When Agent Morris arrived with the profiler, the Ravens were eager to greet him and to hear his news. He’d been the agent assigned to Samantha’s kidnapping case and had been present when Thomas Austin aka Harley Whitlock was arrested.
Agent Morris introduced his company, “Let me introduce Dr. Theresa Talon. She’s our profiler in this case.”
They shook hands. Her eyes were sharp as she assessed Carl and Cynthia Raven.
Parents in distress, was her silent conclusion.
Dr. Theresa Talon was dressed in a professional looking light gray suit with simple black flats. She was wearing a white-collar shirt under her suit, and her black hair was tied in a tight bun in her neck.
“I would like to go to the business right away, if you don’t mind,” Agent Morris said.
“We can do it over the coffee if you’d like to have some,” Samantha’s mother Cynthia said and motioned to the table where the house maid had finished setting the coffee pot and cups ready.
“First, where is Samantha?” Agent Morris asked. He was a short and stubby man with a receding hairline.
“She should be back soon. We called her a few minutes ago, and she was on her way here.”
They heard the front door opening.
“And there she is,” Samantha’s father stated the obvious.
Samantha appeared in the doorway, looking worried. She had let her golden-brown hair grow past her shoulders, and it was her real hair color, a dark mahogany shade.
She wore faded blue jeans and an overly large red sweatshirt and matching red moccasins.
“I hope I’m not too late?”
“No, we arrived here few minutes ago,” Agent Morris said and introduced his company, Dr. Theresa Talon.
“Now, when we all are present, we should talk about Harley and his threat. I brought Theresa with me because she can reveal more about Harley’s psychological profile,” Agent Morris informed. “But first, Samantha, do you recall the note you got after he was arrested?”
“Yes, he sent me a note with my picture as a target. He didn’t sign it. It said: “I’ll never let you go.”
Dr. Talon cleared her throat and said, “My profile of Harley is based on what I have observed during the court, and I have also read his case file with the FBI and the local police. I didn’t know he had written a note to you. But based on what you said, he is obsessed with you.”
Samantha nodded.
Dr Talon continued, “I had also the privilege to interview him several times. He is a narcissist as he’s extremely interested in issues of personal adequacy, power, and prestige. He is vain like narcissist usually are. Now that his real identity was exposed, and he was arrested, he got angry. He wants to be regarded as powerful and capable of doing what is required to do even if it’s something violent and unpleasant.” She paused and dedicated her next words to Samantha. “You have to understand why you’re so special to him. He liked to be Thomas Austin, successful entrepreneur, owner of his own company, dating the richest girl in this capital city area. Everything was going his way. If he had married you and get his hands on your fortune, he would have been satisfied for a while… But later, he would have started to feel inadequate again because he did not earn the fortune by himself, and it would still be controlled by Samantha and her parents.”
Agent Morris added, “We compiled a file of what we found out of the public records. He had a normal life: parents until he was at the age of seventeen. They both died in a fire. An arson was suspected, but no one was arrested. He was questioned, but nothing sticks. After that, he went through a series of menial jobs, and he didn’t stay in one place long enough to leave an impression.”
Dr. Talon continued her profile. “What concerns me more is that he’s a sociopath. He can’t love anyone. He did not love you, Samantha. He is self-serving in his actions. The other people around him are just possibilities, opportunities, targets, and obstacles to him on his way to reach his goals.”
Theresa paused and drank some of her coffee that the maid had served.
“Harley has worked in mediocre, low-level positions in different places and in different states for the past ten years. This is also quite typical to sociopaths. They travel a lot, and often they can’t keep their jobs because they consider they are better than the others.”
“Harley traveled a lot. That’s why he experimented with kidnappings in several other states before coming here,” Agent Morris said sipping his coffee.
“But you couldn’t prove it in court,” Carl interrupted.
