{"id":114,"date":"2017-02-10T12:04:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-10T12:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/?p=114"},"modified":"2017-05-14T01:28:18","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T01:28:18","slug":"the-last-good-man-in-the-beaches-teaser-lost-in-the-shallows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"The Last Good Man in The Beaches- Teaser: Lost in the Shallows"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\"\"<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 She drifted on the waters as if part of the surf.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>Face down.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>Hands and arms spread white as feathers.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>Her red gown was the one she wore when I last saw her. <\/em>
\nHer purse tilted on the sand as if anchoring her to the city.<\/em>
\nEven now, long gone, she glowed with the water, diamonds in the waves.<\/em>
\nRed hair stained black with the shadows of Lake Ontario soaked like a lover against her.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>I pulled out my cell, and hit speed dial. Rapid fire beeps ran through the numbers like a bookie on payday. Two rings and they picked up.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201c55th Division\u201d<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>The voice on the other end sounded like a phone sex operator hungry for business. Not that I would know what that voice was like.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cGet me Bailey Porter, homicide.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cOne moment please.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>The line went dead for a time. Not that it mattered. All I could see was her body fluttering against\u00a0the shore, still tethered to that purse. I wouldn\u2019t touch it, for fear that some jealous god of the sea wanted her to drift away. The muggy smog of a Toronto summer night burned my nostrils, and with my free hand I lit a smoke. At least that might steady my nerves. She was so damned beautiful. The rhythm of the waves made it all seem unreal.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201c…Porter here\u2026 Is anyone there?\u201d The husky voice from the cell drew me from the scene.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cGil here, Bailey\u2026\u201dI said, and paused, taking a drag of courage. \u201cCan you send a car out here?\u201d<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cWhat\u2019s going on, Gil?\u201d Bailey said. She could hear the tremble in my voice. Maybe she was the only one who could\u2019ve. <\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cGirl in the water,\u201d I said.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cAnyone we know?\u201d Bailey ventured. She was practiced at drawing the unpleasant out of me.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cYou never met her. The red head I sent home\u2026<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>The line was silent on the other end. The wind picked up slightly, and in the distance I could hear someone walking the boardwalk tentatively. No one walks at 3 in the morning without carrying a lot of pain along the way.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cShe never made it.\u201d I said swallowing. My jaw tightened, \u201cCan you send someone? End of the Beaches… Just before Birch Cliff.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>\u201cI\u2019m on my way.\u201d Bailey said. \u201cStay there.\u201d The line went dead.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>Funny how quickly it happens. But that\u2019s life\u2026 That\u2019s life and death in The Beaches\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 She drifted on the waters as if part of the surf. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Face down. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Hands and arms spread white as feathers. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Her red gown was the one she wore when I last saw her. Her purse tilted on the sand as if anchoring her to the city. Even now, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[122,121,119,120],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-novel","category-writing","tag-bailey-porter","tag-serial","tag-the-last-good-man-in-the-beaches","tag-virgil-archer"],"wppr_data":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jackjward.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}