Quotes from Lisa Gardner

My mother would watch him and sigh. He's a young soul, she would say, with a tender heart. She worried for him. But never for me. I was the happy one. At least, that's how the story goes.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

COURTHOUSES WERE THEIR own special kind of madness.

considers this case a slam dunk." "So you're pleading not guilty," Quincy said.

Being a survivor didn't just mean being strong. It meant being lonely.

No, wait, I drink any more java, I'm gonna start pissing Colombians.

The results are about as meaningful as a sixth toe - gives you something to look at, but doesn't do a damn thing.

In the way Boston works, a random street has appeared ahead, forking a right diagonal, not to be confused with the three other diagonals flaring out around it.

That brought D.D. up short.

Je ne veux plus faire de cauchemars. Je ne veux plus chercher à atteindre une petite fille que je ne peux pas sauver. Le monde est cruel. Notre boulot est sans espoir. Je ne sais même plus comment aimer. J'ai juste besoin de haïr.

Already on it," he assured her. Pedophiles loved to hide digital files—say, incriminating photos—as attachments to computer games, where the file sizes were already so huge and graphic-rich that it was hard to see the piggyback. Inside stereo speakers was also a favorite spot for stashing thumb drives. In this house, given this crime scene, they couldn't afford to assume anything.

She walked the edge of the anxiety attack, feeling the shakes and knowing that she either found solid footing now or plunged into the abyss.

I've made my mistakes and taken my licks and I still think a quiet life is overrated.

You don't become a teacher without having some level of optimism. And you don't stay in the field if you don't believe that everyone, from bitter teens to burnt-out administrators, can change. I

The gift of gratitude, we say in AA. It took me a long time to find it, and I'm still not the best at remembering it, but every now and then, I almost understand.

I hate the raw edge to my voice, but I can't stop it. These cases shouldn't be personal to me. But they are. That's the thing I can't help, and Paul couldn't understand.

SpecWar superstuds were not Arnold Schwarzenegger. They were Buddhist monks.

Kind of guy who'd sell out his own mother to get ahead, that's for sure. Maybe he did.

But doing what, Charlie? Fake drinking IDs can't be that big money. Like you said, fake passports, identity packages, hell, work visas, that all makes sense. But how do you get from good-enough driver's licenses to that level of expertise?

The truth did not always set you free. Sometimes it bound you to dark, bloody deeds and cost you the people you loved.

Nah, his fake company produced paperwork that real people could use to apply for real visas. Guy got greedy, though. Soon enough, the powers that be got wise to a small firm needing hundreds of engineers. Especially when none of the foreigners applying for work had an engineering degree. Good while it lasted, though.

What would be worth kidnapping two enterprising teen girls and holding them hostage? How about setting up a system to generate real student visas? I can even see Angelique's personal interest in taking on such a project, given her immigration status, and her brother's. Maybe that had made it sound like a good idea … before it wasn't.

when she'd feared they hadn't rescued a woman after all, but only a shell of one.

Given the girls' aptitudes in computer programming and design, this little enterprise could've gone on and on, growing in scope and size. From a fake university for student visas to a fake corporation for work visas, such as Charlie described. That revenue potential would be through the roof. Definitely worth the risk of holding two girls captive.