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."

brooding over his daughters' faces, as well

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

my way." The detective hung

every day, garden variety thugs being carried in

called out while rounding

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

to put two and two together." Alan said before both he and

"Same as

"You sure," Alan glanced at the

Linus kept his

happened to stop right in the middle of

asked with a hard stare

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

Alan glared at Linus with a glum appearance on his chunky face, looking as if the words that he wanted to say were still trapped inside his head. With a straight face, Alan bellyached, "I missed 'The Battle of the

before sarcastically asking, "Oh darn, you mean to

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

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

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 the

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

suggested that life on the force had taken its toll on his body. His rugged facial

captain coughed while gesturing for the detectives

show." Alan

quit that, especially since you're carrying a

The captain hacked again. "When you have a wife that teaches second graders, she's bound to bring home some of their germs sooner or later. Congratulations,

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

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

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

mumbled while pushing the off button. "He barely

baby," Alan arrogantly

I've never heard a wolf sound anything like that. And believe me, I know exactly what a wolf sounds like. Hearing

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

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

"Come on in, Patrick."

running while holding two green folders underneath his right armpit. "I was told that you three would be here, so I just thought

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

recording through the voice analyzer. Believe it or not, this

The captain motioned. "Just slow down and breathe for a

"Wait a minute." Linus stepped in. "You mean to stand there and say that our so

"Hold on, Linus,

"There always is." Alan

"I also ran an 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

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

door, waiting to see or hear what was going to

"Close the door,

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

his frail fingers into the other before asking in a composed and dignified demeanor, "Son...just what do you suppose we do with that bit

was still stuck in statue mode, stare at the captain as if he were

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

Brice uneasily smiled as though a searing hot spotlight were

The captain looked dead into the man's eyes and

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

"Let's just say that you got

up to be contained, Brice opened his mouth and said, "But,

"Shh." The captain nodded.

"Yes, sir," Brice hesitantly recoiled. "We'll say

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 of.

he had a choice in the matter,

"Linus," the captain dead-eyed the man.

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

"Good. Now,

"Well, it's one hundred percent wolf fur alright. No doubt

or whatever it is, said that it

"Captain, I didn't make the thing,

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

left behind, Captain." Alan added. "It seemed pretty damn big to us. God help anyone if something like that is

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 was possibly close to seven feet tall."

The captain once again leaned back in his seat and glanced over at the gloomy sky outside his

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 sounds damn familiar. Do you guys remember that incident back in November, with those Haitians or

mentioned that 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

Linus, Alan and Brice all

being left behind." Brice pondered. "I sure wish I were there to pick some

"So that means either we have two of these things running around, or the same animal

"Here's 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.

do, hire an old time search

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

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

can dig up something more on this thing.

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

into the wooden chair that he was attached to. For a few brief

six months, but you finally did it."

at that second. He was

apprehensively muttered. "I'm just glad that it's

stared unceasingly at Linus in humble adoration before saying, "I know