The Bottle Ghosts by Dorien Grey

Author:Dorien Grey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Published: 2015-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Gresham, at my request, patched me through to Lieutenant Richman.

“Hello, Dick.” Richman’s voice told me he was expecting my call.

“I gather you’ve already spoken with Officer Gresham?”

“Yes, he called me as soon as he saw the report. It seems we have a definite problem on our hands. The question now is what, exactly, to do about it.”

“Well,” I said, “I’ve got a couple ideas on that score, if you’d be willing to hear them.”

Richman sighed. “Sure. Do you want to come down here, or meet me at Sandler’s for lunch?”

I still felt uncomfortable about being seen too often at police headquarters.

“Sandler’s would be fine,” I said. “Noon?”

“Make it twelve-fifteen. I’ll see you there.”

*

My mind slipped into its “tumble dry” mode, and I sat there, figuratively watching as ideas rolled around in my brain, appearing only long enough to catch a glimpse of before being replaced by another, then reappearing and vanishing again.

What was clear from all of it was that things were accelerating. But why? Was whoever was behind it just getting cocky? Andy Phillip’s disappearance removed any doubt whatsoever that the Qualicare group was directly involved. But could whoever was responsible really be that stupid? Surely he had to know somebody would catch on eventually.

Well, my mind voice pointed out, nobody had so far. And if it weren’t for Marty Gresham, there was the outside chance no one might ever have.

And my mind kept returning to the same frustrating question: And if they are dead, why haven’t any of the bodies been found?

The group’s very set-up provided pretty good cover for the guy: the membership had a relatively high turnover—couples joined and left regularly. Members didn’t know each others’ last names and were encouraged not to socialize outside the meetings. Still…

I definitely would be contacting John Bradshaw and Ted Kemper again. Now that I’d been to a couple meetings, I was getting a better feel for the dynamics of the group and the people involved, and I had a better idea of what questions to ask.

*

“So,” Richman asked as the waiter left with our order, “what exactly did you have in mind?”

I took a long sip of coffee before answering. “Well,” I put my cup back on its saucer, “first let me ask you what options the police have, given the overall circumstances?”

Richman echoed my coffee-sipping, then said: “We’re in a very grey area, here…as it seems we so often are when you’re involved in the situation. I wonder why that is?” He gave a small smile, then continued. “All we have is circumstantial evidence. Gresham told me about Charles Whitaker, by the way, though whether or not his disappearance is tied in to the rest of this is a little iffy in my opinion. So we have five…six?…missing men, five of whom have definite links to Qualicare’s alcohol counseling program. That’s justification enough to launch a full investigation, I think. Though exactly what we’d be able to prove without a single body or a shred of evidence that any crime has been committed is moot.

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