Why had Holmes taken the children? Why had he engineered that contorted journey from city to city? What power did Holmes possess that gave him such control? There was something about Holmes that Geyer just did not understand. Every crime had a motive. But the force that propelled Holmes seemed to exist outside the world of Geyer's experience. He kept coming back to the same conclusion: Holmes was enjoying himself. He had arranged the insurance fraud for the money, but the rest of it was for fun. Holmes was testing his power to bend the lives of people.
In Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City," Geyer is puzzled by Holmes's motives for kidnapping children and orchestrating a perplexing series of events across different cities. He reflects on Holmes's seemingly extraordinary power, which lies outside the normal understanding of criminal behavior. Geyer realizes that while crimes generally stem from clear motives, Holmes’s actions are driven by something more sinister and enigmatic.
Geyer concludes that Holmes derived pleasure from his manipulations, suggesting that his orchestrated crimes, including the insurance fraud, were not only financially motivated but also served as a game for him. Holmes's actions reveal a disturbing desire to exert control and test the limits of his influence over others, highlighting a dark enjoyment in the chaos he created.
