The Veritas Deception

by Lynne Constantine

  First, I want to thank everyone who participated in my crowdfunding campaign from the bottom of my heart for your generosity, kindness, and support. It was scary out there on the ledge and your willingness to jump right in and join me made it much less so (a complete list of supporters follows these acknowledgements). To my platinum sponsors: Valerie & Colin Rees and Lynn & Stanley Constantine, my deepest love and appreciation for going above and beyond and contributing at such a high level. Your commitment to me and the project made its successful completion a certainty.

  The insightful feedback from beta readers was another key component in improving the story. Thank you for reading and often re-reading Veritas with enthusiasm and providing valuable feedback: my husband, Rick Openshaw, my sister Valerie Rees, sisters-in-law Lynn Constantine and Honey Constantine, My nephew, Christopher Ackers, My in-laws Dorothy and Dick Openshaw, My dear friends: Eileen Arndt, Amy Bike, Tricia Farnsworth, Lia Gordon, Deb Nygard, Michele & John Perkins, Kim Torre-Tasso, Rivers Teske, Rich Schneider, and Diane Vara. Thanks to Tracey Robinson and Valerie Constantine for invaluable proofreading assistance. Special thanks to Marie Diven for being my first reader and editor. To my good friends and authors Anthony Franze and Sandra Brannan, thank you for reading, encouraging, and providing me with endorsements for the book.

  I continue to be humbled by the generosity of experts in their fields who were willing to take the time to answer my questions. Thank you: Anthony Franze for your legal expertise, Chris Munger for F.B.I. authenticity, Lori Cretella and Fady Sharara for medical advice, Lynn Drasin for television production information, Stanley Constantine for technical advice on escape hatches and hot wiring cars, Lieutenant John Thomas for information on Hillsborough County Jail, and Tony Burke and Slavomír Čéplö for information on the history of the thirty silver pieces used to betray Christ and Tony in particular for advice on elaborating on what could have happened to them. Any errors are solely my own.

  To the master of the thriller, David Morrell, heartfelt thanks for taking the time to work with me on perfecting the back cover copy and for your encouragement and advice along the way.

  My deepest appreciation to Jaime Levine, editor extraordinaire, who in addition to the extensive time she spent editing, sat with me at my kitchen table for fifteen hours straight refining story lines and plot issues. Thank you for helping me to find the story within the story and for making it shine. I will always be grateful for your wholehearted partnership.

  To Nick and Theo, you inspire me to want to make the world a better place.

  And finally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge the inspiration, empowerment, and grace from the divine Author without whom none of it would have been possible.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Lynne Constantine is a coffee-drinking, Twitter-addicted, fiction writer always working on her next book. She runs her plots by Tucker, her golden retriever, who never criticizes them. Lynne has a master’s degree in business from Johns Hopkins University. Visit Lynne at lynneconstantine.com. She loves to hear from her readers. She also writes with her sister under the pen name Liv Constantine.

  Also by Lynne Constantine:

  CIRCLE DANCE

  THE DECEPTION, SHORT STORY

  MOTHER’S DAY, SHORT STORY

  Thank you for reading The Veritas Deception, I hope you enjoyed it.

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