “hurt” (401) him and allows her to speak, loosening her gag and ties. Reba calmly tries to explain the situation. He interrupts her to describe the “remarkable events” (402) that he has instigated. When she starts to suggest that the murders were committed by the Tooth Fairy, he corrects her. She remarks the name “Red Dragon” (402). She is terrified when he speaks with the Dragon’s loud, powerful voice. He encourages her to feel his face, gives her the house key, and then says that she must earn his trust by locking the door and returning to him. Reba wonders whether she should play along with his game or try to run. Reba steps out of the door and locks it behind her. She runs, screaming for help. She hears footsteps behind her, and he catches her.

During the search at Gateway, the police hear reports that Ralph Mandy has been murdered. They make the connection between Mandy, Reba, and Dolarhyde. Graham enters Dolarhyde’s office. The clues in the office confirm that Dolarhyde is the Dragon.

Reba regains consciousness. She explains to Dolarhyde that she knows that she is outside his house. He instructs her to enter the house and hang the chain holding the key “around [his] neck” (409). He makes her feel a shotgun and speaks positively about their time together, though he then says that “it’s all over” (410). The Dragon, he says, wants him to hurt her but he wants to stop the Dragon. He begins to cry, explaining that there is only one way to stop the Dragon. The shotgun fires. Reba, realizing that she has not been hurt, smells the smoke that is filling the room and hears the “crackle of the flames” (411). The house is on fire, her worst fear. As she searches for Dolarhyde and a way to escape, she fumbles around the room. She finds a body with a key around the neck. The face has been mangled by the shotgun blast and she believes that Dolarhyde has shot himself in the head. Reba takes the key and tries to escape the burning house.

Crawford and Graham search for Dolarhyde’s house. The address is not on recent maps. They find the location and rush to stop the serial killer. In the distance, they see the “glow” (413) of the fire. They arrive on the scene to find Reba on the ground outside. She has escaped. Crawford runs to her, asking her about Dolarhyde. She explains what she believes happened, that she was “with him” (414) when he died. Crawford sits with Reba, sympathetically listening to her cry as they wait for the police to arrive.

The local police and fire department shift through the remains of the burned Dolarhyde house. The investigator suspects that a stash of dynamite may have cause the massive destruction. The intensity of the fire may have caused the body to be burned beyond recognition, he fears. Graham visits Reba in the hospital. Though she is in pain, she provides a clear recollection of “everything” (418) that happened between herself and Dolarhyde. Graham reassures her; rather than blaming herself for being with a serial killer, he says, her affection for Dolarhyde may have prompted doubt in him about his actions, meaning that she “probably saved some lives” (419). After leaving Reba, Graham speaks to Molly on the telephone. He wants her to join him at home as soon as possible, but she is reluctant to leave Oregon. Graham argues with her, claiming that Willy’s grandparents “want the boy” (422) and they are tolerating her presence. The conversation ends. Crawford finds Graham, informing him of a new development in the investigation.

The investigator Aynesworth runs through the collection of evidence. He shows off the guns and the human remains found among the ash. The human remains include “the teeth” (424) which match the bite marks found on the victims. Confident that Dolarhyde is dead, a relieved Graham makes plans for “going home” (425).

After thanking his colleagues at the FBI, Graham returns home. He finds Molly and Willy waiting for him at the airport, Molly having contacted him with a desire to reunite and reconcile. He notices a change in Willy, who seems more polite and protective of his mother. However, Molly seems affectionate when they meet. Graham goes home, pleased to be back.

Despite their desire to reconcile, Graham quickly detects a strangeness in his relationship with Molly. Things are not “the same again between them” (429). They seem too keen to please one another. Molly and Willy seem to talk often about Oregon and the time they spent there. Graham gradually comes to suspect that his marriage to Molly has reached an end, though he does not want to admit as much to himself. He makes plans “to talk to both of them” (430). While they spend an unsatisfying afternoon fishing on the beach, Molly goes to the house briefly and then returns to tell Graham that Crawford is on the telephone concerning an “urgent” (431) matter. As Graham returns to the house, Dolarhyde bursts from a hiding place and shoots at him. Graham does just enough to avoid being shot. He wrestles with Dolarhyde and Dolarhyde plunges his knife “deep into his cheek” (423). Molly swings a fishing rod at Dolarhyde which is enough to slow him down while Willy runs for cover. She dashes into the house and finds the gun Graham gave her. When Dolarhyde chases after her, she shoots him. As he collapses, she shoots him again and again. Then, she tends to Graham’s wounds and tries to clean the blood off herself while waiting for the police.

Graham wakes up in the hospital. He watches the clock closely to assure himself that time is still “passing” (434). The wound to his face means that he cannot speak but he sees Molly visiting him. Crawford visits and, with Graham writing on a notepad, he discusses the matter with Graham. Crawford promises Graham that Dolarhyde is dead. Outside the room, Crawford tells Molly that he has received a letter for Graham from Lecter. After Molly refuses to take the letter, Crawford takes it to the lab to ensure that it is safe, then he reads it. In the letter, Lecter describes his and Graham’s incarcerations as similar and laments the “primitive times” (437) in which they live. Crawford destroys the letter.

In the hospital, Graham asks Crawford how Dolarhyde escaped. After seeing them at Gateway, Crawford explains, Dolarhyde went to find Reba whereupon he murdered Ralph Mandy. After, he killed the rude gas station attendant to provide a suitable corpse to trick Reba into believing he was dead. Through a complicated situation, Dolarhyde arranged for his van to be left at the house while he took the attendant’s car and travelled to Florida to kill Graham with “no loose ends” (440). When Molly next visits, Graham writes her a note saying that he loves her. She nods and holds his hand. Reluctantly, she admits that Willy has returned to Oregon. Crawford enters next, explaining the minor details about Dolarhyde’s dentures and a locker in Miami where Dolarhyde hid a “kind of a diary” (457).

After Crawford leaves, Graham thinks about Molly. He knows their marriage is over. He dreams about a visit to the battlefield in Shiloh, made shortly after he killed Garrett Jacob Hobbs. The “awesome presence” (442) of the battlefield made him reflect on the sinister nature of beauty and life. He wakes up and thinks about how he understands “murder uncomfortably well” (443), especially compared to mercy. He reflects on the brutal nature of humanity. Men, rather than battlefields like Shiloh, he understands, are haunted. Nevertheless, the battlefields do not seem to care.