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."

slammed 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 wife carried on during their

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

"Hey, buddy, the old man wants to see

my way." The detective hung up the phone, straitened his tie and marched

out into the busy 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 gun belt around his shoulder and began down a

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

glaze on his face and asked, "How did you know I was

together." Alan said before

"Same as usual,"

"You sure," Alan glanced

kept

the third floor, both men just happened to

"Same as usual," Alan asked with a hard stare into Linus'

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

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

it's the only thing on

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

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

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 on his body. His rugged facial feathers were straight out of a Marlboro

isn't Starsky and Hutch, in the flesh." The captain coughed while gesturing for the detectives

"Damn TV show." Alan griped, taking

carrying a cold." Linus said as he sat

have." The captain hacked again. "When you have a wife that teaches second graders, she's bound to bring

wasn't the one who ended it all."

of the one who ended it all, I was just listening to this tape right before you two

Linus sulked in his seat like a five year old, still not believing that it was only a day removed

while pushing the off

poor baby," Alan arrogantly

"Now, so far I've been getting a lot of feedback about this thing being a 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 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

have reason to believe that we may be dealing with something else,

gaily chimed as he

"Come on in, Patrick." The

holding two green folders underneath his right armpit.

"Whaddya got?" The captain asked while

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

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

"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

on, Linus, there's more."

"There always is." Alan

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 church...it's

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 could be seen. They possessed the appearance

by the door, waiting to see or

the door,

With a completely pale face, Brice did as commanded before standing straight

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

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

I want you to do. I want you to strike everything you just mentioned about that saliva off the plate, right now. Do you

a searing hot spotlight were glaring

The captain looked dead into the man's eyes and

Linus, Alan and Brice all looked back at the captain with the most innocent and confused poses

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

Seemingly too wound up to be contained, Brice opened his

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

"Yes, sir," Brice hesitantly recoiled.

"As a matter of fact, let's all say that. Let's pretend this is 'Sesame Street' and we'll

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

"Linus," the captain dead-eyed the

young man blushed while grudgingly stuffing his all-important data back into its

"Good. Now, what about this

"Well, it's one hundred percent wolf

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

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

"Not unless we're talking about the quote, unquote, Jaws of all wolves. Something that's super big and running free and loose out

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

it measured up to six and a half

in his

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

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

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

and Brice all sniggered while shaking their

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

two of these things running around, or the same animal is hitting

how it's gonna 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. Personally, I don't wanna

do, hire an old time search posse?" Alan snickered to

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

said, promptly wiping the cheesy grin from off his face and exiting the

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 like

"I'm on it, Captain." Brice, with a dower expression on his face, replied

The moment the door slammed shut, Linus sat back and relaxed into the wooden chair that he was attached to. For a few brief moments there melted a quaint silence between he and the captain that actually felt

took you six months, but you

that second. He was visibly weary of

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

and stared unceasingly at Linus in humble adoration before saying,