Page 12 of Psychopath

Quinn smiled. “You look like him.”

“Do I…”

Zane’s voice was bored, unmoved, and Quinn glanced up. “You look happy here.”

“Now why would you think that?”

“You’re smiling, you’re both smiling.”

Zane snorted. “It’s a photograph. People are told to smile. It’s not a true representation of emotion, or a moment. It’s staged.”

“So you weren’t happy when it was taken?”

“I didn’t say that. I was happy, but my point is not to trust things at face value. Things aren’t always as they seem nor are people.”

“Can you tell me why you were happy?”

Zane glanced at the photograph. “Because my dad was happy. Is that a good enough reason?”

Quinn frowned and studied the picture again. They both had matching grins, and both leaned towards the other. It was a nice picture, one that would be at home on many mantelpieces.

“It was taken after I graduated from university,” Zane said. “He was proud of me and took me fishing to celebrate.”

“You enjoyed going fishing with your dad?”

“I enjoyed it because it made him happy.”

Quinn slid the photograph back. “You must’ve cared a lot about him.”

Zane’s eyebrows tugged together, and he looked down at the table. “I was his only son. Only child. He wanted to be proud of me, and I made it so.”

“Can I ask about your mother?”

“She left when I was thirteen.”

“That must’ve hit you hard.”

Zane shrugged. “It hit my dad harder.”

Quinn thumbed through his notes and stopped on the section about Zane’s parents.

“Have you tried reaching out to her?”

“Shouldn’t it be her reaching out to me? Besides, she wasn’t interested when I graduated or when I took over one of my father’s businesses or when he died. She wasn’t interested when I fell off the wagon and became a sex and alcohol addict. Why the hell would she be interested now I’ve been banged up for murder?”

“Do you feel resentment towards her?”

Zane scrunched his brow. “No. I don’t feel angry or sad. I’m not filled with longing or a desperate need to know why she left. She has her path in life, and I have mine, and they don’t cross. People judge each other, but life is personal. We know why we do the things we do. Others don’t need to. I don’t need to know why she left; that’s on her.”

“You had a good relationship with your dad?”

“I made him happy. He wanted me to pass university, I did. He wanted me to take over the business, I did. He wanted me to exceed profit margins, I did. I fulfilled his expectations again and again.”

“What about what you wanted?”

Zane tilted his head and studied Quinn intently. “I wanted to become what he wanted me to be, and I did.”

“Was there anything he didn’t approve of?”

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