The Third Victim Quotes
"As for future shootings, the question is not if but when."
"May there come a day when white lilies and red roses are not piled against schoolyard fences."
"People are learning to listen, and it does work."
"Freedom, that's what she needed. No more ghosts, or so she'd thought."
"If this good weather continues, I'm gonna be out of a job."
"I just write up civil incidents, Frank. No spying for the taxpayers here."
"It's hard to think over the din of sirens and crying children."
"The noise was louder in the building, the long hallways funneling the relentlessly pinging fire alarm and raining the sound down upon their heads."
"But this was bigger than her. It had needs that had nothing to do with her own."
"She wanted to turn back the clock six hours, when she had been at home, pouring bowls of Cheerios for her children before kissing them on the head."
"These things happen. Now we gotta work together, clear things up. You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you."
"Commit to the shot, for hesitation was the number one killer of cops."
"Decadence just wasn’t in him. He was a type-A control freak to the core."
"Life was messy, even for type-A control freaks."
"All cops knew rage. It was the common denominator no one ever spoke about and everyone understood."
"She went home, where, finally free from prying eyes, she rested her forehead against the neck of the cold beer bottle, thought of those two poor little girls, of the schoolteacher, of Danny, of herself fourteen years ago."
"You stupid, selfish little boy, how could you be so cruel?"
"The best experts could do currently was a "risk assessment" of individuals."
"Children were simply too hard for adults to understand or predict in the best of circumstances."
"The anger that welled up in her chest was dangerous. It was also out of proportion, not just because Abe Sanders was obviously some kind of putz, but because she’d arrested a kid she knew and, dammit, she liked."
"Here was a woman who knew how to get things done."
"EMTs ruin scenes, simple fact of life. So do concerned parents running after their children and school bureaucrats trying to do head counts."
"Geography is another simple fact of life, and geography places that school in the middle of a residential area and us fifteen minutes away. Can’t stop what we aren’t there to manage."
"An armed murder suspect drew down on me! Value a crime scene. Don’t plan on dying for it."
"God help her, the state men were multiplying."
"You really think locking away a thirteen-year-old kid will make us feel better? Give us a sense of closure? Personally, I’ll be driving by that school for the rest of my life, wondering what really happened yesterday afternoon."
"Rainie Conner’s tough. Gotta watch out for her. Killed her own mother."
"You think Shep staged an armed confrontation between a police officer and his son on the off chance it would eliminate some of the evidence against Danny?"
"It’s one of the amazing things," he said after a moment. "On the one hand, these incidents are so tragic, they make us fear the worst about humanity. On the other hand, these incidents are so tragic, they bring out our humanity."
"The shooting is about an individual. The aftermath is about a town."
"I don’t know how I’m supposed to do all that. When I was training to be a principal, the biggest threat we could imagine was an earthquake."
"Someone died — bring out the casseroles. Dad’s ham and potato surprise. Grandma’s seven-layer taco supreme."
"Yesterday evening, on the O’Grady front doorstep, the first casserole had appeared. It was accompanied by a note that said Deepest sympathies."
"The Lord gave no burdens that could not be borne."
"Early this morning someone had scrawled Baby Killer with dripping red paint."
"He was a child. He was her child, and she wanted her family back!"
"How are we going to walk down the streets if Danny is found guilty?"
"It’s to evaluate whether he will kill again."
"The truth is, the overwhelming majority of children who commit these shootings aren’t, quote unquote, normal."
"But not all of them are like that. And our legal system is based on the philosophy that we’d let a hundred guilty men go free before sending one innocent man away."
"All of the school shooters craved notoriety. They wanted their classmates to know it was them."
"Sometimes she was her mother’s daughter, and she never trusted herself when she was in this kind of mood."
"I like holding the bottle in my hand and knowing I can set it down again. It’s the sense of power, I’m sure."
"Don’t know. I’m an alcoholic, Quince. Came from an alcoholic mother. Probably had an alcoholic father. I’d know if my mother had sobered up long enough to remember his name."
"No, I just have typical law-enforcement stuff. The ex-wife. The two grown children who barely know I exist. Too much dedication to the job, not enough attention at home. The usual mistakes."
"My feelings on the subject are clear. Now it’s up to Bethie to figure out when she can let go."
"And you’re almost through your first beer. Tell me all the baggage. I like starting with the junk out in the open. It saves time later."
"I don’t underestimate myself. I’m simply honest."
"It’s the violence, I think. Because it’s a shooting and not an automobile crash or combine accident. I’m not sure. But it’s bringing it back. Everything. Like it happened yesterday."
