Page 4 of Wild Wolf
We kept it down to a dull roar. There were a few other parties in the marina, so I didn’t feel bad about the noise. People ran around in costumes as Halloween approached. Plenty of cat girls, sexy nurses, seductive vampires, and undead zombies strutted their stuff. The boat wasn’t packed to capacity, but there was a good crowd. We’d have a mess to clean up in the morning.
Jack mixed a cocktail and joined the band for another set. They broke into a new song,She Put the D in Dirty.
Wild Fury had barely finished the song when Daniels called again.
I looked at the screen, stepped away from the noise, and answered the call. "What? Did she complain?"
"No. We’ve got another situation.”
"Another burglary?"
"No. Much worse.”
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.
I’d seen a lot of heinous things in my tenure as a deputy sheriff in this county, but this was on my top 10 list.
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?”
