Page 20 of Tide and Seek
“Had.I had a life here.”His voice was firm.
I hesitated.“Can you honestly tell me you don’t ever regret leaving LA?That you wouldn’t sometimes prefer to live here again instead of Rainy Dale?”
He opened his mouth to answer me, but then his eyes fixed on something behind me in the sand.He blinked a few times and his face paled.I turned to see what had him looking so startled, and sucked in a harsh breath.Five feet away, a pale hand with long, slender fingers and bright red nails jutted out of the sand.
Chapter Five
Maxwell
Royce called the Malibu Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station to report the body, and soon emergency vehicles and cops swarmed the quiet beach.The morning haze had thickened instead of burning off, and a thin mist now hovered along the shoreline, dulling the blue of the ocean to flat gray.Yellow tape flapped weakly in the breeze, strung in a crooked line between two metal stakes.Deputies moved quietly, methodically, around the rise of sand where the body lay.
The ME’s field investigator had arrived a few minutes ago and was now crouched beside the body, camera strap looped around his neck, latex-gloved fingers steady on the shutter.Click.Click.Click.The sound cut sharply through the slap of the waves against the sand.
I stood just beyond the yellow tape, arms crossed, my mind swirling with confusion and anxiety.The idea that a murder had happened mere yards from my beach house was horrifying.Ocean Whisper Estates wasn’t the sort of place where people were murdered, and of course it must have been a homicide.People didn’t commit suicide and then bury themselves in the sand.
A few feet away, Royce spoke quietly with a young uniformed officer.His stance was easy, natural.Even here, a time zone away from home, he carried himself like the man in charge.I admired how calm he appeared because I felt the complete opposite as I watched the forensic team work.
Royce finished speaking to the officer and he returned to me.“You holding up okay, Max?”
“Yes.”I grimaced.“Considering the circumstances.”
Royce nodded, watching the crime scene techs work.“This is definitely a surprising twist to our vacation.”
“I’m in shock,” I muttered.“Why would someone think this was a good place to dump a body?Why not drive the corpse into the mountains and toss it down a ravine?That would’ve bought the killer more time.Burying a body in a shallow grave in front of expensive beach homes, where it was bound to be discovered quickly, makes no sense.”
“Unless the killer wanted the body to be found.”
I frowned.“But why risk that?The sooner the body is found, the more chance physical evidence or DNA might be discovered, right?”
“In theory, yeah.”He exhaled.“Most likely it was an accident and the killer panicked.The grave was shallow, which indicates a spur-of-the-moment type of thing.”
We watched in silence as the ME investigator and a tech set up a simple white tent over the body.I suspected they were trying to shield the corpse from a drone I’d spotted earlier, buzzing like a fat metal fly high above us.Word would travel fast about the body.A small group of looky-loos had already gathered down the beach.
A uniformed figure made his way down the narrow access path, shoes crunching softly against the packed sand.The deputy ducked under the tape without hesitation, moving forward confidently.As he neared, one of the other cops acknowledged him by name as Deputy Gonzalez.
He was a solid man, stocky more than lean, with close-cut dark hair and warm brown skin.His square jaw and slightly crooked nose gave him the look of a former high school wrestler.He pulled his sunglasses off as he approached.The line of pale skin across his temples suggested he wore them a lot.His eyes were dark and watchful but not unfriendly.He had the gaze of a man used to reading people fast.
“Sheriff Callum?”he asked as he neared.
Royce nodded and held out his hand.“I take it you’re Deputy Gonzalez?”
“That’s right.”His voice was even and not overly formal.
Royce shifted his stance and nodded toward the tent.“Must be a challenge with her half-buried like that?”
“You can say that again.”Gonzalez exhaled, watching the forensics team work.“This type of scene is a bitch and a half.Sand’s a pain.You can’t rush it.It gets everywhere, and it won’t hold trace evidence like carpet or soil would.”
Royce’s brow furrowed slightly.“Hopefully you’ll still get something though.The grave was so shallow, it gives the impression the killing was impulsive.That could have made him or her sloppy.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”Gonzalez shook his head faintly.“Even so, the location is a nightmare.Sand doesn’t hold footprints for long.Blood spatter doesn’t stay put.If there were fibers, they’re probably gone.DNA?The ocean breeze does a number on that.DNA, prints, trace… it’s all gone once the wind hits.DNA is so damn fragile.”
I frowned, moving to stand near Royce.“Not exactly.”
Both men glanced at me.
I shifted uneasily under their scrutiny.“DNA itself isn’t actually fragile,” I said.“That’s an oversimplification.”
Deputy Gonzalez lifted his dark brows.“Excuse me?”
