An Gaudio

“Do you want me?” he whispered. It was a simple but loaded question. The answer, like it could remove all anguish from the past few weeks, stood out in my head. “Yes.”
― M. R. Noble, Karolina Dalca, Dark Eyes

“This is Detective Ashford Ishikawa. Who am I speaking with?”
“My name is Jack Ludefance. I’m a private investigator from Santa Rosaria and I’ve been retained by Cindy Hastings through her lawyer, Mr. Hooks, to investigate her father’s murder. Is there way we can get together to talk?”
“Why? What are we going to talk about, Mr. Ludefance?”
“As I said, Detective Ishikawa, I’ve been hired to investigate the case. I’ve read the police reports. My hat is off to you. Very thorough work.”
“Just doing my job. If you’ve read them, and I won’t ask how you got them, I’ll ask you again, what is there for us to talk about?”
“Detective, I’m not trying to do your job and I’m not asking you to do my job. This is of mutual interest to both of us. The sooner we solve the crime the better, yes? Think of it this way. I’m your helper.”
― Behcet Kaya, Appellate Judge

“Everyone is so enamored with the puppet; they never notice the man pulling the strings.”
― J.B. Lion, The Seventh Spark: Volume One – Knights of the Trinity

“Before Cook’s arrival the native population of Hawai'i was more than a quarter of a million people; a hundred years later, it had plummeted to fewer than sixty thousand.”
― Alan Brennert, Moloka'i