“My life is like a lone, forgotten Q-Tip in the second-to-last drawer.”

“Oh go get some dignity. I think it's in the aisle next to the Q-tips.”

“I think you’ve been inserting the Q-tips too far,” Lila says with a smirk.“I push them in until my brain tickles.” “You’re a clown, Bry.”“That hurts. My ego is seriously wounded.”

“The last door on the second story was the exception. Fresh gold letters:MAHONEY & ASSOCIATES, PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS.Mahoney sat inside. The only associate was the fifth of rye residing in his bottom desk drawer.”

“Sometimes you have to lose a lot of Q-tips before you realize you have a hole in your head.Colors Insulting To Nature”

“The woman was putting her purse in the drawer and settling down behind the desk, and I realized I had never seen her before in my life. Her face was as wrinkled as one of those forgotten apples you sometimes find in the pocket of last year's winter jacket.Yes?" she said, peering over her spectacles. They teach them to do that at the Royal Academy of Library Science.”