[flashwriting]
Exhaustive interviewing of the subjects did no more than to provide multiple confirmations of what we already thought we knew. That was better, it is to be supposed, than wondering how much of that was real and how much conjecture, but what we really needed was more fresh data. Extensive monitoring during the next 3 months revealed nothing unusual- considering what they had been through, at any rate. There were 3 nervous breakdowns; one fellow made an attempt at suicide, and one of the ladies tried 3 times and was very nearly successful on the third attempt, because I had taken a break to use the facilities. She needed a liver transplant afterward. At the start of the 4th month, I was summoned to my superior's office. We could not afford to continue spending the kind of funds we had going into the surveillance, so- even though I was the one who had almost allowed one of the subjects to kill herself- I was going to be the only agent continuing to work the case unless and until some other major development popped up. It was a long 6 years...