"And it's in poor taste to question someone's disability," Eobard said, a vaguely satisfied smile on his face at the comment as he stepped back, staring at Hartley's back for a moment before turning to close the door back. "Perhaps twenty, even ten years ago, they wouldn't have been so quick to accept it as they were now. But a man takes advantages of the tools that he has at his disposal. An unwillingness to question someone's disability along with an assumption that someone is less capable because of it goes a long way to building an image of innocence."
He knew exactly how despicable it was, but at the end of the day, whatever worked. It didn't really make any character any worse than it already was.
And then Hartley continued talking, and Eobard's features tightened, a brief apprehension at him feeling the need to get right to the point. No banter, no easing into this, he was cutting right to the heart of the matter, and while Eobard had prepared something to say, it was going to be cutting without some hedging to begin with. The best manipulations had elements of the truth, after all, but Eobard was sure the truth and what it amounted to likely wouldn't be what Hartley was hoping to hear.
Eobard paused, though, at Hartley's last statement, unable to keep from frowning at the tone laced into it, "And how do we know that? What makes you so certain?"