Full Fathom Five - The Homicide Files (A Lincoln Munroe Novella, #1)

By Harrison Drake

Breaking in a new partner is the least of Detective Lincoln Munroe’s worries – the body of a scuba diver has been found in a century-old shipwreck under a hundred feet of cold, treacherous water. When all signs point to murder, Lincoln is forced to dust off his scuba gear and investigate a crime scene like no other.

'Full Fathom Five' is the first installment in a series of novellas featuring Detective Lincoln Munroe that will take place prior to the events of 'A Dream of Death'.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harrison Drake
• Release date: Oct 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9780987948861

Harrison Drake

Harrison Drake is the pseudonym of a Canadian writer and career police officer who has chosen anonymity in order to protect a safe, secure and quiet lifestyle for his family. The author’s next crime novel will focus heavily on police corruption and the author wishes to be able to write freely and without fear of reprisal. The author is hard at work on numerous other writing projects in numerous other genres. If he can’t be found at home, playing with his children or sitting in his lonely writer’s garret, he’ll be outside, gazing up at the night sky and searching for answers.

Book preview

FULL FATHOM FIVE

The Homicide Files—A Lincoln Munroe Novella

by Harrison Drake

Website: http://www.HarrisonDrake.com/

Twitter: @HDrakeTheWriter

Copyright 2012 by Harrison Drake. All rights reserved.

First Smashwords Edition: October 2012

Cover Design: Harrison Drake

Formatting: Streetlight Graphics

All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment of the original purchaser only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are a work of fiction or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Author’s Note

Full Fathom Five

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Dedication

For my children, who never cease to inspire and amaze.

Author’s Note

THE EVENTS OF THIS NOVELLA take place in June 2009, roughly two years prior to the events of A Dream of Death, the first novel in the Detective Lincoln Munroe series. Subsequent entries in The Homicide Files will continue chronologically from this case, moving toward the events of A Dream of Death and the other volumes of the main series.

Full Fathom Five

WHAT HAVE WE GOT?

She looked about twenty-five, and judging by the shade of green her pale, youthful face had turned, she hadn’t been to many calls like this.

Detective Munroe, I didn’t know you were here.

I glanced at her name tag: Nealy. Sheila, Sheena, Shirley, Shawna… what was it?

Excuse me, Officer Nealy, came a faint voice from behind me.

Ma’am, Sierra’s fine.

Turns out it was the voice of someone I wished I could thank.

The woman nodded, her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, mascara cascading in lines down her cheeks. How much longer will he be here? My brother is on his way from Toronto.

At least a couple of hours, ma’am. We need to wait for the coroner and then someone from the funeral home will come to get his… your father.

The woman nodded in appreciation, turned slowly and walked back down the hallway. I’d passed her on my way in but hadn’t introduced myself yet. She’d been busy giving her statement to another officer. She couldn’t have been much older than me, and here she was having to deal with the death of her father. But then again, I’d already buried my mother and, well, my father… I didn’t know how long he had left.

Detective Munroe?

Another voice from behind me, this time a familiar one.

Lincoln. I won’t tell you again.

Sorry, Det— I shot her a convincing yet amiable glare. Lincoln.

Better. Sierra, this is my partner, Kara Jameson.

Oh, hi Kara. It’s been a while. Heard you were heading to homicide.

Kara laughed, although there was a hint of discomfort in the gesture. Yeah, first day here. Haven’t seen you since, well not since the perv… She paused, looked around to see whose ears might be in range then spoke again in a more hushed tone. Not since the perv with the cat porn.

Sierra laughed. I’d been told you’d see it all on this job, but I never expected that. Never in a million years.

My face must have shown my confusion.

You didn’t hear about it? Last year we arrested a guy for possession of child pornography, charged him with bestiality as well once we found the pictures of him and his cat.

That’s disgusting, I said, my head shaking of its own accord.

Yeah, well he’s doing five years in Kingston for it all.

Good, I hope some of his cellmates find out. Anyway, Sierra, what are we looking at?

Elderly male, seventy-four, lives alone, history of heart problems. Daughter found him less than an hour ago, hadn’t heard from him in a few days so she came to check on him. She seemed to know my next question before I asked it. Upstairs bathroom.

I nodded and made my way up the stairs, hardwood with a plastic-covered runner, to a smell I never thought I’d get used to and one I’ll never be able to forget. The smell of a decomposing human was completely unique, completely unforgettable. The bathroom was visible at the end of the hallway and so was the deceased, hunched over on the toilet.

I let Kara take the lead, sending her into the bathroom ahead of me. This may have been her first day in homicide, but her reputation as an investigator preceded her.

Give me the rundown, I said, leaving her to the scene in front of us.

Alright, she said, not the least bit nervous. She ran through the facts. Elderly male with heart problems and diabetes. He’s on the toilet, shower curtain pulled down partially and still gripped in his hand. His pants aren’t all the way down, he’s sitting on part of them, so he was in a hurry.

I nodded for her to continue.

Pill container on the counter as well, last ones taken were… She picked it up in her hand, a latex glove on to protect any evidence, and inspected the small partitions separating dates and times. Last ones taken were Tuesday morning, hadn’t taken the afternoon ones yet. He’s probably been dead almost forty-eight hours.

Any suspicions?

"None. No signs of forced entry. His daughter, Anita, said that the house was locked