Page 72 of Beneath the Surface

Larson stepped forward and uncapped the marker, writing down the common elements between the victims:Forensic psychology, criminal casework, publicized trials.He drew lines between the words, connecting them to the psychologists' names. “This guy knows Isobel’s cases better than anyone. He’s watching her, studying her, and I don’t think he’s just targeting her because of her recent work.”

“That’s what’s been bothering me,” Brad said, sitting up straighter. “The connection isn’t just with Isobel’s current cases—it goes deeper, back to her early career. Her internship. We need to start looking at people she’s worked with, people who’ve crossed paths with her, and then link the other psychologists. If Belle’s profile is as accurate as I think, the murderer killed Kathy because Isobel hasn’t crumbled.”

Larson turned toward the whiteboard, adding another layer of connections:Shared casework? Conferences? Academic circles?The list of possibilities felt endless, but they had to start somewhere.

Brad’s brow furrowed as he leaned back in his chair. “I spent the last few nights reading every case she ever worked on or contributed to or wrote a paper about. More importantly, Belle adds notations to her notes. References to back up her theories. There’s something I found in her old files—one name that kept coming up in the academic work when she was a student. Dr. Malcolm Hale. He was a big deal in forensic psychology until his reputation went up in flames. Accusations of unethical practices,manipulating results, getting too close to violent criminals. He was basically blacklisted. Then she stopped referencing him unless it was to cite what not to do.”

“Hale? I’m sure she wasn’t the only psychologist who stopped referencing him.” Larson frowned, scribbling the name onto the board. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“He was involved in a high-profile murder case about eight years ago,” Brad continued, the pieces starting to come together. “He was an expert witness for the prosecution in the case. The son of a major film actor was convicted of killing his girlfriend. The pair frequented an adult lifestyle club in LA. The conviction was dismissed on appeal. He was disgraced after it came out that he falsified data in his psychological evaluation. In his testimony for the prosecution, it was found he pushed his own theories about Dominance and submission without credible research. He was trying to prove a point about control and the human mind.”

“Was Isobel a student then?”

“Not in graduate school. She was twenty and an undergraduate here.” Brad looked at his notes.

“That was when the trial took place, but when was the appeal?” Larson began typing frantically on the computer. He stared at the screen and growled, “Shit.”

Brad moved around the table to see what Larson was looking at. Three years ago, it was a single line in a column in theLA Times. Dr. Stuart Murdoch testified at the new trial. But Isobel was named as a post-doctorate student who found the anomaly in Hale’s statistics.

Larson’s eyes darkened with recognition. “I remember him now. I came across his name while working one of my undercover cases in L.A. He was tied to some real dangerous circles, people who were obsessed with physical and psychological power dynamics. But I never made the connection before.”

Brad stood up, pacing in front of the board. “I think Hale’s been watching Isobel since her graduate studies. He’s not just obsessed with her work—he’s obsessed with proving his theories. The people he’s targeting are the ones who’ve tried to understand these violent criminals. That’s why he’s going after forensic psychologists. He’s punishing them for getting it wrong.”

Larson nodded, adding more notes to the board. “If that’s true, he’s choosing them based on their work. He’s biding his time. He’s refining his skills. And Isobel—she destroyed him.”

"I think she represents something to him," Brad said, his voice rough. "Maybe she’s the ultimate test. With every victim, he’s been measuring how far he can push, seeing how much they can take before they break. We need to look at the other deaths. Were the other psychologists naturally submissive? Did they fold under pressure? What was their mental state leading up to their deaths? Were there signs they had already been crushed before he even laid a hand on them?"

His eyes narrowed as the details began to fall into place in his mind. "It’s not the kill. It’s about the process of breaking them down, piece by piece. Once they gave in, he killed them. He waits for the moment they’re at their lowest—the trigger."

Brad shifted his stance, frustration evident in the tight set of his shoulders. "But Isobel’s different. She’s still standing. She’s the only one he hasn’t broken yet." His eyes flickered with a dangerous glint. "That’s why he’s escalating. Every move he’s made, every step closer, it’s all leading to this. Kathy’s murder wasn’t random—it was a message, a sign he’s closing in on finishing what he started."

Brad’s chest tightened. "He’s not going to stop until he wins—or we take him down first."

Larson leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he considered Brad’s words. He exhaled slowly, asthough weighing each word before speaking. “He’s got to be close when it happens,” Larson said, his voice low and gravelly. “It’s not enough for him to hurt them from a distance, to wait for them to crumble on their own. No—he needs to see it. To feel it.”

Brad frowned, his brow furrowing as he tried to piece it together. “See what?”

“The moment they break,” Larson replied. “That’s what he’s watching for. He doesn’t just kill for the sake of it. It’s about control—about domination. He needs to be close enough to witness it. Every victim, every psychologist... he gets close enough to see them unravel.”

Larson leaned in closer, his eyes dark with understanding, as if he'd seen this kind of evil before. “Think about it, Brad. He’s watching them, stalking them—looking for that crack. They put on brave faces, try to hold it together. But he knows the signs. Maybe it’s the way their hands start to shake, or how their eyes dart around the room like they can’t find a way out. He watches them break piece by piece. That’s what he’s feeding on.”

Brad’s stomach twisted. “It’s not just physical. It’s mental. He gets close enough to watch them collapse under the pressure.”

“Exactly,” Larson confirmed. “He’s probably watching them for days, weeks even, waiting for that moment when they can’t take it anymore. Maybe they miss a step in their routine, or they start withdrawing from the people around them. And when he’s sure they’ve lost that last bit of strength, when he knows they’ve given up, he strikes. That’s the trigger, Brad. When they’re at their weakest. That’s why he had to kill Kathy, and that’s why he’s so obsessed with Isobel. She’s still standing. He’s been close enough to see it, but she hasn’t broken. Not yet.”

“Isobel isn’t just another victim to this monster—she is the ultimate challenge. The one who refused to fall.”

Larson nodded grimly. “Yeah. Now we have to find him.”

They both fell into a tense silence.

Brad and John had uncovered key pieces of the mystery that had eluded them for weeks, but one critical question remained: how had Malcolm Hale managed to stay hidden for so long, moving from city to city, leaving bodies in his wake, and avoiding detection?

Larson tapped his pen on the table, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Malcolm Hale hasn’t vanished. To murder like this, he’s been using aliases. There’s a pattern we’re missing. We need to figure out how he chooses these identities and where he’s been hiding.”

Brad nodded. “Hale is a man of intelligence and obsession—meticulous in planning every move, but even the most careful man leaves traces. Let’s go over what we have on his past," he suggested. "We know he was discredited and ruined in the professional psychology world after those accusations of unethical practices. He disappeared after that scandal, right?"

Larson nodded, pulling up Hale’s background on his laptop. "Exactly. His academic career ended when the fallout from his falsified reports went public. But that’s when things get fuzzy. He didn’t just disappear—he erased himself. Possibly changed identities. Moved in the shadows.”

---