Dead Girl Beach (15 page)

Three weeks before, Tara Bennett had returned to her office at police headquarters in Taiwan. Her boss had received a call from the Chief of Police in Bangkok, commending her on outstanding fieldwork and her dedication to solving crime. As a result, she received a promotion and a pay raise.

That very same day, Seabury took a speedboat over to Koh Samui Island. He caught a flight to Bangkok. Later that afternoon, he caught a United Airlines flight to Seattle.

The next day, he dropped by the Inlandboatmen's Union hiring hall on West Nickerson Street. Biff Barnes was sitting at his desk in his office. When he saw Seabury, he waved him inside. The stout, beefy Irishman with blue eyes and a shock of black, oily hair leaned across the desk and looked at Seabury. The smell of cigar smoke filled the air.

“This isn't posted on the board, yet.” He tossed a 5 x 10 inch note card on top of the desk in front of Seabury. “It's a freighter hauling ammo to Yokohama. Leaves the day after tomorrow. Want it?”

Seabury shrugged and thought a minute. “The day after tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, Biff. Sign me up.”

After Seabury left the union hall, he sauntered down the block and around the corner to the Skipper—a local bar with a whiskered sea captain posted on a sign above the front door. Inside, he ordered a beer and sat at a table near the window looking out onto the street. The day was bright and sunny. People moved along the sidewalk past the window.

Seabury drank his beer. The memory of Dao Suttikul stabbed at his heart a little as he watched a couple walking arm-in-arm down the sidewalk. He drew air back into his lungs and released it in a heavy sigh. The sight of the woman's hand as it slapped playfully at the man beside her moved Seabury. It was the same way Dao's hand slapped playfully at his own arm—just little things that he remembered. He wondered about the life that they might have had together, if things had worked out differently. Then again, wasn't that life—so strange and unpredictable?

In the smokeless air of the bar, Dao's image began to fade. It would never be lost, but in time—like all things—it would flicker out there on the horizon and gradually disappear to become a distant memory. Seabury had a new life, now. The sea was his home.

As a writer and job counselor, Mike enjoys writing thrillers set in exotic locations. Living in Thailand provides this opportunity. He has self-published a job hunt text titled
How to Get Hired Fast
.  The book has generated  brisk sales from teachers wanting copies for their classes.

He has just completed the second in a series of Sam Seabury novels titled People at the End of the Lake. His main character, Asia's version of Lee Child's epic hero Jack Reacher, is a gritty, intelligent, no nonsense merchant seaman who can't say no to anyone in trouble.

Email Mike Sullivan at
[email protected]
.

Visit him online at:
http://createfly.byethost7.com/mjpsullivan/