“An empty desk is a sign of a cluttered desk drawer.”

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

“On Memory: Imagine a desk covered with papers. That is everything you are thinking about. Now imagine a stack of file drawers behind it. That is everything you know. The trick is to keep the desk and the file drawers as close to one another as possible, and the papers neatly stacked.”

“Desks are terrible places, no matter how many wheels a chair might have. You can't do much about how drawers fill up.”

“Sherlock: You're keeping a SCRAPBOOK. Only old ladies and pre-pubescent girls keep scrapbooks, John.John: It's not a scrapbook, Sherlock. I'm collecting papers relevant to the cases. It helps me remember the details. And it was locked away in my desk drawer.Sherlock: The lock on your desk drawer was insulting me with its pretense at security.”

“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.”