Thanks, Kadoober and O Mom. I am not sure I explained myself very well, but it seems that you all understood it perfectly anyway. I am just trying to follow the emotion for directional clues, because there is so little information elsewhere. I agree that Texty is certainly not guilty of anything whatsoever deserving of censure, etc. I was only trying to figure out why WH seemed so sincerely distraught while talking about him. I got the feeling that WH was feeling something akin to betrayal -- by AJ perhaps, but maybe also by Texty -- especially if WH had been "grooming" AJ (in his own mind if not otherwise) for himself. IMO, WH is a somewhat overzealous product of the (typically) Southern "culture of honor." He seems to be a hyper-vigilant protector of his own honor, and quick to resort to socially unacceptable means of retaliation when he feels violated (or treated with disrespect). IMO, this personality type feels that any action he takes in response to these affronts is justified because of the profound anger he feels. "Yes I did that terrible thing, but I was so mad..." etc. Needless to say, this is pure speculation on my part.
One more observation is that WH seems to be (as are many sociopaths -- not saying he is, but just speaking generally) particularly attuned to how people are responding to him, whether it be positive or negative. Con men live and die by the response of their audience. WH seems to be deliberately (and from a lifetime of experience, more likely than not) projecting the image of an honest, reformed, caring and maybe somewhat simple man who might have -- or no, might not have, done something he shouldn't have done -- or should have done, but maybe shouldn't have done then -- anyway, but the only reason he did this thing is because he is SO good and passionate and sincere and just couldn't help it, his feelings of making things right just being so overwhelming.
Again, this is all just my opinion. Incidentally, in reading about "vindictive narcissists," I came across a very interesting piece regarding:
"the
'law of false attribution,' or an in-built human tendency to believe that whenever we experience pain, an outside agent (some other person) has caused us to feel it. For the vindictive narcissist, the subject pain is a profound and quite literally
unbearable sense of shame." [
emphasis mine] The article is
here.
Again, all my opinion only. Thank you for your warm welcomes. I am sick about this case and think of AJ constantly. If I can do any tiny bit to help bring justice for AJ, I will be deeply satisfied. I am so impressed with all of you and very happy to be here (though not happy about the circumstances it is needless to say).