The Curse of 1977 (Book 2)

With rolled up sleeves and a shirt that was halfway unbuttoned due to the exhausting heat inside the police station, David, with a manila folder in one hand, came out of his office with a tenacious, almost hateful expression on his face. To others, it appeared as if he was completely enraged, but on the inside, David was a washout of emotion.

Outside his office were officers rushing about like busy bees in a hive. Phones were alive with such vibrant energy that one who wasn't in the know would have thought an international attack had just taken place.

In David's eyes it was all a blustery commotion that he was more than accustomed to being from Chicago; but there was something else that was digging deep into his inner being. Just the simple feeling of the work place that morning seemed to collapse upon him. It was oppressive and downright stifling to where just simply standing in place seemed laborious.

Before he could even take one step to the left, David spotted Officer Fitzpatrick carrying a brown box to his desk. Ever so curious, David made it a point to recklessly bypass everyone else just to reach Alan who was steadily packing his belongings into his box.

"Good morning, Officer." David presented himself from behind.

Startled, Alan spun around. With a miniature American flag in his right hand, the man said, "Oh, I didn't see you standing there."

"I didn't mean to surprise you." David said while observing Alan packing all sorts of belongings into the box, from pictures of his family, to an autographed baseball.

Alan was wearing a plaid, button down shirt and polyester pants, while on top of his head was a Cincinnati Reds ball cap. David wasn't dull, he could very well tell just what was happening.

"Crazy morning, huh," Alan asked while carelessly stuffing more and more items into his box.

David watched before saying, "So tell me, how did the captain take your sudden departure?"

Alan suddenly stopped what he was doing before he turned around and sighed, "I told Brickman that I was getting sick and tired of this job, but apparently the old man didn't believe me. Sometimes you have to show a person just how serious you are."

"I was just wondering if you're departure would have anything to do with what took place yesterday."

Alan stood and looked at David for a second or two. "Look, life is just too short for this."

"I watched the press conference this morning on TV." David mentioned. "It sounds like we may have a pretty serious problem on our hands."

Sniggering, Alan replied, "Problem? That broad of a lieutenant Mayor understated one helluva fact if you ask me."

"Don't you think that's a bit too harsh?"

"Are you kidding? This whole town is...I gotta go." Alan hastily remarked before picking up his box and rushing away.

David made sure to follow the man off the floor and down the stairs. "I read the file on your partner, Linus Bruin!" David shouted.

Instantly, Alan stopped trotting down the steps. His face was turned in the opposite direction while he leaned against the stairs' railing

"There's a lot more to this than what I read, isn't there, Officer?"

Alan slowly turned his head. "You don't give up, do you?"

Cracking a salty grin, David said, "Not when there's a story that hasn't been told all the way."

One officer after another passed the two men in the stairwell before Alan eventually cocked his head downwards indicating that he wanted David to follow him.

They both carried on until they made it to the stuffy parking garage. David kept a close pace right behind Alan who was skulking about as though he were expecting someone or something to jump out from the parked vehicles at any moment.

Waving his hand in front of his face, David exhaled, "Is it always this miserable down here?"

Stopping beside a light blue and white Volkswagen van, Alan placed his box down onto the ground and rushed to say, "Only when someone is playing 'Deepthroat'." He bobbed his head up and down and all around before looking back at David and uttering quietly, "Look, there's only two reasons as to why I'm even talking to you. Number one, it's my last day. And two, I'd rather not have my best friend's good name dragged through the mud like it has been these past few months.

"Skimming through his folder, David exclaimed, "I can understand that, but what took place back in February could possibly have implications as to what may be happening here today."

Alan peeked over David's shoulder. "There's a very good reason that I'm packing both myself and my family and leaving this city. Something is happening, and you're right, it could have something to do with what happened months ago."

"It says on page twenty-two something about you leaving your piece inside one of the squad cars." David eluded. "Did you leave it inside the car so Bruin could use it that night?"

Rolling his eyes, Alan flippantly replied, "I had a bad habit of forgetting to log in my piece at the end of my shift. Sue me." He shrugged. "But that night...I was in such a rush to get home, it just completely skipped my mind."

