...detached second in fact pitiful (9)
I believe the answer is:
apathetic
'detached' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'second in fact pitiful' is the wordplay.
'second in fact' becomes 'a' (2nd letter of 'fact').
'pitiful' becomes 'pathetic' (synonyms).
'a'+'pathetic'='APATHETIC'
(Other definitions for apathetic that I've seen before include "Impassive" , "Showing no emotion or interest" , "Uncaring, uninterested" , "cool?" , "Unenthusiastic" .)