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 something else is erroneous

"How so," David squared his eyes.Alan dropped his head for a moment

months, but that was a totally unrelated event. The day after he took out Mercer, he just walked out of the interrogation room and came down here to his car. When I got down here he was

was that shaken

car that morning...there was something different inside that man's eyes that I had never

to know more

was just a nobody compared to

"How do

see Mercer the night before everything went down. The kid didn't look right. Linus mentioned something

Mercer

he killed Mercer. We all saw his fiancée, and even she was all screwed up after that, both physically and emotionally. Linus never, ever mentioned to anyone what he saw, but for the love of God, I just can't imagine taking my own

to keep Alan speaking for as long as he could, even if it meant

"Does anyone know where this fiancée

"Only God knows, but I can't stick

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

me? I thought I saw everything months ago when they carried those Sanders' girls out of

Alan's wild eyes that wouldn't cease from jittering from

else you're not telling me,

hollered. "Last night...that's all 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 kid. All she ever wanted to do was help people.

scraped the cement floor with his shoe before saying, "Thank God not everyone last night

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 can tell you about it is that it's big and hairy! That

Rather, he just stared at Alan's sentiment like it had

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 to keep him around...but he just couldn't be comforted. Now what makes you think I want to stick around and allow myself to go up the wall like

been here in this town I've arrived at the scene of madness.

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

his box and opened the driver's side door. David impatiently watched as the man hopped inside, slammed the

"I need more than that,

I'm going to tell you. One of

"I'm listening."

day when you and Brice were having your little pow-wow, did he happen to mention

David replied,

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

a recording of the thing?"

Brickman said that it sounded

you telling me that this recording could possibly be the key to finding this

out loud, "Linus Bruin

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

As he rampaged his way up David bumped into two officers who were walking the same stairs. "Looking for the archive room," David

floor." One

you" David ascended the stairwell with the vigor of a twelve year old on steroids until at

the words Archive Room painted on the wall beside him with an arrow pointing straight ahead.

in to find a quiet, compacted room full of seven tall shelves that were all stacked against one another so

labeled in alphabetical order. Some were recordings of trial proceedings, while others were of interrogations. David

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

"Hello?" A female voice called out from around

up. The moment he raised back up he saw Officer Shirley Donaldson standing there right

my," she laughed. "I knew I heard someone walk

"Sorry about that." David huffed.

Shirley said, "You must be

David shook

"Everyone said that you've been buzzing about the department for the past week or

by her lighthearted, homely demeanor that she was possibly the one and only

grab this here tape." David held the

labeling on the tape before looking back

Sighing, David replied, "Don't tell me that you have

more doleful turn before she said, "I was there that morning we