'Desolation Row'

The idea of giving up being a cop was sown when we pulled the body out of the river. I stood on a muddy bank and watched as the corpse was tugged out of the litter filled water, its body bloated. It had a red Mac on, and high black boots, which gave it the appearance of humanity, before the fish began to nibble it.

The corpse has once been girl by the name of Ashley. She had been on the edge of 21, no previous troubles with the law or with anyone else. It was a shame; from the old photographs she had been beautiful once. She just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. I went to speak to her mother. She made me swear I would find who did it, knowing it was a promise I couldn’t keep. Ashley was just another statistic.

So for five weeks I walked around with Ashley in my head. I could have walked past her murderer a dozen times and he could have smiled at me and I would have never known.
Not long after I quit, I drove down a road where women, some no more than girls, lined the corners like the sirens luring sailors away. I drove on into the night.