“As we walked to Fr Walsh’s office, Sting asked me what I thought our punishment might be. I had just been beaten for the missing page fiasco, and he told me, straight-faced, that his last thrashing was because his dad was a milkman.”

“What about the contacts your mum had?” his dad asked.“I rang and spoke to four very polite computers who gave me all these options and then cut out on me. Then I tried the post office, because they were advertising, and I spoke to another computer. Very rude, that one. Don’t think it recognized ‘Are you shitting me?’ as an option.”“You know why that is?”“Why is that, Dominic?” Tom had asked drolly, because he knew he was going to be told why.“Because we don’t live in a society anymore, Tom. We live in an economy. We’re not citizens. We’re customers. That’s what this government’s done to us.”

“I had no idea where I was going, but at that point, walking straight into the sea didn't seem like such a bad idea. For months I'd been torturing myself, wondering if Archer kissing me had just been part of his act. But he was right, he hadn't kissed me. I had kissed him, and he'd just...responded.God, I was a moron.Archer caught up with me,but I kept looking straight ahead."Mercer-""Look,forget it," I said. "Just show me whatever it was you dragged me out here to see.""Fine," he replied, his voice clipped.We walked down the beach in total silence. In the moonlight, our shadows stretched out before us, almost touching.”

“We drive in silence until I need an answer, "What did he say to you at the elevator?" I look straight ahead when I ask."He thanked me for being there for you, even as a boy, when he could not protect you himself. He told me that I had his permission to love you.”

“And there was no way I could talk about it with Dad. Our version of "the talk" had been him clearing his throat awkwardly for about ten minutes straight as he attempted to explain to me the importance of condoms. I was fourteen, and, needless to say, it was an experience I never wanted to relive.”

“We're at close grips at last," said Holmes as we walked together across the moor. "What a nerve the fellow has! How he pulled himself together in the face of what must have been a paralyzing shock when he found that the wrong man had fallen a victim to his plot. I told you in London, Watson, and I tell you now again, that we have never had a foeman more worthy of our steel.”