Page 37 of The Psychopath Next Door

‘Exactly.’

They wandered away from the canine display and browsed the other cabinets. Birds and rodents and lizards. Skeletons and skulls. Herbivores and carnivores. Then they found themselves standingbeside the enormous walrus who took pride of place at the centre of the room.

‘Look at him,’ Fiona said. ‘The power, the strength. The apex predator. And do you know what makes him even more powerful? No conscience. No guilt. Do you think he feels bad after tearing a penguin apart? Does he hell. And that’s what makes animals superior to most humans. We—’

‘Excuse me.’

The voice came out of nowhere, and Fiona looked around before realising she was being spoken to by a small boy. A skinny little thing in glasses, about six years old.

‘The walrus isn’t an apex predator. Polar bears will attack them. Sometimes they even throw rocks and ice at them.’

Fiona’s smile was thin. ‘Is that right?’

‘Yes, it is. A walrus can weigh seventeen hundred kilos, so its size makes it daunting, but polar bears are more agile.’

Where had this child come from? Rose was staring at him with her nose wrinkled. There was no sign of a parent watching him.

‘Where’s your mum?’ Fiona asked.

‘She’s over there somewhere.’ He waved an arm in the vague direction of the door.

‘She’s left you unattended? What do you think, Rose? Do you think a mother animal would do that in the wild? Let her cubs wander off on their own to bother other animals?’

Rose laughed, and the boy blinked in confusion.

Fiona bent towards him, dropping her voice to a whisper. ‘Your mummy should be more careful. There might be predatorshere.’

There was so much ice in her voice that the boy immediately began to cry. Moments later, a woman came rushing over, her phone in her hand. As Fiona had suspected, she had been too busy staring at her screen to keep an eye on her offspring, although she’d tuned in to the sound of his distress impressively quickly.

‘What’s the matter, darling?’ she asked, crouching and pulling the boy against her chest.

He was sobbing too hard to answer.

‘He thought he’d lost you,’ Fiona said. ‘You know, you shouldn’t let your kids go off on their own. Something terrible could happen. There are dangerous people around. How would you feel if your little professor here disappeared?’

The mother stared at her, mouth hanging open, while the boy continued to snivel.

‘Come on, Rose,’ said Fiona, and she led her away before the woman recovered.

Out in the garden, beneath an overcast sky, Fiona and Rose sat at a trestle table eating a mid-morning snack from the café. Fiona was still a little hungover from last night. It was going to take her a while to get used to alcohol again; she’d only drunk it to keep Ethan company.

It had been an illuminating evening. Emma and her ‘emotional affair’. Useful information. And Ethan was so desperate, so beaten down, that it was all going to be even easier than she’d anticipated. She knew it would take very little to get him exactly where she wanted him.

Oh, how he was going to regret opening up to her. By the time she was finished, he was going to regret everything.

‘Hello? Fiona?’

She realised Rose was talking to her. ‘Sorry. I was miles away. What were you saying?’

‘Just that I saw that boy and his mum leaving. He was still crying.’ She dropped her voice. ‘You were so mean to him.’

‘Was I?’

‘Yeah. Like ... a baddie from a film.’

‘Really? Which one? Cruella? Miss Trunchbull?’

‘Like one ofThe Witches.’

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