The Beast of River Falls: Natalie Fitzsimons, Attorney at Law, #1

By Alden S Bauers

In the summer of 2008, a rash of animal attacks rocks the small town of River Falls, New York. Marty Fitzsimons, however, couldn't care less. He's infatuated with Natalie Disantos, the new girl in town. She's voluptuous, smart, funny and alluring. But come the full moon, Marty's dream girl turns into a nightmare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alden Bauers
• Release date: Feb 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393675495

Alden S Bauers

Alden S Bauers was born and raised on Long Island. He currently resides in Spartanburg, South Carolina where he works as a computer technician. He's married and has two young children. When he's not writing or spending time with his family, Alden enjoys modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale and driving his 1965 Chevy Corvair

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Acknowledgements

Iwould like to thank the following people for helping make this book possible. First and foremost are KG McAbee, Steven A. Gentry, Chris Rodgers, and CH Babb, whose editing, insights and tough love was invaluable. Most of all, I would like to thank my brother Christian. If you hadn’t kept a copy of this your old computer, it would have been lost forever.

Author’s Note

The book you’re about to read was over a decade in the making. In July of ’09 I’d moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina, and knew no one. Faced with lonely nights and little money for my other passions, I turned to writing. I finished the first draft that December.

Once the first draft was completed, life events made me forget about it. I met a girl, got married, and bought a house. Somewhere in there, I had to wipe PC’s hard drive. I thought I was careful about backing everything up. I was wrong. Save for one paper copy, I thought the manuscript was lost forever.

As luck would have it, I’d sent a copy to my brother for a critique. At some point, his laptop died. He gave me the hard drive and asked me to recover some of his writing. There on his hard drive was the copy sent him years earlier.

With the copy recovered, I spent most of 2019 bringing it up to my current standards. This was no small task, mind you. It was akin to trying to make a Model T Ford pass the New York State emissions inspection. But here we are.

If you’ve read my book She’s So Catty, the names and setting will be familiar to you. Think of this ask a prequel and the start of series starring Marty and Natalie. I hope you enjoy.

1

July

Listen to the radio long enough, no matter the genre, and you’ll learn men do crazy things when they fall in love. I learned this first hand back in 2008. I was 25 and up until then, my life had been pretty normal.

It was a Friday night when I rolled up to my buddy Pete’s house. His party was in full swing. Pete looked up from his conversation and threw me a wave.

Hey, Marty! You made it! What took you?

The tune-up from hell. Chrysler V6s suck.

You better hope they pass that bail-out. You and your pops would be out of business without Ford, GM, and Chrysler.

Ain’t that the truth? Let me get a beer.

I made my way over to the beer cooler. As I reached for a LaBatt’s, my hand collided with another. I looked up to find myself catching eyes with a goddess. Her auburn hair flowed to her shoulders like a fiery waterfall. Her skin was silky smooth, her lips luscious and red, and her hazel eyes captivated me.

I struggled for words.

Sorry about that.

It’s all right.

I grabbed two beers.

Here.

Thank you. What’s your name?

Marty, Marty Fitzsimons.

I’m Natalie.

I sipped my beer.

It’s good to meet you, Natalie. I don’t think I’ve seen you around before, and there aren’t many people in River Falls, I haven’t met.

I just moved here a few days ago.

Where’d you move from?

Long Island. I’m living with my parents until I can find a job and a place of my own. I needed a fresh start

I hear ya. Even though I’m out of my dads’ house, I still work for him.

What do you do?

I’m the business manager for his garage. But I end up working as a mechanic half the time. Turns out I love cars more than what I went to school for.

What’d you go for?

Accounting.

You don’t look like the bookworm type.

Gee thanks.

I meant that as a compliment.

Well, thank you.

She was smart, funny and not to mention, hot. Just the fact a lady like her would even give me the time of day was nothing short of miraculous. An hour or so later, the two of us were seated beside a bonfire, still talking. Before we could finish our conversation, Natalie’s sister came over.

Hey sis, we should probably get going.

All right,

She got up and started to leave. I was blowing it!

Natalie, wait a second. Want to meet for coffee tomorrow?

Definitely, she said. I’ll meet you at Java Joe’s around eight. Tomorrow night.

