Into the Darkest Corner

He smelled of hospitals, he emanated authority like a scent: people telling you what to do, diagnosing you, feeding you drugs, making decisions for you, steering your life down a path they could control.

As my English teacher used to tell me, if you can’t think of the right thing to say, say nothing at all.

“I just wondered,” he said, in that voice, that curious mixture of accents that I couldn’t place, “if there was anything you’d be looking for in your ideal candidate that I haven’t been able to demonstrate for you today?”

MR MACLEAN
Did you consider that she might have needed medical attention?
MR BRIGHTMAN
No.
MR MACLEAN
Even though she was apparently bleeding, and crying out?