The Sandy Whitcombe Case File

This week’s short fiction is set out beyond the barrier islands of South Carolina, where therapist Dr. Lex Hastings kicks back on her boat. While her husband fishes, she digs into the case file of an ex-patient, hoping to divine the cause of her untimely death.

As with all fiction on this Substack, there is always a dark undercurrent.

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The Sandy Whitcombe Case file

Dr. Lex Hastings, or Lexi among friends, was taking a well-earned long weekend off. By day, she was a social worker and therapist running a private practice in Charleston, NC. She also volunteered her social work skills to the city she cherished and had always called home, occasionally assisting with criminal psychopathy cases. Whether it was a cold case, an ongoing investigation, or a debriefing of a convicted individual, Lex had a talent for unraveling complex human psychopathic behavior and explaining it in simple terms.

This workload alone was demanding. Add to that the emotional toll of the subject matter, and it’s clear why she sometimes needed to disconnect. Yet, there was rarely a true “off” switch with Lex. In her free time, she read academic papers and reviewed cold case files that had no direct bearing on her work. Lex was naturally suited for this line of work.

Her husband, on the other hand, was, as he described himself, “just a simple country lawyer.” Jack Hastings loved to fish for clients during the week and fish for fish on the weekends.

“It’s all the same skillset, Lexi,” he mansplained to his wife as she kept reading. “You find where they lurk, you watch ‘em, you lay the bait, and you catch ‘em, take the retainer, and then you grill them, and the ones you have no use for, you throw into the ocean.”

“Jack,” Lex objected, “these are human beings you are talking about, not fish. It’s even vulgar when you talk like that about fish.”

“Except the bit about the retainer,” Jack smiled. “You’ve never objected to the retainers.”

It was true. Lex had to admit that she was complicit in his work, if not his vocabulary, since the two enjoyed a very comfortable lifestyle, including a townhouse in Charleston, a beach house on the Isle of Palms, and a fishing boat for Jack, and they were still only in their early 30s.

Lex rarely joined Jack on his “boy days.” Jack and Liam Tealing were old friends who never grew up. They still played golf, fished, drank beer, and enjoyed each other’s company. Lex had dated Liam in high school, but while on a double date with Jack and his then-girlfriend Peggy Banks, or Pegs—ice cream and bowling on the Palms pier—the chemistry shifted, and the couples switched. This was teenage stuff, and there was no jealousy; only laughs at the time, and the occasional joke over the years. She and Pegs were besties, as were Jack and Liam. So, while the boys were out on the boat, Lex and Pegs soaked up the sun, read, and chatted.

But on this occasion—and over the past few months, in fact—Liam and Pegs had declined the usual invite to shoot the breeze. Both had mentioned things being “on the rocks,” so Jack and Lex gave them space. Without their usual beach and boat company, Lex relented to Jack’s insistence that she join him on his fishing trips.

So, on this pristine summer afternoon, out past the North Carolina barrier islands, Jack cast his lines, drank his beer, and watched the still Atlantic waters while Lex sipped rosé and dived into a case file she’d been handed the week before: the Sandy Whitcome Case.

The Sandy Whitcome File.

Age: 33

Birthplace: Charleston, NC

Last seen: Sweetgrass Inn, Isle of Palms, NC

Cause of Death: Drowning

Mitigating circumstances: High blood alcohol levels, suicidal depression

Coroner’s conclusion: Misadventure.

Sandy Whitcome’s death occurred just a few miles from Lex’s beach house, and the Sweetgrass Inn was only a few hundred yards from the Wild Dunes Resort and golf course, where she and Pegs would meet Jack and Liam for cocktails on Saturday evenings. The case was close to home. But what made it especially painful for Lex was that Sandy Whitcome had once been a client of hers.

So, on this weekend off, Lex gathered police reports along with all the notes from what amounted to dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of her own sessions with Whitcombe, kicked back, and started going through the highlights of Whitcombe’s life story, searching for any meaning as to why Sandy might have ended her life this way.

