It occurred to me a long time ago, Mr. Lastogne, that diplomacy has very little to do with making friends. - Adam-Troy Castro

You know what murder investigators call the ex-lover who says the dead woman slept around?"
"I think I can guess."
"The most likely suspect.

I could only read the delay as a dramatic pause. Theatrics. Or diplomacy; wise men throughout history had already noticed that sometimes there wasn’t much of a difference between the two.

It was the sort of platitude-laden gibberish that people learn to repeat so they can imagine themselves clever without ever bothering to think an original thought themselves.