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."

desk and brooding over his daughters' faces, as well as the smug manner

on the bottom repeatedly flashed. Linus reluctantly picked up

"Hey, buddy, the old man wants to see

detective hung up the phone, straitened his tie and

hallway, he found himself instantaneously bombarded by the vibrant sights and sounds 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

"Hey!" Fitzpatrick called out while rounding the corner with a manila folder

a morose glaze on his

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

"Same as usual," Linus

"You sure," Alan glanced at

"Yeah," Linus kept his eyes to

floor, both men just happened to stop right in the

usual," Alan asked

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

as if the words that he wanted to say were still trapped inside his

chuckled before sarcastically asking, "Oh darn, you mean to tell me that you missed 'Rerun' leaping his big self over

it's the only thing on TV

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

to the captain's office. The second Linus opened the door, the powerful aroma of cigarette smoke almost immediately struck him across the

two," the gruff, country speaking captain ordered as he put out his cigarette in the glass ashtray that sat on the edge of his

He 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

flesh." The captain coughed while

TV show." Alan griped, taking

"Thought you'd quit that, especially since you're carrying a cold." Linus said as he sat down

has nothing 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 some of their germs

"Everyone keeps congratulating me, but I wasn't

not, but quite frankly, it's all over now. But, speaking of the one who ended it all, I was just listening to this tape right before you two stepped

snarls all over again. Linus sulked in his seat like a five year old, still not believing that it was only a day removed from first hearing

while pushing the

poor baby," Alan

that I was born and raised out in the hills of Montana, and in all my years I've never heard

Alan shrugged, "we have reason to believe

gaily chimed as he

"Come on in, Patrick." The captain

two green folders underneath his right armpit. "I

"Whaddya got?" The captain asked while leaning back in his creaky wooden

Nervously rummaging through one of the folders, the young 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

"Calm down, son." The captain motioned. "Just slow down and breathe for

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

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

"There always is."

all wolf hair, every single strand. But on top of that, and you're not gonna believe this. The

sour expressions on their warm faces; not a single hint of emotion could be seen. They possessed the appearance of someone who could sense

by the door, waiting to see or hear what was going to take

"Close the door, son." The

did as commanded before standing

do with that bit of information? Do you think it's wise that we just allow you, or anyone

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

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

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

the captain with the most innocent and confused poses on their faces as though they were locked in a moment of

"Let's just say that you got the animal's saliva mixed up with some

Seemingly too wound up to be contained, Brice opened his

"Shh." The captain nodded. "We're gonna say just

"Yes, sir," Brice

Let's pretend this is 'Sesame Street' and we'll say it together. There was no saliva sample to

choice in

captain dead-eyed the man.

sample, Captain." The young man blushed while grudgingly stuffing his all-important

"Good. Now, what about this

one hundred percent wolf fur

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

make the thing, I just operate it." Brice haplessly

talking about the quote, unquote, Jaws of all wolves. Something that's super big and running free and

left behind, Captain." Alan added. "It

the snow. It has a...foot size of at least sixteen. Just on all fours, it measured up to six and a half feet long. Assuming this thing is capable of standing, like a bipedal, I'd say it

The captain once again leaned back in his seat and

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.

"Yeah," Linus spoke up, "Brice mentioned that yesterday. Something just broke

"Wilson." The captain answered. "Both he and his wife finally took that vacation to Hawaii. I guess they watched that Brady Bunch episode

and Brice all

about some hair being left behind." Brice pondered.

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

The captain said, placing his hands on his desk and leaning forward with a serious presence behind his 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

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

of the day. No more than four men. Hook up with Cuyahoga Falls and the highway patrol. We all seemed

wiping the cheesy grin

"Brice, I want you to retrieve Wilson's file and see if you can dig up something more on this thing. As I was

dower expression on his face, replied as he too bolted

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

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

grin graced Linus' face at that second. He was visibly weary of all

"Finally," he apprehensively

unceasingly at Linus in humble