What Washes Up by Dawn Lee McKenna Read Free Book Online Page B

simply.
    The man looked up, then stood and held out a hand. “Agent Tomlinson. Aaron.”
    “Wyatt,” Wyatt said, and shook the man’s hand. “This is Lt. Maggie Redmond.”
    Tomlinson and Maggie nodded at each other, then Tomlinson turned back to Wyatt. “We’ve got eleven so far. Nine on the beaches and two that the Coast Guard have pulled out of the water out there.”
    “Drowned?”
    “That’s what it looks like, but of course we don’t know. We haven’t found a boat. There was a hell of a storm out there earlier, though.”
    The rain was letting up, and Maggie pulled her wet hair out of her face, looked down at the body beside them. It was a man, definitely Hispanic, and she guessed Central American rather than Mexican. He looked to be in his late twenties.
    He was wearing a silver chain with a Catholic medal on it, though she couldn’t tell which one. Twisted around in the chain was a length of what looked like red yarn. Maggie glanced over at Tomlinson and Wyatt, but they were walking away.
    Maggie knelt down and peered under one side of the open button-down shirt. There was a round pendant of some kind, maybe an ornament or a button. It looked handmade. Dwight bent over her as she lifted the fabric with one finger.
    Maggie looked up as two Coast Guard headed toward them with a body bag. She stood up, blinking warm moisture from her eyes.
    “What was it?” Dwight asked quietly.
    “Minnie Mouse,” Maggie said.

    Several hours later, the total number of bodies had risen to fourteen. One more had been discovered down the beach, and two more pulled from the ocean by a Coast Guard cutter. The cutter had also located an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor, built for a maximum of five or six passengers. They’d almost missed their chance to spot it; it had just barely enough air left in it to keep the outboard from pulling it under.
    Maggie and Wyatt had been largely unwanted and unneeded, but also unwilling to leave, so they had helped when they could, but mainly been just another couple of witnesses to something no one there wanted to see.
    They were standing by the dunes sharing a warm can of Coke that Dwight had scrounged up, when Tomlinson approached them, looking older than he had when they’d gotten there.
    “Okay, the Coast Guard’s running the dinghy and the bodies they’ve recovered to the marina. A couple of the ambulances will pick them up.” He rubbed at his face and sighed. “Your medical examiner doesn’t have enough room in his lab at the hospital, so some of the bodies will be taken to a funeral home downtown somewhere.”
    “Stephenson’s,” Wyatt said.
    “Yeah. There isn’t a single ID on any of these people, but we’ve got some plastic bags with pictures and letters and things; we’ll see what we can do with those.”
    Wyatt offered the Coke to Maggie, but she shook her head. He drained the last of it. “Okay,” he said. “We’re going to head back to town. I realize this is your show, but as far as any kind of liaison between you and us, Maggie’s your contact.”
    Maggie started to say something, then shut her mouth.
    “Do me a favor and text me your number,” Tomlinson said, handing her one of his cards.
    “Okay,” she said.
    Tomlinson looked at Wyatt. “I do have some paperwork I need you to sign, Sheriff.”
    “Okay,” Wyatt said.
    Maggie called after him as he started off after Tomlinson. “I’m going to the car.”
    Wyatt held up a hand to acknowledge that and kept on walking. Maggie turned and headed back toward the lot where they’d parked.
    There were a few oceanfront vacation rentals between her and the empty lots. All were dark. She was halfway past the last one, just on the edge of the undeveloped lots, when someone spoke to her.
    “Did they find anyone living?”
    Maggie started, and looked up to see Bennett Boudreaux leaning on the deck rail. The sky was just beginning to turn pink, but he held a rocks glass half-full of an amber liquid. He