[ He certainly wouldn't. He'd planned to suffocate Alicia Corwin in her car, and that was the very least of what he could do.

Harold remembers how their last conversation about children went, so he gives up the pretense and shuts his laptop, a wave of sad fondness washing over him. Maybe this isn't the right conversation to have at the moment, but Carver asked, so he'll answer. The vulnerability should go both ways; he's earned that much. ]

Because my child thought I was a better person than that, [ is how he chooses to explain it, plain and without excuses, ] and I didn't want to set that example after I'd spent so long preaching otherwise.