"What you’re going through is very real. It’s called post-traumatic stress syndrome."
"I tried eating. Potato chips, candy bars, Gummy Bears. Anything that came out of a hospital vending machine. But I kept forgetting to chew, and that made things difficult."
"I resumed jogging. That seems to do the trick."
"You’re human. You’re an intelligent human. Your brain is going to work in spite of you."
"But not tonight. Tonight he had to drive to Portland. He still had work to do."
"Please don’t be sad, Mom and Dad. It’ll all be over soon and I know I’m going to a better place. God loves me and will take care of me. I’m going to be fine. I love you. I love even this bad, bad man. My heart is true."
"He lay in his bed for a long time, thinking of the strength of a thirteen-year-old girl, thinking of God and faith and the things he’d left behind after too many years on the job."
"Sometimes you had to cry after autopsies. It was the only way to release the pain."
"I thought… I thought kids who did this sort of thing were supposed to have a history of violence. Torturing household pets, starting fires, playing violent video games. Danny didn’t do any of those things. To me, he seemed to be a decent boy going through a hard time. I honestly had no idea. I swear, I had no idea."
"Kids don’t understand what you mean. They understand what you do."
"The Internet isn’t any safer than a walk through New York City at night."
"He’d listened to a young girl die, but he had not heard what she was saying."
"We end up with questions and sometimes the evidence is a mess. Our job is to make a case, and we still have enough to argue that Danny killed two girls."
"I don’t give a rat’s ass! Someone else was in the school. Someone else shot Melissa Avalon. I want to know who, goddammit."
"Don’t just mourn your child, cash in on the loss."
"When a file is deleted, the computer generally only deletes the directory reference to the file, not the actual data."
"Kids got hurt. The system let people down. Now they want someone to blame."
"You’re too smart to be doing this to yourself."
"We’re an intelligent society, nothing is beyond our grasp."
"There are two choices for angry people in this world, and only one of them wears a badge."
"Society is not filled with evil souls. But it is filled with people who are mobile, fractured, overworked, overweight, overcrowded, and overtired."
"I’m getting angry, Charlie. I’m not getting a lot of sleep these days, and the mayor told me this morning to do whatever’s necessary to solve this case, so I wouldn’t make me angry right now."
"If you have a troubled son, you need to know what he’s reading or surfing on the Internet, Mrs. O’Grady. It can make a difference."
"Being a working mom doesn’t mean you’re a horrible mom. Stay-at-home parents have troubled children too."
"Was it right to actively wonder if her son was a murderer and still love him?"
"You acted with heart, Chuckie. The rest you’ll learn with time."
"Kid that age? We should take him out shooting a few times. Then take him drinking after that. He’ll work through it."
"This was death. This was loss. This was the moment when everything became real."
"How many times have you been to the O’Gradys’ house? How many times to visit that murdering little bastard?"
"What’s the point of being so ridiculously clever if no one ever learns about it?"
"And if Danny does crack, does one day tell everything…"
"What’s one of the biggest factors we’re already seeing in school shootings? Ego. Boys trying to assert their identity in a crowded world."
"Murder is like anything else. It has to be learned."
"In classic indoctrination technique, you get the initiate to turn on the things he loves the most."
"It’s a wide, wide world out there, ladies and gentlemen. God knows where he’ll strike next."
"You don’t want to raise your kids to be afraid. Everyone goes to school. No sense in making a big deal about it."
"A murderer is a murderer. Don’t do the crime if you can’t serve the time."
"He taught me the importance of manners. He taught me to love fall, when the leaves change and the apples grow crisp."
"I miss you. I wish I could give you a big hug right now."
"So much noise. And this horrible smell. Not like the movies."
"He needs help, Shep! Serious help that he’s not going to get from a youth detention facility."
"If you beat your wife, will that make you feel better, Shep?"
"I'm trying harder than I've ever tried in my life to make this family whole."
"Danny was involved in the killings. Danny has problems dealing with his rage. Danny is a deeply troubled boy. But he's a good boy, too, if that makes any sense, and the guilt is tearing him up inside."
"I wasn't going to miss this, Bethie. I'd always planned on being here, once you were ready."
"I toast my mother. I don't tell her, 'Fuck you.' She tried to stop him, you asshole."
"I came as fast as I could. I told you that I would."
"No one gets out of life without a few regrets."
"What goes around comes around. It’s not always just, but it can be right."
"Responsibility and accountability. They’re not such bad things."
"You’re a good person. You’re a great police officer."