Bottled Abyss by Benjamin Kane Ethridge Page A

just get it over with now,” said Janet, relieved no cops would be coming over.
    “Wait, which way is more effective?” Faye questioned the dispatcher. She knitted her brow as an answer came. “Either way? You’re sure? We’ll just do it over the phone then. Yes. Okay, I’ll wait.” Faye looked over at Janet again and gave a weak smile.
    Janet considered reasons why police didn’t come over to houses. Were there so many missing people now that the cops couldn’t keep up? That was a rather disturbing thought. People were vanishing at such a rate the police had to streamline the entire process, which meant their attention would not be only on her husband.
    “Okay,” said Faye to the phone. “His name is Herman Erikson—hello? Are you there?” Faye rolled her eyes and shook her head. She leaned forward and whispered in Janet’s ear, “Scatterbrained.”
    Janet nodded numbly.
    “Yes, so as I was saying his name is Herman Erikson and he’s 6 foot 2, about—how much does he weigh?”
    The question was for Janet. “Oh about two hundred and thirty pounds, I think.”
    “Two-thirty, yeah, and brown hair and his eyes— pardon? What? Oh really?”
    Janet sat up straight and grabbed her knees. What were they saying? Had they found him already? Tell me he’s alive. Please, tell me he’s alive. I won’t believe it, but I need to hear it.
      “In twenty minutes?” Faye asked, her face long with surprise. “Sure, sure, same house. We’ll be here.” She pressed off her phone with a smirk. “Wow.”
    Janet almost jumped to her feet. “What?”
    “This cop knows you and Herman. Her shift’s almost done and she’s going to come over to take your report in person.”
    “I don’t know any cop.”
    “Well, she knows you. That’s good, right? Maybe they’ll put Herman on their priority list or something—well, I guess they can’t have those, but you know what I mean.”
    Janet let her body slump back into the sofa. So the police would be here after all. Great.
    After a moment, she got up and went to the bathroom. The bottle seemed to be in a different place on the sink than she remembered. Janet touched its glass, petted its cold surface. This morning she could only think about finishing what she started, drinking herself to sleep like her paternal grandfather had done, but she could finally see past that foolishness. Her heart wasn’t healed, but her body was, for now.
    There was only one bottle she needed now.
         

    1) Describe the last thing you saw the person wearing : white t-shirt, blue jeans, black cross trainers.

    2) Any known medical conditions and any medications that the missing person relies upon : Herman had high blood pressure. He wasn’t good about taking his pills, though. It was for maintenance, so not having them with him wouldn’t be life-threatening.

    3) Photographs of the missing : (a) a shot of Herman and Janet at their anniversary dinner in San Francisco, a month before Melody was born (b) a cell phone picture of Herman on his birthday from this year, sitting on the couch, holding up a new flannel shirt Faye and Evan had bought him (c) Herman and Lester playing catch together in the backyard with a tennis ball.

    4) Account—in as much detail as possible—where the person was and what he was doing before he went missing : Herman had arrived with Janet at the hospital. Hospital staff indicated he had been in the waiting room for several hours before leaving. Then, at approximately six in the morning, Evan Ledbetter spoke on the phone with him. Herman indicated he was driving and some of the things he said were nonsensical.
         

    “What kind of nonsensical things?” asked Officer Davis.
    Faye shrugged and looked at Janet. “I guess we need Evan for that. He hasn’t really wanted to talk about it that much.”
    “I understand.” Officer Becca Davis made a couple more notes on the form, her bronze face focused and calculating.
    Janet did not remember the