Thanks to all for the kind comments. I have a loose idea of what I want to do with this, but we'll see how it unfolds. I'm trying to keep chapters short (pesky RL) but frequent.

Officer Murphey paused as he saw Steve approach. The young inspector opened his coat pocket and pulled out his badge. He nodded at the officer and made quick note of his nametag.

"I'm Inspector Keller from Homicide," he began and looking at Murphey, who responded with a kind nod.

"This is Monte Parker. He is the gentleman who found our victim and called it in," Murphey answered by way of introduction.

"Sir," Steve greeted as he put away his badge. "I know you've been relaying what happened this morning to Officer Murphey. Can you recap for me?"

The older man, who looked to be in his early sixties, had been out for his morning walk. "I walk this path every morning and I see things wash up against the landfill line. Usually it's nothing more than garbage or a stray beach ball, but clearly this is something I won't ever forget. That poor man…"

"Did you see anything else? If you are here every morning, I'm wondering if you noticed anything suspicious," Steve asked.

"No, not at all. Like I told Officer Murphey, I come down here daily. It's usually quiet and there's a regularity to what I see."

"No unusual or speeding cars or anything like that?" Steve continued, knowing that it was quite likely that the victim probably floated a bit in the bay before coming to rest against the line.

"Not at all. It was just me and my thoughts taking my normal walk. But I did walk up the landfill line. I normally don't do that because it's unlevel, but I have to admit, because of the angle and what I could see from the shore, I had my suspicions of what it was. I didn't want to call the police until I found out firsthand," Mr. Parker added.

"That's very courageous, sir," Steve said respectfully.

"I did move him a little, just to be sure. I hope I didn't do wrong," he added with a worried tone.

"No, sir, you did just fine," Officer Murphey added. "You have no idea how many people would have just walked on and not want to get involved – or not even care to look."

Both men saw a since of relief with Mr. Parker. "Listen, uh, do you have everything you need from me?" he asked.

"Absolutely," the officer responded and looked at Steve. "He's provided me his statement as well as his contact information. He also showed me his ID."

Steve nodded, "Mr. Parker, I agree with Officer Murphey, you did fine. I want to thank you for what you did this morning. I know it wasn't easy."

The trio turned to watch as the coroner team carried the victim's remains to the awaiting wagon. Mike and Bernie followed behind.

Steve turned to shake the hand of Mr. Parker and nodded at Officer Murphey before heading back to meet Mike. As he caught up with Mike, the senior detective relayed the news that they were quickly finding this was no accident and that their next case was on its way to the morgue.