A 150 word crime-flash using 10 prompts from the titles of Anne Cleeves’ novels.

CORPSE WITH GANNETS by Susan B. Iwanisziw / aka Cecily Winter

Cigarette hidden in the curl of his palm, Joe tosses the match. He shivers in his flapping poncho that takes the brunt of the salt spray while his ears ring with the screams of a thousand birds making a paradise of this wild stretch of limestone cliff.

He barely makes out the details of the girl spreadeagled on the rock below, her hair combed by incoming waves, her jagged leg bones teased by foam. Torches gleam as the lifeguards’ orange dinghies stutter in the shallows.

No chance the tide will bury the corpse in the North Sea’s silent depths now.

Lesson to be learned–nature’s clock.

He’d like to see his handiwork clearer, and, one handed, taps his jacket pockets for his glasses.

No question there’ll be a murder inquiry, but forensics won’t tell any tales.

Where did his glasses get to?

He catches a flash from the girl’s clawed hand. 

THIS FLASHWORDS STORY WILL SHORTLY BE LISTED ON THE SISTERS-IN-CRIME WEBSITE.