The Short Drop (Gibson Vaughn, #1)

by Matthew FitzSimmons

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, take a big bite and chew slow.” Words to live by.

Never leave accounts unsettled.

Entitlement breeds laziness, which in turn breeds decline. But of course with enough money, it is possible not to notice for decades that your family name is gathering dust.

The dead have no rights, or so my lawyers tell me, and rarely rise to defend themselves.

Hope is a cancer. One of two things happens. Either you never learn the truth, in which case it gnaws down to the bone until there’s nothing left, or worse, you do, and you go through that windshield at ninety because hope told you it was okay to make the drive without a seat belt.”

What was the first rule to getting someone to fall in line? Figure out what they need and give them a taste. Not enough to sate them, but enough to whet their appetite.

An eternal truth of the human condition was that no one ever thought they were evil. No matter how reprehensible their actions, people always convinced themselves they were justified.

Hope is a cancer. Either you never learn the truth, or you do and go through that windshield at ninety because hope told you it was safe to make the drive without a seat belt.