“Sooner or later you end up making deals with women. It's an injustice, really.”

“In my old age, I was at last being permitted to make the discovery that lovemaking gets better and better with time, if it's with someone you care for.”

“...doing the smoker's comedy act: he hunted automatically for an ashtray, didn't find one, tipped his ashes into the palm of his hand,...”

“The angel of death had cruised him. Death, that hustler, that last lover.”

“How many more times would I have embraced him that night, how many more times would I have kissed him, if I had known the name of that stranger lover who was already in Montreal, who had already bought his stadium ticket from a scalper for the 5,000 tomorrow. That implacable lover who was going to turn Billy's eyes away from me forever.”

“You’ve got to be careful sometimes, it’s as if I’m hanging on all the time – just clinging on telling meself – life’s all right – it’s a great experience living – look at all the different people yer meeting – you really are living and then I think, Poor Cow, who are you taking on? Let’s face it, it’s just escaping from one misery to another. Who really enjoys life? Kids when you get down to it – kids are the only ones who really get a kick out of being alive...”

“Helen’s secretary’s phone was ringing off the hook as Clavier and I passed through the antechamber and into the hallway. Once we were outside, I rounded on him.“I’m not going to apologize. What you did to me was unconscionable, and now that Alexa is sick—” The urge to strike out at him welled up in me like a flash fire, and I braced my hand against the wall so as not to give in to the impulse. “I want access to everything. And your full cooperation. I am going to make this right, damn it, whatever it takes.”He stared at me coldly. “Save your self-righteous invectives for someone who will be moved by them.”I took a menacing step forward, despite my determination to remain poised. “Hoping for a repeat performance? You must get off on asphyxiation.” At the spark of anger in his eyes, I laughed. “The first thing that’s going to happen is that I am going to talk to Sebastian. And you are going to call whoever you need to call to make that happen. Right now.”Without waiting for a response, I turned sharply and headed for the stairwell.”