Space Coast

by James Norton

Tuesday, June 27, 1978, 0437 - There’s a dead man in the sand. Daniel Hagerty has been roused to come out in the early morning to view the body. It’s not a pretty body. Gustave Kopecki, astronautical engineer, never had a pretty body. Over weight and fish-belly white would be polite terms to describe the carcass. The best word to apply to Kopecki’s remains was fresh. The astronautical engineer wasn’t supposed to be on the beach seven-eights below the high tide line. Hagerty wasn’t sure where Kopecki belonged, but he knew that he shouldn’t be here. After being discharged from psychological treatment at Bethesda Naval Hospital, Hagerty had barely hung with the DOJ. They’d stuffed him out at the Kennedy Space Center reviewing expense accounts of government contractors. Mental healthwise it seemed to be working. He hadn’t heard the voices, panicked or shot anyone in twenty-two months. Angela hadn’t crossed his mind in eighteen days, but who was counting. Here he was on the beach east of Melbourne, Florida babysitting a stiff who had fallen under federal jurisdiction because he was mostly on federal land and a NASA employee. He, Hagerty was only involved because he’s the closest federal lawman, the only federal law enforcement officer known to the locals for thirty miles. For him the trick is to hand off the case to the FBI when they opened the Orlando shop in three or four hours. No problem.

334 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 11, 2014

About the author

James Norton worked for several years as the Middle East editor for The Christian Science Monitor. Subsequently, he worked for the comedian (now US Senator) Al Franken and as a pop food reviewer for CHOW.com. He's currently the editor of The Heavy Table, an online magazine documenting food and drink in the Upper Midwest.

Norton's books include volumes on politics ("Saving General Washington"), food ("Lake Superior Flavors") and one collection of short fiction, "The Wendigo's Credit Card."

He lives in Minneapolis with his wife (photographer Becca Dilley), his son, and three semi-competent cats.