The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Without looking back, Linus shut the door to the empty, grey bricked interrogation room before sitting himself down behind the small desk that was placed directly in the middle of the cement floor. Besides the bathrooms, it was the only place in the entire police station where an officer could grab a piece of momentary privacy.

On the desk sat a tan telephone that was layered from top to bottom with multicolored transfer buttons. The man loosened his blue spotted tie for more neck room.Linus sat and stared blankly at the phone on the table in the interrogation room as though it were a bomb ready to go off at any second. His stiff right hand wanted more than anything to pick up the receiver, but the circuitry in his brain wasn't exactly prepared to register such a strenuous task yet.

He looked up at the blurry window ahead of him in the door to see large silhouettes pass by in the hallway. Back and forth his eyes zoomed, from the door to the phone, until at last his hand managed to disobey the ongoing orders that his brain had been receiving.

Slowly, he punched the number nine and seven more numbers after that one. As if he could sense a slap coming right at his face, Linus clinched his body in anticipation for an answer.

"Hello?" A young, female's voice eagerly spoke.

"Hey there, kiddo, how are you?" Linus cleared his dry throat, just grateful to hear the girl's playful voice.

"I'm find, dad." The girl giddily replied. "How are you doing?"

"Not bad, I just called to see how everything was going with you ladies."

"It's going pretty good, I guess." She sighed.

"You guess?"

"Well...I guess I'd better get it out in the open before mom tells you. I got a D in algebra."

Linus gladly exhaled before asking, "What are you doing getting a D, Tabitha? You're a smart girl. And just what are you doing home from school today anyways?"

"I know, dad, it's just...algebra is so damn hard, and our teacher is such a witch. The teachers are having their conferences, by the way."

"Does your mother know that you're using that king of language, young lady?"

"Sorry. So darn hard," Tabitha groaned.

Smiling, Linus said, "You just have to keep working at it. You may not realize it now, but that witch of a teacher could be the best thing to ever happen to you."

"I suppose so. So, uh...we all heard about what happened up there in Cuyahoga. How you caught that kidnapper and all."

"I didn't catch anyone; something else beat us to the punch."

"Yeah, well at least it's all over now."

"For now, or until the next perv comes crawling out of the sewer." Linus sighed before taking a long breath. "How's your sister doing?"

Tabitha hesitated at first before replying, "She's okay. She still won't eat much. Mom says she eats like grandma used to when she was still alive."

"Like a bird?" Linus' smile shrank.

"Something like that."

"Listen, uh, is your mom around by any chance?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen. Do you want me to go and get her?"

"Would you please, honey?" Linus held his breath and tightened his fists. In the background he could hear Tabitha's mother speaking. He could tell just by her distant tenor that he was the last person she wanted to talk to.

"Hello?" The woman answered in a melancholy nature as though she were being inconvenienced.

"Hi there," Linus perked up. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Linus. How are you?" She defensively replied.

"Not bad, not bad. I just called to see how everything was."

"Everything is going just fine." The woman sarcastically said.

"Tabi tells me that Liz is still...still not eating."

The woman sighed, "Well, after what she went through, eating is probably the last thing on her mind. I'm glad that you were able to catch your kidnapper, though. Were you able to find whatever it was that killed him?"

"No, not yet," Linus rolled his eyes. "But I didn't call to talk about that."

"What did you call about then, Linus?"

"Actually, I was wondering if it...if I could come down this weekend and see you guys."

There was an inflated pause over the phone at that instant. Linus held his breath and shut his eyes.

"Linus...I don't think that would be a very good idea; at least not yet."

Sitting back in his seat, Linus asked, "And why not, Alice? I haven't seen the girls since Thanksgiving, for Christ's sake."

"Linus, you just got off of a case that you've been working on since last September."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"You know full well how you get too involved in your cases. You bring them home with you. I don't think it would be wise to bring this particular one all the way down to Xenia."

Linus dropped his head to the table and rubbed his blushing face in anguish. "I only wish you could have seen the girl we found in that madman's basement, Alice. The look on that child's face," Linus gulped. "She looked just like—

"Stoppit, Linus! Just stoppit!" Alice furiously screamed into the phone. "Do you see what I mean? I don't want to know what happened down in some murderer's basement, and I surely don't want our daughters to know! Elizabeth is a vegetable, and you want to come all the way here with that hanging over your head?"

"I need to see them!" Linus suddenly roared into the phone.

There sat another stretch of silence before Alice calmly uttered in a condescending tone, "And you wonder why we left."

Linus pulled the phone away from his ear and began to massage his pulsating temples as though they were ready to explode.

