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."

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.

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

the old man wants to see us." Fitzpatrick adamantly

way." The detective hung up the phone,

garden variety thugs being carried in from off the cold streets for whatever crimes that had

"Hey!" Fitzpatrick called out while

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

and two together." Alan said before both he and Linus started

"Same

"You sure,"

"Yeah," Linus kept his

the third floor, both men just happened to stop

as usual," Alan asked with

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

that he wanted to say were still trapped inside his head.

darn, you mean to tell me that you missed

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

is

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

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

was an older white man in his 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

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

TV show."

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

to do with this cold I have." The captain hacked again. "When you have a wife that teaches second graders, she's bound to bring home

but I wasn't the one who ended it

now. But, speaking of the one who ended it all, I was just listening to this tape right before you two stepped in." The captain said before pressing the play button on

in his seat like a five year old, still

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

"Yeah, poor baby," Alan

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 is as common as hearing a car horn here in the city. This damn thing sounds like it's from the mouth of hell itself."

believe

Brice gaily chimed as he

on in, Patrick."

humbly panted as if he had been running while holding two green folders underneath his right armpit.

The captain asked

forensic examiner said, "Well, three things. First off, I ran the animal's recording through the voice analyzer. Believe it or not, this is not a wolf, or even a bear for that matter. The machine keeps telling me that the sound is

down, son." The captain motioned. "Just slow down and

minute." Linus stepped in. "You mean to stand there and say that our so called state-of-the art equipment couldn't tell

"Hold on, Linus, there's more." Brice

"There always is." Alan

fur follicles we found. It's all wolf hair, every single strand. But on top of that, and you're not gonna believe this. The saliva I found in the

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

by the door, waiting to see or hear

"Close the door, son." The

With a completely pale face, Brice did as commanded

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

sit and watch Brice, who was still stuck in

you to strike everything you just mentioned about that saliva off the plate, right

"Captain," Brice uneasily smiled as though a searing hot spotlight were

captain looked dead into the

all looked back at the captain with the most innocent and confused poses on their faces as though they were locked in

you got the animal's

wound up to be contained, Brice opened his mouth and

The captain nodded. "We're

"Yes, sir," Brice hesitantly recoiled.

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

As if he had a choice in the matter, Fitzpatrick simply uttered, "There

captain dead-eyed

"No sample, Captain." The young man blushed while grudgingly stuffing his all-important data

"Good. Now, what about this

one hundred percent wolf fur

analyzer, or whatever it is, said that it wasn't

the thing, I just operate it." Brice haplessly

quote, unquote, Jaws of all wolves. Something that's super big and running free and loose out there somewhere." Linus

the size of those holes that it left behind, Captain." Alan added. "It seemed pretty damn big to us. God help anyone

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

his seat and glanced

such a thing." 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

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

wife finally took that vacation to Hawaii. I guess they watched that Brady Bunch episode

and Brice all

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

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

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

"Well, what do we do, hire an old time search posse?" Alan

No more than four men. Hook up with Cuyahoga Falls and the highway 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. Let's see if we can put some of

said, promptly wiping the cheesy grin from off his

something more on this thing. As I was telling Bruin and Fitz before you dropped by,

a dower expression

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

"So, it took you six months, but you

that second. He was visibly weary of all the attention

he apprehensively muttered. "I'm just glad that

at Linus in humble adoration before