AfterNet 01 - Good Cop Dead Cop

Yamaguchi smiled, pointed at the door and nodded, pretending she hadn’t said anything.
    She entered Newell’s office but stopped in the doorway, the door handle in her hand.
    “Impressive, isn’t it,” the man said. “Best view on the planet.”
    She nodded. Newell’s office had a large picture window that showed the Garden of the Gods, backed by Pikes Peak. The sun was shining between scattered clouds, dappling the white shoulders of the mountain. Colorado Springs was much closer to the mountains and Pikes Peak carried a weight that the comparatively distant foothills outside Denver never could.
    “Please come in, have a seat.”
    She nodded and said, “Thank you. That’s beautiful.”
    “You’re welcome, not that I had anything to do with it. But the Explorers built this place knowing the effect the view would have on our members, and our visitors.”
    “I’m afraid I don’t know very much about your organization. Could you fill me in?”
    Newell went back around his desk and sat, then realized he was blocking the view and moved aside.
    She finally sat, pulled out her notebook and gave her attention to the man. He was tall, attractive, in his 40s and quite blond. He looked like he’d been quite athletic but was now starting to enjoy middle age spread. He didn’t strike her as the sort to be kidnapping the dead.
    “So officer …”
    “Uh, please, just call me Linda. And this is Alex, Alex Munroe, my partner,” she added, vaguely waving her hand in his direction.
    “Your partner?” he asked, looking confused. Damn, I forgot to tell him Alex’s dead.
    “Did you forget to tell him I’m dead?” Munroe asked.
    “I’m sorry, I should have told you. My partner, Alex Munroe, is disembodied.”
    “Ah, I see.”
    “Any problems with that?” she asked.
    “None whatsoever.” He turned in Munroe’s direction. “Alex, if I’d known, I could have had a terminal brought in.”
    “I never said he could call me Alex,” Munroe said, which she ignored.
    Newell continued. “Well to answer your question, the Explorers is a Christian organization, as I’m sure you guessed by now, started in 1925. We have ministries around the world. In fact, I’m sure our outreach program in Southeast Asia is pretty busy today. Here in the Springs, we run camps and workshops for our younger members. And we’ve always had a strong connection to the military. We have ministries in most of our country’s military bases.”
    “That sounds nice,” she said, ignoring Munroe’s comments about the camps and workshops. “But how does sponsoring a rave in Denver fit in with your … mission?”
    “We regularly sponsor youth outreach programs, but many kids find those programs a little too tame. They like the excitement of finding out about an event from friends, feeling that they’re in on secret knowledge. We wanted to give them that same kind of excitement, but without the enticement of sex and drugs, but leave the rock ’n’ roll. So, we put up posters, talk about it in chat rooms, etc., but we make sure that they don’t hear about it from their church group.”
    “So they dupe them into thinking they’re going to have good time,” Alex said. “Ask them if they resent it.”
    Newell noticed her expression. “Does your partner have a question?”
    “I’m sorry, he wants to know if you get kids who … didn’t know they were going to a religious meeting … and resent it.”
    “Oh, I’m sure some do, but I don’t think it’s a problem. These events are professionally … OK, ‘managed’ for a better word,” he smiled and held his hands outspread. “There are no Bible readings and Christian rock really has come a long way since the days of Amy Grant. There are incredible amounts of caffeine and sugar, and I’m afraid a lot of them smoke, but we don’t serve alcohol. We have chaperones … young Explorers … who are on the lookout for any drug use or sex, and they do their best to discourage that behavior.”
    “Ask him about the dead. Ask what they do to attract us.”
    “OK,” she muttered. “What about the dead … the disembodied? Are you trying to attract them?”
    “Yes, very much so, it’s a stated goal of our ministry. I’m afraid our early attempts to attract the disembodied didn’t go very well, however. So we had to separate the two groups.”
    “What, separate entrances? A disembodied entrance?”
    Newell composed a serious face. “We’re not bigoted about the dead here,