"I want blood!" Clete roared, shaking the windows of the conference room with his angry voice. "I want that dog's hide on my door."
Deputy Hank Bollinger was there, scratching his crotch and nodding. It was he who had found the ravished Nancy Pace naked and unconscious at the old Hudson house, lying there in a puddle of dog semen. The story she had told was near unbelievable, but Pastor Hemmings, the town MD had taken a specimen and identified it as exactly what the girl had said it was in her sobbing, shaken voice. In the most unspeakably effective way, the dog had taken revenge on Clete for the dreadful beating he had received from the hateful sheriff.
Mark looked up from the long table where all the town councilors were seated while Clete paced furiously up and down the room.
"I can understand your feelings, Clete, but what do you suggest we do?" Mark asked.
Clete drove his right fist in his left palm. "What else? We raise an armed posse and search the countryside until we find him. Put a five thousand dollar bounty on his head."
The men at the table all looked around indecisively. Then one of them, Bill Wilkins, said, "We can probably raise that. It might be worth it."
Clete suppressed a smile. He had plans to collect the reward himself at the same time he was avenging himself on the dog. It would be a good start for him and Nancy, part of a down payment on a house, perhaps, or money for a nice honeymoon. He knew the girl would need it after her experience.
"Now wait a minute, Clete," Mark protested. "We can't have a gang of liquored-up men ransacking the county with shotguns looking for a dog. People could get hurt." He looked around the table and saw the others nod their agreement. "People could get killed."
Clete ground his teeth. This motherfucking politician had thrown cold water on his best plans ever since he had come to town. Mark had opposed a raise for him, had opposed the hiring of a second deputy and the renovation of the sheriff's office.
"I mean, how can we be sure it was that way, if you'll pardon my asking?"
Clete's eyes blazed and he nodded at Hank Bollinger, who said: "I found her lying on the run at the Hudson house, naked as a plucked little jay-bird and covered with gism, poor kid…"
"Had she been mauled, Hank?" Mark questioned, repeating the question that Doctor/Pastor Hemmings 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!"
"And how is she now?"
"She's sleeping. Doctor gave her a sedative."
Mark looked back at Clete. The big ape-chested, black man was unshaven and dressed in his usual non-uniform of khaki shirt open at the collar, leather hunting pants and boots. He'd been drinking; his small black eyes were bloodshot and his bush of black hair uncombed. To Mark, he always looked like a man just a step from being a criminal himself.
"Hello, Dr. Hemmings," Mark greeted the tall physician as he walked in, then asked him. "What happened? How is she?"
"I'll tell you what happened, Denning! That Goddamned wild sonofabitch dog raped my fiancee, and I'm going to hang its hide as high as that flag on the flagpole in front of town-hall! Only first, I'm going to rip the bastard's nuts off!" Clete bitterly snarled, addressing the fact that Mark had warned him against taking an armed posse into the countryside again for any reason.
Mark said: "What are your findings, Doctor?"
Hemmings 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 right he did!" Clete roared, raising a water glass half-filled with liquor to his lips. He gulped half of it, breathing in shortened rasps as he glared at the deputy. "Ripped the Goddamned panties and everything else right off her, and Hank Bollinger was there and gathered 'em up! I tell you again, Denning, that devil dog'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 of Satan, himself…?"
"You're talking like a wild man, Clete!" Mark replied. "I don't know the answer but there has to be one! Maybe-maybe Nancy can give it to us when she's herself again."
"You go to hell, Denning!" 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 this valley! I aim to do something about it, whether you put up a reward or not! I'm forming a posse and going out!"
"There'll be no posse, Clete – unless we call for it," Mark calmly interrupted him. "I won't tolerate an armed uprising. Out there is civilized territory, and we here on the council intend to keep it that way. We won't have a bunch of beer-swilling maniacs riding those hills with rifles and shotguns!"
"Please, men, both of you, stop!" Dr. Hemmings 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 swallowed. He wasn't pleased with the way things were going.
"Of course, you're right, Pastor. I'm sorry," he said, watching the tall man's slow, understanding smile. "I'll place a call to the conservation department immediately. This is their problem."
"Problem!" Clete blurted. "Their problem! You go to hell, Denning! This is my problem, and every man, woman, and child's in this valley! That fucking brute raped my fiancee and I won't fucking sit back while some yellow-bellied politician decides to do nothing about it! You've got twenty-four hours, Councilor, and you better hope that son of Satan doesn't attack another girl!" he roared, slamming his fist down hard onto a table before storming toward the doorway. "How would you like it if that cur dog had come and mounted your sweet little blonde warbler and split her sweet little cunt open with his big dog cock?"
Mark began to rise angrily at that remark, but Clete was already on his way to the door. There, he turned back one final time. "I warn you, politician, 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 as he left. 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," Hemmings said, breaking the silence. "You know Clete, spontaneous and gruff. He only knows one way."
"An old and savage 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 her," Mark enthusiastically pressed.
"I said there were no marks indicating that. No, none. Positively none. And I am as amazed as you are, Mark. It seems almost diabolical, doesn't it?"
"I-I don't know, Dr. Hemmings. Christ, I really don't know what to think," Mark heard himself reply, his mind whirling. "Those crazy rumors that have been going around. That it's Liz Clark's runaway pet and that Clete always hated the animal. How is Liz, anyway?"
"Oh, she's fine. She's mentioned the dog to me, you know. He's the leader of a pack now."
"Do you believe it, Doc?"
The tall man offered an excusing smile. "I'm a doctor, Mark. For nearly twenty years I believe only what I see, feel, taste, know to be fact. And that's hard to believe. All of this is near incredible."
"That's strange coming from a man of the cloth," Mark commented. Mark felt a cold shiver move over him. "I mean, what would you say to it?"
"Liz is a strange young woman, that's all I can say."
"Yeah, I've always thought so. I've talked to her, too. DesirЋe is best friends with her, but I wish she'd leave DesirЋe alone," Mark said, slowly standing up from the table. "It… it can't be true, can it, Dr. Hemmings?"
The tall man had poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher on the table. 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 long time in my two professions and this is the first case of this nature I've ever encountered. I have to deal only with the facts, I repeat, that's the nature of my first profession. Yours requires more, and that's your problem, if I may say so. But to answer you, Mark, can it be true? I say, everything is true until it's proven false, and that's the law of the universe!"
"But… But it can't be, really, can it? Christ, it can't be!"
The tall man smiled wryly and nodded as he raised his glass of water. "I know," he said, "I know what you mean."