Losing Leah Holloway Quotes

“Claire blew out a breath, not even realizing she’d been holding it. “Yes. It gets easier. With time, with therapy, with love.” She sought out a soothing memory to combat the horrific memories the conversation had brought to the fore. She thought about Connor. His kind eyes, the way she felt in his arms. “But you have to let people in. I mean, I think. I’m not that great at it.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Gently, he pulled the cover away from Leah’s body, folding it down, stopping just above her pubic mound. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly open. Aside from the coroner’s massive Y-shaped incision on her torso and the waxy paleness of her skin, she might only have been sleeping. Her large breasts fell to each side. Connor saw immediately what Davey wanted them to see. It sent an electric jolt through his body. “Three bite marks,” Davey said, pointing to each one with a gloved finger. “One on the anterior aspect of the left shoulder, one on the lower, outer quadrant of the right breast, and one to the anterior of the right hip. From what I can tell, they are about three to four days old. I’ve already done the comparison to the four Soccer Mom Strangler victims. They are the same.” Connor had never known his colleagues to be rendered speechless, but even he could think of nothing to say. Davey clapped his hands in the air, then waved in each one of their faces. “Did you hear me, Detectives? Leah Holloway has bite marks on her body that match those of the Soccer Mom Strangler.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“People are always looking for something really huge to rival all the bad. They want supernatural things that defy all reason. Impossible feats. The truth is that every second of your day that you are healthy and unharmed is a miracle. Given all the things that can go wrong at any time, the idea that we should get any pleasure out of life at all, get through an entire day without anything truly terrible happening, is a miracle to me.” “Perspective.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“There’s a secret,” Claire confessed. “To surviving. To living after.” Kassidy leaned in closer. “Care to share it?” “Ordinary moments are the miracles in life.” “Go on.” “There is so much evil in the world. People do horrible, horrible things to one another constantly, and when we’re not killing, maiming, raping, and betraying one another, we get to worry about accidents, mistakes, diseases, and acts of God—floods, fires, car accidents, plane crashes, cancer, doctors operating on the wrong body part. You name it. Turn on the news for five seconds. You’ll want to off yourself in no time at all.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Abruptly, Kassidy said, “Does it get easier? With time?” Her mask of cool efficiency was gone. Beautifully manicured fingernails tapped against the side of her coffee cup. She was just a woman. A survivor asking another survivor a question. Will I be able to do this?”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“I know what it’s like to be terrorized, Miss Fletcher.” And just like that, Claire knew why she was familiar. “You were attacked.” Kassidy grimaced. “Yes. In my home. By a serial rapist who should have been in prison.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Claire shrugged. “I hadn’t thought about it. I don’t know. Like I said, I had never met the woman before, so I don’t know what she looked like when she wasn’t drunk. I just know that she was terrorized.” “You mean terrified?” “No, I mean terrorized. She wasn’t afraid to die. She was afraid to live. She was committed to dying in that river. You don’t—” Her voice cracked. Emotion hit her like a lightning strike. The sounds of Miranda Simon’s muffled screams rushed back at her. Pushing the memory aside, she gathered herself back up. “You don’t forget that feeling. You recognize it in someone else when you see it.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Claire would have felt like prey. As it was, she already felt like the woman already knew everything Claire was thinking. She exuded intelligence, like perfume wafting across the table. Claire reached up and tugged at an unruly curl, reminding herself that she wasn’t an idiot. She was, after all, a college graduate now. She’d gotten into veterinary school, which was harder to get into than medical school. A smile fought its way onto Claire’s face. “I’m not sure what I can offer you, Agent Bishop.” “Call me Kassidy. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve read your file.” “My file? Oh, right.” Claire had nearly forgotten that she had an FBI file. Of course Kassidy had read it. “You’re quite exceptional,” Kassidy said. “Because I survived?” “You must know that while stranger abduction is rare, the survival rate among victims is very low.” “Yes, I’m aware.” “We’re seeing more cases of children recovered alive after stranger abductions, but it is extremely uncommon.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“What did she do?” Stryker asked. “She went home and slit her wrists.” “How do you know she saw the billboard?” Stryker asked. “She called and left a voice mail for her sister before she did it,” Agent Bishop said. “She said she had seen the billboard, she knew her husband was the Traveling Salesman, and to tell the police to search his hunting cabin, which of course turned up all the trophies he had collected from his victims.” “Holloway didn’t make any attempts to give up her husband as a killer, though,” Connor pointed out. “No, but it is interesting to note that your department leaked the detail about the bite marks only a few days before Holloway went into the river.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“It’s very unusual for a victim to survive, given the level of rage we saw in this killer’s previous crimes. I think that Detective Parks is correct. Holloway likely reacted differently to the UNSUB than the other victims and de-escalated the assault. You need to take a very careful look at her life. She was the last person known to be in contact with him. You need to find out every single detail about her life for the last week. Try to pinpoint the date of the assault, if you can, and then figure out every place she went that day.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“It’s not that easy, Jade,” Connor said quietly, thinking about Claire. “It’s not that easy to report it.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Agent Bishop, the profiler,” Connor explained for Davey’s benefit, “said that victimology is really important in cases like these. She said without realizing it, the victims may have escalated him by pleading for their lives for the sake of their children. Maybe Holloway didn’t fight back. Maybe she didn’t say a damn thing, just let him rape her, in hopes that submitting would save her.” Jade’s brow furrowed. “That’s a stretch. She’s raped by the Soccer Mom Strangler and doesn’t report it? Doesn’t tell anyone?” “It’s not that easy, Jade,” Connor said quietly, thinking about Claire. “It’s not that easy to report it.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Connor saw immediately what Davey wanted them to see. It sent an electric jolt through his body. “Three bite marks,” Davey said, pointing to each one with a gloved finger. “One on the anterior aspect of the left shoulder, one on the lower, outer quadrant of the right breast, and one to the anterior of the right hip. From what I can tell, they are about three to four days old. I’ve already done the comparison to the four Soccer Mom Strangler victims. They are the same.” Connor had never known his colleagues to be rendered speechless, but even he could think of nothing to say. Davey clapped his hands in the air, then waved in each one of their faces. “Did you hear me, Detectives? Leah Holloway has bite marks on her body that match those of the Soccer Mom Strangler.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“Then Connor saw it. He had to read it three times to make sure he was getting it right. He wheeled over to Jade and handed her the nurses’ notes for the visit. “Parks, this is from over a year ago.” He pointed to the section that had caught his eye. “Yeah, but it is a pretty good indicator that things weren’t ‘fine’ in the Holloway household.” Jade read it quickly. “I would not have pegged her schlub of a husband for a cheater.” “Me either,” Connor agreed. Leah had asked to be tested for every STD known to man. Husband had unprotected sex with unknown partner. “All her tests came back negative,” Connor said. “So he didn’t give her anything.” “Because he wasn’t the one having an affair,” Jade said. “That’s what I’m thinking,” Connor said. “I can’t see Jim Holloway carrying on an affair. I can see Leah throwing him under the bus, though. Image was everything to her. No way would she want to admit that she was the one cheating.” “Still,” Jade said, chewing the tip of her pen. “Imagine what it would have taken for someone so worried about projecting the perfect image to have to tell a lie like that, then undergo all those invasive tests. It must have been so humiliating.” “A month later, she’s pregnant.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“No.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway

“The truth is that every second of your day that you are healthy and unharmed is a miracle. Given all the things that can go wrong at any time, the idea that we should get any pleasure out of life at all, get through an entire day without anything truly terrible happening, is a miracle to me.”
― Lisa Regan, Losing Leah Holloway