Great Throughts Treasury

"Our clients are our only assets, so we kill ourselves for them."

"Our system never holds a bad prosecutor accountable."

"Paul?s story to have a happier ending?for ourselves."

"Our prisons are packed. Our streets are filled with drugs. Who?s winning the war? We?ve lost our minds."

"Parents. Missing children are almost always taken by one of their parents, right? This is correct, Bolick said. And we are looking for the father. According to the mother, though, she spoke with him yesterday afternoon and he was with his band somewhere in West Virginia. She feels rather strongly that he is not involved in this. April can?t stand her father, Theo blurted, then wished he?d remained quiet. They chatted for a few more minutes, but the conversation was obviously over. The officers thanked the Boones for coming and promised to check back later. Both Mr. and Mrs. Boone said they would be at their office all day if they were needed for anything. Theo, of course, would be in school. As they drove away, Mrs. Boone said, That poor child. Snatched from her own bedroom. Mr. Boone, who was driving, glanced back over his shoulder and said, Are you okay, Theo? I guess, he said. Of course he?s not okay, Woods. His friend has just been abducted. I can speak for myself, Mom, Theo said."

"Pizzerias in big cities benefit from Italian natives or descendants thereof, people who understand that real pizza comes from Naples where the crusts are thin and the toppings simple. Samantha?s favorite was Lazio?s, a hole-in-the-wall in Tribeca where the cooks yelled in Italian as they baked the crusts in brick ovens. Like most things in her life these days, Lazio?s was far away. So was the pizza. The only place in Brady to get one to go was a sub shop in a cheap strip mall. Pizza Hut, along with most other national chains, had not penetrated deep into the small towns of Appalachia."

"Please give me fifty more years of work and fun, then an instant death when I'm sleeping."

"Perhaps the most colorful courthouse regular in Ada was Barney Ward, a blind lawyer known for his snappy dressing, hard living,"

"Plenty of local hacks think they?re famous. They smile from billboards as they beg for your bankruptcy and swagger in television ads as they seem deeply concerned about your personal injuries, but they?re forced to pay for their own publicity."

"Poverty is a great equalizer"

"Powerful chemotherapy agents enclosed in microscopic nanoparticles are injected intravenously. These circulate with the blood in every tissue and organ in the body, but the chemotherapy drugs are inactive because they are trapped inside the nanoparticles. After eliminating all of the tumor that can be seen on the MR, the surgeon then refocuses the ultrasound to the surrounding brain to activate the nanoparticles, which release their pharmacological payload in the precise area around the tumor where residual microscopic extensions of the tumor have infiltrated. This allows very high concentrations of the drugs to be delivered focally to the brain while minimizing systemic side effects. The remainder of the chemo-laden nanoparticles will be excreted."

"Prison. Duke Graham drove to the police station and provided a solid alibi. Debbie?s family was informed that the apartment she?d been renting needed to be vacated. Her mother was still not functioning. Her aunt Glenna Lucas volunteered for the unpleasant task. A policeman unlocked the apartment, and Glenna entered slowly. Nothing had been moved since the murder, and her first reaction was one of raw anger. There had obviously been a brawl. Her niece had fought desperately for her life. How could anyone inflict such violence on such a sweet, pretty girl? The apartment was cold, with an offensive smell, one she could not identify. The words Jim Smith next will die were still on the wall. Glenna gawked in disbelief at the killer?s badly scrawled message. It took time, she thought. He was here for a long time. Her niece had finally died after a brutal ordeal. In the bedroom, the mattress was against a wall and nothing was in place. In the closet, not a single dress or blouse was still on a hanger. Why would the killer strip all the clothing from the hangers? The small kitchen was disorganized but showed no signs of a struggle. Debbie?s last meal had included frozen potatoes?Tater Tots?and the leftovers sat untouched on a paper plate with catsup. A saltshaker was next to the plate, which was on the small white table she used for her meals. Near the plate was another crude message?Don?t look for us or else. Glenna knew that the killer had used catsup for some of his writings. She was struck by the misspelled words. Glenna managed to block out the terrible thoughts and begin packing. It took two hours to collect and box the clothing and dishes and towels and such. The bloody bedspread had not"

"Privileged people don't march and protest; their world is safe and clean and governed by laws designed to keep them happy."

"Prisons are fascinating places, especially when the inmates are educated white-collar types."

