The Beast of 1977 (Book 1)

Nearly two hours later Linus found himself face to face with Leroy Cummins' house once again. He sat inside his cruiser moping over the gut-wrenching fact that there were dead human beings gathered inside just a day earlier.

Upon finishing all of the paperwork that he had set aside the day before, Linus needed to escape the disorderly confines of the station. As luck would have it, he chose a murderer's homestead to find solace.

In his head, it was all like putting together a thousand piece puzzle in the dark; no matter how hard he tried to gather everything mentally, nothing seemed to connect, the emotions and memories kept slipping through his fingers like water.

Linus pulled the keys out of the ignition, got out of the car and sheepishly stepped forward to the front door. The sharp wind seared straight through his heavy coat, leaving his chest nearly frostbitten. In vivid color he recalled the sights and sounds of men carrying body bags out of the home one by one.

There the man stood at the front door of one of Cuyahoga Falls' wealthiest former residents. He remained face to face with the door as if it were supposed to open at the very sight of him before he suddenly remembered that just about every door to the home was locked, which meant that only an exterior tour would have to ease his inquisitive cravings for the time being.

He stepped down from off the doorstep and made his way around to the back of the house where the wind just happened to be even more spiteful than it was up front.

Upon reaching the spacious backyard the flapping of plastic could be heard loud and clear. The hole in the wall was covered with two large layers of plastic that were nearly coming apart at the seams, thanks to the severe wind that was pushing against it.

"Hey there, buddy!" A young, white highway patrolman hollered from the other side of a chain-link fence.

Linus spun around to see the man hop over the fence with his right hand clutching his sidearm that was still lodged in its holster.

"You can't be here, mister!"

Linus ever so carefully pulled out his badge from his pants pocket and held it up for the patrolman to see in plain sight.

"Detective Linus Bruin," he called out in a stutter. "Cypress Police!"

The officer stared closer at the detective before removing his trigger happy hand away from the butt of this gun.

"I'm sorry, sir." The officer humbly blushed, scratching his thin, blonde mustache. "I thought you were another reporter or another kid trying to get in there again."

Slipping his shield back into his pocket, Linus said, "Don't mention it. I didn't mean to intrude."

"You're not intruding." The officer waved. "It's just that last night, after all the others left from here, we got some reports of some kids running around, trying to get in. The little bastards even tried to tear down the plastic you guys put up."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah," the officer panted heavily. "Hey." He gazed on at Linus. "You're that guy that—

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Officer—

"Oh, Officer Stamp, sir," the young man smiled.

"Officer Stamp. I'm gonna tell you the same thing I've told just about everyone else that wants to give me kudos. I got here too late."

"Yeah, maybe, but at least the guy is gone."

Linus turned around to face the mildewed plastic. "Just how many times have you guys been out here since last night?"

"Um, I think about maybe seven times or so."

"Seven times," Linus gasped. "Yeah, this place is real famous, or infamous. We kept getting calls from folks that live near here saying that they keep seeing kids peeking in there."

Linus turned, cracked a cynical smirk and asked, "Folks that live near here?"

kids just happened to miss all those bodies that Cummins

his head and mumbled, "I

up on you, son, it just...amazes

can't believe that it was Leroy Cummins of all people. My dad bought his last two cars from that guy. He seemed like a real nice

"That's what

want to go in there? I mean, we can tear a hole in

to remember why he even bothered to drive completely out of his way

of the house. "I

person." Stamp remarked while taking a peek over Linus' shoulder. "I'm still having a hard time figuring out just what in the world could have that big of a

ground. Every other second the

hands in his coat pockets, Stamp said, "God help us all if that

Cummins, then I guarantee that not

"I still can't believe what it did to the Sanders down

"Were you familiar with

"Sure was." Stamp replied with a pessimistic grin on his face. "The mother and

"How

"Well, he would always beat on his wife, Sarah. Every so often, she would call the police on the asshole, but Gary had a few connections down at the

twisted his lips and said, "I'm afraid I

"Well, all I know is that those girls didn't deserve any of what they got the other night. You think you're safe,

Linus exhaled before looking back at the house and then turning back to Stamp. "Tell me something, besides snooping kids, have

stood in place at that very moment. He took his hands out of his pockets and folded

"I don't know." Stamp seemed nervous to utter. "I'm not supposed to say anything about it. I'm sorta sworn to

Linus braced himself, and that's all he did. He didn't budge or even blink. All he could do was stand and wait for

guys were patrolling out here, just like they do every night, nothing out of the ordinary. Well, when they got down to the Sanders' house, they see the downstairs lights coming off and on. So, they go into the house, and in the living room they said they saw a naked, colored guy sitting in a corner, talking to himself. When they asked the guy what he was doing there, the guy gets up, runs down to the basement, and...just vanishes. They couldn't find

Linus could do at that point was continue to stand. To say that he was frozen in place would have been cliché. He was drowning

Linus asked,

"That's

he escaped through the opening

figured, too, but they remembered that the officers before them had boarded that opening

and watched Stamp's mustache bristle in the blowing wind before asking, "Would it be okay if I went there, just to check

answered, "You can go anywhere you

you said that." Linus

company?" Stamp followed. "It's not that I don't trust you or anything, it's just

out loud, "Company? Hell, I'd rather you bring the entire Cleveland Browns' squad

Linus, what seemed to keep his foot so light on the gas pedal was the harrowing fact that

lawmen arrived at the Sanders' residence. Unlike Cummins' home, the Sanders' house appeared even more sinister in

their snow burdened feet towards the home as if they were too afraid to walk any faster. Every so often Linus would turn around to see if anyone else was near or around the property. Right before reaching the front door, Linus

mother-in- law sees us." Stamp urged, pushing against the front door

to snatch his brooding eyes away from the empty swings just to look at the

of fresh blood stung his nose. Linus shut the door behind

worse than that 'day after a death smell,'" Linus said in

"Really," Stamp asked. "Someone said that the animal took a dump

"I wouldn't be surprised." Linus replied while listening to the furnace suddenly kick on. "Do you know if the

"Uh, I can't say for sure." Stamp answered, trekking towards the stairwell. "Neither of them stuck around for long after what went