Jon Reskind: Caesar comes book I

"Had she been mauled, Fred?" Mark questioned, repeating the question that Doc Emory had not answered.

"Hell… couldn't tell for sure," the other replied. "Didn't see any blood, but she was crazy, hysterical… moaning that the Goddamned brute had raped her! The wife and I both heard her scream. We only live a hundred yards or so from that cellar, you know…!"

"Is Link inside?" Mark interrupted him.

"Yeah, and right ready to kill," the informant said. "Cripes, I never saw him so wild, Mark…!"

The tall deputy pressed through the gathering, moving up the walkway toward the lighted porch. He still couldn't believe it, and would not until Doc Emory repeated his affirmation. Cripes, such Goddamned things didn't happen, except in old wives' tales!

"Come in, Mark," Mrs. Emory invited in a hushed voice, opening the door in her night robe. "They're in the living room. The poor girl is sleeping… Doctor gave her a sedative."

"Thanks, Mrs. Emory," Mark nodded, moving toward the raised sound of Link Morgan's gruff voice. The barrel-chested, unshaven man was dressed in his usual non-uniform of khaki shirt open at the collar, leather hunting pants and boots. He'd been drinking; his small colorless eyes were bloodshot and his shock of white hair uncombed. To Mark, he always looked like a man in his sixties, rather than pre-fifty, the result, undoubtedly, of his own dissipation.

"Hello, Doc," Mark greeted the slight, mustached physician first, then with a nod: "Link. What happened… how is she…?"

"I'll tell you what happened, Blakely! That Goddamned wild sonofabitch dog raped my niece, and I'm going to hang its hide as high as that bitch on the flagpole in front of town-hall! Only first, I'm going to rip the bastard's nuts off!" Link bitterly snarled, addressing the fact that Mark had warned him against taking an armed posse into his jurisdiction again for any reason.

Mrs. Emory had started to enter the room, but quickly left at the Chief of Police's lurid choice of words. Mark bit at his lower lips, forcefully controlling himself. He said: "What are your findings, Doctor?"

The slight, aging bald man solemnly nodded, giving medical credence to the broad-shouldered police chief's ranting version. "No doubt about it, Mark… the beast actually attacked her. Its animal semen was present in my examination. Surprisingly, it didn't harm her in any other way… oh a few scratches, but they could have occurred when it tore the clothing from her. Actually, she's suffering mostly from shock. I've given her a sedative. She's sleeping in my office…"

"You mean, the dog literally ripped the clothing from her?" Mark asked in disbelief.

"You're fucking well told he did!" Link roared, raising a waterglass half-filled with liquor to his lips that he had undoubtedly wheedled from the doctor. He gulped half of it, breathing in shortened rasps as he glared at the deputy. "Shredded the Goddamned panties and everything else right off her, and Fred Clark was there when I gathered 'em up! I tell you again, Blakely, that devil from hell's got to die! It ain't enough that the pack is killing the sheep, now they're attacking young, innocent girls and fucking 'em like bitches! You tell me that bastard ain't some kind of evil spirit Tom Satan, himself…?"

"You're talking like an ass, Link!" Mark short-temperedly replied. "I don't know the answer but there has to be one! Maybe… maybe Annie can give it to us when she's herself again…"

"You go to hell, Blakely!" the powerful man snarled, stomping about the room, then gulping the remainder of his drink. "I, for one, ain't waiting for that evil sonofabitch to attack another girl in Crescent Valley! I aim to do something about it, whether you lay sanction or not! I'm forming a posse and going out…!"

"There'll be no posse, Link… unless I call for them," Mark calmly interrupted him. "I won't tolerate the brutal torture of animals, even vicious ones, the way you did last night. Out there is my territory, and I intend to guard it. I don't intend to have a bunch of liquor-whipped maniacs riding those hills with rifles and shotguns. If you remember, Link, that's the way my father died…!"

"Wh-what the hell are you saying, boy? That was an accident!" the huge man spat, well aware of the deputy sheriff's meaning. "Christ, could I help it if he wore a jacket the same color as that cougar? You… you think I meant to shoot him…?"

"Here, here… both of you, stop!" Doc Emory stepped in. "You're letting this get the best of you. I know it's a horrible situation, but you must try to work together… for the good of the community!"

Mark tightly swallowed. He wasn't pleased with his own outburst. "Of course, you're right, Doc. I'm sorry," he said, watching the little man's slow, understanding smile. "I'll place a call to the conservation department immediately. This is their problem…"

"Problem!" Link blurted. "Their problem! You go to hell, Blakely! This is my problem, and every man, woman, and child in this valley! That fucking brute raped my niece and I don't intend to sit back while some square-headed tree-planter decides to do something about it! You've got twenty-four hours, deputy, and you better hope to Christ that son of Satan doesn't attack another girl!" he roared, slamming his glass down hard onto a table before storming toward the doorway. There, he turned one final time. "I warn you… twenty-four hours… and then I defy any man in this valley to stop me!" Mark stood straight and silent, listening to the big man's heavy foot-falls, and finally the unnecessary crash of the front door shutting behind him. In all truth, if everything Doc had said was accurate, he was hardly sure he could blame the police chief… except that he was drunk, or nearly so…

"He's upset, Mark," Doc said, breaking the silence. "You know Link… spontaneous and gruff. He only knows one way…"

"An outmoded way, I'm afraid," Mark replied, sighing and taking a half-turn around the room.

"Would you like a drink?" the physician invited.

"No thanks. I'd like a bit more information, though."

"Shoot."

"Y-you're certain the dog actually raped her?"

The little man made a shrugging motion. "How certain can you be? Intercourse, yes. The presence of the dog's sperm… yes… absolutely!"

"But he didn't hurt hers Doc," the deputy enthusiastically pressed. "You said there were no marks of such…"

"None. Positively none! And I am as amazed as you are, Mark. It… it seems almost diabolical, doesn't it?"

"I-I don't know, Doc… Christ, I really don't know what to think," Mark heard himself reply his mind whirling. "Those… those crazy tales that women like Granny Obert whisper… about the brute having done the same thing a hundred years ago… damn! How old is she, anyway?"

"Ninety four-five-six… somewhere in there… she would, or could remember," Doc Emory softly answered. "She's mentioned it to me, you know… the leader, I mean, with that old Roman medallion around his neck…"

"Do you believe it, Doc?"

The little man offered an excusing smile. "I'm a doctor, Mark… forty years a practitioner… I believe only what I see, feel, taste… know to be fact."

Mark felt a cold shiver move over him. Ridiculous, he angrily thought… except that he had seen the medallion, too! He said: "Her mentality… Granny Obert's, I mean, what would you say to it, Doc?"

"Hmmmm, keen… especially for a woman her age, Mark. Very, very keen…"

"Yeah… I thought so… I've talked to her, too… but I wish she'd leave Jeannie alone," Mark said, slowly folding downward onto the edge of the davenport. "It… it can't be true… can it, Doc…?"

The little man had poured himself a glass of wine. He quietly sat himself into a chair across from Mark, sipped first, then stared off beyond. "I truly don't know how to answer you, Mark. I've spent a lifetime in my profession and this is the first case of its nature I've ever encountered. I have to deal only with the facts, I repeat, that's the nature of my profession. Yours requires more, and that's your problem, if I may. But to answer you, Mr. Deputy Sheriff… can it be true…? I say, everything is true until it's proven false… and that's the law of the universe!"