10
Nearing mid-morning, Samantha was beach-weary; covered in sand, chilled and tired. She rose and strolled casually along the beach. She waved to Nick as he sat on a surfboard out beyond the breakers, waiting for a ride. She saw it coming—the large wave—but Nick was too busy looking at something to his right. She suppressed a smile as he was dumped by the wave, head over heels—or board over heels, in this case. All the time, she made small motions on the sand with her feet, feeling for anything out of the ordinary; any odd little bit of dropped evidence. Occasionally, she leant down and picked up a small pebble or a shell, examined it and carried on, casually strolling around the area.
There were few on the beach at this hour; several joggers, a family with young children—the parents pr
