At Any Cost by Cara Ellison Read Free Book Online Page A

Street and 21st Street, where he abandoned his vehicle, then ran into a skyscraper where he leaped to his death. Witnesses say he was yelling incoherently at the time he leapt.
    â€œHe was being pulled over for a routine traffic violation but he refused to stop,” said a source familiar with the case, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was learned that methamphetamines and an ounce of marijuana were found in his vehicle after his suicide.
    The suicide occurred at about two o’clock, police said.
    If the early morning swim had calmed her and grounded her firmly into the sockets of her own body, this news unraveled the work. She was alarmed and unnerved, trying to make sense of the report while Antoine Campbell’s desperate voice reverberated in her skull. They’re going to kill me.
    The sun had not yet risen over the Potomac when Fallon arrived at Johnson Sloan Pruitt, yet the office was busy as if midday. A pile of phone messages and emails had accumulated overnight, but Fallon ignored them and Googled the name “Antoine Campbell.” Finding three more local news articles about the suicide, she was dismayed to see that each was a repeat of the original Associated Press story with no new details. That was odd. If the story was big enough for the AP, why wasn’t it big enough for some enterprising local journalist to dig into?
    Fallon began to gnaw her bottom lip. The shock and disbelief had begun to fade, leaving her acutely aware of her own emotional center, a deep reservoir inside her, filling with nervous guilt. What more could I have done? The fact that the answer was nothing offered no comfort.
    She slouched in her seat and looked at her phone, foolishly willing it to ring with Antoine Campbell the other end, telling her it was a hoax or a mistake or something. Shutting her eyes, she could hear his voice again. They’re going to kill me.
    Glancing at the clock on her computer screen, she figured she had at least two hours before her boss, Sam Cahill, arrived and her day became devoted to the hedge fund case. Now or never. She pulled on her coat and scarf and walked into to Tom’s office.
    Seeing him sitting at the desk made her heart kick up a notch. He looked so in control of himself and everything around him. She wished she felt that calm. She operated at a very high frequency, naturally uptight and anxious. It would be nice to simply know, in her bones, that she could handle whatever life threw her way.
    â€œMiss Hughes,” he said amiably.
    â€œGood morning. First, call the limos please. Second, I need to talk to you.”
    â€œSure,” he replied and called the limos using the radio. “Avalon is departing; line up the cars.” Avalon. She liked her code name, she supposed, but found it a little silly how they named the First Family like pets.
    He smiled at her sweetly, as if he were a servant waiting for her next order. “And what would you like to talk to me about?”
    â€œThe guy I was going to meet, Antoine Campbell, killed himself yesterday afternoon while we were waiting for him at the coffee shop.”
    Tom’s face registered mute surprise. His lips settled into a firm straight line and gravity darkened his eyes.
    â€œI heard it on the news this morning,” Fallon continued uncertainly. “Maryland State Police were chasing him and he leaped to his death just three blocks north of us. But that’s not really … I don’t think that’s what really happened. I didn’t tell you everything yesterday. Tom, he told me he was being chased. He said they were going to kill him.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œHe wouldn’t tell me. He said that Richard Mullinax was giving away the map of the keys. Do you know what that means? Map of the keys?”
    â€œNever heard of it,” Tom replied.
    â€œWell, he was panicked. He said they were going to kill him. That was why I agreed to meet him. He sounded so