The Suicide Effect Read Online Free PDF

floor-to-ceiling-windows cast bright stripes on the floor. In celebration of spring, Sula had worn a short sleeve blouse and skirt for the first time since last October, but it failed to cheer her up.
    Even though she was only a public relations flack, up until now she’d felt good about working for Prolabs. The company had its problems, sure, but she had always believed it had a good soul because it developed therapies that were meant to help people. Now she didn’t want to be here.
    Sula stepped into the elevator and checked her watch: 7:53. She was three minutes off her usual time. Apparently, she was moving a little slow. She got off on the second floor and headed for the employee lounge, where she made herself a cup of coffee from the fresh ground stuff she kept in the fridge. The room was empty except for a guy in a suit whom she had never seen before. He was reading a report of some kind and didn’t look up. Sula remembered that most of the sales and marketing staff had gone to a training session in Seattle.
    Coffee in hand, she crossed the hallway into her office, a seven by ten room with a window, a desk, and a wall of filing cabinets. She turned on her computer and settled in to open e-mails. A few minutes later, an e-mail request from a PR person at JB Pharma reminded her to go see Dr. Warner. Sula zipped through the rest of the mail, deleting at least half without opening them, then headed back out to the elevator.
    The R&D staff was in a separate building across a small courtyard. Sula took a moment to stand in the sun, sip her dark coffee, and appreciate that she worked on the outskirts of town with a tree-covered hillside for a view. The Prolabs complex spread out over ten acres and had three main structures: the corporate office where she worked, the R&D building, similar in design but with only one floor, and the manufacturing plant, lower down the hill. Beyond that were wetlands, owned by Prolabs and soon to be bulldozed to make way for a new manufacturing plant. The company had applied for all the necessary permits and most had been granted. Only a city council vote and an environmental study were holding up the construction. In Eugene, environmental concerns could be a serious delay. Or complete shut down. The thought reminded her that she needed to craft a memo to the city council.
    She headed for the R&D lab. It was only her third time in the building but she knew Dr. Warner had the big office in the corner. The doctor didn’t answer her knock. Sula thought she might be in a meeting, so she checked the small conference room. It was empty. She heard voices in the hall so she quickly stepped out.
    “Excuse me.” Two middle-aged guys in lab coats turned around. She had met both before, but despite rapid brain racking, she could not remember either of their names. The one guy had a Christopher Lloyd, mad scientist look, but that didn’t help her come up with his real name. Sula strode toward them. “Have you seen Dr. Warner this morning?”
    “No. In fact, we were just looking for her.” The guy with the wild hair eyed her strangely. “She was supposed to meet us at eight.”
    Sula checked her watch: 8:23. “If she wasn’t coming in, who would she call?”
    “That would be me.” The other man, shorter and older, spoke up. Sula recalled that his name was Steve Peterson and that he worked on the Nexapra project. Now he looked at her curiously too. “Why do you ask?”
    “I was supposed to meet with her yesterday for a briefing but that didn’t work out, so I thought I’d see her this morning.”
    They shrugged in unison. The three of them stood for an awkward moment. Then Peterson said, “If she comes in, we’ll tell her you’re looking for her.”
    “Thanks.” Sula forced a smile and moved on. It struck her as odd that Warner would miss a meeting with her colleagues. Especially, the day after a blowout with Rudker. Maybe Warner planned to quit. Sula wouldn’t blame her. Still, as the