“If there was one life skill everyone on the planet needed, it was the ability to think with critical objectivity”

“It means I know you, Adrien with an e, and I know you get reckless when you're impatient. You're paying for this investigation, and I'll keep you apprised every step of the way, but if you even think about going rogue on this one, I'm turning in my fedora and you can hire some other dick."I don't want any other dick. I closed my mouth on that one—metaphorically speaking—and said, “I don't know why the hell everyone seems to think I'm so reckless—”

“He needed fresh air and sunshine. A walk in the woods and afterward a good book to read by the fire.Yeah, that was the life.”

“Her back to me, she said, “I know what Paul thinks. Everyone thinks I didn’t love Porter, that I just married him for the money, but Porter and I --” She shrugged.As avowals of lasting love go, I’ve sat through more professional presentations.But I said, “No outsider can understand a relationship between two people.” Hell, sometimes even the people in the relationship couldn’t understand it.”

“Do you still do the clubs?”Jake shakes his head. “You do the clubsbecause you can’t find what you need at home. I’ve got everything I need. I’ve got the answer to needs I didn’t even know I had.”

“People loved you in the way they knew how - and often it was not the way you knew. Or needed.”

“I gave a helpless laugh. “Damned if I know. I think…we seem to have reached impasse.I feel betrayed by your friendship with Verlane. I realize that’s not logical. I realize that if I’d made the mistakes Verlane has made, I’d want my friends to stand by me, hope that someone would help me when the time came. I just…”“What?”I met his eyes. “I just need to come first for someone, Guy.”