Golden Bird

Uniformed police officers held the curious people back, away from the attendants carrying a covered limp form on a stretcher from the beach to the ambulance. The lights flashing from the ambulance as well as the police cars parked around it, gave the area a carnival atmosphere, but this was no party.

Sergeant Lou Sanchez shook his head in disgust at another wasted life. And he had seen more than his share, being a homicide detective in Atlantic City. This city seemed to attract victims, and this girl was just another one: white, female, twenty-five or so, multiple lacerations over body, wrists and ankles raw as if they had been handcuffed, naked but for a rhinestone collar. The chance of finding the pervert who did this was pretty slim, but first he had to find out who she was.