The Baffled King
He watched from behind the two-way glass as his old friend, his mentor, sat in the interrogation room with their suspect. Not for the first time, he was entranced with the way Dave was able to dance with the unsub, pulling him around and around until he forgot that Dave was the enemy, singing to him in a voice so soft and sweet that it was easy to be lulled into the calm he was aiming for.
All these years later, and he still didn't know what Dave's secret was.
He supposed at this point it didn't matter. Besides, he didn't have the patience for it anyway.
Whatever it was, though, it worked remarkably well on almost every subject, and this one was no exception. He focused his attention back on the scene in front of him as the young man bolted up from his chair, practically screaming at the old profiler that he was the master, that Dave didn't know what he was feeling, that nobody could possibly know, and he had seen this play enough times to know how it would end.
Dave leaned forward, head bowed and hands clasped, and spoke so softly to the young man that he had to sit back down to hear him, empathizing and sharing fictitious woes with him until the man felt validated.
It was a minor concession that had to be made to achieve what followed.
Because the young man, now believing the grey-haired profiler to be on his side, proudly told him of how he had taken control over his underlings, torturing them for days before finally killing them – a death they had, in all likelihood, prayed for.
It was a major win for the team, who had been in Minneapolis for weeks with little progress until an anonymous tip had come in yesterday.
And when Dave had exploded from the calm and understanding man who had been before him just moments ago into the enraged and aggressive man that stood before him now, the young man shrunk back into his chair, trembling in fear and with no defenses left.
He knew that the song was over now, so he turned away from the glass, ready to pack up and go home to Virginia.
Behind him, their once cocky and confident subject sat dazed and confused, writing out his confession.