The Case of the Washed Up: Complete Edition: The Case of the Washed Up

By James Keith

A body of a young female has been found washed up on the beach. Inspector Bronson and Detective White are handed the task to investigate what happened to the girl. 

 

Along with Officer Swanson they embark on their journey which leads them to new locations and strange suspects who clearly have something to hide.

 

A further murder hampers their investigation and a mysterious caller who is toying with Inspector Bronson leaves behind vital evidence that may help them catch the person responsible.

 

Tragedy awaits both Inspector Bronson and Detective White as Officer Swanson's temper starts to flare resulting in harm coming to some of the suspects.

 

Who is the mysterious killer, will the case of the washed up be solved or will Detective White and Inspector Bronson meet the same fate as the young girl washed up on the beach?

 

The Case of the Washed Up: Complete Edition is a collection of short stories written by James Keith. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Keith
• Release date: May 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393761440

Book preview

Part I

1

It was a warm summer’s morning on the beach, the sun lazily peeking over the horizon. There was a young couple walking along the beach, their hands intertwined as they enjoyed the sound of the waves kissing the sand. Each step they took brought them closer and closer to a subtle disturbance in the sand. Upon closer inspection, they could see something had been washed up on the shore.

Oh my God! Is that what I think it is? the young lady said with a gasp, her hands flying to her mouth to stifle her surprise.

I think it might be, replied the male, his voice matching the girl’s shock.

As they got closer, their eyes straining to get a better look, they realised their suspicions had come true.

Lying alone and forgotten was a body of a young female, and though she wasn’t buried, her skin was still littered with sand. It was clear the woman had been pushed by the waves like a beached whale, her body battered and bruised.

I’m calling the police, said the young girl. She pulled out her mobile phone from her handbag and dialled 911. Her hands were shaking with anxiety. The sight of the dead girl sending shockwaves of fear throughout her body.

I need the police, please come fast, there is a dead body washed up on the beach. The operator could hear the girl’s cries. This was no hoax.

Calm down miss, take a deep breath we are dispatching a unit to you now. The girl was sobbing, she was on her knees screaming out as she was talking on the phone. The male was just staring at the sight of what lay in the sand before them. They could sense that something was not right. The body had abrasions and had a huge red mark around the neck as if to indicate that this girl may have been strangled. The bruising up and down her arms showed that there may have been a fight, perhaps a struggle.

Come here please, said the girl’s partner. She wiped away her tears and dropped her phone in the sand. She started to stumble over to him unable to take her eyes off the dead body in front of her. He took off his jacket and wrapped around her shoulders, holding onto her tightly he walked her away from the body.

That is the most horrible thing I have ever seen. I do not want to ever see anything like that again. she screamed out in disbelief.

I know honey it is horrible, but the police are on their way, and they will be here shortly. It did not take long for the police to arrive. A mere 10 minutes. The patrol officer walked over to the body, he radioed in for extra support. Did you see anything out of the ordinary? the officer asked the couple.

No, we were just walking we found her like this. wailed the girl. The officer could sense that the girl was in a state of shock. He picked up his radio

Dispatch I am going to need an ambulance out here he said. Shortly after forensics and more officers arrived, they quickly put a barrier around the body and erected a fence. a fancy black BMW pulled up on the road parallel to the beach. Out stepped a tall broad man wearing a black suit and sunglasses, He looked around and spotted the couple, to which he then slowly made his way over to them.

Hello, I am Inspector Bronson can you please tell me exactly what you saw when you arrived here earlier? he said to the young couple.

We were just walking along the beach like we do most mornings, and we stumbled across what looked like a mound of sand. We thought that something may have been washed up like a tyre or some rubbish dumped in the water, you see a lot of that here but when we got closer, we realised it was a girl, replied the young male.

Did you see anybody else on the beach this morning? Did you walk past anybody? asked inspector Bronson.

