A Faint Cold Fear by Karin Slaughter

cop. 'Was Andy using drugs?'
    Rosen seemed surprised. 'What makes you ask that question?'
    'Depressed people tend to self-medicate.'
    Rosen tilted her head to the side, giving Lena a knowing look. When Lena did not respond, Rosen said, 'Yes, he did drugs. Pot at first, but he was moving into the heavier stuff this time last year. We sent him to a treatment facility. He came out a month later.'
    She paused. 'He told me he was clean, but you can never be certain.'
    Lena admired the fact that the woman admitted she did not know everything about her son. In Lena's experience parents tended to insist they knew their kid better than anyone else did, even the kid.
    'When he came out of the program, none of his friends would talk to him. No one who's using wants to be around someone who's not.' She added almost as an afterthought, 'He was always lonely, though. He never really fit in. He was very smart, and other kids found that off-putting. I suppose you could say he felt a bit alienated.'
    'Were any of his friends mad at him? Mad enough to wish him harm?'
    Lena could see a spark of hope glimmer in Rosen's eyes when the mother asked, 'You think he could've been pushed?'
    'No,' Lena answered, knowing that Jeffrey would kill her for putting the thought into Rosen's head. At the thought of Jeffrey, Lena felt her heart drop.
    'Listen,' she told Rosen, 'are you going to tell Jeffrey about today or not?'
    Rosen took her time answering, moving closer to Lena, as if she wanted to smell her breath. All she would sniff was minty-fresh gel, but Lena still felt a moment of panic.
    'No,' Rosen decided. 'I won't tell him about today.'
    'What about before?'
    Rosen seemed confused. 'Therapy?' She shook her head. 'That's confidential, Lena. I told you that in the beginning. I'm not in the habit of revealing who my patients are.'
    Lena could only nod, overcome with relief. Jeffrey had given Lena an ultimatum seven months ago: Go to a shrink or go find another job. The choice had seemed simple at the time, and she had tossed both her badge and her gun onto his desk without reservation.
    Now Lena would put a bullet in her head before she admitted to Jeffrey that she had weakened last month and gone to the clinic. Her pride could not take it.
    As if on cue, the large oak doors at the front of the room opened and Jeffrey came in, looking around the room. Chuck walked over to meet him, but Jeffrey must have said something to cut him off, because the next thing Lena knew, Chuck was leaving the room with his tail tucked between his legs.
    Lena had never seen Jeffrey look as bad as he did now. He had changed clothes from before, but his suit was rumpled and he was not wearing a tie. The closer he got, the worse he looked.
    'Dr. Rosen,' Jeffrey said. 'I'm sorry about your loss.'
    He did not shake her hand or wait for her to acknowledge his words, which struck Lena as very unlike Jeffrey.
    He held out a chair for Rosen. 'I need to ask you some questions.'
    Rosen sat, asking, 'Is the girl okay?'
    His expression changed just enough to make Lena feel sorry for him. 'We don't know anything yet,' he said. 'The family is driving into Atlanta right now.'
    Rosen folded the tissue in her hand. 'Do you think the person who attacked her could have killed my son?'
    'Right now,' Jeffrey said, 'we're treating Andy's death as a suicide.' He paused, probably to let his words sink in. 'I talked to your husband earlier.'
    'Brian?' She was surprised.
    'He called at the station after he spoke with you,'
    Jeffrey told her, and Lena could tell from the way he squared his shoulders that the father had been far from polite.
    Rosen must have picked up on this. 'Brian can be abrupt,' she said by way of apology.
    Jeffrey said, 'Dr. Rosen, all I can tell you is what I told him. We're following every possible lead we can, but with your son's history, suicide seems the most likely scenario.'
    Rosen told him, 'I've been talking to Detective Adams-'
    'I'm sorry, ma'am,' Jeffrey interrupted