Some of you may recognize the name, and the description of the cat. The Jade in this book is my baby, Thrillercat. For those who don’t know the story, let me share it with you.
She came to us as a replacement cat, after we suffered the loss of our nineteen-year-old Siamese, Jiblet. (All names in my family start with J - from parents to siblings to animals to husband). When I first saw her at the pound, she was five weeks old, suffering from a bad cold. So bad that they were going to put her down. They can’t afford to have sick kittens in the cages; disease spreads too quickly.
We took her to the vet and insisted he patch her up. He did. We took her home and named her Jade for her intense green eyes.
Having just moved to Nashville, I couldn’t find work in my chosen field, so I was happy to accept a position with the vet who healed little Jade. I thought I’d be working the desk, but he wanted me as a tech in the back. Bad. Bad. Bad. After my first neutering, I was done. But before I could quit, I picked up a large golden retriever and herniated a disc in my back. That led to surgery, and recovery time, and library books, where I discovered John Sandford. The rest, as they say, is history. I sat down and wrote a Jackson novella, then took what I’d learned and created CROSSED.
Sadly, Jade passed away in 2012 from pancreatic cancer. It took years, but we finally adopted again—this time, sisters, also shelter kittens. How Jameson and Jordan came to live with us is a story for another time, but I will share that Jade was a huge part of the process. And it’s not lost on us that we needed two kittens to fill the void Jade left behind. She was a magnificent cat.
Though it is a departure from the rest of the series, I’ve chosen to leave Jade in this story to honor her spirit. I miss my little furry muse terribly, and I simply couldn’t erase her from the book that she gave me. It wouldn’t be right.
Thank you for reading, and for being a part of my writer’s journey. Please forgive the book’s rawness. We all need to have a first.
J.T. Ellison
February 2015
Nashville, Tennessee
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the following people for making this novel possible: Scott Miller and Holly Root, for taking a chance on a new author; Detective David Achord, Officer Carl Stocks and Detective Mike Mann of the Metro Nashville Police Department for the ride-alongs and ghost stories; Dr. Michael Tabor for the forensic odontology research; Kris Rinearson of Forensic Medical; the Bodacious Music City Wordsmiths—Del, Janet, Mary, Rai, Cecelia, Peggy, and Jennifer for the original critique. Many thanks to Joan Huston, Sherrie Saint, Laura Benedict and Amy Kerr for the read, notes and excellent copyediting. As always, my family is a source of constant inspiration, and my better half, Randy, has always stood by my side, whatever may come. Taylor and Baldwin’s love story is rooted in reality because of him.
About J.T. Ellison J.T. Ellison is the New York Times bestselling author of many critically acclaimed novels, including WHAT LIES BEHIND (5.26.15) and WHEN SHADOWS FALL, and co-authors the Nicholas Drummond FBI thrillers with #1 New York Times bestseller Catherine Coulter. Ellison's novel THE COLD ROOM won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original of 2010 and WHERE ALL THE DEAD LIE was a RITA? Nominee for Best Romantic Suspense of 2012. She is also the author of multiple short stories, and her novels have been published in more than twenty countries.
Ellison grew up in Colorado and Virginia. After graduating from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and receiving her master's degree from George Washington University, she was a presidential appointee and worked in The White House and the Department of Commerce before moving into the private sector to work as a financial analyst and marketing director for several defense and aerospace contractors.
When Ellison moved to Nashville, she developed a fascination with forensics and crime. To research her novels, she has worked with the Metro Nashville Police Department and the FBI, as well as performing autopsies and studying survivalists.
Find J.T. on the web at JTEllison.com | Facebook | @Thrillerchick. Sign up for her monthly newsletter for first looks at new books, reading recommendations, events, recipes, and more!
Toys in the Attic
by Heather Graham
Prologue
The thing was truly hideous. Life-sized and decked out in a nun’s habit, the creature had a skeletal face that was still partially clad in flesh. The eye sockets were dark and haunting; the mouth appeared to be open in a final scream. The “nun’s habit” covered most of the body, but skeletal hands and fingers stretched from beneath the fabric—as if they could reach out and touch someone.
Brush a cheek with a gentle touch….