The Sisters McFadden

Chapter 1 - Watery Tomb

LA County Sheriff's Detective Rex Walker found the first body less than an hour after sunrise on the morning of July Fourth. A girl around the age of fifteen, nude, floating face up inches under the surface in the kelp beds along Malaga Cove. Not at all what Rex expected when he'd launched his fourteen-foot stand up paddle board off Torrance Beach that morning. He'd paddled straight out two miles, halfway to the R10 buoy anchored off the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the South Bay of Los Angeles. Usually he'd fight the wind bump out and enjoy a push from the steady gusts against his back to follow the rocky curvature of the peninsula on his return to the beach. That day, however, the ocean was a dead calm.

In his late-forties, the crow's feet jetting out from his grey eyes told the story. Ex-Marine infantry officer and lifelong waterman, he kept the body of a younger man. He often thought of his late wife Katherine on his long paddles. Everyone had called her Kit. Lymphoma ate her soul away two years earlier leaving her husband and two teenagers in its wake. That said, Rex was a survivor. He took solace in the ocean. Palos Verdes was his home for most of his life and his to protect. He was one of the good guys.

The lost girl was about to set off a seismic disruption to the peaceful peninsula. Rex could have easily missed the body. The kelp beds, undersea forests, can tangle and devour. The visibility of the water was exceptionally clear that morning. From the upright vantage point on a SUP board, one could see thirty feet down. Rex had seen a few sharks in his day. But the girl was different. He had thought he'd seen a shine off the water. As he paddled closer, the pale figure started to take form. The ghostly body glimmered as the water bent the sunlight. His lungs deflated as he saw her long hair fanned out in the gentle current. Her nubile body was motionless.

Rex immediately jumped into the water to pull her to the safety of his long board. There was no pulse. No life. He tried to breathe life into her pristine corpse. Nothing. He had no idea how long she had been submersed. What now? No cell or satellite phone. He scanned the water's horizon toward the beach. Only one choice. Paddle her directly in through the surf break. The sand of RAT Beach below the cliffs was over 500 yards away. A lifeguard tower stood there waiting. Rex positioned the girl's body on the center of his board and quickly stood with paddle in hand. With his ankles locked on either side of her torso, he attacked the still water with his paddle and drove the board forward.

High tide was not until noon. He had a good chance of timing the surf break all the way into shore. If he mistimed the breaks he could easily get tossed from his board, a long narrow down-winder not designed to surf big waves. In that event he'd need to swim her in. Hope dissipated with every minute. Had she been in the water all night? Was there any chance the lifeguards or paramedics could revive her? As a father it was unimaginable.

The swell started to propel his board at a faster rate towards the beach. He clamped his feet closer together and tighten his hold on her limp body. There were a dozen surfers spread out just outside the break waiting patiently for their next wave.

"Move away!" Rex shouted. "9-1-1! We need help! Get the lifeguards!"

Startled, the surfers quickly understood this was an emergency. Using his paddle as a rudder, Rex guided the board down the face of a chest high wave and road it in all the way to the whitewash. He threw his paddle and dropped to his knees on the board. Once the nose of the board hit sand, he jumped off and scooped up the girl in his arms. Running and shouting from the water he caught the attention of the lone lifeguard in Tower 22 who sprinted to the sand to assist. 

In less than ten minutes, every LA County Lifeguard truck in the area arrived. In less than twenty minutes, the paramedics along with LA County Firefighters were on the scene. They were all too late. Jane Doe number one did not come back to life. She would not be able to tell her story. She had seemingly drowned. Was it an accident or foul play or suicide? She could not be a day over sixteen, maybe as young as thirteen or fourteen. No clothes, no jewelry, no wounds.

Rex was exhausted and his arms and back ached. His eyes burned from the sweat and salt. As he finally started to catch his breath he realized this was his case to solve. He had a long day in front of him. He could let the local police worry about the impending rowdy crowds on the beach to celebrate the Fourth. The news trucks would soon arrive. Word would travel quickly on the hill. PV was a social community. If the girl was a local, someone would come forward within hours. Somehow Rex knew deep down in his gut the girl's death would not be an easy case to solve. He'd paddled up to a mystery. The ocean he loved had called out to him.