By 7:30 the next evening, I was getting ready. The coffee shop was a few blocks from my house and walking was faster. The night was still warm and the air was alive with the sounds of crickets chirping and a gentle breeze rustling the leaves. A few doors down a group of guys were enjoying a few beers on their front porch.

I rounded the corner onto Main Street. Loud rock music and the sound of cracking billiard balls emanated from Harrigan’s Pub. Inside the hustlers dominated the pool tables, getting their drinks at the losers’ expense.

I made it to the coffee shop only a minute or so late and found Natalie sitting on the far side of the room wearing a khaki skirt, black t-shirt and a pair of flip-flops. I threw her a quick wave and ordered myself a small decaf. Smooth jazz was playing. I got my coffee and sat beside Natalie. She smiled.

Well hello there. Nice to see you again.

Nice to see you too, I’ve been looking forward to this all day.

Me too. I wish my sister hadn’t made us leave so early last night.

It happens. So tell me, what brings you to River Falls?

It’s a long story, I just got out of a bad relationship, and I wanted a fresh start.

Ah, what is it you’re looking to get into?

I want to take the LSAT and go to law school. Hopefully something like that.

I went for accounting.

I remember you telling me, Natalie replied. I also remember you saying you end up working on cars more than the books.

Yeah, but I don’t mind. It’s a lot more fun than bookkeeping.

I’ll bet, Natalie replied. Does your mom work also?

The question caught me off guard. I drew in a deep breath.

My mom died when I was five. Pancreatic cancer.

Natalie’s face fell. She touched me on the arm.

Oh my god, I’m so sorry.

It’s okay, you didn’t know.

Let’s change the subject. What do you do for fun?

A lot of different things.

Like what?

This time of year I enjoy cruising with the top down or on my bike. I’m also restoring an old Jeep CJ5.

CJ5? Never heard of it.

Like a Wrangler only more, um, ‘Jeepy’.

Very cool.

What do you like to do?

I love to paint.

What do you like to paint? Portraits? Landscapes?

A little of everything.

We talked for two solid hours, right up until the coffee shop closed.

I had a lovely time. Call me sometime.

How about tomorrow night?

She glanced up at the almost-but-not-quite full moon.

I don’t think so; I have plans.

All right, then I guess I’ll talk to you whenever.

Sounds good. Can I get a hug?

Sure.

I leaned into her embrace.

I can’t wait to see you again.

We parted ways. I was walking on a cloud. Her long flowing hair and those hypnotic eyes captivated me. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. When I got home, I moved my laptop onto the back deck and turned on my Rush Pandora station. I sat out there drinking LaBatt’s to the sound of Working Man. Canadian Beer, Canadian band.  I couldn’t remember the last time I was this happy.

Twenty-four hours later, I was dying to see Natalie again. I knew that it wasn’t going to happen, I searched for the next best thing, a distraction. It would come in the form of my 2003 Honda Valkyrie.

I was opening the garage when I heard a strange howl from a few blocks away. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before. It was a much lower pitch than any dog howl. I shrugged it off as a neighbor’s TV and hopped on the bike.

The full moon glistened as I zipped along Route 350, pushing the bike through twists and turns. What I saw next would scare me half to death. I came around a bend and hit a long straightaway at about 65 when a large animal leaped from the woods.

I spun to a stop and, by some miracle, stayed upright. The animal stood erect and had the head of a dog or some similar canine. What scared me the most were the eyes, glowing yellow. I didn’t give it a chance to attack; I throttled up and got the hell out of there.

The next morning, I was getting ready for work when I heard screaming. I strode onto the deck to see what the trouble was. What I saw almost made me puke, a dog’s body was lying mutilated on the back lawn. My elderly downstairs neighbor was hysterically crying.

Sylvia, are you all right?

My baby! My poor baby.

A police car rolled up and one of the cops stepped out.

What happened here?

Sylvia blotted her eyes with a tissue.

I came out here and found him like this.

This is the fifth one this morning.

I debated telling the cops what I’d seen last night but realized it would probably earn me a stay in a padded cell. I left for work.

The usual pile of paperwork was waiting for me. For a few seconds, I entertained the notion of just pitching it into the Dumpster. My father didn’t even give me a chance to sit down.

Marty! Can you make some coffee?

Sure thing dad.

I put on a pot of coffee