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Though she’d always pictured Jake as a generously-framed individual, he’d lost a lot of mass during his recovery. Still, though, he easily hulked over her. After the accident, he’d grown a beard to help hide some of the scars, which to Shandi made him more distinguished. His deep, dark brown eyes danced with wild excitement as he relayed Bernard’s story about the beast.
In high school, Shandi had fallen in love with this part of Jake’s personality. His passion was contagious. Jake might say the two of them had a lot in common, and Shandi might have agreed at one time. In hindsight, though, she’d just been reflecting Jake’s enthusiasm. Her confidence had concealed from her more impressionable side. She loved all her friends dearly, of course, but Jake had made a bigger impression on her than most, something she only realized years after he’d left Rose Valley. Jake finished his retelling of Bernard’s tale. In this instant, Shandi realized her enthusiasm was real and her own.
“There has to be a link,” she said thoughtfully.
Jake smiled. “Exactly. There has to be, right? You really should convince Dan to digitize this stuff. I was bummed when I couldn’t get this online. How am I going to find anything without a search engine?”
“Oh, we do have a search engine. We call it ‘your eyes’. It’s not quite as fast, but it gets the job done.” Shandi smiled. “It actually shouldn’t be that bad. Bernard said it was 1942?”
Shandi walked to the left of the room and gently ran her fingers along the spines of the volumes. On this side of the paper’s archive room, each dusty spine displayed a single golden year.
“You’re in luck,” she said. “Back in ’42, the paper was only published once a week. We’ve only got 52 papers to look through. Shouldn’t be too bad.” She happened upon the volume she was looking for and stretched up to snag it.
As she reached, Jake appeared behind her, almost too close. He grabbed the book with ease, and for a brief moment they brought it down in tandem. Shandi let go and Jake carried it to the lectern in the middle of the room, which Dan had commissioned specifically for perusing old issues of yellowing newspapers.
Jake sat the book down and stepped aside. “I don’t want to get in trouble with Dan. Maybe you should do the honors.”
Shandi lifted the cover and placed it against the surface of the lectern. The first paper read Volume 1508, Wednesday, January 7, 1942. They both scanned the cover. Only smiling faces and minor accomplishments stared back at them. No mutilated livestock or terrified townsfolk. She flipped the page. Each paper in 1942 boasted only two pages, each printed on the front and the back. Every waxy page crackled with fragility, requiring Shandi to use both hands to turn each one.
As they read and searched, silence filled the room. Shandi presumed to know how quickly Jake read, and so turned the page at a consistent pace. He didn’t complain. After a few minutes of page-turning, doubt started creeping in. Perhaps Bernard made it all up: the gleeful rantings of a mischievous old man.
Then she came to Volume 1549, Wednesday, October 21, 1942.
She stopped. The clear, bold headline overtook the front page. Under the catchy words stretched a tall, solemn-faced man in a lab coat, standing next to a mass of something indistinguishable, obscured by the shadows of cruder photography. Shandi shivered at the thought of what it might be.
The caption read: “Dr. William Cordova, with one of the affected animals.”
While Jake could see over her, Shandi moved to the side so he could get closer. He quickly did so, putting them side by side, her shoulder touching his bicep. To her surprise, she didn’t mind him in her personal space. Without any words, they both leaned in to read the article.
***
LIVESTOCK MUTILATIONS DESTROYING ECONOMY
A rash of animal mutilations has ravaged local ranches. Timothy Jones of the Big J ranch has lost half of his sheep this year. Many other ranchers in the area have reported similar losses.
Dr. William Cordova of Arrowhead Research has been studying the phenomenon with the cooperation of local ranchers.
The animals are often torn to pieces according to Mr. Jones, with only minor evidence of being eaten. Mr. Jones has theorized to this reporter that such cases were likely the work of scavengers.
Mr. Jones described the culprit as a man-like beast with supernatural speed and strength.
Dr. Cordova disputed Mr. Jones description. “There is no evidence that an animal as described by Mr. Jones exists. It was likely a trick of the light.”
