Psychological Control

Chapter 25

I cursed inwardly as I made a startled face and turned around with my hands held high. The man in front of me had meticulously combed hair and slight wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, wearing a regulation suit and leather shoes and holding his gun smoothly in both hands.

"f...fbi?! I'm...I'm just a normal student! Not some suspicious person!" I said, pretending to be incoherent.

At that moment, the two men who had been in the watch shop also pushed their way out, the man in the gentleman's hat taking it off, his black, slightly wavy hair rippling, his magnificent light blue-green eyes intimidating. It was damn familiar.

He looked at the FBI who had their guns pointed at me and said, "The old man is dead, we're too late." With those words, Peter looked in my direction with a sharp look in his eyes.

I, however, stared at the man and exclaimed out of breath, "Neil Caffrey?!" It looked like a reaction of surprise, but the thought had actually been going through my head the moment I saw Neil take off his hat.

I had met him by chance in New York during the America's Next Top Model auditions and had helped the careless master scammer, Mr. Neil Caffrey, catch a suspect who was about to get away. I remember wondering at the time what kind of character Tom was who had caught this cunning Jerry, but now it seems to be the FBI in front of me who doesn't look good at all to talk to.

Now this was a situation that could be described as a nuisance and a good opportunity.

If you can get in touch with this master of fraud and learn a thing or two from his hands. In the future, even when trying to get close to Dexter, he wouldn't have to worry about being suspected by some intuitive animal. You should know that Dexter's latest ambition for his exams is medical science, and he plans to take up a forensic position in the Miami Police Department after graduation.

Nowhere, more than in the police department, are there more intuitive animals. A keen self-awareness of criminals, and old-fashioned experience.

Being able to understand the psychology of others, and being able to easily fool them and manipulate the psychology of the pair put in place are two different things. I am well read in various psychology books and practice profiling in my life. But to manipulate the other person's psychological changes requires a master of deception like Neil Caffrey, with ever-so-subtle verbal skills that hit the weaknesses of the other person's heart.

Even if I couldn't get him to teach me by example, if I could have more contact with him, I was sure that I could learn the art of language and the use of my own charisma from observing him.

Neil Caffrey, hearing me call out his name, turned to me in confusion and said suspiciously, "You are...? Ah! Aren't you the chap who gave me the heads up in the New York big box store a while back?"

"Yeah, for the sake of me helping you guys out once, could you ask this fbi gentleman to put down the gun he's pointing at me for a while?" I put a nonchalant smile on my face and watched as Peter finally removed the gun pointed at me and lowered the safety. Although he was still looking at me with a wary look on his face, ready to strike, at least I was no longer being poked in the face with a loaded gun.

"How did you tell it was Nala Brown in the first place and give Neil the tip?" Peter pressed, seeing the stitch.

I made an innocent face and explained, "Yikes! Don't you guys know yet? I was sitting at the table next to Mr. Caffrey, and my angle gave me a clear view of Gerard Brown's hand. His hand on the side of his thigh was tapping rhythmically, and since I used to be a dancer, I'm sensitive to rhythm."

"And then it so happened that I also had an interest in Morse code. The rhythm of his finger tapping made me realise that he was using Morse code to send messages to others to get out, evacuate and so on. Then with a little scanning of the people in the book bar at the time, I could see that Nara Brown's demeanour was very unnatural. Then after that, I went to the front desk and confirmed her name, and my suspicions were correct."