The Chronicles of Beast and Man

by J. Charles Ralston

  Finally, after his long walk through the open field, he came to the spot where Ryan had been hunting the day before. There was nothing at all to be found. No evidence of a struggle, none of Ryan’s possessions left behind. It was beginning to look like Ryan had just disappeared into thin air.

  He was going to have to give up for now, the sun had all but gone down, and it was getting too dark to continue searching. Rod was feeling very frustrated and did not notice the large black object he tripped on. He caught himself with his hands, and immediately sprang back up to his feet. His eyes searched the area until he found the item he had tripped on. It was a black Mossberg shotgun. Ryan’s 12 gauge Mossberg shotgun. He knew right away that this was a terrible sign. Rod fortunately already had gloves on so he was able to pick the shotgun up to use as possible evidence. He began searching for something to mark this location; he needed a way to signify that this was where he found the gun. He eventually found a broken old corn stock which stood at around five feet tall, which was considerably taller than the rest of them. Rod was not sure if the old withered corn stock would stay in place or not, but it was all he had. So with one hard thrust, Rod plunged the corn stock straight into the ground. This marker appeared to be good enough and that it might stay where it was until he could find something better to mark the area. Rod understood that he had very little time and needed to get back to the station quickly but he couldn’t help looking a little more. It was in that moment that he saw the strange prints on the ground. Rod had never seen anything like it, they appeared to belong to a wolf or a coyote. The only problem was that they were far too big to belong to either one. These prints had to belong to an animal, but the animal had to be larger than anything he’d encountered. Then Rod noticed another set of foot prints, these foot prints were from a boot. More than likely they belonged to Ryan. Strange patterns in the prints and odd marks in the ground indicated some kind of struggle. Rod then found a small trail of blood on the ground; having no supplies with him to take a sample, he would have to go to the station and get everything he needed. In that moment he came to the complete realization that things had become stranger than anyone had expected.

  He hurried back through the field as fast as he could; he had several things he would have to do now. Unfortunately, Rod had completely forgotten about Ryan’s wife Julie, she was still there waiting on the edge of the property. When he emerged from the woods she immediately got out of her vehicle. Rod saw the look of disappointment on her face because he was alone. This meant that either Ryan was dead or missing, then she noticed the shotgun in Rod’s hand. Julie’s expression turned from one of disappointment to one of utter sadness.

  “What happened?” Julie asked as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.

  “I don’t know Julie, but I couldn’t find Ryan anywhere.” Rod said stiffly, trying not to sound worried. Julie began crying and let out a small wail; she then covered her face and ran to her vehicle. Rod felt terrible, but her display of emotion also reminded him of something a child might do. As he watched her drive away as fast as she could Rod couldn’t help but wonder. Maybe we are all nothing more than big frightened children.

  -

  It was only shortly after eight o’clock when Rod called Deputy Dolgen and informed him that he would need him to work for a few hours.

  “I had just settled in to watch a little TV, what is going on?” Thomas asked.

  “It is serious. I need you to just meet me out on Ryan Lovett’s property.”

  “Lovett’s property?”

  “That is what I said.” Rod replied and closed his phone.

  When Deputy Dolgen arrived on the Lovett property Rod was already there waiting for him. Rod immediately went to the bed of his truck and retrieved a post, a sign, and a post driver.

  The sign read: DO NOT ENTER By orders of the Medusa Police.

  Thomas had not realized how serious things were until he read the sign.

  He said nothing at first, he went ahead and began helping drive the post into the ground.

  “What is going on here, chief?” Thomas finally asked as Rod screwed the sign to the steel post.

  “I don’t know exactly.” Rod answered.

  “The Killer Wolf again?”

  “I don’t know. Ryan Lovett is missing, that is all I know.”

  His words were cold and empty. Thomas had a very hard time wrapping his head around them.

  The two police officers began walking through the open field with flash lights in hand.

  “You said Ryan was missing, you got any ideas where he could be?”

  Rod then explained that he did not know where Ryan was, and that his wife had reported him missing. He went on to explain that he had found Ryan’s shotgun and signs of a struggle. This all sounded very mysterious to Thomas.

  Finally, they came to the spot that Rod had earlier marked with the corn stock. Right away Thomas noticed the prints.

  “What do you think made those, Chief?”

  “I have no idea.” Rod said as he took a snap shot of the pictures with an old disposable camera.

  Thomas gazed over the surrounding area and a cold chill ran down his back. He had a horrible feeling that something just wasn’t right.

  Rod crouched down low to the ground and started to retrieve samples that might unlock the identity of the murderer.

  Once the little bit of evidence was gathered, the two officers continued the investigation. With their Mag-lite flashlights spotlighting everything in their view, they began combing the area. It did not take them long to see that it was going to be far too hard to see anything that would make a difference in the case. With very little conversation they agreed to go back to the station and start over in the morning.

  -

  Back at the police station Rod found Blake Clancy already manning the radio. Rod explained to him the situation that had presented itself during the evening. Officer Clancy had already read some of the transcripts from earlier and had a fair understanding of what had occurred. He automatically expressed his sadness over the situation and promised to help in any way he was requested.

