Lita's List

by Alan Orloff

About the Author: Alan Orloff has won two ITW Thriller Awards—one for his novel, PRAY FOR THE INNOCENT, and one for his short story, “Rent Due.” He’s also won a Derringer Award for “Dying in Dokesville” and has had novels shortlisted for the Agatha Award and Shamus Award, as well as a story selected for THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES. I PLAY ONE ON TV, his YA thriller, from Down & Out Books won a 2021 Agatha Award. www.alanorloff.com

Excerpt

When most adults go to the beach, they focus on the ocean. The never-ceasing waves crashing on shore, the relative calmness farther out, the seemingly infinite expanse of water as far as the eye can see. Puts things into perspective, for sure.

Kids enjoy the ocean too. But they also like playing in the sand. Squishing it between their fingers, digging in with their toes. Building castles or excavating holes or just throwing globs of it at the skittish sandpipers.

When Wayne “Mitch” Mitchell went to the beach, he appreciated the ocean like the adults, but he focused on the sand. Specifically, he turned his attention to what might lay beneath the sand.

On this mid-July morning, he swung his Equinox 600 metal detector from side to side as he walked his grid pattern along the beach. A faint breeze tickled his nose with the briny sea-air tang. At this early hour, his only company was a man exercising his dog, and they were about a hundred yards north. Ordinarily, dogs were not allowed on the beach but there was no one around to complain and no one around to complain to.

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