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Chapter Thirty-three

Friday October 10, 2014

6:51pm

"I remember you talking about him," Roger said in a voice loaded with skepticism. He frowned at Anessa as they walked a path parallel to one of theOpen Prairie Country Club's par threes. Drunken voices and the ring of drivers rode the wind. Autumn's colors were sinking deeper all around them.

Anessa made a sheepish grin alongside her father. "We started going out last week."

Her father sighed, but his stern expression gave to a smile. He was losing his touch. "That explains your little fit last weekend." Roger chuckled as his daughter glared. "He's a decent person?"

"He's super nice. You'd probably think he's a dork--"

"Long as he treats you good," grumbled Roger. "You're keeping up with all your work? Going to class?"

"Dad, he's not a bum! He gets even better grades than me, and he has a job too." Anessa whizzed through the photos on her phone, then thrust the screen towards her father. "Here."

"Cat, huh? Your mother wouldn't--"

Roger bit his tongue, quickly apologized and suggested that Anessa invite her new beau over sometime. Anessa agreed so long as he wouldn't try to scare him off.

"Dad?" said Anessa, breaking a minute's silence near the end of their walk. "Is there anybody that you like?"

"What? Worried about me?"

"I just don't want you to be lonely."

The thought of her father sitting home, alone in the big house--of course she had to worry.

"Well, there might be someone."

"What!" cried Anessa, leaping ahead of her father and spinning to face him. "Really? Who? Who is it!"

Her father carried unaffectedly on his way. "I can't tell you," he said. "It would jinx it."

"Aww, no fair!" said Anessa. Her tail fanned as she hurried to peer around her father's shoulder. "I told you about me and_my_boyfriend."

Her father laughed. "It's nowhere near that level, Nessa. We've talked a few times. I have no idea if she's even interested in seeing someone."

"Is she . . . available?"

"She's divorced. Has kids about your age."

Overjoyed, Anessa leapt again, this time taking her father into a happy hug. "You gotta ask her out soon! Tell me more about her!"

Sunday October 12, 2014

8:49am

Roger's Sunday mornings revolved around the paper.

The Lewisburg Informer, printed up in Hollins, had been his primary source of news since he and Patricia had moved to Indiana, and, as he did every Sunday morning, the father shepherd cooked breakfast then skimmed the headlines from the comfort of his chair while Anessa--who understood his routine well--quietly ate on the sofa. The paper held its usual delights: midterm election analysis, disease, the stock market taking another dive.

Among death and politics, one front-page story caught Roger's eye, caused him to set his morning coffee beside his untouched breakfast. He began reading with laser focus, leaning his muzzle into the paper.

"Jesus christ," he muttered as the story continued on another page.

"What happened?" Anessa asked, pulling a fork from her lips.

"Hold on," grunted Roger.

He breezed through the second half of the article before passing the paper over the arm of his recliner.

Anessa's frown deepened as her eyes moved.

"Wait," she said, wary, "You think--"

"Read to the other page," urged Roger. He wasn't sure himself. He stood up. He wanted another look, and he wanted to gauge his daughter's reaction. He hovered over the sofa as Anessa turned the page.

"No way," she whispered.

* * *

Hendrix, OH man provides lead in Georgia unidentified body case

B Y P A T R I C K T A Y L O R

One year has passed since police in Watson, Georgia were called to the city landfill where a still-unidentified body was discovered. Details surrounding the case proved hard to come by as the victim carried no ID, has not matched any known missing persons and did not appear to be a Watson native.

"Based on the location of the body we were able to gauge what truck and route delivered the victim to the landfill," Watson Police Chief Geary explained to press outside of the town police department Friday, October 10. "After that we hit a wall. If you don't know your victim or any motive, well, that's a rough launch point."

Without any leads the case seemed destined to go cold and exist only as an unsolved mystery, but a year after the grisly discovery police have renewed hope. That hope comes on the tail of a "Miraculous stroke of luck" as Chief Geary put it.

A year after the body was discovered, Watson-area newspapers ran an article entitled "MYSTERY HOMICIDE REMAINS MYSTERY, ONE YEAR LATER." The article highlighted what police knew, including a physical description of the victim, and called for anyone with information to contact the Watson Police Department.

Kasper Christensen of Hendrix, Ohio just so happened to be visiting family when he grabbed a paper in a Watson gas station. Immediately, one detail caught his eye.

"The article said she was a German Shepherd with a full-body, white dye job," Christensen stated. Thirty-five-year-old Christensen is the founder of 9 lives Paintings & Piercings, one of Ohio's most popular body-art studios. In a call to Watson police, Christensen claimed that he had carried out a full-body dye job "painting" a German Shepherd white years before. "It stuck out to me since full-body dyes aren't a very common request. They're quite expensive, and the client paid in cash."

Christensen couldn't remember a name, but told Watson police that the service took place in late 2009.

"This is the first bit of information we've received since the initial forensics," Chief Geary told reporters. "All we want to do now is focus on expanding our scope. We want this story to reach Ohio, Illinois, Indiana--anywhere that somebody with more information might be so that we can, hopefully, find the responsible party and see justice through.

Anyone with information is urged to call Watson policeat (762) 555-0159.