No, we did not pass anybody it was quiet we only walked about half a mile. We live not far off the beach. Inspector Bronson was taking notes making sure that he wrote everything down. He turned to look at the sea. He could see that the waves had distorted the sand, however, he could also see that the girl was saturated. That she had been in the water. But what had actually happened? Was there anything he could work out from the crime scene?

The sound of wailing sirens appeared on the road. The ambulance had arrived. Two female paramedics came running down onto the beach.

How can we help the paramedic asked an officer.

Young female, over there. Possibly in a state of shock replied the officer. The paramedics made their way across the sand.

"Hello, the paramedics walked up to the girl and took her hands. They could see she was still shaking after what she had seen.

I am ok, please do not worry. replied the girl. She was very resistant, and the paramedics were not overly concerned.

"If you need anything please check into your nearest medical centre.

Thank you replied the girl’s partner.

A rugged man made his way from around the back of the tent. He was puffing away on a pipe and was wearing a long winter coat. Very unusual for the summer months. He walked over to where the Inspector was standing.

Inspector Bronson well what a lovely surprise. It was Detective White

Do you have any information, or are we going in blind? Detective White took a deep puff on his pipe, blowing smoke in the direction of Inspector Bronson.

Well I know that she was murdered, but not this morning, replied Inspector Bronson

How do you know that she was murdered? How can you be so sure? We have been here a matter of minutes. Detective White was pushing Inspector Bronson for an answer. Inspector Bronson started to feel nervous he did not like to be questioned, he looked down at his notepad.

Well, the fact that the sand is showing the body has been washed up. She did not look like she was going for a swim, not dressed like that anyway. Also, her clothes are soaking wet, and the red mark around her neck has indentations to indicate that she was strangled with something, perhaps a rope? Which makes me believe she was strangled. I just need to work out who would do this.

Hello boys good to see you to here again. It was police officer Maria Swanson she was a veteran of the police force with over 20 years of experience working in the field. She was no stranger to dealing with murdered females, and she had no issue with dealing with inspectors and detectives who were often arrogant towards the police officers.

So, what have you learned so far that I don’t already know? she laughed. Inspector Bronson replied,

We have so much more to learn about the crime scene, and we have to continue with the investigation. We need to get an idea of what has actually happened here.

Well, I can tell you that this poor girl has been murdered, said officer Swanson. Inspector Bronson smirked at Detective White who then raised his middle finger in gesture.

Don’t work too hard boys laughed Officer Swanson who gave Inspector Bronson a cheeky wink as she walked past.

The young couple still stood behind looking on. They were still looking very shocked and upset about the scene that they had witnessed that morning. Officer Swanson decided to go over and speak to the couple herself. She wanted to ask questions, yet she did not want to cause any upset.

Are you both okay? Do you need anything? Would you like me to get you both medical assistance?

No thank you. They have already been to see me. Can we please go home now? said the young lady.

I don’t see why not let me check for you. Officer Swanson made her way back over to inspector Bronson.

Hey Inspector, is it okay if those to go home now? she asked.

Yes, I don’t think they’re going to be much more use now. Just take their details, so if I need to come and catch up with them, I can do that without having to track them down.

Yes of course. Officer Swanson made her way back over to the young couple. Can I please have some details? What are your names?

My name is Sarah.

My name is Kyle. We recently got married. So, we are Sarah Fisher and Kyle Fisher.

We live at number 86 Beach Drive, said Sarah.

Thank you, if the inspector or detective needs to speak to you, they will be in touch. Sarah and Kyle slowly started walking down the beach hand in hand. They couldn’t help every now and again by turning around and looking at what they had already seen that morning. The sight of a poor young girl who had been left dead on the beach.

Detective over here, one of the deputies had noticed that there was something on the floor. It looked to be clean and from the girl. It was dry and was not wet. It was strange and confusing the deputy. Inspector Bronson and Detective White both headed over to see what was going on. When they arrived, they could see the red lipstick looking immaculately clean on the floor next to the girl’s body. They picked up the lipstick and opened it to see that it had recently been used. It was placed in an evidence bag and sealed.

This is strange? I this lipstick. It looks perfectly placed said Inspector Bronson.

