A Tale of Cardiff Glen

By Tim Conley

Sheriff Tom Stanley is presented with a situation he can't explain. A mutilated body left beside the road needs to be placed in the proper perspective. What killed the jogger? How was he killed and who would perpetuate such an evil? Sheriff Stanley has to track the 'Beast' to its lair and explain to the community of Cardiff Glen that there is nothing supernatural involved here.
Turns out students from the college are involved in the situation. Sheriff Stanley must track down the beast in the wilderness as well as the beast inside randy pre-adults. This becomes difficult and he thinks he is chasing his tail during the investigation. Read & Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tim Conley
• Release date: Aug 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005931414

Tim Conley

Hi, my name is Tim Conley. I live in Philadelphia, MS with my beautiful wife, Carmela. My son,James (JD) is in the Air Force and has a son Joshua who is 21/2 with another boy on the way. Carmela's son - Enrik just graduated from Mississippi State University with a degree in Teaching.I have been writing for over twenty years and have published 67 books so far - two recently with Amazon/Kindle. I'm currently working on a fantasy anthology of 28 books called The Rhumgold Sagas.I have always been interested in publishing via eBook format but just haven't found the venue until now. I'm really looking forward to participating in the eBook experience. There are 22 e-books available now and 16 more that are being prepared for release in 2020. Read, explore and enjoy!

Book preview

A Tale of Cardiff Glen

TIM CONLEY

Copyright © 2012 Tim Conley

Dragon’s Breath Publishing

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 1-4791-6154-3

ISBN-13: 978-1-4791-6154-6

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Other Books by Author

Dedication

This horror story is dedicated to Carmela Santos-Conley, Ron and Christi Davis, Eileen Anderson and to my son, James David. All of them believe in my ability to create believable as well as haunting story lines. And they have all waited patiently for me to complete this particular storyline.

Acknowledgements

All of us who have spent any time at all within the hallowed halls of learning remember that one guy who was always the most brash and cared about nothing nor anyone else as much as himself. This little tale of horror is about one such.

I can’t even remember his name, but he is the basis of the Fred character in this storyline. These guys usually get what is coming to them in the end – again, as Fred does. Might be a warning to all self-centered, egotistical dudes to change their ways before the Wolf shows up to correct it for them.

C1 Don’t Run at Midnight

Michael Beltran bent down to tie his shoe again to make it tight enough to run in. He had a definite aversion to running in loose shoes.

He checked the batteries of his Walkman again and turned up the volume on Queen’s Fat Bottomed Women and put in his earplugs. Michael was soon jogging lightly to heavy metal as he took in the full, bright yellow moon that was just beginning to rise over the trees.

The road down to the entrance to Cardiff College wound its way through the trees that fronted a view of tall, rising mountains set across a bay that glistened and sparkled in the bright moonlight. Michael breathed in deeply of the pine needles and honeysuckle. His lungs filled with excitement as he surveyed the ribbon of moon-lit road just ahead of him. Mike decided to pick up the pace.

He adjusted the strap and turned on the lamp on his hat that lit his way. At least it alerted everyone else to his presence in time to get out of his way. The moon really was the source of light on this particular night.

The chubby security guard heard Michael’s footfalls and knew who was coming by the bobbing of his light. He also knew there was no one else who would venture out of Cardiff’s prestigious dormitories at this hour of night.

Fred looked up lazily from his newspaper at the young man jogging past his station. Headband light on his head, wearing headphones, sweatpants and no shirt.

Michael’s body-builder type physique made Fred look at his own heavyset slob of a self and wish that he could carry the large silver chain with a dumbbell trinket dangling from it.

Michael condescendingly waved as Fred spoke and turned on the juice as he sprinted through the gate leading to Old Gulch Road. He didn’t break stride as he pumped up the volume and lengthened his stride.

Michael focused on his workout, running at a good pace. Behind him Fred went back to the sports section of the newspaper and forgot that someone had sprinted by his station in the middle of the night.

The desolate road was surrounded by thick, vegetated woods on either side. On the left hand, the embankment declined sharply down to the ocean. On the right there was nothing but dense forest. The moon popped into view every few steps among the trees along the right-hand side, causing his shadow to lengthen as he steadily ate up the road.

Michael rounded a bend in the road and saw a black puddle that wasn’t quite fully illuminated by the now dim moon. He paused, then moved up cautiously. Stopping his run, he turned off his music and removed his headphones and placed them around his neck.

Cautious and out of breath he approached what he found to be the carcass of a deer – jerking and kicking its life out in spasms as he watched.

It’s in shock, he muttered to the night sky as he knelt down beside the deer. He reached out his hand and touched its side, then flinched as the deer jerked again.

When it didn’t respond, he pushed it a little harder. It still didn’t move so he examined the body. There was no visible wound that he could see but he noticed a small puddle of blood seeping blackly from under its belly.

