Quotes from Robert Crais

Stegner finally spoke, a quiet voice in the backseat darkness. "Please don't kill me." Pike didn't answer. Isabel should have left the house by then. She should have reached the lifeguard stand. She should be safe. Pike told himself these things, but found no solace. All the shoulds in the world meant nothing. Isabel would not be safe until he reached her.

Something about the desk bothered me. I sat and touched the keyboard. The monitors didn't respond. They powered up when I turned them on, but the screens showed only a bright blue field. I looked under and around her desk. I found all the necessary system components except for the brain that tied them together. Amy's computer was missing. I said, "Hmm." Detectives said things like this when they were suspicious. I

Pike tapped Jon's leg, and Jon rolled on, cruising back to their cars. Everything moved quickly after their brief reconnoiter, which was how Pike liked it. Speed was good. In armed confrontations, speed was the difference between life and death. Cole

Bud grew irritated. "Now waitaminute, goddamnit—this isn't only about the girl. You dropped five bodies in two days. You think, what, Pitman can tell LAPD, Hey, it's all right, our civilian killed those dudes to protect our witness, and Northeast Homicide will let it go? You have to help straighten this out.

Jonna Lester slapped hard at the couch, then threw the glass pipe to the floor. She stamped both feet. Mad. "Life really sucks." "That's true," I said. "But think of it this way." She squinted at me, and I glanced toward the bathroom. "Death sucks worse.

Of course." I glanced at Lucy on the deck. She and Ben were at the rail. Ben was pointing at something far down the canyon and yakking, but Lucy seemed neither to hear him nor to see. As if the other presence were out there, too, and drawing her attention. I felt my own eyes fill, but, like Angela Rossi, I also knew the tricks of survival. "We're not going to walk away, Angie. We're not going to leave you hanging.

A BLACK CAT pushed through the cat door. His fine flat head was striped with scars, his eyes were angry yellow coals, and his ears were tattered from too many fights. One ear was cocked sideways from the time someone shot him. He circled Pike's legs, and flopped on his side. Purring. Pike picked him up and held him, the cat dripping off his arm as limp as liquid fur. Anyone else would lose a hand.

The living room, dining room, and kitchen proved to be a waste of time. Another phone sat in the kitchen with another empty memory. I was having what we in the trade called an unproductive morning. The

Not yet, but they made a very interesting offer." Her green eyes were amazing. Absolutely without bottom.

the police could follow him without dogs or helicopters. As we banged down the stairs, I said, "There's a trail works south through the mountains to a subdivision above

Maggie reached the door well before Scott, and saw another door ahead. The intruder and another man were waiting beyond it. Ten thousand generations filled her with a guardian's rage. Scott

When the light changed, the arrow dude crossed with the crowd, walking along Sunset like he was normal. Daniel clocked the dude as he passed. Big guy, hard, but he moved as if he was floating. Nasty hands, though, with big, coarse knuckles and veins wrapped under his skin like vines. Daniel

Maggie reached the door well before Scott, and saw another door ahead. The intruder and another man were waiting beyond it. Ten thousand generations filled her with a guardian's rage. Scott was hers to care for, and hers to keep. She

Fifteen minutes later I parked behind Teri Haines's Saturn and went to the door. I kind of expected to find the house in smoking ruins, but I guess Charles had passed out from overeating. Lighten up, Cole. He's only a kid. Sure. They probably said that when Attila was a kid, too.

Chavez Ravine is a broad flat bowl surrounded by low mountains that wall the stadium from the city. Dodger Stadium sits in the center of the bowl, surrounded by black tarmac parking lots like some kind of alien spacecraft resting alone on its launching pad. All you'd need was a big shiny robot, and you'd think Michael Rennie had come back to Earth.

I reset the alarm, let myself out, and went to my car. I dumped the yearbooks and files onto the passenger seat, but didn't drive away. I thought about the gun. Amy might have had second thoughts. She might have decided it was too loud or too smelly or just wasn't fun. Maybe having a gun around the house made her feel less safe, so she got rid of it. There were plenty of innocent reasons her gun was missing, but guesses weren't facts. I

I said, "Ben. Would you give your mother and me a moment alone, please?" Ben giggled. "You want me to amscray?" "Yes, Ben, I want you to amscray.

Michaels was an overweight guy in his early thirties with a wide butt and a hairline that hadn't seen his eyebrows in years. He had pale skin and washed-away eyes and dry lips that he continuously licked. The lips made me think he was feeling short and thinking about his next fix, but that's only because Livermore had said he was a junkie. Tre Michaels didn't look like a junkie, but then I've never met a junkie in real life who looked like Johnny Rotten.

a cop shouted our location to the people on the road. Krantz wasn't holding a gun, but his eyes were on Pike as if he were a down-range target. I expected him to start with our rights, or tell us we were under arrest, or maybe even gloat, but he didn't.

Scott felt uncomfortable, but managed a nod. Most of what Hess told the chief was lies. "Thank you." "I'll

I nodded. "I mean, God, I'm paid to advise other people, am I not?" I nodded again. Getting a lot of nod practice tonight.

Pike hung up, and I stood in the center of the kitchen and listened to the silence. Someone had been in my home, and it made me feel creepy and violated and angry. I pulled out the Dan Wesson, sat it on the kitchen counter, and crossed my arms. "Let's see'm come back now." Acting tough will sometimes help, but not always, and the gun did not lessen the feeling that I was vulnerable and at risk. They seldom do.

You see the van?" "Yeah, we're almost there. Don't worry." The criminal with a Bolivian cartel after him telling Cole not to worry. Perfect. "Make

But adversity has a way of strengthening. If it doesn't kill you, you learn things.