  Thomas hastily documented the investigation and recorded his hours for the week.

  “Just out of curiosity, why didn’t you just call Chapman to come in a little early?” Thomas asked Rod, knowing that Officer Chapman would be on duty very soon.

  “Well, I didn’t want him to be too tired tonight during his shift. Plus, I knew that you would be waiting by the phone.” Rod answered, trying to compliment Thomas on his work ethics.

  Thomas respected Rod’s comment and once he was finished, he left to go home to prepare for a very full day. It appeared that the next day would be anything but a usual day. More than likely Rod was going to form a search party to comb through the Lovett property. The murder of Gabrielle Parker, Duane Ensig, and now the disappearance of Ryan Lovett puzzled Thomas, but he was sure that they would figure out all the answers. But he was curious if Rod was doing everything he could be doing. Thomas was not sure how he would handle things if he was sheriff, but maybe there was something Rod had over looked. Thomas usually did not question Rod’s process, he had never needed to before, and he didn’t want to now. Perhaps he was just thinking too much, lord knows everyone on the police department has been under a lot of stress. He thought about how much vacation time he might have to use once the whole thing blew over.

  -

  Officer Chapman was surprised when he strolled in the station and saw Rod sitting at his desk waiting.

  “Hey, Chief!”

  “You are late.” Rod said, displeased.

  “Yeah, just a few minutes Chief! I don’t make a habit of it. It is just all the hours we worked…”

  Rod quickly stopped Chapman’s rambling.

  “I don’t care about you being ten or fifteen minutes late. We have much bigger problems at hand.” Rod told Chapman and began to explain the situation. Chapman appeared to be a bit taken back by the things that had gone
on. Just like everyone else, he had hoped that maybe The Killer Wolf hadn’t struck again, but unfortunately he had lost the hope.

  “I can’t believe it Chief, is there anything that still needs done?”

  “Not really, I just need you to do your job and do it well. I guess you could take a few drives out past the Lovett property, but I doubt that you will see anything.” Rod said as he began to shuffle through different documents scattered upon his desk.

  After their conversation was over Chapman made his way out to his car, and started his patrol.

  Rod then went back to documenting a missing person case. He estimated Ryan Lovett’s age at fifty five. (Which he could of course fix later) He entered his hair color: brown, height: six foot. He went on to describe the details of him locating Ryan’s shotgun and the scene of the struggle. It did not take him long to place all the details he felt necessary to this report. The insanity from earlier and the day before had left Rod exhausted. He was ready to go home for a nice long nap. It would have to be only a nap, because he needed to get right back up in five hours and start getting a search party of sorts together.

  Before leaving, Rod stopped and spoke to Officer Clancy one more time. Rod simply told him to keep a close eye on the phones and to be ready for anything

  Now it was time to go home, time to get that much needed rest. Then something distracted him. It was something he noticed on the side of his truck, something that hadn’t been there before. He examined the door a little closer. Someone had taken a key, or a different sharp object and dragged it across the side of his vehicle.

  “Son of a bitch!” Rod exclaimed out loud. He couldn’t believe that someone had the nerve to do such a thing. He began to think of the possible suspects that could have committed such an ill-advised crime. Perhaps it was someone who was angry with the Gabrielle Parker murder, which should not be taken out on Rod. He doubted that it was anyone mad about Duane Ensig and he also doubted it was connected to Ryan Lovett. Not too many people knew about that yet. That is unless Julie had made a lot of phone calls, but there probably weren’t too many she could call during the night. Then again Medusa was a small town and rumors can spread faster than wildfire in a small town. Rod then thought of Matthew Russell, he could have done this. He could have found out about his and Marcy’s relationship, and ran out to key Rod’s truck. Rod quickly changed his mind. Matthew seemed like a jerk, but he would probably be more direct with Rod if he learned such a thing. That or Matthew wouldn’t be direct at all, and he would just divorce Marcy: either way he probably wouldn’t have done this.

  Daniel Montvale…a puzzled Rod wondered why he didn’t think of him first.

  Everything pointed to him: his strange behavior, his bad attitude, and lack of respect. Rod would have to look into this matter later. It was late, Rod was tired, and he still had more important things to worry about then some scratches on his truck.

  Sleep was not an easy thing for Rod to find that night. But somehow after tossing and turning, and the dreadful thoughts that plagued him, he did eventually find slumber. Yet the sleep he did receive was not the most pleasant. His dreams were continuously looped with images of Gabrielle Parker, Duane Ensig, and Ryan Lovett. Despite that, he was still up bright and early and ready to go. When he arrived back to the station he started making phone calls right away. He called Mel Connolly who agreed to come out and help with the search. Rod tried to see if he could recruit Steve Little’s services once again. But Steve was unable to take part this time; he explained that he would have had to give Kemper General Store a little more notice to get the day off. Rod understood and let Steve off the hook. Rod knew better than to expect everyone to just drop everything because he asked them to, no matter what the situation.

