Title: On the rocks
By
Author: BJ Bourg
Tag line: The
detective wondered if all three boys
at the site had been happy campers…
Police characters: Detective Grace
Winston, Detective Brandon Sharper.
The gist: Three teenage boys, age 17, went on a weekend
camping trip. The first night was
uneventful, but when they woke up Nick was gone. Thinking perhaps he had just gone home, the
police checked with his parents but they had not seen him since he left for the
trip. The police were combing the woods
looking for the boy.
Detective
Sharper had taken the remaining two boys’ licenses for ID, and handed them to
Det. Winston. Winston took the first
boy, Rusty, aside to speak with him. He
said they had all set up camp yesterday, had talked by the campfire last night,
he turned in around ten, and when they were making breakfast the next morning
the two boys called to Nick but discovered he wasn’t in his tent. Rusty said neither of them had any problems
with Nick. He said that Nick was a funny
guy and everyone loved him, especially the girls. He claimed that Nick said he wanted to go rock
climbing in the dark and the two boys told him not to.
Next Det.
Winston questioned Rory, the second boy.
He told basically the same story; that Nick wanted to climb the rock
wall by the river and they both told him it was a dumb idea. Rory said Nick was still sitting by the fire
when he went to bed. When the two boys
realized Nick wasn’t in his tent they went looking by the rock wall and around
the river to see if he had gone climbing but they didn’t see anything. Rory called his mom to report Nick missing. Rory also told Det. Winston that Nick is popular
with the girls and that his girlfriend’s name is Theresa.
At this
point a deputy, out of earshot of the two boys, informed Det. Winston that Nick’s
body had been found. It appeared that
Nick had indeed fallen from the rock wall and his body had traveled downstream
with the current until it snagged on a tree branch.
Det. Winston
formed the opinion that Nick didn’t fall, that he had been pushed. When she asked Rory who Theresa had dated
before Nick, Rory told her she had dated Rusty, but Rusty was over it, and it
was Rusty who had invited Nick camping.
Det. Sharper
asked Det. Winston how she knew it wasn’t an accident.
Crime scene: Campsite in the woods.
Clues: Nick was liked by the girls. Rusty invited Nick camping. Nick was dating Rusty’s ex.
Suspects: The two boys, Rusty and Rory.
Red herrings: None.
Solution: When asked if they had any problems with
Nick, Rusty referred to him in the past tense.
(Nick was a funny guy, everyone loved him.) This made Det. Winston think he already knew
he was dead. Nick did go to the rock
wall. Rusty followed him to have it out over Theresa. An argument ensued and it
became a scuffle, at which point an angry Rusty pushed Nick into the river.
My two cents: I figured it was girl
problems because all the ladies loved Nick.
This was pretty simple, but all in all it was a good story. I thought the clue was well hidden. I was
glad to see it was a scuffle and a push, and not a planned murder. After all, they’re only 17.
The police
work was spot on. The story read well,
and was paced well. The author slid the
clue in there like a pro. The characters
seemed real. There was a motive for a
fight, that then turned deadly. Five
stars.