_ Jane Doe continues on A3 _

JANE DOE (cont. from A1)

The following was reprinted with permission from the_ Cross-County Tribune _.

WHAT POLICE KNOW . . .

Police constructed these images as the victim might have appeared prior to the assault.

|

THE VICTIM:

|

THE CRIME:

VICTIM BLUDGEONED BETWEEN OCT. 4-

OCT. 5, 2013 AND WAS FOUND LIFELESS THE MORNING OF OCT. 6, 2013.

| |

• GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG | |
• FEMALE | |
• AGE APPROXIMATED 35-45 | |
• 5'6" | |
• 120LBS | |
• BROWN EYES | |
• DYED FUR WHITE PRIOR TO DEATH | |
• DRUG USER: TESTS TURNED UP TRACES OF METHAMPHETAMINE, MARIJUANA, ALCOHOL, ECSTASY |

HOW TO HELP . . .

Police are looking for any relevant information which may help identify the victim and assailant(s). Call the Watson Police Department (762) 555-0159.

* * *

12:32pm

Two missed calls. More missed messages.

Following the most recent restless night, Tyson extracted himself from his musty bedding and padded to the living room. He dropped his phone onto the sofa without reading any of Anessa's messages and went to the kitchen, grabbing the cleanest bowl available to fill with cold cereal and milk. He moved towards the sofa with nothing in mind but the day's aimlessness--he was stopped halfway, startled by a sudden knocking at his door.

"Ty? Are you there?"

Anessa.

In habit, Tyson masked his steps towards the door and hovered beside its frame. Anessa was in the hallway again. Tyson noted his cynical morning breath, and a smile, glacial, appeared on his muzzle.

_Today's the day,_he thought.

He flung the door aside.

There were two shepherds in the hall.

Anessa, looking thrown-together in drawstring shorts and half-sleeves, her hair pulled into a reckless tail. She looked at him with apprehension, tension about her. When Tyson saw the second shepherd, he slammed the door and hurled its lock in place.

"Ty!" his sister shouted.

Then, quiet and stern, his father spoke. Not to him, but to Anessa. Tyson heard the deep grumble through the door. Understood none of it.

"Please let us in," said Anessa. "We have to talk to you."

Tyson felt a burning anger flare from temple to temple, and his claws bit into the pads of his paws. His throat vented a dark growl. She had brought their father with. After he had tried to tell her. Being difficult again. Fucking everything up.

"Son, it's important."

"Please, Ty!"

"Leave!" barked Tyson. He put a fist into the door frame.

"It's about Mom--maybe."

"Bye," said Tyson, whirling back to the sofa, causing a wave of milk and cereal to splash over the side of the bowl still in his paw and onto himself. He stared down as cold milk soaked into the fur of his arm and pieces of cereal sprinkled the carpet, and as he inspected his latest mess, he heard his father and sister exchanging in low voices. They went on a while. What cereal was left in his bowl most have started going soggy when his sister raised her voice again.

"Ty, if Dad goes to the car, will you let me in?"

Tyson quickly looked from his spilt milk. Then his father spoke.

"Tyson, I do miss you, but I'll leave you be. I love you. I'll be outside if you change your mind."

The stars were realigning.

He waited, and after a short while his sister affirmed that their father was gone. Tyson unlocked the door and stepped aside. There, behind the door frame, Tyson closed his eyes and prepared to spring horror upon his sister and put his already shameful life to utter ruin.

Fuck it, he thought.

And the door opened.

"Ty?"

The tip of Anessa's muzzle appeared. Then her head--her eyes turning to face him as she peeked around the door.

His ambush caught her entirely off guard. He jumped at her, letting the bowl of cereal tumble to the floor. He grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her into his apartment. He handled the door as brutishly, then confronted Anessa who looked back with swollen eyes and ears pinned towards her ponytail. He didn't give her the time to realize the situation. He advanced and tripped her to the floor.

That was when she made her first scream--as she fell to the carpet.

"Help me!" Anessa screamed, landing roughly on her back. Her voice rose to a rushed, desperate cry. "Help me! Help me!"

Tyson dove after her and reached. His paws landed on her throat. The muscles there tensed with the efforts of her broken screams.

"--elp -e! -elp -e-"

The rest of her body fought him too--bucking, twisting, flailing. Her face was contorted and vicious. Nothing like Anessa.

He closed his eyes as he leaned down and forced his lips upon her. Hers had the sweetness of maple syrup.

That was when her claws flashed across his face, digging and dragging into his vision. A horrid, wet, burning sensation awoke like a bomb.

Tyson screamed, one paw reaching for his face while his other kept hold of the shepherd below him. "Fucking bitch!" he yelled.

"Get off me!" Anessa shrieked, breaking from his grip.

Tyson snarled, but the pain was dizzying. Strength was leaving him faster than whatever was dripping from his seething eye. The paw on his sister slipped, and for a moment he caught a soft, thin fabric in his grasp. He jerked at it. Then he screamed again.

He could feel each of them, individually--the sharp canines, the short incisors, the rocky premolars--tearing into his own neck, gouging through the skin and tissues beyond.

Screaming, Tyson fell to the floor and writhed in pain while his sister tore from the apartment.