Agent Morris nodded with a grave face. “True, but that’s because of the unsigned warrant and miscommunication between the law enforcement teams. We are sure he was behind the kidnappings because his style was different from other kidnappers. He always had a specific ransom timeline: ten to twelve hours. He chose his ransom drop-off place where he had an easy-access and with lots of pedestrians, and the police would have a hard time following him through the crowd. Harley chose locations like the subway stations, or busy market squares because it’s difficult to arrange the surveillance in such palaces.”
“Do you believe Thomas, I mean Harley, is coming after me now?” Samantha asked her eyes veered from the doctor to Agent Morris.
Dr. Talon hesitated to answer. “Harley is a free man. But considering his psychological profile, I would say it is possible. He wants to revenge.” She pulled out a stack of notes from the case file she had with her and reviewed it before continuing. “In every sociopath, there is rage deep inside them. We can safely assume this rage is targeted towards you, Samantha, and your parents. It’s safe to assume he’d like to cause trouble to your family.”
“But we’ll recognize him. He won’t be able to come close to us again,” Carl Raven replied. “Our security team has his picture, and they know they can’t let him here.”
Agent Morris shook his head. “Harley changed his identity once to meet you. He will take another identity because he can’t use the name Thomas Austin. Also, Harley Whitlock is out of question because of the media coverage. It’s likely that he will try to change his name and his appearance. You won’t recognize him.”
Samantha sighed. “How did I ever get involved with him?” She asked more to herself not expecting anyone to reply.
Theresa Talon shrugged. “It’s not your fault he chose you.
He did it.
Not you.
He initiated the first of your kidnappings more than a year ago.
He has abducted other women before that.
He stole the identity of the local entrepreneur and used it to get to know you and your family.
It was him, not you.
You could not have done anything to stop him. Sociopaths can be very charming, irresistible, and promiscuous.”
“He was… captivating. He made himself invaluable when Gregory kidnapped me, and afterwards, when I had my depression. I never would have believed he was pretending to be Thomas” Samantha replied quietly. Her eyes looked to a distance recalling the moments with Thomas Austin, her ex-boyfriend.
“He guessed what you wanted and needed: A knight in shining armor, a protector. His cover was perfect. But sociopaths like him don’t care of anyone else but themselves and their selfish goals. Don’t fool yourself to believe that a sociopath like Harley can love you.
He can’t.
He won’t.
He is incapable of loving and feeling empathy. He can’t feel or think like you or anyone else in this room,” Theresa concluded her profile.
“That’s heartbreaking. I feel sorry for him,” Samantha said. “I would not like to live my life without love or empathy.”
“Don’t pity him.
You can’t fix him.
He is not a puppy or a kitten to be rescued.
He is a grown-up man, who knows what he wants. Think of him as a robot with no feelings, who is programmed to reach his planned objectives regardless of the cost or collateral damage he causes,” Theresa replied her words directed to Samantha. She squirmed under her piercing eyes.
“Do you consider him dangerous?” Carl Raven asked.
“Yes, Harley is dangerous,” Agent Morris said and added, “Not only because he has been successful in the art of identity theft, but also because we have not dealt with a serial kidnapper before. I don’t recall a case of a serial kidnapper during the past twenty years when I have been in the force.”
“Is that so?” Carl countered leaning back on his chair and stared right to the agent.
Agent. Morris poured himself some more coffee, and replied, “He has turned this one-time-kidnapping-attempts to a series of abductions – some successful and some not, like this Samantha’s case. And we have not managed to keep him behind bars. We have just circumstantial evidence against him. For instance, he has visited the cities where kidnappings have happened, and he has been captured in the bank’s surveillance cameras near the abduction or ransom sites, but no law enforcement has direct evidence to link him to any of those cases. Many of us believe he is guilty because there are too many coincidences. I have a gut feeling he is our guy, but I can’t prove it.” He cursed. “Perhaps I never will. He is slippery like an eel.”
And the evening went on, and the FBI agent and profiler tried to answer as many questions as they could, and finally decided it was time to leave the Ravens alone.
Agent Morris said, “We’ll keep in touch. We also try to arrange more patrols around your house with the local PD. Good Night.”