In 1980 Dr. Hannibal Lecter attends an orchestral performance of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream (Mendelssohn)'' in Baltimore, Maryland. He is irritated by a flute player who repeatedly misses his part. Later, he hosts a dinner party in his townhouse for the orchestra's board of directors. During conversation, the disappearance of the flute player is brought up. When one of the guests asks about the ''amuse-bouche'' Lecter made, he responds that if he tells her, she might not try it.