Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge And Bess Crawford - Plot & Excerpts
The easy, relaxed sleeper enjoying the sun and a warm breeze was very different from a stiff, angular corpse. She had been dead some time, in fact, I realized as I got within a few feet of her. Rigor mortis had set in but not faded yet. A pretty girl, long dark hair spread under her head and across the white shirtwaist she wore, slim and nicely dressed—but not for an afternoon by the sea. Dark blue walking skirt, good black leather shoes. I disliked leaving her there, but I had the beach to myself. It was very early and there was no one I could ask to stand watch. Glancing at the tide, I saw that she was safe from the sea for now. I didn’t think it had washed her up, but it could take her away. And on the far side of her, someone had come this far, turned, and walked back. The prints weren’t deep enough for him—it was a man’s shoe and size—to have carried her and left her here. But he’d found her, as I had, and hurried away. “I’ll come back,” I whispered, and turned to run the way I’d walked this morning.
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