Chapter 2
We pulled into the parking lot at Echo Point.
It was a private beach that closed at sunset.
It had gated access, but the candy cane lever arm was broken.
You could manually lift it up and drive right into the parking lot.
It was a popular place for kids to make out after dark.
There was the occasional bonfire on the beach or party in the parking lot.
Red and blue lights from patrol cars painted the area in flashes of color.
The medical examiner's van was on the scene, along with an ambulance.
A few curious onlookers gathered, dressed in costumes.
Still, a few days out from the big event, the celebrations lasted almost a week on the island.
Plenty of parties and costume contests gave revelers multiple opportunities to express their inner demons.
Jack found a place to park, and we followed the path through a wooded area toward the beach. Camera flashes spilled through the trees as Dietrich snapped photos of the grisly scene.
At first, I was a little confused. This wasn't a gunshot wound or a stabbing. This was something far more insidious.
The young blonde girl with milky skin had been mauled.
Slashes carved canyons through her flesh.
Defensive wounds on her arms and hands told me she’d put up a fight.
Gashes across her torso ran red with rivers of blood.
Crimson speckled her fair skin and the surrounding sand.
Something had taken a chunk of flesh from her neck.
It opened the carotid artery. She likely bled out in a matter of seconds.
She had once been an attractive girl in her early 20s. That made it all the more horrible. So much life ahead of her.
Brenda hovered over the remains, wearing pink nitrile gloves.
The stars flickered, and the moon glowed overhead. Its pale rays illuminated the beach and the obsidian water beyond.
"What the hell did this?" JD asked. "Some kind of animal?"
"Could be," Brenda said, just as bewildered as the rest of us. “This looks like something took a bite out of her neck." She pointed to the torso. "These look like claw marks. The cuts are deep and precise. I'll know more when I get her back to the lab.”
"What kind of animal could do this?" JD asked.
Brenda shrugged. "Big cat, maybe.”
"Anything escape from the zoo?" I asked.
"Maybe you should find out," the sheriff muttered.
"I'm on it.”
"This is the last thing we need right now.”
"Do we have an ID on the victim?" I asked.
"The ID in her purse says Ophelia Grace,” Brenda said. "19. She's got a student ID from Vanden University."
I cringed. “Time of death?”
“This is fresh. Within the last two hours.”
“Who found the body?”
The sheriff pointed to a vampire and a naughty nurse who stood nearby, talking to Deputy Faulkner.
JD and I trudged the sandy path to join them. My badge caught the moonlight as I made introductions.
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
The vampire shifted nervously. "We were, you know, just going to go for a stroll on the beach."
They were going for a little more than a stroll, but I wasn't concerned about the trespassing or what they had planned on doing.
"We came across her on the trail," he continued.
"It's horrible," his girlfriend shrieked, tears still misting her eyes. "I've never seen a dead body before."
"What time was that?"
"Maybe half an hour ago now," the vampire said.
"Did you see anybody in the area?”
They both looked at each other, then shook their heads.
"What about animals?”
"Is that what did this?" the girl asked with round eyes.
I shrugged. "Do you know the victim?”
They both shook their heads.
I took their contact information and gave them a card.
I was about to step back to the sheriff when a bearded man staggered up the trail from the beach.
His hand gripped a bottle in a brown bag, and the contents sloshed around.
He fought the trail, and for a moment, it looked like the trail might win.
For now, he remained standing. "I'll tell you what killed her!” he slurred. “I seen it happen.”