The Couple Next Door Quotes
"Anne can feel the acid churning in her stomach and creeping up her throat; her head is swimming."
"Anne wasn’t brought up to create a scene, isn’t one to draw attention to herself."
"Anne reminds herself that Cynthia flirts with everyone."
"He will stand by her no matter what—she takes another gulp of wine—no matter how bad things get."
"Who goes to a dinner party next door and leaves her baby alone in the house? What kind of mother does such a thing?"
"She and Marco hadn’t argued about it before the party."
"You can’t just stay home," he insisted when they argued about it in their kitchen."
"But tonight, with Cynthia, he’s the life of the party."
"I’m going to go. I was supposed to check on the baby at one."
"They make a striking couple, Cynthia and Marco."
"She must stop looking at the tabloids at the grocery-store checkout."
"We have no idea who would steal our beautiful, innocent little girl."
"Her face burns. Nursing mothers aren’t supposed to drink."
"Anne feels her scream inside her own head and reverberating off the walls—her scream is everywhere."
"I was going through the back to check on her, remember?"
"The detective says, "We are serious about finding her, believe me."
"Anne doesn’t even flinch. "My parents adore Cora. I’m sure they’ll pay."
"I believe the police already issued a statement about that earlier, but I’ll tell you again."
"We put Cora down earlier in the evening in the pink onesie."
"We are able to offer the sum of three million dollars."
"We beg whoever took her to return her to us."
"I say to the person who has her, I promise you there will be no charges. We just want her back."
"She’s had some soup and crackers—all she’s had to eat all day."
"How is it possible that she is sitting in this chair and instead of looking down at her baby girl at her breast—opening and closing her little fists and staring up at her mother with those big round blue eyes, those long lashes—she is pumping out her milk by hand into a plastic container to be dumped down the bathroom drain?"
"She rearranges her clothing and gets up out of the nursing chair and makes her way to the bathroom at the top of the stairs. As she dumps the breast milk into the sink, she stares at herself in the fractured mirror."
"We were sitting around in the dining room mostly, because it’s air-conditioned, and it was such a hot night."
"I remember thinking it must be a bore having to worry about Anne all the time."
"What if she’s dead? What if our baby is already dead?"
"I love my daughter more than anything in this world."
"It's all been much more difficult than expected."
"Marco sinks to the floor. In his confusion and disbelief, he can’t speak."
"Marco repeats in a monotone. He is still trying to put it all together."
"Marco gasps. Cora, alive! Nothing else matters."
"Marco thinks cynically for a moment about how disappointed Cynthia will be."
"Anne cries and presses numbers in the phone, but she didn’t know what numbers to press."
"Anne’s eyes were fixed firmly on the wall in front of her; she was perfectly still."
"Anne’s greatest fear now is that she is guilty."
"Marco feels sickened. He gazes with bitter eyes around his office."
"Marco looks back now on the innocence and optimism of those days."
"Anne returns to an empty house. She lies down on the sofa in the living room."
"Marco feels as if he’s emerging from a bad dream."
"Anne pushes past her mother, and Marco follows her into the front hall."
"Marco knows he’s out of his depth. He doesn’t know how to handle this situation, and everything depends on how he handles it."
"Well, she’s not here," his father-in-law says coldly.
"Marco tries to speak, but he doesn’t know how to begin."
"Marco’s anger flares—Richard can’t resist the temptation to make Marco look like an incompetent fool."
"The only thing left to do, I’m afraid," Richard says, "is to go to the police. With everything."
"Marco believes that Richard will keep Cora hidden forever if necessary, just so that he can win."
"I need hardly tell you that we won’t be paying for your defense."
"Marco is desolate. Richard has won, the manipulative bastard."
"Marco thinks, She will never come home to me again. I’m all alone."
"Rasbach is uneasy on the drive back from the Drieses’ mansion."
"Because the police know what Marco did," Anne says.
"Marco sees that there is someone on the stretcher. But he can’t tell who it is."
"Anne," he whispers, his voice a broken croak. "Anne, what have you done?"