Page 5 of Wild Escape

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Decomposition gases had bloated the victim’s naked figure. It wasn't a pretty sight. The young woman’s matted blonde hair was more of a greenish color now. It looked like seaweed. Her skin was pale and starting to slough. She’d been in the water a few days, by my estimation.

Mortified faces looked on in horror. Some people snapped photos and videos to post online.

Paris Delaney and her crew arrived. They hustled across the sand to capture footage of the carnage.

"Who found the body?" I asked.

The sheriff pointed to a couple standing nearby. "They're the ones who phoned it in.”

JD and I stepped to the couple, flashed our badges, and made introductions. They were young, 19 or 20. The girl, Lily, had straight raven hair, and her boyfriend was taller with short dark hair that looked like a mop on top.

"I think I know her," the girl said.

I lifted a surprised brow. "What's her name?"

"I don't know, but I think she's in my Econ class."

"Where?”

"Vanden."

It was an upscale university on the island.

“What’s your professor’s name?”

“MacAllen.”

I asked her to take a closer look at the remains. We stepped toward the body. Lily's face soured as we drew near. Brenda pulled the victim’s hair out of her face.

Lily nodded. "Yep. That's her."

"Do you know her name?” I asked again.

Her face scrunched as she thought about it. "I think it's Gabby. But I could be wrong.” Her face scrunched. “I mean, she’s not really looking like herself. We sat next to each other once. I borrowed her notes. She was really nice.”

"Do you know her last name?"

Lily shook her head.

It wouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

I asked Brenda if she had a time of death.

"I'd say 48 to 72 hours. But I'll know more when I get back to the lab. The water can affect decomposition.”

Upon closer inspection, the girl had multiple punctures in the thoracic cavity.

This was no accident.

"It looks like she was stabbed before death," Brenda said.

It wasn't uncommon for people to stab bodies after death, before dumping them into the water, hoping the decomposition gases wouldn't bring them to the surface. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn't.

With the amount of time Gabby was in the water, it would be unlikely to recover any trace DNA. The fact that she was naked implied she might have been sexually assaulted.

I asked Lily, "When was the last time you saw Gabby?”