Mr. Jones refuted Dr. Cordova’s assessment, insisting that he saw a feral man attacking his sheep. He claims to have shot this creature at short range, but that it was not injured and quickly ran back into the trees near his property.
Regardless of the culprit behind these mutilations, the economic impact on Rose Valley is significant. Though Dr. Cordova has assured us that this event will soon stop, ranchers are understandably very concerned.
***
As she read, her heart-rate quickened. This article definitely described whatever Macy saw on the road. Shandi attempted to collect herself, wondering if she should just blurt this out to Jake.
Once Jake finished, Shandi spoke first.
“Why was Arrowhead Research even involved in this? Seems odd that they would have been interested.”
“I dunno.” Jake shrugged. “They were probably the closest thing to experts in town. It doesn’t seem that strange that they would have been consulted. It’s wild that Arrowhead’s been around that long.”
Jake reached into his pocket to get his phone, slightly dragging his shirt up as he did so, revealing the scars along his side. Shandi tried not to wince.
“Mind if I take a picture?” Jake asked.
“Of course not. Go right ahead. There’s probably some rule about no flash or something? I dunno. This isn’t a museum.” Shandi moved away from the lectern to sit in a chair along the wall.
She had promised Cam she wouldn’t tell anyone about the incident with Macy and Wes, but she wouldn’t be able to keep that promise. It pleaded to be shared. Too important. Too vital to this line of research. It also didn’t hurt that Jake would find it valuable, and that somehow satisfied her.
“So, uh. I have something I want to tell you,” Shandi finally said, before she had even fully given her mouth permission.
Jake dropped his phone back into his pocket. As he crossed over to her, she realized she was sitting in the room’s only chair and that he would be towering over her. She didn’t like that feeling, and immediately stood up.
“Oh yeah? What’s up?”
“So, last night, Macy got into an accident, and—”
“Oh my God,” Jake cut in. “Is she okay? Why didn’t you tell me? We didn’t have to do this today.”
Shandi shook her head. “No, no. She’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
He seemed to calm down. He had only met Macy once or twice. The two of them certainly had no relationship. Why would he care so deeply for Macy?
“Anyway. Her boyfriend. He swerved to keep from hitting something. Ran into a fence post. No harm done.”
Jake eyed her. “Okay. I’m glad she’s okay. I assume there’s more?”
Shandi nodded and took a deep breath. “The thing he almost hit. I think it was this thing. That Tim Jones describes in the paper.”
She watched as his face shifted from confusion to excitement. Jake absent-mindedly stroked his beard as she recounted the entire story. His excitement grew when she described the drawings, and then visibly fell when he learned that the sheriff had taken them.
Jake seemed excited. “This is amazing. This should be on the front page of the paper. How is it not on the front page of the paper? This should be national news. This is a big deal, Shandi. A big deal!”
She agreed, but still felt helpless. “It’s something, all right. I want to get this in the paper, too, but my hands are tied. I promised Cam I wouldn’t. He needs to keep it a secret in case others see it. I need something else to go on. A photo or some more eyewitnesses. Something that doesn’t get funneled through the Sheriff’s Department.”
Jake’s eyes dropped briefly, imperceptibly. Did the mention of Cam annoy him? Whatever his reaction, it disappeared quickly and without lasting signs of emotional baggage. They each shared a rocky past with Cam, and she worried that Jake might see her acquiescence to the sheriff as a betrayal.
He moved on with his thoughts. “Others might have seen it. There might be more in the paper after October 21. We should see if we can find something. And then maybe...”
Jake trailed off before resuming. “Can you look through this? I’ve gotta go talk to Steve. Maybe we can bait this thing out.”
Shandi felt Jake’s exhilaration flow through her like electricity. They built off each other’s energy, it seemed, and, in that moment, she felt more alive than she had in years.
In that moment, Shandi Mason may well have done anything for Jake Rollins.
But for now, she only nodded.
