“You might be able to send some girls screaming and crying with that ‘I’m a happy little sadist' act but I’m not some girls Rourke. I hope your King finds you with your hands all over me. I hope he pulls his fee-fi-fo-fum trick of his and melts your bones too.”

“Fee-fi-fo-fum -Now I'm borrowed.Now I'm numb.”

“The baby closed its mouth, staring at him with hope and small hiccups.“Jesus,” he said. He lay down on the bed, pulling the pillow under his head, and drew the whole bundle of coat, shawl and infant up against his shirt. A tiny hand closed tight on the lace. One sob erupted, and then changed midbreath to a soft sigh.Women, he thought sardonically, sinking in the bedclothes, with sleep revolving and closing in his head. He moved one finger, feeling a cheek as soft as down.What’s your name?Ask the girl. Remember that…Maddy…It was wrong. I must leave thee now.Don’t cry. Don’t cry, little girl… I’m so tired. I never deserved you, did I? Maddy… but I loved you.I always loved you.”

“[Martin Luther King] said that little black boys and little black girls would be able to join hands with little white boys and little white girls as sisters and brothers. Then he reminded both those spectators before him and all Americans that this hope of his, this faith, was rooted in the promise of America.”

“I hope you find a place in your life when you can let go and be happy. But I’m not a dirty secret. I’m not bad and wrong for being comfortable with myself, and I won’t let you make me feel that way.”

“Get your hand off me,” I exclaimed, voice loud with misplaced anger as I yanked away from his grip. “I’m a professional, not some distraught girlfriend.” Well, I was that too, but I knew how to act at a crime scene.”