4338.210 · July 29, 2018 AD
The Wine Run
A wine run to the bottle shop shouldn't be complicated. But when you're driving a missing person's car and get pulled over by police, simple errands become high-stakes interrogations. Gladys Cramer passes the breath test—the wine bottles are still sealed—but the detectives want to know whose car she's driving and where she's going. She has explanations. She offers to prove them. She tries calling ahead. Then texting. Then gets pulled over again. Experience the traffic stops from Gladys's perspective—the mounting panic, the deleted messages, the two bottles of wine riding shotgun through it all, and the growing dread about what will be waiting when they arrive at Luke and Jamie's house.
July 29, 2018. Afternoon. Glenorchy Bottle Shop.
Gladys just wanted wine. Three bottles of Shiraz as payment for her efforts. The shop assistant was a prick who wouldn't check the back for another bottle, but that's fine. She has what she needs.
She exits the car park a bit fast. Maybe clips it close to a parked car. Then the lights flash behind her.
Routine traffic stop. Breath test. She hasn't been drinking—the bottles are sealed. But when the detective examines her license and runs the registration, his questions sharpen.
Whose car is this? Where is he? Why do you have his keys?
Gladys has explanations. She offers to prove them. She tries calling ahead—no answer. Then texting while driving up Berriedale Road. The police lights flash again.
The detective examines her phone. Her messages. Her call history.
Experience the traffic stops from Gladys's perspective. The breath test. The explanations that sound thinner each time. The deleted text message. The growing certainty that whatever awaits at the end of this drive, it won't be what she promised.
This is Gladys's afternoon. Her panic. Her secrets. And two bottles of wine bearing silent witness.