  Rod sat silently for a moment wondering who else he could try and recruit. It was then that he remembered his friend Dusty Welker. He hadn’t spoken to Dusty in a few days but he assumed that he would probably be able to make time to be part of a search party.

  It seemed that as quick as Rod picked up the phone, he was right back off of it again. Dusty agreed to be part of the search party and almost insisted upon it. He was just going to have to notify work first. But he was certain that his work would understand.

  Two officers, two civilians, and himself. Rod had a tiny five man search party. For now it was going to have to work.

  -

  The small search party met on the Lovett property at exactly nine o’clock. It had begun to rain two hours earlier, which was unfortunate for them. They would have to begin their search dressed in rain boots and rain ponchos. Not only would the rain prove to be a minor inconvenience, but it would also prevent them from going to the scene of the struggle. If anyone were to get too close to the paw prints or any other evidence, it could possibly be ruined. Rod was not sure what he was going to be able to do with this evidence, but he certainly didn’t want to lose it.

  The five men began to walk through the Lovett property searching for their friend, or anything that might be considered evidence. None of them seriously thought that they would find Ryan; to them this was just a search for the next clue that might reveal his whereabouts.

  Rod stopped looking when suddenly his cell phone rang, taking him by surprise.

  It was John Austin calling; it appeared that it hadn’t taken long for the news of Ryan Lovett’s missing person case to get back to the paper boy. Rod thought as he grinned at the idea of calling John paperboy.

  “Rod here!”

  “Hey Rod, it is John. You got five minutes to come on in and chat with me?” John asked calmly.

  Rod wanted to tell him no, he wanted to tell him to go to hell and he wouldn’t be doing another bullshit interview for the rest of his life. Rod of course did not do this; he understood that the people would want answers. What better way to give them their answers then in the form of a newspaper article? It did sound better than having them chasing him down the streets all day.

  Rod quickly explained to John that he had his hands full at that very moment, but as soon as he returned to the police station he would give John a call.

  The five men continued searching through the mud and the rain. They were determined to find something that might shed some light on the situation. Rod understood that nothing just vanishes without a trace. There is always something left behind that connects a person to a scene. Rod very much hoped that the spot he had marked the day before was not the only connection to Ryan Lovett.

  Ten-forty-five Rod read on his waterproof Timex wrist watch. He felt the need to go back to the station, just to oversee some of the daily processes that were usually done by that time. He told the men to go ahead and take a break at noon and that he would try and be back before then. As Rod came out of the woods he yet again noticed the long, nasty scratch marks on the side of truck. Each time he looked at them he became plagued for a moment, and the only resolution that made sense to him was to confront Daniel Montvale.

  All in due time Rod said to himself, and did his best to ignore the annoying scratch marks.

  -

  When Rod got back to the station he was not surprised to find Arnold Omaha acting a bit unusual. He was obviously nervous about the whereabouts of his friend. Rod reminded him that everything was going to be alright. Rod was not the type of person to just randomly give someone a hug, even as comfort. But he did feel the need to support his friend.

  After speaking to Arnold for a moment he let him know that he was going to be on the phone for a moment to speak to John Austin, and would need a little privacy.

  Rod made the call, and after the two men greeted each other, John was ready to get down to business.

  “Rod, I know about Ryan Lovett. The rest of the town is going to know about it before long.” John said to him firmly.

  “I realize that John.”

  “I just want to know if you are prepared to say that the recent incidents are connected to the one from five years ago?”

  “I am not prep
ared to say anything at all, John!” Rod said back.

  “Rod…” he trailed off. “I am afraid that the media is going to be all over this story now, Boss.”

  Just as John’s words left his mouth a JRLK news van had pulled up across the street from the police station.

  “I know exactly what you mean.” Rod said, and noticed another incoming call. It was Deputy Dolgen, perhaps this would be some good news.

  “I have another call John. I will be in touch with you soon.”

  Rod quickly escaped the conversation with John Austin and began talking to Deputy Dolgen. Unfortunately, the call was about the search party having had searched all of the Lovett property. They were prepared to take the investigation over a fence and into Donald Sims property. The only problem was that they did not have permission to cross and needed Rod’s advice. Rod told Dolgen to go right ahead and continue investigating; Rod would have to get in touch with Donald Sims right away.

  Without hesitation Rod made the call out to Donald Sims, but he was unable to reach him. Rod assumed Donald was probably busy tending to his farm. Rod would just have to try again later, he could only hope that he would reach Donald soon. Donald probably wouldn’t care that they were on his property, but letting him know was the right thing to do.

  The JRLK local news team made their way across the street. The lead news reporter Zoe Gilbert knocked on the door. Rod gestured for them to come inside. Zoe quickly explained why she was there; of course he already knew. Rod agreed to a short interview, but also explained that he had very little to say at the time. Zoe did not seem concerned with the amount of information Rod was willing to give and the interview soon began. The interview couldn’t have taken longer than ten minutes and Zoe still seemed pleased. Rod had the feeling that she had expected him to have an attitude toward her interview, and was happy with anything she could get.