Intrigued, he grabbed the deer by its legs and rolled it onto its other side. The deer plopped over and exposed a grotesque gashing wound to its stomach. Michael almost retched as its inside tumbled out of the wound onto the pavement.

He backed up, turning his head in disgust as a loud rustling noise came from the woods behind him. Startled, Michael turned to investigate – illuminating the near woods wherever he looked.

Silence greeted him as he scanned the woods.

Ha. Ha! You guys are very funny. Sick bastards, all of you.

Suddenly the loud rustling noise was directly in front of him. Michael looked straight into the woods in front of him and strained to see what was making the noise that continued to move toward him from the darkness.

You guys wanna fuck with me? I’ll take the whole fraternity on. Who’s got the balls to face me? You fucking pussies!

A deep, low-pitched growl echoed from the woods in front of him. Michael looked straight ahead into the woods, but still saw nothing. But he was now fully alert, almost panic stricken as he debated what he should do.

He took a quick look at the cliff wall behind him, on the other side of the road, then back at the thick woods in front of him again.

Loud, ferocious growls parted the foliage as the beast burst through the woods.

Oh, Jesus!

Michael stumbled backwards as he tried to scrabble to the cliff wall behind him.

God, no please!!! No...

He attempted to climb the six-foot face of the cliff wall to get onto the ledge atop it, only to be cut short in his climb by the beast’s ferocious attack.

The bright moon illuminated the background. Just off the road, near the base of the cliff, Michael’s light jerked feebly back and forth on the ground – like something was shaking a rag doll. The loud, fierce growling continued as the light illuminated brief glimpses of a large, terrifying beast.

C2 CSI Investigates

A white, police Bronco made its way up the coastal highway running between Washington State’s beautiful ocean and her majestic mountain ranges. The magnificent, unpopulated beauty of the landscape didn’t go unnoticed by the occupant, even though he had lived in the state almost all his life.

His recent trip to Los Angeles, for CSI training, was about the only time he had been outside the state. Tom had been glad to get back from that trip. He glanced down again at the new Sheriff’s badge that they had given him at CSI headquarters. It was much fancier than his original one. Maybe it would make his job a little easier, as well.

He glanced around the Bronco and realized that one of the things he was going to have to do, as soon as possible, was configure his new ride into a readily recognizable police vehicle. The lights and accessories were in his garage – just waiting for him to pull in and get busy.

I could sure use that, he said to no one in particular as he crossed the enormous bridge that crossed over the white-water rapids of Dead Man’s Gorge. Again, he noticed the towering cliffs that surrounded the bridge and seemed to dwarf even its size.

He crossed the bridge, zigzagged up the mountain and rounded a corner. Tom slowed down, not because of the bend in the road, but because of the taped off area. Three police cars and a coroner’s wagon were already on the scene.

Tom couldn’t help but notice the news media caravan with its antenna raised. News people and journalists had already begun to congregate at the scene. He noticed that a couple of his own people were being used to usher them back out of the area.

Tom lifted the tape and stepped gingerly into the crime scene. What have we got? he asks the Forensic Specialist, Dr. Karl Kimball.

Dr. Kimball had just arrived on the scene minutes earlier with Officer Mark Brunel. This was Officer Brunel’s first crime scene and he appeared to be about to lose his breakfast.

Bet you wish now we hadn’t done IHOP! Dr. Kimball said in an aside to Officer Brunel. He was smiling as he answered Tom’s initial question.

We have what’s left of a young man that was obviously eaten alive, Tom.

Time of death?

No way of telling. Liver and all his organs are gone. He took out his tweezers and lifted the sole of a pair of running shoes that had a splintered tooth embedded in the sole.

Get that specimen bag from my kit, will you. Officer Brunel reached into the doctor’s case and handed over the plastic bag the doctor wanted.

He dropped the tooth into the baggie and ordered his lab tech Lois, Get this to the lab and tell Angie to get started on it right away. I want to know what it belongs to. That will tell us at least part of the story.

What the hell happened here?

Karl looked over at the Sheriff. It doesn’t look good. It appears that we have another Penley case on our hands.

Tom’s face was distressed as he considered the blood trail leading back into the woods. Mark watched the Sheriff and asked, Penley. What’s a Penley case?

It’s a case Tom and I worked over twenty years ago. An eleven-year old girl named Sara Penley was attacked and killed by a rabid wolf just north of Anleran in Taney forest.

No shit?

No shit! Literally. She was desiccated just like this body

Mark shuddered in spite of the early afternoon heat coming off the roadway. So, you think the same wolf attacked the student last night?

I’m almost certain of it.

The Sheriff walked back out of the woods and joined them. Where’s the body?

Karl pointed at the trail leading off into the woods. "Good question, Tom. All we know as of now is the body was dragged back down that