Ally and Will swam and splashed, squealed and laughed. The moon shone on the cool lake water. Will dove under the water kicking with his strong legs. He winced in pain and quickly swam to the surface.
"Damn, that really hurt!" he said to his girlfriend.
"What happened to you?" She said worriedly.
Will explained that he had kicked something hard; a rock or a sunken log. Ally ducked under the water and felt around with her hands and feet. She felt something hard yet squishy and tried to pull it back to the surface. It wouldn't budge. She pulled harder and suddenly felt the satisfying tear of the unknown. She pulled it upwards to show her boyfriend what he had kicked. As soon as the moonlight hit the object, they both swam back to the beach in a froth of terror. Ally had pulled up a severed arm.
******
The sun slowly began to rise, casting a pale pink light over the lake and the many police cruisers that now, surrounded the beach. The diving team had pulled the body from water and the coroner was making her first observations. Detective Schmitt, the lead forensic investor was keen to hear her analysis.
"Drowned?" He asked impatiently.
"Not at all" the coroner replied, "the tissue has been decomposing for several weeks now, by the looks of it."
She held her hand over the dead man's chest and continued,
"Stab wound to the chest. I believe this is how he died." She tenderly lifted his arm. "Bite marks. Most likely inflicted post mortem. This bite is quite large, possibly a wolf or coyote."
The detective wondered how this man ended up in the lake.
"I'll take him back to the morgue and have my full analyses for you as soon as possible."
Two morgue attendants placed the corps on a stretcher and placed the body in the back of their vehicle.
Detective Schmitt walked back to his car to ponder the murder and eat a breakfast of tuna tartar, his favourite.
