others listened. Boldt felt cold. She reread it yet again. “No contractions; he’s well educated. And he uses the word obey , not cooperate —that’s interesting.”
Taplin said, “You see our position?”
“Damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” Fowler said.
“What do you advise?” Adler asked. “We will cooperate however we can. We would like to place another run of soup back out there—but not if we’re risking more poisonings.”
“Can you keep the chicken soup off the shelves, but stock them with something else?” Boldt inquired.
“It’s our highest-velocity product,” Taplin complained.
“My take,” Daphne offered, “is that we should accede to the specific demands while taking every precaution possible to prevent this from happening again. What about product redesign?”
Boldt explained, “If the blackmailer is working in one of your production facilities, a label or product redesign might tell us so. If he—or she—has access to the new materials then we know it’s inside work. He added, “And it doesn’t go against any of the demands.”
“Way ahead of you,” Taplin crowed. “Six to eight working days to print new labels if we already had a new design, which we do not. Two to three weeks for a new design. In terms of container redesign—moving to something tamper-proof—we’re looking both domestic and abroad, but best guess is anywhere from two to twenty months to facilitate such an overhaul.”
Fowler contributed, “We’re aware of the product-tampering cases that have lasted years, Lou, ’kay? But from what I can tell, they seem to always involve extortion. These are strange demands we’re getting, and with the time limit already exceeded, it somehow doesn’t seem too real that this nut house is going to hang in there for all that long. You follow? Whatever he’s got cooking—you’ll pardon the pun—I don’t think we can wait around a couple months to put the soup in jars or something. ’Kay? So I advised to move forward with the new labels but not to hold our breath or nothing.”
“What about changing the glue to water-insoluble,” Boldt suggested. “This guy is drilling the cans beneath the label. If we make it impossible to soak off a label, and yet he is still able to contaminate the cans, we narrow the field of where to look inside your company.”
Fowler said, “It would have to be someone stealing labels from, or working on, the line.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s very good!” exclaimed Adler, jotting a note onto a legal pad. “And it’s a simple change,” he said to Taplin, who nodded.
“As few people as possible should know about the glue change,” Boldt encouraged.
“We can arrange this with virtually no one involved,” Adler said.
“We might piss him off,” Fowler cautioned.
“He’s threatened hundreds if we challenge him,” Taplin reminded.
Boldt considered how much to reveal and then informed them, “The lab tests suggest that there is no direct evidence indicating that the label was either soaked or steamed off the can. There’s a high probability that the blackmailer is working with fresh labels—new labels.”
“And that means the production line, the loading dock, or the printers,” Fowler offered.
“Storage?” Boldt asked.
Taplin answered, “We’re a just-in-time operation. Printing inventory is kept to a ten-day lead time.”
Making a note, Fowler said, “It should be added to the list.”
Adler addressed Boldt, “If it’s all right with you, Sergeant, I think Kenny should handle all the in-house aspects of this investigation. We operate on a family concept. Police would be noticed, and would be talked about immediately—”
“And given his threats, we certainly don’t want that,” Daphne agreed.
Fowler said, “We’ve had some employee-related thefts lately. I can use that as an excuse for asking around.”
They all agreed on this: The police would remain involved, but well in the
Taplin said, “You see our position?”
“Damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” Fowler said.
“What do you advise?” Adler asked. “We will cooperate however we can. We would like to place another run of soup back out there—but not if we’re risking more poisonings.”
“Can you keep the chicken soup off the shelves, but stock them with something else?” Boldt inquired.
“It’s our highest-velocity product,” Taplin complained.
“My take,” Daphne offered, “is that we should accede to the specific demands while taking every precaution possible to prevent this from happening again. What about product redesign?”
Boldt explained, “If the blackmailer is working in one of your production facilities, a label or product redesign might tell us so. If he—or she—has access to the new materials then we know it’s inside work. He added, “And it doesn’t go against any of the demands.”
“Way ahead of you,” Taplin crowed. “Six to eight working days to print new labels if we already had a new design, which we do not. Two to three weeks for a new design. In terms of container redesign—moving to something tamper-proof—we’re looking both domestic and abroad, but best guess is anywhere from two to twenty months to facilitate such an overhaul.”
Fowler contributed, “We’re aware of the product-tampering cases that have lasted years, Lou, ’kay? But from what I can tell, they seem to always involve extortion. These are strange demands we’re getting, and with the time limit already exceeded, it somehow doesn’t seem too real that this nut house is going to hang in there for all that long. You follow? Whatever he’s got cooking—you’ll pardon the pun—I don’t think we can wait around a couple months to put the soup in jars or something. ’Kay? So I advised to move forward with the new labels but not to hold our breath or nothing.”
“What about changing the glue to water-insoluble,” Boldt suggested. “This guy is drilling the cans beneath the label. If we make it impossible to soak off a label, and yet he is still able to contaminate the cans, we narrow the field of where to look inside your company.”
Fowler said, “It would have to be someone stealing labels from, or working on, the line.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s very good!” exclaimed Adler, jotting a note onto a legal pad. “And it’s a simple change,” he said to Taplin, who nodded.
“As few people as possible should know about the glue change,” Boldt encouraged.
“We can arrange this with virtually no one involved,” Adler said.
“We might piss him off,” Fowler cautioned.
“He’s threatened hundreds if we challenge him,” Taplin reminded.
Boldt considered how much to reveal and then informed them, “The lab tests suggest that there is no direct evidence indicating that the label was either soaked or steamed off the can. There’s a high probability that the blackmailer is working with fresh labels—new labels.”
“And that means the production line, the loading dock, or the printers,” Fowler offered.
“Storage?” Boldt asked.
Taplin answered, “We’re a just-in-time operation. Printing inventory is kept to a ten-day lead time.”
Making a note, Fowler said, “It should be added to the list.”
Adler addressed Boldt, “If it’s all right with you, Sergeant, I think Kenny should handle all the in-house aspects of this investigation. We operate on a family concept. Police would be noticed, and would be talked about immediately—”
“And given his threats, we certainly don’t want that,” Daphne agreed.
Fowler said, “We’ve had some employee-related thefts lately. I can use that as an excuse for asking around.”
They all agreed on this: The police would remain involved, but well in the
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