The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Chapter 19

"What time is it?" Linus moaned while driving all too slowly down the desolate highway on a day that was nearing noontime.

Fitzpatrick looked out at the passing farmland scenery and asked, "Does it really matter?"

Linus must have sighed at least three to four times since leaving the house. The man's entire body felt as if it were carrying a load of bricks tied to his heels. No matter what, he just couldn't get the fog out of his brain.

"It's hard to believe that this thing hiked almost three miles away just to eat more people."

Stirring awake from his dull stupor, Linus glanced over and grunted, "Huh?"

"I said, I can't believe the thing hiked three miles just to eat more people." Fitzpatrick replied a bit louder.

"Yeah," Linus sighed again."

"You gotta be kidding me." Alan griped.

"Whaddya mean?"

"What's with all the damn sighing? You sound like my wife whenever she wants sex from me?"

Linus shrugged and said, "We just wrapped up a five and a half month kidnapping investigation, and you're asking what's with all the sighing?"

"For Christ's sake," Alan grumbled, "it's not the first kidnapping we've ever covered."

Linus didn't bother to look over at his partner, instead, he gazed upwards into the grey, brooding sky. "What would make a person do all of that, Al?"

"Do what?"

"Kidnap, rape and kill. He even raped the guys, for God's sake." Linus shook his head in shame. "I'm sitting here trying to figure out what sort of twisted event in this man's life could have brought him to such a point."

"Who knows?" Alan groaned. "He obviously had some kind of sick fetish that needed to be fulfilled. You mentioned it yourself back at the TV station."

"And the smell," Linus lamented. "How can any normal human being tolerate having all those dead bodies in that house and not become sick themselves?"

"After a while, even the most perverted person becomes accustomed to his or hers perversion. The man was obviously tormented."

Bruin only scanned the grazing land that passed by at 33 mph.

"I wonder if Gloria saw—

"That's enough!" A frustrated Fitzpatrick hollered.

A momentary quiet took place inside the car before Linus again sighed and said, "I suppose you're gonna tell me that I'm feeling sorry for myself, right?"

"No, it's not that." Fitzpatrick huffed. "You're shitting bricks because after all these months someone or something else got that fucker before you could. We all wanted to plug a bullet in the guy, but we missed out."

Linus rolled his eyes in the other direction, hoping that he could possibly ignore his partner's rant, but it seemed that the more he tried to focus on other matters, Gloria's pale, terrified image would cross his path in stunning full color.

"Whaddya think?" Fitzpatrick looked over.

"Think about what?"

about the fur. Do you

"Who's to say?" Linus gripped the steering wheel tighter. "I can't see wolves tearing through a wall like a wrecking ball. Maybe it's something that escaped

"The zoo," Fitzpatrick chuckled. "If I ever see the thing that could eat the way that fucker did last night, then I hope we never find

had to sift through the dead bodies first before he could even place the image of an overgrown

"A wolf," Fitzpatrick sniggered. "I swear that Brice gets dumber by the

Linus smirked before asking, "You don't think

he's a kid." Alan tossed up his hands. "An Ivy league, smarty pants, know-it-all kid. He's just twenty years younger than you and

"Are you trying to say that we're old

play it like my wife; I turn twenty-four with every passing

the remark while glancing down at the speedometer to notice for the very first time that he was driving extra

kids are taking

"Is that all you're

I also hope I get home in time this evening

semi-truck roared past them on the other side of the road. The first sign of life ever since

"I was thinking

anything. "It's a shame that you have to actually think about

expression hanging on his face. "I hate to say this, but I think you have a better chance of speaking rationally with someone like

"I can handle O'Dea, in small doses,

the cruiser. For a few moments Linus actually believed that

"Did you catch the body

"Which one," Linus glanced strangely over at his

"The black

yeah, she

"I can see you

cruiser behind a coroners van, both he and Alan noticed a barrage of officers and reporters all milling about the yard of a red and white brick house. Without uttering a single word, they climbed out of the vehicle and dragged themselves towards another squad car just a few feet away where

the radio back into the holster inside the car. "Long

are you, Phelps?" Fitzpatrick

Phelps pouted before turning to the house to his right. "We got six dead bodies. A mother, father and their four daughters. The

"It even got the daughters, too?"

"Upstairs...all four girls. Two, four, seven and ten," Phelps chocked. "Something just...just tore its way through the bedroom door and got them

"Who found them?" Linus asked

Phelps said. "She lives right across the street. She and the mother have coffee every morning. Can you imagine finding this,

and watched as the loudly weeping grandmother was consoled by a number

take

to see what we're dealing with." Linus said while glancing nervously

"I heard

"It was more like we found what was left of him." Fitzpatrick snickered. "But, as it so happens, something else

way here." Phelps rubbed his face in weariness. "It broke in through a basement

Linus stepped forward, placed his right hand on Phelps' shoulder and sympathetically whispered into the man's

his head in a noble lamentation before glancing back and saying, "Sometimes, losing a nephew feels like losing your own son. This is all his mother needs right now. Does anyone know what did

kept a recording of all the rapes he committed. Last night, right after he got through with his last victim, something

bear." Fitzpatrick added. "He says that the paw tracks are too

"Come inside and take a look at this." Phelps said as he stepped away from his cruiser and

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