accompanied the marvel’s realization of the massive physical damage being inflicted on this newly promoted cop.
The marvel had not shot the little canine outside of the living room window two nights earlier. Not that morality had suddenly intervened; the gun simply had not been loaded yet, since its use was planned for sometime in the future if needed. Nevertheless, just the imagined vision of the little dog collapsing next to the shocked owner had brought an envisioned joy.
Now, a short distance from the site of the bank robbery, the marvel , obscured by the crowd of movie patrons, was observing Lieutenant Harris entering the downtown movie theater.
The marvel reflected, I am certain he will be overwhelmed by what he sees and will most likely start to question his ability to deal with unprecedented multiple homicides with no obvious cause. Harris is an emotional individual, his emotions may be submerged and temporarily under control; but under stress they will surface. Engaged emotion destroys logic; and in a short time Harris will find that his organized mind will start to gradually disintegrate, mired in self doubts. Perhaps with his insecurity, he will quit on the spot. That would be a very desirable and not unexpected outcome. Actually, I could most likely enter the theater and observe firsthand his emotions since I would easily blend into the environment.
The marvel fully understood the complex dynamics going on in the police department and knew the chief would not tolerate any delay in the solution of this emerging, heinous crime wave. Some leaders attempt to guide and temper the actions of their subordinates, but the station’s chief tended to strangle them. Harris’s proclivity to fully understand all the components to a crime, and the inherent delay that process will take, will create a seething, gradual, defining conflict with the headstrong chief. The only problem, the marvel pondered, while simultaneously displaying a slight facial grimace, is that Harris is sharp—very sharp. Of course, not nearly as sharp as I, but nevertheless he could present a future problem if he does not shortly resign or be fired. I will have to consider that in the near future; but in the meantime I will immensely enjoy the disorder that I inflict on this town. It’s great theater, the marvel thought, and for the time being I don’t want to spoil it.
Chapter 16
Before he left the theater, Fred directed policemen on the scene to gather information from onlookers to determine if anyone had seen the killer. Outside the theater, in the bright sunlight, without the high emotion experienced by those exposed to the shooting, he hoped that potential descriptions from witnesses might be more accurate. At the same time, he recognized that eyewitness accounts are, under the very best of conditions, often difficult to come by and frequently wrong. Experience had taught him that people are consumed day to day, minute by minute, with their own personal problems; and either consciously or subconsciously, they block out events that do not include them or their self interest.
Maureen had told him that, when people witness things, it is often through the prism of an episodic event in which details are recorded on a fleeting basis by the brain and remembered at best transitionally. If the perpetrator is of a different nationality than that of the witness, a personal bias may enter the picture and individuals would then appear much larger or smaller than they really are, depending on the nature of the filtering distortion. She felt that individual features are often blurred, consistent with our tendency to obliterate the details about other races with whom we do not identify nor share values. Fred felt that we have not advanced far from the savageness of the cave man. Over our primitive behavior is a very thin veneer of civilization and education. Scratch that veneer and out comes the primitive cave man that has been hiding for
The marvel had not shot the little canine outside of the living room window two nights earlier. Not that morality had suddenly intervened; the gun simply had not been loaded yet, since its use was planned for sometime in the future if needed. Nevertheless, just the imagined vision of the little dog collapsing next to the shocked owner had brought an envisioned joy.
Now, a short distance from the site of the bank robbery, the marvel , obscured by the crowd of movie patrons, was observing Lieutenant Harris entering the downtown movie theater.
The marvel reflected, I am certain he will be overwhelmed by what he sees and will most likely start to question his ability to deal with unprecedented multiple homicides with no obvious cause. Harris is an emotional individual, his emotions may be submerged and temporarily under control; but under stress they will surface. Engaged emotion destroys logic; and in a short time Harris will find that his organized mind will start to gradually disintegrate, mired in self doubts. Perhaps with his insecurity, he will quit on the spot. That would be a very desirable and not unexpected outcome. Actually, I could most likely enter the theater and observe firsthand his emotions since I would easily blend into the environment.
The marvel fully understood the complex dynamics going on in the police department and knew the chief would not tolerate any delay in the solution of this emerging, heinous crime wave. Some leaders attempt to guide and temper the actions of their subordinates, but the station’s chief tended to strangle them. Harris’s proclivity to fully understand all the components to a crime, and the inherent delay that process will take, will create a seething, gradual, defining conflict with the headstrong chief. The only problem, the marvel pondered, while simultaneously displaying a slight facial grimace, is that Harris is sharp—very sharp. Of course, not nearly as sharp as I, but nevertheless he could present a future problem if he does not shortly resign or be fired. I will have to consider that in the near future; but in the meantime I will immensely enjoy the disorder that I inflict on this town. It’s great theater, the marvel thought, and for the time being I don’t want to spoil it.
Chapter 16
Before he left the theater, Fred directed policemen on the scene to gather information from onlookers to determine if anyone had seen the killer. Outside the theater, in the bright sunlight, without the high emotion experienced by those exposed to the shooting, he hoped that potential descriptions from witnesses might be more accurate. At the same time, he recognized that eyewitness accounts are, under the very best of conditions, often difficult to come by and frequently wrong. Experience had taught him that people are consumed day to day, minute by minute, with their own personal problems; and either consciously or subconsciously, they block out events that do not include them or their self interest.
Maureen had told him that, when people witness things, it is often through the prism of an episodic event in which details are recorded on a fleeting basis by the brain and remembered at best transitionally. If the perpetrator is of a different nationality than that of the witness, a personal bias may enter the picture and individuals would then appear much larger or smaller than they really are, depending on the nature of the filtering distortion. She felt that individual features are often blurred, consistent with our tendency to obliterate the details about other races with whom we do not identify nor share values. Fred felt that we have not advanced far from the savageness of the cave man. Over our primitive behavior is a very thin veneer of civilization and education. Scratch that veneer and out comes the primitive cave man that has been hiding for
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