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."

at the desk and brooding over his daughters' faces, as well as the smug manner in which his wife

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

"Hey, buddy, the old man wants

on my way." The detective hung up the

garden variety thugs being carried in from off the

out while rounding the corner

back with a morose glaze on his face and asked, "How did you know

Alan said before both he and Linus started

"Same as usual," Linus

"You sure," Alan glanced

"Yeah," Linus kept his eyes to the

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

"Same as usual," Alan asked

to see his misty eyes; he then looked

that he wanted to say were still trapped inside his head. With a straight face, Alan bellyached, "I

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

fun if you want, but it's the only thing on TV that Peggy and I actually enjoy together, if you

guys, the captain is

The second Linus opened the

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

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

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

"Damn TV show." Alan griped,

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

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

I wasn't the one who ended

"Perhaps 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

Everyone gathered listened to the beast's roars and snarls all over again. Linus sulked in his seat

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

poor baby,"

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 like it's from the

"Well, sir," Alan shrugged, "we have reason to believe that we may be dealing with something else, perhaps

"Knock, knock." Brice gaily chimed as he opened the captain's

"Come on in, Patrick." The captain

folders underneath

"Whaddya got?" The captain asked while

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 unrecognizable."

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

Linus stepped in. "You mean to stand there and say that our so called state-of-the art

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

"There always is."

analysis on the 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

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 of someone who could sense that the world as they knew it would end

to see or hear

"Close the door,

a completely pale face, Brice did as commanded before standing straight and still in front

composed and dignified demeanor, "Son...just what do you suppose we do with

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

want you to strike everything you just

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

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

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

you got the animal's saliva mixed

Seemingly too wound up to be contained, Brice opened his

"Shh." The captain nodded.

sir," Brice hesitantly recoiled. "We'll

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

had a choice in the matter, Fitzpatrick simply uttered, "There was no saliva

"Linus," the captain dead-eyed the man. "No saliva

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

"Good. Now, what about

percent wolf fur alright. No doubt

or whatever it is, said that it

I didn't make the thing, I just operate

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

you didn't see the size of those holes that it left behind, Captain." Alan added. "It seemed pretty

has a...foot size of at least sixteen. Just on all fours, it measured up to six and a half feet long. Assuming this

leaned back in his seat and glanced over at the gloomy sky outside his

are we. We've got entirely too much to handle here in the big city to be chasing

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

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

Alan and Brice all sniggered while shaking

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

of these things running

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

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

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

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

on this thing. As I was telling Bruin and Fitz

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

and relaxed into the wooden chair that he was attached to. For a few brief moments there

"So, it took you six months,

was visibly weary of all

"Finally," he apprehensively muttered. "I'm

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