Chapter 1

 

Monarch Beach settled down in the last days of August, summer drifting out with the tide and the tourists.

The last of the cable news vans moved on to their next big story, waving a fond farewell to Kelly’s diner and the beach, where they left half a ton of trash, most of it cardboard coffee cups and sleeves. Those people loved their coffee.

Our fifteen minutes of fame, well, more like a week, ebbed out with the same tide that took summer.

A few months ago, one of the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted moved into town, claiming to be former child celebrity Little Billie Pickens. During her stay she managed to irritate and alienate everyone in town before getting whacked with a shovel and departing.

Permanently.