Read Online Red Tide: The Flavel House Horror / Vampires of the Morgue (The Ian McDermott, Ph.D., Paranormal Investigator Series Book 2) by David Reuben Aslin - Free Book Online

obvious. Maybe too obvious! Sometimes I wonder if we’re being overzealous regarding concentrating so hard just on Salizzar. But rest assured we aren’t ruling out anyone who fits the profile, so to speak. We’re actively looking into all the angles. We’ve already had plenty of the typical phone-ins and drop-ins at the station by whackos claiming they’re our man or woman. Plus, tons of bullshit leads. None of them at all credible on any level, just the typical mental cases. But still, it’s been my experience that where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. I’m pretty confident the smart money’s on Salizzar or one or more of his cronies. That or someone that frequents that club. There’s where we’re gonna solve this. All of the victims so far … they fit the assumable age demographic of clubbers. Most so far have been young, twenty-something women. A couple were runaways, prostitutes. All out-of-towners. Again, so far. The bodies have all been recovered within a mile of the club, usually so messed up we’ve had to rely on dental records to make positive identifications of the ones we could.”
    Ian replied, “Thanks, uh … Ned. And yeah, I agree. Though one thing seems especially strange.”
    Officer Parker interjected, “What’s that?”
    Ian cleared his throat and continued. “Why this town? I mean apparently, up till now, he’s been a big city operator.”
    Parker shrugged at that but then replied, “Maybe it’s ‘cause of our deep-water port, which would give immediate access to ocean-going vessels perfect for smuggling drugs or, more likely, body parts and organs. There’s that, and our small size, meaning limited police resources, yet our relatively close proximity to Portland and Seattle; it makes us a perfect distribution center for – and I say it again – drug trafficking and/or peddling human blood and organs on the black market. The club’s probably just a front. You know, like a fishing lure, bait for a trap. Or, a money laundry. Hell, likely both. We may be just a bit lacking in certain aspects of law enforcement, but our strength around here’s our near immediate access to the Coast Guard. And they’ve already been alerted to keep an extra eye on boats going to and from Salizzar’s place. They’re watching for scuba-divers that may attempt to rendezvous with ships dropping off or picking up cargo intentionally deposited into the river. The Coast Guard knows that Salizzar’s club is a place of high interest to us regarding potential smuggling or worse. Who knows? They might even be in the white slavery market. I wouldn’t rule it out, especially with his Eastern European connections. Anyway, we’ve had to invent every reason in the book to randomly pull over and check out various booze and food delivery trucks to the place. So far, we’ve been denied by the court to do any wire-tapping, but we’re making progress on that. I think we’re getting close. We’ve put undercover officers in the place a couple-few times, but male or female, I think they’re made before they even entered the club. Like I said, with the kind of money Salizzar’s been spreading around town, the walls of the station just might have ears.”
    Ian knew that the police’s efforts and Officer Parker’s theories all had merit. They made perfectly good, logical sense as very real possibilities to consider.
    Officer Parker suddenly seemed to run out of verbal fuel. Ian could tell that for the time being, there was nothing further to say. Ian looked directly into Parker’s eyes and slowly nodded, intent on letting him know that he understood the gravity and copious danger involved with proceeding with his private investigation of Salizzar and The Morgue nightclub. Ian maintained a good poker face, but the truth was he was starting to get an icy cold feeling in places other than his feet.
    Without another word spoken by either man, Ian climbed out of Officer Parker’s car and started walking back to