"Purvis. This is my associate, Samantha Kofer. We?ve been hired to get our client out of jail. Snowden took a step back as Mattie pressed ahead. Samantha, treading water, wasn?t sure what to do, so"

"Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneath a great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearly marked , yet no one recognises me. I often say I'm a famous author in a country where no one reads."

"Prisons are hate factories, Pastor, and society wants more and more of them."

"Reading is by far the most successful pursuit of happiness."

"Samantha closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to put it all in perspective. Yesterday morning she had arrived at her desk in the world?s largest law firm, one that paid her handsomely and had the promise of a long, profitable career. Now, about thirty hours later, she was unemployed, sitting in the caf‚ at Kramerbooks and trying to hustle her way into a temporary, unpaid gig about as deep in the boonies as one could possibly wander."

"Samantha nodded smugly as if it were just another day in court. She pretended to be captivated by a document, frowning and underlining some terribly important words, while wanting to yell, I can?t believe it either. This is my first trial!"

"Ricky had taught me a few cuss words. I usually practiced them in the woods by the river, then prayed for forgiveness as soon as I was done."

"Serious cash to free April? And there was no word yet from the kidnapper. Usually, as Theo remembered from television, the family gets word pretty soon that the bad guys have the child and would like a million bucks or so for a safe return. Another report from the morning news showed Mrs. Finnemore crying in front of their home. The police were tight-lipped, saying only that they were pursuing all leads. A neighbor said his dog started barking around midnight, always a bad sign. As frantic as the reporters seemed to be that morning, the truth was that they were finding very little to add to the story of a missing girl. Theo?s homeroom teacher was Mr. Mount, who also taught Government. After Mr. Mount got the boys settled, he called the roll. All sixteen were present. The conversation quickly got around to the disappearance of April, and Mr. Mount asked Theo if he?d heard anything. Nothing, Theo said, and his classmates seemed disappointed."

"She had named her children April, March, and August?was in the living room on a sofa talking to a uniformed officer when the Boones entered, rather awkwardly. Quick introductions were made; Mr. Boone had never met her. Theo! Mrs. Finnemore said, very dramatically. Someone has taken our April! Then she burst into tears and reached to hug Theo. He wanted no part of being hugged but went along with the ritual out of respect. As always, she wore a large flowing garment that was more of a tent than a dress, light brown in color and made from what appeared to be burlap. Her long graying hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. Crazy as she was, Theo had always been struck by her beauty. She made no effort at being attractive?quite unlike his mother?but some things you can?t hide. She was also very creative, liked to paint and do pottery, in addition to making goat cheese. April had inherited the good genes?the pretty eyes, the artistic flair. When Mrs. Finnemore settled down, Mrs. Boone asked the officer, What happened? He responded with a quick summary of what little"

"She answered his knock with a smile, a short one forced through because she was at heart a warm person, not given to the dark mood swings which now plagued her."

"Shame was an emotion he had abandoned years earlier. Addicts know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it."

"She was released from rehab. What time did she get him? she asked without looking up from the newspaper. After eight. He walked out of here, even asked if he could drive. She said no. Was she upset? She was pretty cool. Relieved more than anything else. The big question is whether he?ll remember anything. And if he does, then the question is whether he?ll find us again. Will he really walk away from the big firm and the big bucks? I got my doubts. Rochelle had her doubts too, but she was trying to minimize the conversation. Finley"

"she would miss something important. The letters drained her. The lyrics put her to sleep. The novels produced migraines. The poetry could not be penetrated. She wrote back twice a week, without fail, because if she neglected her youngest by even a day or so, she could expect a torrent of abuse, a four-pager or maybe a five-pager with"

"She was pondering the option of law school, the great American baby-sitter for directionless postgrads."

"So why did I burn so much clock today? To hold them accountable. To scare the hell out of them with the scenario that they?prosecutor and judge, duly elected by the locals?could screw up the most sensational case this backwater hick town has ever seen. To collect ammunition for the appeal. And, to make them respect me."

"Since 1990, Oklahoma has executed more convicts on a per capita basis than any other state. No place, not even Texas, comes close."

"Sistrunk had made a decision. If possible, they would commandeer the table used by the prosecution and plaintiff, the one closest to the jury, and assert themselves as the true voice of the proponents of the will. Jake Brigance would probably throw punches, but bring it on. It was time to establish proper roles, and since their client was the"

"Some people have more guts than brains."