"But Bruin did use your gun to kill this Isaac Mercer, did he not?"

"But

David squared his eyes.Alan dropped his head for a moment before glancing

he took out

"He was that shaken

pulled him out of that car that morning...there was something different inside that man's eyes that I had never seen before. And I'll be damned if I didn't see the same look on Gloria Cohen's face that day we found her down in

"I'd love to know more about that

"Forget Cummins. He was just a nobody compared

"How do you

"Linus and I went to see Mercer the night before everything went down. The kid didn't look right. Linus mentioned something about Gloria being more afraid of

"Is it possible that Mercer could have been an

But I do know for a fact that Linus saw something inside that house that night he killed Mercer. We all saw his fiancée, and

at that point. He wanted to keep Alan speaking for as long as he could, even if it meant

where this

"Only God knows, but I can't

out his hand. "You're up and leaving right in the middle

"Siege," Alan's eyes popped wide open. "Are you kidding me? I thought I saw everything months ago when they carried those Sanders' girls out of that house, but this is something

David remained still while studying Alan's wild eyes that wouldn't cease from jittering

something else you're not

I saw. I got five kids of my own. How do I as a father explain all this to them? My wife's niece, or I should say, our niece, Meredith, she was killed last night, too. She was such a good

the cement floor with his shoe before saying,

sudden? This city didn't have any of this before last Thanksgiving. One moment you're tracking down a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, the next you're chasing after some Godforsaken animal! And all anyone

the man that would possibly console him, but it wasn't his place to do so. Rather, he just stared at Alan's sentiment like it had been the first time he had ever witnessed a man trying to conceal his

into the whole notion of evil before. But when I saw Gloria and Linus' faces...that all changed." Alan wiped his eyes. "What Linus saw in that house that night stuck with him till the day he died. We all did all we could as both colleagues and friends

I've been here in this town I've arrived at the scene of madness. And no one seems to be able

heard a word I said?" He then clapped his hands in David's face. "I'm leaving because I don't want myself or my family to be dead in the next few days! I'm taking us all as far away from this city as possible. All I want to do is watch the Reds play, drink a beer and be left alone. If this animal wants this

picked up his box and opened the driver's side door. David impatiently watched as the man

need more than that, Mr. Fitzpatrick!" He

"There are two things that I'm going to tell you. One

"I'm listening."

your little pow-wow, did

replied, "No...no,

Cummins would do before killing his victims was record himself raping them. The night he was slaughtered, he left his tape recorder on.

"There's a recording of the thing?" David

"That's right. Captain Brickman said that it sounded like

me that this recording could possibly be the key

Alan put the van in gear and began rolling backwards, but not before he turned to David and said out loud, "Linus Bruin was a good

legs became antsy. He didn't even stand long enough to watch Alan pull out of his space before he turned

bumped into two officers who were walking the same stairs. "Looking for the archive

on the sixth floor." One

ascended the stairwell with the vigor

Room painted on the wall beside him with an arrow

find a quiet, compacted room full of seven tall shelves that were all

Cataloged on each shelf were twelve inch sized, clunky audiotapes labeled in alphabetical order. Some were recordings of trial proceedings, while others were of interrogations. David sifted through until he came

cycled through each and every tape until he found exactly what he had hoped to find. The very instant his eyes connected with Cummins, David hurriedly

"Hello?" A female voice called out from

by surprise, David dropped the tape to the floor. He bent over to pick it up. The moment he raised back up

knew I heard someone walk in here, but I wasn't

about that." David huffed. "I was just

Extending her hand, Shirley said, "You must be

impatient smile, David shook her

you've been buzzing about the department for the

David could sense just by her lighthearted, homely demeanor that she was possibly the one and only coherent human being that he had encountered since being at

"I, uh, I just came by to grab this here tape." David held the object up for her

Shirley eyeballed the labeling on the tape before looking back at David

you have

Shirley's eyes took a more doleful turn before she said, "I was there