The Supernova Effect

Part three: The light Is Gone

"After hitting the surface the
shock blows the star apart
and the light goes away."

Sheriff Douglas

Never in my decade working as sheriff had I seen Lake Michigan pulled back this far.

Weeks without rain and brutal summer heat had dragged the shoreline nearly thirty feet back from where it normally sat. What used to stay hidden beneath the water now baked beneath the sun.

Dead fish.
Broken glass.
Rusted scraps of metal.
Old debris people probably forgot existed.

And now—

a body.

"Sheriff, I think you're gonna want to see this." One of the forensic girls called out from near the shoreline.

I made my way down the exposed shoreline, boots crunching against dried rocks and dead brush. The smell hit before I even fully saw the body.

Rot.

Lake water.

The remains were partially trapped beneath collapsed rocks near the embankment like the lake itself had tried to bury him.

Or keep him.

"What we got?" I asked.

The girl held up an evidence bag carefully.

Inside sat a soaked leather wallet.

Most of it looked ruined from being underwater, but the Illinois ID inside was still barely readable.

AMIR WILLIAMS.

I stared at the name longer this time.

Because I remembered it.

A year ago his missing persons case had been everywhere.

Rich family.
Media pressure.
Search parties.
News stations calling every damn day asking for updates we didn't have.

I remembered standing in front of cameras promising his parents we would find him.

And now—

here he was.

Hidden beneath Lake Michigan the entire time.

The drought had finally exposed what the water had been keeping.

"Jesus," my deputy muttered beside me.

"How long you think he's been down there?" I asked quietly.

The examiner adjusted her gloves while crouched beside the remains.

"Can't say exactly until autopsy," she answered. "But judging by decomposition?"

She glanced back toward the body.

"Over a year."

Another tech suddenly called out.

"Sheriff, I found something else."

She walked over holding another evidence bag.

Prescription pills.

Anxiety medication.

I frowned immediately.

"You thinking suicide?" she asked.

I looked back toward the body again.

The rocks.
The hidden shoreline.
The way he'd been buried beneath the embankment.

Something about it didn't sit right.

"I don't know," I admitted honestly. "This whole thing feels wrong."

The remains themselves were horrific.