The sun had barely cracked the horizon as Detective Julia Kirkling pulled up to the isolated lake house in her aging sedan. The morning air was crisp and heavy with a forest scent, birds chirping, undercurrents of tension palpable in the atmosphere already. Officers from her precinct were already securing the scene, their yellow tape fluttering in the gentle morning breeze silently. Julia stepped out and took in the view - a serene coastline, marred only by a prone figure on the shore. She made her way towards the body, each footstep measured, the soft earth sinking beneath her rugged boots' steady weight. The victim was a woman who appeared to be in her late thirties, her once-beautiful face now twisted into despair. Grimacing, Julia knelt beside her, taking in the sight of the pool of red seeping beneath the body's head slowly. A thing as beautiful as life, ended so tragically, she thought, a pang of sorrow piercing her weathered heart deeply.