Hi - I'm reading "In The Dark: the #1 bestselling
thriller from the author of the Richard and Judy pick 'Close to Home' (DI
Fawley Thriller, Book 2)" by Cara Hunter and wanted to share this quote
with you.
This quote semed very apt to me.
"This pub is Gow’s regular on a Wednesday afternoon
–used to be a dingy spit-and-sawdust for the workers at the coal wharf but in
the last couple of years it’s gone gastro glam. Log fires in winter, shades of
paint in grey and teal, black-and-white floor tiles carefully restored. Alex
loves it, and the beer’s still good too. I gesture to Gow, asking if he wants
one. He nods and when the current round of questions finishes and the sheets
are being collected he gets up and manoeuvres round the tables to join me.
‘What have I done to deserve this?’ he asks wryly, picking up his pint. ‘Talk
to me about psychopaths. Sociopaths and psychopaths.’ He raises an eyebrow, as
if to say, so that’s where you’ve got to, is it? He licks froth off his upper
lip. ‘Well, some of the outer signs are remarkably similar. Both types are
manipulative and narcissistic, they lie habitually, they’re incapable of taking
responsibility for their actions and they have virtually no empathy. All that
matters –all that even registers –is their own needs.’ ‘And how can you tell
them apart?’ ‘Psychopaths are much more organized and much more patient.
Sociopaths tend to act impulsively, which means they make mistakes, and it’s
easier for people like you to catch them. In their case, there’s usually some
traumatic factor in childhood. Abuse, violence, neglect. The usual suspects.’
‘And psychopaths?’ He makes a face. ‘Psychopaths are born. Not made.’ He’s
watching me now. ‘Does that help?’ Behind him, the quizmaster is calling people
back to their seats for the next round. I nod. ‘Yes. I think so.’ He picks up
the glass to go, but I stop him. ‘One more thing.’ ‘I didn’t have you down as a
Columbo fan, Fawley,’ he says with a dry smile. But when he hears what I have
to ask, his face darkens. When he unlocks the door and sees me his face
is immediately"
as did this one,
as did this one,
"‘That’s the point,’ I say. ‘Perhaps that’s exactly
what he wants us to think –that only a psychopath could have done that to his
own child. Either way, we can’t afford to close down any line of enquiry until
we’re sure it doesn’t lead anywhere. And if that sounds like a cliché, remember
how a cliché gets to be a cliché.’ ‘Because it’s true,’ they mutter, sing-song.
They’ve heard that one before. All except Somer, who grins suddenly, then hides
it by pretending to make a note on her pad. She has a great smile; it changes
her whole face. ‘But what about the body, sir?’ Baxter again. ‘If Rob killed
her, how did she end up in Harper’s shed?’ ‘The two gardens back on to one
another –Harper’s and Gardiner’s. And the fence at the bottom is pretty rickety
–it wouldn’t be that hard to get through it.’ ‘It’s a bit of a stretch though,
isn’t it, boss?’ interrupts Everett. ‘I mean, Rob Gardiner burying his wife’s
body in the garden of exactly the same house where we found a girl in the
cellar? I mean, what are the odds against that?’"
