The Spirit of the Lake

The summer night air was thick with moisture. The potential for a thunder storm was high, but the weather was holding back. For a drunken couple, the weather was perfect for a midnight swim in the lake. They stumble over each other as they walk through the sand towards the water. They kiss each other inaccurately all over as they undress. Eventually, they hit the water and start to cool off.

The girl gets out first and lies on the sand feeling the Earth turn bellow her. The guy was wading his way back in waste deep water. Suddenly, he feels something on his ankle. He tries to shake off whatever grabbed hold of him, but he can't. Suddenly, with a yelp, he's pulled under.

The girl looks up to see what the noise was. However, when she looks at the lake for the guy she was with, she sees a dark figure standing in the water, watching her. It was silhouetted, all in shadow. They stare at each other until it makes his way towards her with malicious intent. She screams. Everything goes dark and quiet.

The next day, Detective Maggie Williams gets out of her car and into the drizzle. CSI was on the scene investigating the deaths of the two unknown. Williams walks over to the scene with her credentials around her neck. She was not a tall woman, only 5 foot 3 inches, but she had an heir of command to her. She knew how to work and how to make people work for her. She had long brown hair, pulled up into a neat pony tail. She was pretty, fit, and didn't seem to care about any of that. As she walks over to the scene, the lead investigator walks over to her. He was older, in his late 40's. He was going grey and had a little bit of a gut to him. However, he looked like a guy who had been fit, probably played football for most of his academic life.

"Detective Williams?" He asks, "I'm Sgt. Green, we spoke over the phone."
"Nice to meet you, Sargent." Maggie says, shaking his hand. "You were a little vague in the details, but it sounded like a straight up drowning. So why call homicide?"
"See for yourself." He says.

He leads her down towards the beach.

"Two bodies were found at 5:30 this morning by Parks and Rec., they were on the beach." He explains.

They come up to the body of the man.

"30 year old white male, brown hair, blue eyes, no tattoos, no distinguishable marks." He states, "We're looking at his prints now."
"Any signs of foul-play?" Maggie asks.
"Just bruising around his ankle." He says pointing towards the victim's feet. "What we can gather is that he was pulled under and drowned."
"That or he got himself caught under water." She says flatly.

They head up the beach to the woman's body. She laid there sprawled on her back, her blue eyes and mouth were wide open, both filled with water. There was bruising around her neck. Williams looks at the body.

"Well, that is definitely strangulation." She says.
"There is also significant amount of fluids in her throat and mouth. It was filled to the brim according to the Parks and Rec. guy when he found her." Green says.
"So she was strangled and then filled with water?" Maggie asks.
"We'll know more when we bring her in for the autopsy. However, it sure does look like it." Green says.
"Find any prints?"
"Nothing. Not on the guy's ankle and nothing on her neck. We checked for foot prints, but that's a losing case due to the sand."
"Well you definitely have given me something to think about." Maggie says.
"It's the curse of the lake!" someone shouts.

Maggie and the rest of the police force look around for who shouted it. They pinpoint it on an old man looking on with fishing gear. The police were apparently in his fishing hole.

"What curse?" Maggie asks the old man, staying where she was.
"The Indian curse on the lake." He replies.
"Which is?" She asks, getting impatient.