Page 78 of Charlie
Damian stopped with another cookie to his lips. “Why? Ye're gorgeous.”
“Thank you.” I smiled at him and loved the boyish grin he shot back at me.
“There has to be somethin’ to grab and squeeze on a lass. That’s the best part.” He was demonstrating with his hands and it made Kit hit his shoulder.
“Don’t be vulgar. We know ye like to grab and squeeze. Why don’t ye stop annoying us, and go for a walk or somethin’?”
Damian nodded to the window where rain was pummeling down outside his apartment. “It’s pissin’.”
“Then go hang out with that neighbor ye talked about.”
“What neighbor?”
“The one who invited ye in for some coffee.” Kit’s eyebrows wiggled suggestively.
“Are ye daft? Not even the tide would take her out. She’s fifty and missing two teeth.”
Kit sighed. “What do I care? I’m tryin’ to work here, and do not forget that Liv is a payin’ client. Or Mr. Robertson is anyway. We have a case to crack and ye're not helpin’.”
“All right, detective. What do we have?” Damian clapped his hands together and looked at the papers on the table.
“Oi, now ye want to help?” Kit shook her head. “Seriously, go find some shite to blow up or some criminals to shoot at. You’re an action guy, not a detective.”
He pouted. “I’ve got brains too.”
I interrupted the sibling rivalry. “As I was saying, I keep planting little questions in Charles’ mind. The pressure from the police has made Conor moody and the atmosphere in the house is tense. Yesterday, he gave the children a day off from school, and it was the first one ever.”
Kit lit up. “Told you that stirrin’ the pot was a good idea. We just need to keep the pressure up until he cracks with guilt for all the shite he’s done.”
“That’s not going to happen.” I drummed my fingers on the table. “If Conor is truly a psychopath, he won’t feel the least bit of guilt or remorse. That’s why psychopaths are so good at what they do.”
Damian picked up a picture of Conor from the pile of papers. “From the things Kit has told me about this bloke, he sounds more like a bloody sociopath.” Damian crossed his arms.
“There’s no difference,” Kit said, as if her brother had no clue what he was talking about.
“Aye, there is. A sociopath is a step up from a psychopath.”
I held up a hand and stopped them. “You’re both wrong.”
“Nah, I’m pretty sure I’m right.” Damian lowered his brow with authority. “We learned about this during my trainin’. Psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists.”
“Well, you got it mixed up then. They all share the same traits, but out of the three, the psychopath is the worst because the person is born with a personality disorder leaving them unable to feel empathy of any kind.
A sociopath on the other hand, is a product of their environment. They actually do have a sense of right or wrong but it’s too weak to hold them back from their antisocial behavior.”
“What kind of environment are we talking about?” Damian asked.
“The kind no kid should grow up in! Each case is different, of course, but it could be a criminal environment where the parents are volatile and unpredictable. Stealing and hustling might be a way of life for the family and they teach their child to disrespect authorities and disregard rules. Typically, there’s mental and physical violence around the child and they are taught never to trust anyone and to always expect the worst from people. In that kind of environment, there’s no room for empathy or softness. To survive, a person would have to grow callous and cold-hearted, but if that same person had been born into a loving and supportive environment, things would have been different.”
Damian scratched his stubble. “So, what ye’re sayin’ is that a sociopath is programmed to not care?”
“That’s right. And where a psychopath is always a narcissist, a narcissist isn’t always a psychopath.”
“Say what?” Damian scratched his stubble.
“My professor taught us to categorize the narcissist asdismissivebecause everything is about them, and it’s impossible to ever have a healthy relationship with a narcissist since they have a high need for control and a low level of empathy. They’re right, you’re wrong. It’s all about their needs, and they are critical of everything you do. With the sociopath the word isschemer. They are highly manipulative and feel that rules don’t apply to them. They will cheat and lie without remorse because they have no set of morals. But the psychopaths are in the worst category, which my professor would have us headlinepredator. They can range anywhere from your worst nightmare boss to a cold-blooded killer. Therapy is useless, as psychopaths have no desire to change. They have zero compassion and use people for their benefit. They also tend to have a criminal mind. In fact, if we look at statistics for North America, we know that although only one in a hundred adult males are psychopaths, they make up between fifteen to twenty-five percent of the males incarcerated.”
Damian whistled and looked to Kit. “Did ye know that?”