"Still, something about writing made me spend large hours of my free time at my desk."

"Strippers. Get them a job, then an apartment, buy some clothes, feed them nice dinners, and then they get culture and start making demands. They were an expensive habit, but one he could not break."

"That there was no mud on his shoes and no tracks below him, so therefore he was probably hanging and dead when the rain began. Why was that important? Ultimately, it was not. The logistics of hanging oneself from a tree are not that simple."

"Ten minutes later, Julio and Bobby Escobar eased from the shadows and saw Theo before he saw them. Bobby was very nervous and did not want to risk being seen by a policeman, so they walked to the other side of the park and found a spot on the steps of a gazebo. Theo couldn?t see his father but he was sure he was watching. He asked Bobby if he had worked that day, then went on to say that he and his father had played the Creek Course. No, Bobby had not worked,"

"Ten years from now I plan to be sitting here, looking out over my land. I hope I'll be writing books, but if not, I'll be on my pond fishing with my kids. I feel like the luckiest guy I know."

"The coffee arrives, and we backslide into what lawyers do best---talking about other lawyers."

"The abduction of April Finnemore took place in the dead of night, sometime between 9:15 p.m., when she last spoke with Theo Boone, and 3:30 a.m., when her mother entered her bedroom and realized she was gone. The abduction appeared to have been rushed; whoever took April did not allow her to gather her things. Her laptop was left behind. Though her bedroom was fairly neat, there was some clothing strewn about, which made it difficult to determine if she had been able to pack. Probably not, the police thought. Her toothbrush was still by the sink. Her backpack was by her bed. Her pajamas were on the floor, so she at least had been allowed to change. Her mother, when she wasn?t crying or ranting, told the police that her daughter?s favorite blue-and-white sweater was not in the closet. And April?s favorite sneakers were gone, too."

"The chair jammed against her bedroom door; with an old baseball bat across the end of her bed; with the phone close and ready to dial 911, and with no one in the world to talk to but Theodore Boone, who had vowed not to tell a soul. Her father was out of town with his band. Her mother was taking pills and losing her mind. In the past few days, has April said anything about running away? the detective was asking Theo. Oh, yes. Nonstop. She wants to run away to Paris and study art. She wants to run away to LA and live with March, her older sister. She wants to run away to Santa Fe and become a painter. She wants to run away, period. I don?t recall anything like that, Theo said, and it was the truth because in the past few days could mean almost anything; thus, the question was too vague to require a definite answer on his part. He had seen this time and time again in trials. In his opinion, Sergeant Bolick and the detective were being far too sloppy with their questions. So far, they had not been able to pin him down, and he had not told a lie."

"That's sounds right. Another $5,000 went to dress up the Little League park where he had played so many games. Seems like he paid off the MORTAGE on his parents' home, which wasn't that much."

"The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects against self-incrimination."

"The Constitution names only three federal offenses: treason, piracy, and counterfeiting."

"The company later went broke, and of course all blame was directed at the lawyers. Not once did I hear any talk that maybe a trace of mismanagement could in any way have contributed to the bankruptcy."

"The first thing my family did when we moved was join the local church. The second was to go to the library and get library cards."

"The old diner on Main Street, six blocks west of the courthouse and three blocks south of the police station. It claimed to serve pecan waffles that were famous around the world, but Theo had often doubted this. Did people in Japan and Greece really know about Gertrude and her waffles? He wasn?t so sure. He had friends at school who?d never heard of Gertrude?s right there in Strattenburg. A few miles west of town, on the main highway, there was an ancient log cabin with a gas pump out front and a large sign advertising Dudley?s World-Famous Mint Fudge. When Theo was younger, he naturally had assumed that everybody in town not only craved the mint fudge but talked about it nonstop. How else could it achieve the status of being world famous? Then one day in class the discussion took an odd turn and found its way to"

"The mother of a trophy wife is not automatically a trophy mother-in-law."

"The good thing about writing fiction is that you can get back at people."

"The police have the killer. To relieve the enormous pressure on them, and to begin the process of poisoning public opinion, and to establish the presumption of guilt, they are manipulating the press, as always. A leak here and there and cameras show up to capture the face that everyone has been desperate to see. The journalists chase their tails,"

"The proliferation of the federal criminal code, now at twenty-seven thousand pages and counting."