Chief of Police Tom McCann slammed the receiver of the telephone down loud enough for his entire office staff to hear the noise it made. The call he had hoped not to receive had just come in and he was not a happy camper. Far from it. Someone very sinister was up to no good in his little community he had sworn to protect and now it was very personal indeed.

Not one, not two, but now a third badly beaten body had turned up dead on the shores of McKinney River, that flowed through the heart of down town Madison, and Chief McCann knew the papers would have a field day with this one.

Never before in the small, close knit community had young citizens been mutilated like these kids had been, and people who were nervous before after body Number Two had been discovered would panic once they became aware of Case Number Three.

Could he simply delay the release of this devastating news? Did he really want to? Oh, Madison had seen its share of small time thugs before, but the thing that ticked him off most, outside of the fact that he had three dead young bodies on his hands, was the fact that very few leads, or even pieces of evidence, had been discovered related to these heinous murders.

First it had been the Robinson boy, all eleven years old of him. who had first been reported as a runaway. That was until some fishermen had found the boy face down in the reeds of the river half naked and stabbed 26 times with a rather large knife. The discovery had rattled Madison about three weeks earlier, not to mention how it devastated his poor family. Quiet, unassuming people they were.

If that wasn't bad enough the second youngster had been Johnny Davis, the only son of the town's barber, and no haircuts had been had since. And, now it was confirmed that the third victim was none other than Joshua Livingston, the middle son of the town's Mayor. Chief McCann knew that one would bring the most heat down the back of his neck and threaten his job security as well.

He was right. The meeting with the Mayor about the incident had just ended and Mayor Livingston had clearly defined Chief McCann's immediate future. Find the perpetrator instantly or for him there would be no tomorrow.

But, how was he supposed to do that when his own people couldn't seem to produce any leads in the case? Then Chief McCann had another evil thought. There were no strangers who had been spotted running around town at any time any of these murders could have possibly taken place, which meant the monster involved with them had to be a local resident, did it not?

The more Chief McCann debated that thought the more he could think of only one possibility and that was where he was headed. He grabbed his Police Issue out of its locked drawer in his desk, got into his unmarked cruiser, and headed north.

Paul McClosky was an ex-con who had done time for domestic abuse a few years back before returning to his home town where he managed to eek out a meager survival doing whatever odd jobs people around Madison would provide him with. But, could the violent murders of three youngsters fit his past mode of operation?

Chief McCann slowly climbed the hill leading to McClosky's run down excuse for a residence. The first things he spotted were Storm and Thunder, the man's two brindle Pit Bulls that everyone in the town had complained to him about, but so far no incidents involving either dog had been reported.

The Chief found the old man, frail and bent over, out behind his shack. McClosky knew him well and sent the dogs away so he could talk with the Chief, "Afternoon," he curtly greeted the lawman.

"Same to you," McCann replied telling the grey haired man, "we got some talking to do".

"About what?" was all McClosky asked in return.

Chief McCann decided to come right out and say what was on his mind and minced no words doing so. He laid the whole story out there so McClosky could clearly see it. He wanted the old man's reaction to what he told him.

"Ain't got nothing to do with it," McClosky replied, "I'm small time, Chief. You know that. Little boys ain't what I was ever about. But, tell you what. You find that monster, and when you do, plug him a real good one for me too. You hear?"

Another dead end. Chief McCann knew McClosky was on the level, unfortunately. "Now what?" he thought as he got back into his cruiser and drove away from the property, "Three dead boys and my only lead just washed out," he said to himself hearing the Pit Bulls barking loudly as he left and hoping the body count did not increase.

For the Chief he would not be so lucky.