Chapter 1 A body on the beach
　　Noise. Headache. Dry mouth. 
　　Half asleep, Helen Shepherd turned over in bed, but the noise didn’t stop. A moment later she woke up. 
　　The noise. It was her phone. She took it off the table next to her bed.
　　‘Yes?’ she said. Her dry mouth made it difficult to talk. And her head hurt quite badly. Too much wine last night! 
　　‘Is that Detective Inspector Shepherd?’ asked a voice. 
　　‘Yes,’ said Shepherd. 
　　‘I’m sorry to wake you,’ said the voice. The voice waited for Shepherd to say something, but she didn’t. She looked at the clock. It was six thirty. 
　　‘Er, well, my name’s Webb,’ said the voice. ‘Brian Webb. I’m your new sergeant. I start working for you today. Well, this morning, actually. Erm… I’m sorry to wake you up, but…’ 
　　‘Sergeant,’ said Shepherd. ‘People call me at all times of the day and night. Forget the “sorry”. Just tell me what the problem is.’
　　‘There’s a body on the beach,’ said Webb. ‘In Hythe. About two hundred metres from the Grand Hotel. I’m there now.’
　　‘I’ll be twenty minutes,’ replied Shepherd and put her phone back down on the table.
　　Shepherd stood under the shower for five minutes. The hot water got the blood moving around her tired body. She drank half a litre of water and took three aspirins. Five minutes later she was in her car.
　　The drive from her house in Folkestone to Hythe took Shepherd less than ten minutes. It was the start of autumn and small seaside towns like Hythe were becoming quiet again after the busy summer. The school holidays were over, the beaches were almost empty, and this early in the morning there were few cars on the roads.
　　As she came into Hythe, Shepherd passed the Seaview Café on her right. It was just opening for breakfast. Two hundred metres down the road, also on the right, she could see a large building – the Grand Hotel. On her left was the sea wall. And on the other side of the wall were the beach and the sea. There were a number of cars by the side of the road. Shepherd stopped behind them. 
　　She looked quickly at herself in the car mirror: grey-blonde hair tied back, intelligent eyes, small nose, thin mouth. ‘I don’t look too bad,’ she thought. But she felt tired and old, and her head still hurt.
　　She got out of her car and looked over the wall. A cold wind was coming off the sea. The sun was only just up. About fifty metres along the beach some people were standing around and looking down at something. The body.
　　One of them, a young man in a blue suit, looked round and saw Shepherd. 
　　‘That must be Webb,’ thought Shepherd. ‘He looks about sixteen.’ 
　　It was true what people said: as you get older, police officers look younger. 
　　Webb came to meet Shepherd as she walked over.
　　‘I’m Brian Webb, madam,’ he said. ‘Your new sergeant.’
　　‘I know,’ said Shepherd.
　　‘You know?’ asked Webb.
　　‘Yes, Sergeant,’ replied Shepherd. She waved a hand at the others. ‘You’re the only person here I don’t know, so you must be my new sergeant. I’m a detective, remember.’
　　‘Oh!’ said Webb, looking down and then up again.
　　Shepherd looked him in the eye.
　　‘And don’t call me madam,’ she said. ‘It’s Shep. That’s what everyone calls me.’
　　第1 章　海灘上的死尸
　　噪聲。頭痛�？诟缮嘣铩� 
　　半睡半醒中，海倫?謝潑德在床上翻了個(gè)身，但是噪聲并未停止。過(guò) 了一會(huì)兒，她醒了。 
　　那噪聲是她的電話鈴聲。她從床邊的桌子上拿起電話。 
　　“喂？”她說(shuō)。口干得她難以說(shuō)話。她頭疼得相當(dāng)厲害。昨晚酒喝得太 多了！ 
　　“是謝潑德探長(zhǎng)嗎？”一個(gè)聲音問(wèn)道。 
　　“是，”謝潑德說(shuō)。 
　　“很抱歉叫醒您，”那個(gè)聲音說(shuō)。對(duì)方等著謝潑德說(shuō)點(diǎn)兒什么，但她沒(méi) 接話。她看了看表，六點(diǎn)半。 
　　“呃，嗯，我叫韋布，”那聲音說(shuō)，“布賴恩?韋布。我是您的新任警佐。 從今天開(kāi)始我就為您工作了。嗯，實(shí)際上是今天上午。呃……很抱歉叫醒 您，但是……” 
　　“警佐，”謝潑德說(shuō)�！叭藗兘o我打電話不分白天黑夜什么時(shí)候。去掉那 個(gè)‘抱歉’。就告訴我什么事�！�
　　“ 海灘上有一具死尸，”韋布說(shuō)�！霸诤Ｋ�。距離格蘭德酒店大約兩百 米。我現(xiàn)在就在這兒。” 
　　“我二十分鐘到，”謝潑德回答，然后把電話放回了桌子上。
　　謝潑德站在噴頭下沖了五分鐘。熱水讓血液在她疲憊的身體里循環(huán)起來(lái)。她喝了半升水，吃了三片阿司匹林。五分鐘后她就坐在自己的車?yán)锪恕?br />　　從�？怂雇ǖ募议_(kāi)到海斯謝潑德用了不到十分鐘。正值初秋，忙碌的夏天過(guò)后，像海斯這樣的海邊小鎮(zhèn)又重新變得寧?kù)o。學(xué)校的假期已結(jié)束，海灘上幾乎空無(wú)一人，而在這么早的清晨，路上的車寥寥無(wú)幾。
　　進(jìn)入海斯后，謝潑德途經(jīng)右側(cè)的海景餐廳。餐廳剛開(kāi)門賣早點(diǎn)。沿著這條路又開(kāi)了兩百米，還是右側(cè)，她看到一幢大樓——格蘭德酒店。她的左邊是海堤，海堤的另一側(cè)就是海灘和大海。路邊停著很多車。謝潑德停在了它們后面。
　　她迅速照了照反光鏡：略帶花白的金發(fā)束在腦后，睿智的眼睛，小鼻子，薄嘴唇。“我看上去不算太糟，”她想。但是她感到疲憊，年歲不饒人，她的頭還在疼。
　　她下了車，向海堤之外望去。一股冷風(fēng)從海上吹來(lái)。太陽(yáng)剛剛升起。大約五十米開(kāi)外的海灘上有一些人圍站在那里，低頭看著什么。是那具尸體。
　　其中一個(gè)穿著藍(lán)色西裝的年輕人向四周望了望，看到了謝潑德。
　　“那一定是韋布，”謝潑德想。“他看上去大概十六歲。”
　　人們說(shuō)的沒(méi)錯(cuò)：你越來(lái)越老，而警員們?cè)絹?lái)越年輕。
　　謝潑德走過(guò)去的時(shí)候，韋布走來(lái)迎她。
　　“我是布萊恩?韋布，長(zhǎng)官，”他說(shuō)�！澳�的新任警佐�！�
　　“我知道，”謝潑德說(shuō)。
　　“您知道？”韋布問(wèn)。
　　“是的，警佐，”謝潑德回答。她向其他人揮揮手�！澳闶沁@里唯一一位我不認(rèn)識(shí)的人，所以你一定是我的新任警佐。我是偵探，別忘了�！�
　　“哦！”韋布說(shuō)著，低下了頭，然后又抬起來(lái)。
　　謝潑德直視著他。
　　“不用叫我長(zhǎng)官，”她說(shuō)。“叫我謝潑。大家都這樣叫我�！