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."

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 wife carried on during their conversation. He wanted to

bottom repeatedly flashed. Linus reluctantly picked up the line and

buddy, the old man wants to see us." Fitzpatrick

The detective hung up the phone, straitened

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

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

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

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

"Same

"You sure,"

Linus kept

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

asked with a

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 plans this

a glum appearance on his chunky face, looking as if the words that he wanted to say were still trapped inside

"Oh darn, you mean to tell me that you missed 'Rerun' leaping his big self over a

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

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

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

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

while his thin build suggested that life on the force had taken its toll

and Hutch, in the flesh." The captain coughed while gesturing for the detectives to take

"Damn TV show." Alan griped, taking

you're carrying a cold." Linus said

I have." The captain hacked again. "When you have a wife that

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

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 Cummins' tape

snarls all over again. Linus sulked in his seat like a five year old, still not

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

poor baby," Alan arrogantly sucked

wolf, or something of that nature. But what everyone around this 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

believe that we may be dealing with something

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

"Come on

like this." The young man humbly panted as if he had been running while holding two green folders underneath

The captain asked while leaning

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

The captain motioned. "Just slow down and breathe for

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

on, Linus, there's more."

"There always

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

The entire room at that moment grew eerily quiet. The captain, Linus and Alan all looked up at Brice with sour expressions on their warm faces; not a single hint of emotion

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

"Close the door, son." The captain

as commanded before standing straight and still in front of

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

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

"Now, here's what I want you to do. I want you to strike everything you just mentioned about that saliva

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

The captain looked dead into the man's eyes and simply

captain with the most innocent and confused poses on their faces

"Let's just say that you got the animal's

Brice

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

"Yes, sir," Brice

'Sesame Street' and we'll say it together. There was no saliva sample to speak

had a choice in the matter, Fitzpatrick simply uttered,

the captain dead-eyed the

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

"Good. Now, what

hundred percent wolf fur alright.

or whatever it is, said that it wasn't a wolf. How do

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

quote, unquote, Jaws of all wolves. Something that's super

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 on the

Just on all fours, it measured up to six and a half feet long. Assuming this thing is capable of

The captain once again leaned back in his seat

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 those Haitians

"Yeah," Linus spoke up, "Brice mentioned that yesterday. Something just broke into that house and tore those guys apart. Who covered that

and his wife finally took that vacation to Hawaii. I guess they watched that Brady Bunch episode with Vincent

Linus, Alan and Brice all

about some hair being left behind." Brice pondered. "I sure

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

go." 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 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.

do, hire an old

"That's exactly what we do, Fitz, for now at least." The 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 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

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

if you can dig up something more on this

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

he was attached to. For a few brief moments

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

second. He was visibly weary of all the attention that was

"Finally," he apprehensively

Linus in humble