Client: Whitcombe, Alexandra (“Sandy”)

Prepared by: Dr. Lex Hastings

Subject: Biographical Summary, Key Memory Markers

… Whitcombe, Alexandra—known throughout childhood and adolescence as Sandy—born on the South Carolina coast, the only child of parents who operated a modest marina along a tidal creek outside Beaufort…

… Early memories described by the client revolve around water. Not the ocean itself, but the peaceful landscape of the marsh: the smell of pluff mud at low tide, the metallic clang of rigging against sailboat masts, the long walk along weathered docks where the boards had grown silver from salt and time…

… One recurring memory goes back to age six: the client sitting cross-legged on the dock, eating a melting popsicle while watching pelicans dive into a creek. The memory seems neutral but was described with unusual clarity, suggesting a strong sensory imprint…

… The client’s father is described as patient but emotionally distant, and her mother as affectionate but anxious. Family dynamics seem stable, though the client reports learning early on to observe people carefully before speaking…

… By adolescence, the client had developed what teachers described as an unusual sensitivity to emotional cues in others. Several accounts describe her mediating conflicts between peers. At age fifteen, she reportedly helped a friend, Sally Clemonts, through a severe depressive episode after noticing small behavioral changes others had ignored. Sally had a blond bob and smelled of lavender…

... The client describes this period as the first time she considered becoming a guidance counselor...

… At seventeen: first romantic relationship: Billy. The client recalls sitting in a parked truck overlooking the pier at night, headlights off, listening to cicadas while Billy talked. She remembers the humidity more vividly than the conversation itself. There was a clumsy sexual encounter. The client liked the smell of cigarettes as he kissed her. He had strong hands…

… The relationship ended abruptly. The client reports feeling embarrassed rather than heartbroken and, at the time, sensed that the relationship was not fully resolved. She also sensed that Billy knew this. Between them, there was an unspoken covenant that, when the time was right, they would reconnect. And that longing became a slow-burning desire…

... University years marked a significant shift in identity. After leaving home for graduate school at USC, the client began introducing herself as Alexandra, then Alex, abandoning her childhood nickname, Sandy, which she described as “soft” and “provincial.” The name change seems linked to the client’s developing professional image…

… She married a man named John shortly after her graduation…

… The client describes the early stages of the relationship with John as peaceful and supportive. Several memories involve small, seemingly insignificant domestic details: cooking fish on a porch overlooking the barrier islands, driving along coastal roads at night with the windows down, the smell of sunscreen and gasoline from a borrowed boat…

… The client frequently mentions water when describing their relationship, as if she were drowning in commitments, unable to breathe…

The couple bought a small fishing boat about two years into their marriage. John used it to fish, while the client nurtured a fake friendship with Billy’s wife, Margery, to get closer to him. Margery…

... The client recalls learning to navigate the tidal creeks with Billy while John, and Marge played backgammon and got drunk. She describes the first time she steered the boat through a narrow marsh channel as one of the few moments in adulthood when she felt “completely present.”…

… Later sessions reveal emerging anxiety within the marriage, though the client struggled to articulate the cause…

… Client reports a vague sense of being watched or judged during otherwise normal interactions with their spouse. No specific incidents were noted during early sessions. Suspected neurosis or gaslighting occurring within the home…

… Client admits to extra marital affair with Billy, and now fears for her life. She has opened up about her husband’s temper, controlling nature, and jealousy issues…

… Client repeatedly returns to a recurring image: the two of them alone on open water, the boat rocking slowly with the tide. The image is described as both peaceful and unsettling, with the violently incoherent mix of sea air and bilge water…

… Client feels like something important sense of self is being lost…

… Client opens up about a dream in which she is sitting on the forward bench of the fishing boat, holding a case file, when her husband confronts her about her affair with Billy. She closes the case file and sees the name on its cover as her own…

… Alexandra “Lex” Hastings (informally “Sandy”) …

… Maidenname: Whitcombe…

… Yes, client recalls, that was it, that was my maiden name; Whicombe. Sandy Whitcombe, but after I married John, or Jack, as he likes to call himself, I became Dr Lex Hastings…

… Client fears that Jack knows about her affair with Liam—the “Billy” she had dated in her youth—but cannot be sure…

… Client feels heady and sleepy. She now recalls that Jack has been topping up her rosé and telling her to drink all day…

… Client looks at Jack, believing she’s been drugged, and sees him watching her…

… Client reports that Jack says, “Feeling sleepy, honey? Well, fuck you, Lex: Fuck Liam, and fuck you.” ...

… Client sees Jack lean close to her and whisper, “Liam told me everything, bitch. And now he’s fish food. Same old skillset, honey: You find where they lurk, you watch ‘em, you lay the bait, and you catch ‘em, grill ‘em, and the ones you don’t want, you throw in the ocean.” …

… Client feels very sleepy and is unable to move as John lifts her over the side of the boat and pushes her into the ocean …

… Client admits, in her last desperate moments, to seeing her life flashing before her eyes, like a case report, as she frantically searches for meaning before panic gives way to acceptance…

… Client descends deeper into the murky blue Atlantic waters. She watches and listens with a calm fascination as Jack’s outboard motors roar to life and then fade into the distance, until all is silent, and black, and motionless, and fish begin to peck at her lifeless body.

The End

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