by J. B. Turner
“Thanks for calling back. How are you settling in?”
A deep sigh. “I’m settling in fine, sir.”
“Becky, I’m sorry we’re talking in such circumstances. This must be a very trying time for you. I know you two were close in college.”
“We were close in college. But we lost touch.”
“Catherine . . . Terrible way for her to go.”
“I’m struggling to wrap my head around it, sir. She was the last person in the world I’d expect to take her own life. She was always so focused. She didn’t seem suicidal at all.”
“Becky, I’ve got to be up front with you. Catherine had, unbeknownst to any of us, an addiction to a prescription painkiller for an old knee injury.”
“I see.”
“This is just between us and not to be shared with her family. She was also taking antidepressants. A lot of antidepressants were found in her system, according to the medical examiner. Toxicology tests are showing signs she was using a drug used to treat epilepsy.”
“Epilepsy?”
“No history of that at all. So, we’ve got a cocktail of drugs in her system, and I’ve just been told that she had consulted a psychologist in Arlington. She revealed that Catherine had talked of suicidal thoughts.”
“Oh my God. If only we’d known. I feel so bad that I had to fly back. And to think that I was one of the last people to see her. What exactly happened?”
Black wasn’t going to get drawn into a conversation. “We should have spotted some of the signs. But her line of work was very isolating, not being able to divulge her work to her family, the whole strain of it, and the disintegration of her pet project, it’s all very sad.”
“She seemed pretty touchy when I spoke to her in the car before the flight. Even the couple of calls I made to her. But I had no idea she was suicidal.”
Black sighed. “I thought the world of her.”
“I was thinking of perhaps paying my respects at the funeral.”
“I think under the circumstances it would be best to allow her family the space and time to come to terms with this.”
“I understand.”
“Becky, I’m out of the country and I’ve got a videoconference call in an hour. So I need to talk business.”
“Sir?”
“I want to talk about your new role. This wasn’t how I had imagined you joining the team a few weeks back. But we are where we are. We think it is imperative that all Catherine’s work and vision don’t go to waste. The truth of the matter is her idea . . .”
“The Commission?”
“Her idea was a great one. But she wasn’t served well by some of the people on her team. But those people are gone, and that’s neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that you now have the responsibility of tracking down Nathan Stone.”
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my editor, Jack Butler, Jane Snelgrove, and everyone at Amazon Publishing for their enthusiasm, hard work, and belief in the new American Ghost thriller series. I would also like to thank my loyal readers. I’d also like to thank Faith Black Ross for her terrific work on this book. Special thanks to my agent, Mark Gottlieb, of Trident Media Group, in New York.
Last but by no means least, my family and friends for their encouragement and support. None more so than my wife, Susan.
About the Author
Photo © 2013 John Need
J. B. Turner is a former journalist and the author of the Jon Reznick series of conspiracy action thrillers (Hard Road, Hard Kill, Hard Wired, Hard Way, and Hard Fall), as well as the Deborah Jones political thrillers (Miami Requiem and Dark Waters). He loves music, from Beethoven to the Beatles, and watching good films, from Manhattan to The Deer Hunter. He has a keen interest in geopolitics. He lives in Scotland with his wife and two children.
