Chapter 110

I left for Charlotte, North Carolina, on a ten o’clock flight out of DC.  I was heading south to visit Craig family members. Maybe Kyle was there as well. It wouldn’t surprise me.
His father, William Craig, chose not to be home when I arrived at the estate where Kyle and his brothers had been raised. It was a gentleman’s farm with a rambling¹ stone and wood house set on over forty acres in horse country. Someone on the staff told me it cost over fifteen dollars a yard just to paint all the white fences running around the pastures.
I spoke² with Miriam Craig on a rear porch, which overlooked wildflower gardens and a rock-filled brook³. She seemed very much in control of her emotions, which surprised me, but maybe shouldn’t have. Mrs Craig told me a great deal about her family.
‘Kyle’s father and I had no idea, no clue about his darker side, if indeed the terrible allegations are true,’ she said. ‘Kyle was always
distant, reserved, introspective I suppose you could say, but there was nothing to suggest that he might be this troubled. He did well in school, and in athletics⁴. Kyle even plays the piano with a beautiful touch.’ /! never knew he played,’ I said, and yet Kyle had often commented on my playing. ‘Did you and his father tell him how well he was doing - in school, for example? In athletics? I suspect that boys need to hear that more than we know.’
Mrs Craig took offense⁵.’He didn’t want to hear it. He’d say, “I know” and then walk away from us. Almost as if we had disappointed him by stating the obvious.’
‘His brothers did better than Kyle in school?’
‘In terms of grades, yes, but the boys were all high-honor students.  Most teachers saw Kyle as being deeper. I believe that he had the highest IQ, one-forty-nine if I remember correctly. He chose not to apply himself to every subject. He had a strong will, even as a young boy.’
‘But there were no obvious signs that he was severely⁶ troubled?’
‘No, Detective Cross. Believe me, I’ve thought about it a lot.’
‘Kyle’s father would agree?’
‘We talked about it just last night. He agrees. He’s just too upset to be here. Kyle’s father is a proud man, and a good one. William Craig is a very good man.’
Next, I went to see Kyle’s brother in Charlotte. I talked to Dr Craig in a white-on-white conference room at the clinic where he was a partner.
‘I found Kyle to be caustic⁷ and very cruel. I know that Blake did as well,’ he confessed over tea.
‘Cruel in what way?’I asked.
‘Not to small animals or anything obvious like that - to other people. Actually, Kyle liked animals just fine. He was vicious at school, though. Both verbally and physically⁸. A real prick⁹. Nobody liked him much. He had no close friends that I remember. That’s odd, isn’t it? Kyle never had a single close friend. Let me tell you something. Detective, during Kyle’s sophomore¹⁰ and most of his junior years, our father made him sleep in the garage because he was so unpleasant to have around.’
‘That seems a little severe,’ I commented. Nothing I’d heard so far was so revealing. Kyle had never mentioned the punishment, though. Neither had Mrs Craig. All she’d said was that Kyle’s father was a good man, whatever that meant.
‘I don’t think it was severe. Detective. I think it was fair, and much less than he deserved. Kyle should have been thrown out of our house when he was around thirteen. My brother was a goddamn monster, and apparently¹¹, he still is.’

1 rambling   

adj.[建]凌乱的，杂乱的

参考例句：

• We spent the summer rambling in Ireland. 我们花了一个夏天漫游爱尔兰。
• It was easy to get lost in the rambling house. 在布局凌乱的大房子里容易迷路。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

4 athletics   

n.运动，体育，田径运动

参考例句：

• When I was at school I was always hopeless at athletics.我上学的时候体育十分糟糕。
• Our team tied with theirs in athletics.在田径比赛中，我们队与他们队旗鼓相当。

5 offense   

n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪

参考例句：

• I hope you will not take any offense at my words. 对我讲的话请别见怪。
• His words gave great offense to everybody present.他的发言冲犯了在场的所有人。

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 caustic   

adj.刻薄的，腐蚀性的

参考例句：

• He opened his mouth to make a caustic retort.他张嘴开始进行刻薄的反击。
• He enjoys making caustic remarks about other people.他喜欢挖苦别人。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

9 prick   

v.刺伤，刺痛，刺孔；n.刺伤，刺痛

参考例句：

• He felt a sharp prick when he stepped on an upturned nail.当他踩在一个尖朝上的钉子上时，他感到剧烈的疼痛。
• He burst the balloon with a prick of the pin.他用针一戳，气球就爆了。

10 sophomore   

n.大学二年级生；adj.第二年的

参考例句：

• He is in his sophomore year.他在读二年级。
• I'm a college sophomore majoring in English.我是一名英语专业的大二学生。

11 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。