"Linus, just give yourself some time. Give us all some time; perhaps around spring, when all of this has finally died down. When Liz is better, then...then maybe you can come."

hands while sitting at the desk and brooding over his daughters' faces, as well as the smug manner in which his wife carried on during their conversation. He wanted to tear right through the phone. Not once did the thought of saying goodbye even enter his

then, the phone rang. The red button on the bottom repeatedly flashed. Linus reluctantly picked up

"Hey, buddy, the old man wants to

"Okay," Linus sighed, "I'm on my way." The detective hung up the phone, straitened his tie and marched

day, garden variety thugs being carried in from off the cold streets for whatever crimes that had committed. He secured his gun belt around his shoulder and began down a long,

while rounding the corner with

a morose glaze

put two and two together." Alan said before both he and Linus started up the stairs. "How

"Same as usual," Linus

"You sure," Alan glanced

"Yeah," Linus kept his eyes

As they reached the third floor, both men just happened to stop right in the middle

"Same as usual," Alan asked with a hard

Linus dropped his head as to not allow his partner to see his misty eyes; he then looked back up and asked, "You and Peggy got any

if the words that he wanted to say were still trapped inside his head. With a straight face, Alan bellyached, "I missed 'The Battle of the Network Stars'

Linus chuckled before sarcastically asking, "Oh darn, you mean to tell

"Make fun if you want, but it's the only thing on TV

"Hey, you guys, the captain is waiting." Officer Donaldson feverishly

and Alan carried on to the captain's office. The second Linus opened the door, the powerful aroma of cigarette

gruff, country speaking captain ordered as he put out his cigarette in the glass

bald head was littered with liver spots while his thin build suggested that life on the force had taken its toll on his body. His rugged facial feathers were straight out of a Marlboro magazine ad, complete with a thick

in the flesh." The captain coughed while gesturing for the detectives to take a seat in the two

"Damn TV show."

you'd quit that, especially since you're carrying a

this cold I have." The captain hacked again. "When you have a wife that teaches second graders, she's

me, but I wasn't the one who ended it all." Linus modestly turned

was just listening to this tape right before you two stepped in."

Linus sulked in his seat like a five year old, still not believing

while pushing the

"Yeah, poor baby," Alan arrogantly

I've never heard a wolf sound anything like that. And believe

"Well, sir," Alan shrugged, "we have reason to believe that we may be dealing with

gaily chimed as

"Come on in, Patrick." The

had been running while holding two green folders

The captain asked while leaning back in his creaky wooden

I ran the animal's recording through the voice

The captain motioned. "Just slow down and

stand there and say that our so called state-of-the art equipment couldn't tell you what this thing

Linus, there's more."

"There always

"I also ran an analysis on the fur follicles we found. It's all wolf hair, every single strand. But on

captain, Linus and Alan all looked up at Brice with sour expressions on their warm faces; not a single hint of emotion could be seen. They possessed the appearance of someone who could sense that the world as they knew it would end

stood by the door, waiting to

the door, son." The captain calmly

With a completely pale face, Brice did as

eyeballed the nervous young man while slipping his frail fingers into the other before asking in a composed and dignified demeanor, "Son...just what do you suppose we do with that bit of information? Do you think it's wise that we just allow you, or anyone else for that matter, to leak that out to the

Linus could do was sit and watch Brice, who was still stuck in statue mode, stare at the captain as if

what I want you to do. I want you to strike everything you just mentioned

searing hot spotlight were glaring

into the man's eyes and simply

the captain with the most innocent and

that you got the animal's

contained, Brice opened his mouth and

"Shh." The captain

"Yes, sir," Brice hesitantly recoiled.

is 'Sesame Street' and we'll say it together. There was no

had a choice in the matter, Fitzpatrick simply

"Linus," the captain dead-eyed the man. "No saliva

young man blushed

"Good. Now, what about

"Well, it's one hundred percent wolf fur alright. No doubt

it is, said that it

"Captain, I didn't make the thing, I just operate it." Brice

talking about the quote, unquote, Jaws of all wolves. Something

"Yeah, you didn't see the size of those holes that it left behind, Captain." Alan added. "It seemed pretty damn big to us. God help anyone if something like that is out there

it measured up to six and a half feet long. Assuming this thing is

once again leaned back in his seat and glanced

The captain sulked while spinning back around. "And quite frankly, neither are we. We've got entirely too much to handle here in the big city to be chasing after some overgrown...whatever. But I was thinking, right before you fellas came in here. All of this sounds damn familiar. Do you guys remember that incident back in November, with

yesterday. Something just broke into that house and tore those guys apart. Who covered that

took that vacation to Hawaii. I guess they watched

Alan and Brice all

"I do remember Wilson saying something about some hair being left behind." Brice pondered. "I sure wish I were there to pick some

either we have two of these things running around, or the same

mustache. "Cummins is dead. That now leaves us with something that is possibly even more dangerous. So, it killed three drug dealers and a sicko car salesman. Big fucking deal. As far as I'm concerned, we're all better off. But two nights ago, it managed to break into a house and kill four little girls and their

"Well, what do we do, hire an

captain remarked. "I want you to put a task force together by the end of the day. No more than four men. Hook up with Cuyahoga Falls and the highway patrol. We all seemed to

"Yes, sir," Alan said, promptly wiping the cheesy grin from off his face and exiting

to retrieve Wilson's file and see if you can dig up something more on this thing. As I was telling Bruin and Fitz before you dropped by, I've never heard a wolf sound

a dower expression

sat back and relaxed into the wooden chair that he was attached to. For a few brief moments there melted a

"So, it took you six months, but you finally did

A forced grin graced Linus' face at that second. He was visibly weary of all the attention that was being tossed at him from

"Finally," he apprehensively muttered. "I'm just

stared unceasingly at Linus in humble adoration before saying,