Detective Harrison Taylor stood on the end of his beach house. It had been over ten years since his appointment to the Devon and Cornwall Police and finally he’d been able to afford a house on the coast, bordered by the white cliffs. He found it relaxing that he was able to wake up each morning to the radiating cliffs, and walk with the sea breeze whenever he wanted to.

It’s the perfect set up for the job he had. After spending most of his days revolving around mysteries regarding deaths and criminal proceedings, he found it cleansing to spend his afternoons roaming by the sea. Sitting on the shores watching the waves roll in and out. It was his place of comfort, away from the trauma of his regular life.

People thought that only those closely involved in murder investigations are affected by the tragedy. But seeing all the death, all the broken families, took a toll on the detectives too. Sure, some became immune to the suffering, became somewhat sociopathic with how they could compartmentalise their work from their lives. But as much as Harrison could put on the straight face and work the case as well as anyone, in his moments alone on the beach beneath the grey clouds of Britain, each body weighed on his mind. Which is why he saw his beach house as a sanctuary. Until that too was broken.

It was a Wednesday, Harrison didn’t have to go into work so he decided to take an extra long stroll on the beach, regardless of the dull clouds. While walking he saw a small red flag waving in the sand. Odd, he thought. It certainly wasn’t from the coast guard or any lifeguards, and it wasn’t the day for kids to be taken to the beach. Curious, he made his way over to the flag and knelt beside it. He tried to slip it out of the sand, but there was an awful lot of resistance, too much. But he grasped the small pole with both hands and yanked it free, sending him tumbling backwards.

He discovered that not only was the flag red, but so was the tip of the mast, blood red. Harrison pounced back to where he’d retrieved the flag and began scrambling the sand away from the area. It took only two scoops for the truth to be revealed. It was a body, very much dead. His sanctuary had been penetrated. In his line of business there was no room for downtime, or relaxing. No time to just enjoy life. So he called in the body, and got to work.