That has definitely been planted by someone replied Detective White. Officer Swanson could hear all the commotion, she headed over to see the lipstick in an evidence bag.

That is a Claudia Vernadez lipstick she said in a very surprised voice.

"Why is this a massive surprise? asked Inspector Bronson.

This is not your everyday lipstick; this is luxury these sell for $1,000. Whoever placed that was very wealthy. she replied. Inspector Bronson and Detective White looked at one another, finally a clue something they could work with. Whoever placed that must be of some wealth.

"So, do we have anything else? asked Inspector Bronson.

We have some footprints over here, said the deputy.

Footprints? called Detective White. The detective and inspector both headed over to where the footprints were. They were in the edge of the beach as the sand turned into asphalt.

Officer Swanson come here shouted Detective White. She started to run and made her way over.

This could be anyone’s she replied.

They don’t look that fresh maybe a day old. Size 11 male boot. Take a mould of the print Officer Swanson. We need to make sure that we can try and find a boot that fits these prints, said inspector Bronson.

Sure, I will take a mould, but this is a pretty busy stretch of beach Inspector Officer Swanson replied. She headed back to the forensics truck to get some moulding equipment for the boot.

We don’t have much, sighed Detective White. Inspector Bronson believed he had something more.

Well I don’t think we have nothing. We know she was in the sea; I have a feeling she was strangled. But I don’t want to speculate too much we will wait for pathology to give us the cause of death. Then we will be able to proceed. At the moment we have no witnesses; we only have that young couple that stumbled across the body this morning. There will be more evidence. We have the footprint and we have a lipstick so I think for now we will arrange for the body to be taken to pathology.

Inspector Bronson then headed back over to his car, he wanted to profile the lipstick to see if he could find any fingerprints or something that could have been left behind.

2

Back at the station, Detective White was overlooking the notes taken by himself and Inspector Bronson. One thing that was baffling him was the lipstick. Who had put it there? It could only have been there for a day at the most, perhaps at the same time of the footprints? Was this the same person who committed the crime? Why would they leave lipstick there? It just did not make any sense. Any good standing member of the community would’ve phoned in to say that they found a body on the beach. They would not drop a lipstick by it. It was causing a lot of confusion.

This is Detective White, any outcome over the lipstick. He had decided to call the forensics lab.

Nothing yet, we will call you with any information replied the person on the phone. Detective White slammed his phone back down in anger. This alerted Inspector Bronson who came over to Detective White.

Inspector Bronson had just taken a call, a missing person had been reported who matched the description of the body found on the beach.

"We believe the victim is called Leslie Sykes a 19-year-old college girl who has been here studying English language. We identified her from her driving license which was funnily enough tucked in her shoe. Leslie has also been reported missing. She failed to return back to her dorm two days ago.

Detective white found it very strange. Why on earth would anyone place a driving license into a shoe? Why would anyone that would have potentially murdered somebody leave evidence to identify the body that easily?

That doesn’t make sense, but what does make sense in this investigation? said Detective White. The body is currently in pathology I’m just waiting to find out the cause of death, he continued to tell Inspector Bronson.

I will go and chase up the report. As inspector Bronson went to head back to his workstation Detective White’s phone rang. On the other end of the phone it was the pathology department.

Detective White you need to come and see this body, it’s very important.

I will come right away, replied Detective White.

They want me to go and have a look at the body. Do you want to come along? They said there is something that I need to see, muttered Detective White.

Yes, I will come with you. Hopefully, there will be something that will connect us with the perpetrator of this crime? Detective White and Inspector Bronson walked together down to the car park. They got in Inspector Bronson’s car and took a short drive to the pathology lab, as they walked in, they were greeted by Inspector Swanson.

What are you doing here? asked Detective White.

Doing my job, I was told not to leave until a cause of death has been fully established replied Officer Swanson.

I will take you to the pathologist, follow me she said. They both followed Officer Swanson down the dark hallway to a small room where the pathologist was looking through his microscope.

"Doctor