Quoted By:
"So you're saying you didn't like all the attention? And stuff?"
"I thought it was beneath me, Charlotte." He clucks his tongue sardonically. "So yes. I loathed all the attention."
"Which is why you decided to go be a famous murder person—"
"Game player. And believe me or not, but I wasn't in it for the fame. I'd say she was, but I also believe she enjoyed killing people."
"And you didn't?" you say.
"I didn't feel anything about it. It was something to do." Monty swivels his chair a little, first one way, then the other. "What I enjoyed was winning. And being good. I was very, very good. If I could've been so in relative obscurity, I would've, but being very, very good builds a reputation on your behalf, and— I don't mean this to paint myself in a better light than her. It all went straight to my head. I wasn't a nice man back then, or a good man, and I especially wasn't a personable man. Jean was extremely personable, back then and now. People were just <span class="mu-i">drawn</span> to her."
"You might say she had a... a cult of personality going?"
"Sure, I might say that. It was all faintly mystifying to me at the time, but it and the Committee favoritism made far more sense when I was inadvertently promoted. Guess who was pleased to see me? She said I was one of her favorites. I don't know that we'd spoken two words." He rolls his shoulders. "I was obligated to invite her for dinner with my wife and I at least once after that. Constance was pleased I made friends. I was lying to her quite a lot, that entire year."
On one hand, you'd really like to focus on the vile, twisted inner workings of your thief. On the other, Monty's talking about himself without you literally having to pry it out of him, which you think might be a first. Best not to rile him up. "Mm-hm?"
"I'd say that was the worst part of it, but the company was terrible, the work was abhorrent, and the prospect of being stuck there for eternity was unimaginable. It was worse than death, and I can say this because I have <span class="mu-i">experienced</span> death. I would rather be rent limb from limb—" He stalls himself, takes a couple deep breaths. "Jean enjoyed it."
"Oh," you say.
"They all enjoyed it, to varying degrees, but she really did. She thought the illusion of power we had was thrilling, and she thought the company was edifying, and the physical changes invigorating, and the prospect of being stuck in there just about the greatest damn thing anybody could hope for. It didn't hurt that the Committee figured she could go unmasked most of the time. She was good for public relations." Monty smiles grimly. "Wouldn't you know it, I wasn't."
Maybe he thinks that if he says a lot of things offhandedly, he can slip them past you. Ha. "Uh-huh. Physical changes?"
Oh, yeah, there we go. Instant regret. No smile. He's drawn himself up, the spooky arm contracting in coils.
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