Zoticus works with another guy, his name is Ed. Ed is a retired police detective who makes sure the new recruits don’t do anything stupid. With his surveillance skills, he taps their phones, etc. and makes sure they don’t try to double cross Zoticus.
After the initial meeting, the new recruits never see Zoticus again. They only interact with Ed.
The preferred means of kidnapping people is to use tranquilizer darts (shot from a pistol).
If the person who does the kidnapping gets caught, they’ll have little to no way to prove that “someone else made me do it.” All they have is a phone number and a location to drop the body off.
If they were to inform the police and raid the drop off area, Ed’s only recourse is to shoot himself. Which is why he makes sure that the people that work under him don’t screw him over.
Also, Zoticus only stays in a city for one year before he moves on. This doesn’t give police time to catch him. Also, he makes sure that the bodies are disposed of in a way that will never be found.
After the life essence has been extracted from the victims, they are bone dry. The remains are cremated and the ashes disposed of in original ways. Ray, the main character’s brother in law, dumps them in a barrel of used motor oil. The oil is recycled and the residue gets used to make asphalt, which is how the residue of used motor oil actually gets used.
Each recruit must kidnap 12 people over a period of about six months. Each victim provides a lifetime’s supply of essence for one client. It’s a direct one to one ratio.
Zoticus might have some connections with government officials, but he’s hasn’t told me.
Also on a side note, when the police never find a body, they can’t start a murder investigation, so each missing person is simply that, a missing person.
Here’s a quote from crimelibrary.com, "Reports of missing persons have increased sixfold in the past 25 years, from roughly 150,000 in 1980 to about 900,000 this year. The increase was driven in part by the country’s growing population. But the numbers also indicate that law enforcement treats the cases more seriously now, including those of marginalized citizens.
An astounding 2,300 Americans are reported missing every day, including both adults and children."
EDIT:
Yeah, I think having the OS Problem be PURSUIT makes the most sense. Dan, the main character, wants the medicine without having to kill anyone, so he HELPS (MC Problem) the doctor acquire a large sample before he’s double crossed and finally found out. And as @jhull pointed out, Marge is driven to pursue justice (IC Problem of PURSUIT), but finally pretends like nothing’s wrong (IC Solution of AVOIDANCE) when her son in law returns with a fresh supply of medicine that he obviously acquired by going through with his first kidnapping. Now that he’s on the crooked path, it’s too late for Marge to do anything about it.
So Marge’s symptom of CONSIDER is Dan’s deliberation over whether or not he should go through with Zoticus’s offer to keep his daughter alive at the expense of innocent victims. She urges Dan to RECONSIDER (IC Response) and let his daughter go.
