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."

the receiver down before shoving the phone away. He held his aching head in his hands while sitting at the desk and brooding over his daughters' faces, as well as the smug manner in which his

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

"Hey, buddy, the old man wants to

Linus sighed, "I'm on my way." The detective

of ringing telephones, arguing hookers and every 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, grubby hallway that led to an

Fitzpatrick called out while rounding the corner with a manila folder in

Slightly alarmed, Linus looked back with a morose glaze on his face and asked, "How did you know I was

"It's not hard to put two and two together." Alan said

"Same as

"You sure," Alan glanced

kept his eyes to the passing

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

asked with a hard

his

to say were still trapped inside his head. With a straight face, Alan bellyached, "I missed 'The Battle of the Network Stars' last night,

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

only thing

the captain is waiting." Officer Donaldson feverishly

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

the gruff, country speaking captain ordered as he put out

early sixties. His nearly 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 mustache and ice cold

captain coughed while gesturing for the detectives to take a seat in the two chairs in front

show." Alan griped,

since you're carrying

"When you have a wife that teaches second graders, she's

but I wasn't the

speaking of the one who ended it all, I was just

Everyone gathered listened to the beast's roars and snarls all over again. Linus sulked in his seat like a five year old, still not believing that it was only a day removed

"Poor schmuck," the captain offhandedly mumbled while pushing the off button. "He barely got a word out

"Yeah, poor baby," Alan arrogantly sucked

place seems to forget is that I was born and raised out in the hills of Montana, and in all my years I've never heard a wolf sound anything like that. And believe me, I know exactly what a wolf sounds like. Hearing a wolf out there

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

knock." Brice gaily chimed as he opened the captain's door ever

"Come on in,

"Sorry to barge in like this." The young man humbly panted as if he had been running while holding two green folders underneath his right armpit. "I was told that you three would be here, so I

"Whaddya got?" The captain asked while

off, I ran the animal's recording through the voice analyzer. Believe it or not, this is

The captain motioned. "Just slow

"Wait a minute." Linus stepped in. "You mean to stand there and say

"Hold on, Linus, there's

"There

follicles we found. It's all wolf hair, every single strand. But on top

moment grew eerily quiet. The captain, Linus and Alan all looked up at Brice with sour expressions on their warm faces; not a

the door, waiting to

"Close the door, son." The captain

pale face, Brice did as commanded

The captain then 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 public? This is a police station, not The National

who was still stuck in statue mode, stare at the captain as if he were a

you to do. I want you to strike everything you just mentioned about that saliva off the

"Captain," Brice uneasily smiled as though a searing hot spotlight were glaring down upon him, "you're not just

looked dead into the man's eyes and simply asked, "What do

at the captain with the most innocent and confused poses on

"Let's just say that you got the

up to be contained, Brice opened his

captain

sir," Brice hesitantly recoiled. "We'll

"As a matter of fact, let's all say that. Let's pretend this is 'Sesame Street' and we'll say it together. There was no saliva sample to speak of. Alan?" He pointed with his

choice in the matter, Fitzpatrick simply uttered,

captain dead-eyed the man. "No saliva

"No sample, Captain." The young man blushed while grudgingly

Now, what about this wolf

hundred percent wolf fur alright. No doubt

"But your analyzer, or whatever it is, said that it wasn't a wolf. How

make the thing,

of all wolves. Something that's super big and

those holes that it left behind, Captain." Alan added. "It seemed

"Captain, I measured this thing's strides in the snow. It has a...foot size of at least sixteen. Just on all fours, it measured up to six and a

The captain once again leaned back in his seat and glanced over at the gloomy sky outside his

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

yesterday. Something just

he and his wife finally took that vacation to Hawaii. I guess they watched that Brady Bunch episode with Vincent Price one too many

Linus, Alan and Brice

left behind." Brice pondered. "I sure wish I were

"So that means either we have two of these things running around, or the same animal is hitting different cities."

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 parents. Inside their own damn home," the captain strongly clarified. "We here at the Cypress P.D. don't hunt animals. We're police officers, not animal control. But, if this one thing can take out four large men on its own, then we've got one helluva problem on our hands, gentlemen. Personally, I don't wanna wait

we do, hire an old time

patrol. We all seemed to work pretty well with each other these past few months; I don't see why the love affair should end now.

wiping the cheesy grin from off his face and exiting the

something more on this thing. As I was telling Bruin and Fitz

it, Captain." Brice, with a dower expression on his face, replied as he

chair that he was attached

six months,

He was visibly weary

"Finally," he apprehensively muttered.

The captain sat and stared unceasingly at Linus in humble adoration before saying, "I know how bad