Salmon lay eggs by the tens of thousands, producing young fish, known as parr. Once hatched, the parr consume their egg sacs, beginning what will be an annual eight-inch growth spurt. It takes about two years for the fish to become smolts, a time when bodily changes prepare them for their eventual return to the sea. Salmon grow even more rapidly in salt water, and by the time they reenter Loch Ness as adults, they may weigh as much as forty pounds.

After a steady hour of hiking parallel to the river, I came to a rocky area where the Moriston climbed steeply. Setting down my backpack, I situated myself atop a nice-sized boulder and took in the beauty of the falls, my mind wandering.

Angus had testified that John Cialino had been swarmed by a school of salmon just before he'd been attacked by the monster. While it was not unusual to see salmon along the surface, I still remained skeptical, especially when it came to the creature's diet. For one thing, salmon were epilimnion, meaning they preferred to inhabit the upper regions of Loch Ness. If the creature fed solely on salmon, there'd have been far more surface sightings over the years.

Then again, it had been a school of salmon that surrounded yours truly when I'd been bitten seventeen years ago.

Still, I reasoned the predator I was after preferred charr or pike or even Anguilla eels. Charr were migratory fish, smaller than salmon but far more numerous, and they inhabited the deeper regions of the Loch. Pike were also deep-water fish and grew as large as three feet in length, but did not exist in vast numbers in Loch Ness. Anguilla, on the other hand, not only grew in excess of eight feet and several hundred pounds, but were known to prefer the depths, suspending themselves vertically off the bottom of the Loch. Anguilla had poor eyesight and hunted by smell, but only frequented Loch Ness during the spring and summer months when the water warmed.

And yet Calum Forrest had specifically directed me to the salmon-spawning grounds.

I checked my watch. An hour had passed, and yet I still hadn't seen a single salmon leap the falls.

My cell phone rang. It was True.

"Zack? I stopped by Inverness Castle, but ye'd a'ready left. Angus… he says ye're headin' for the salmon burns?"

"I'm already here."

'An' where's here?"

"The forest, just west of Glenmoriston."

"Okay, I'll come and fetch ye."

"Don't bother. It's kind of nice here, peaceful. Besides, I still want to do some exploring, maybe take a few specimens. I'll probably just camp here for the night."

"Zack, have ye lost yer mind? The monster killed no' far frae there only last week."

"I'm much farther inland, in high ground. I'll be fine."

"Zack—"

"We'll meet tomorrow morning back at the lodge. See you then."