Malcolm Bright

Bright's black book, anemic as it was, had been discarded with his life in D.C., but he wasn't going to admit that to a cowboy. He seemed like the kind that would have people throwing themselves into his black book, as it were.

He cleared his throat and glanced around at the files like he had to remind himself where his train of thought was.

"Right. Orphan. So Sol was his father figure first, but didn't really understand him. He nurtured Quarles' thirst for violence but not his darker urges. That's why he's turned to a more... accepting mentor. So how can we narrow this down more? We're definitely looking for someone whose crimes were excessively violent or excessively sadistic. Probably a narcissist; I doubt he's encouraging Quarles out of boredom so much as Quarles' admiration stokes his ego. He considers himself a master of his craft and passing on his knowledge to someone lets him feel like he's still doing his work in the world, despite incarceration. It's also possible he has children that have shunned him due to the nature of his crimes and Quarles is acting as a sort of surrogate for his desire to pass on his trade to his offspring."

Malcolm took a distracted bite of soup.

"It's not just that Quarles wrote to this person but that this person answered. What he's getting out of it is just as important as what Quarles is getting out of it, because that will tell us how to leverage him to give up Quarles. Or whether we can. There's no point in finding this mentor if it won't help us track down Quarles."