Prologue

Case #*****

Date: Jan. 5, 2022

Location: Whittier Inn, *************, Whittier, AK 99693

Responding officer: Bob Walton

Witness: Maggie Saville

Narrative

Maggie Saville, owner of the Whittier Inn, placed a 911 call at approximately 4:10 p.m., regarding a fight between two adult males in progress in the inn's parking lot. When I arrived, one of the two males had fled the scene. The other was lying face-up in the parking lot, with a blunt force injury to his right temple. A probable weapon was spotted nearby: a rock about the size of a softball, with substantial blood spatters. I radioed for an ambulance to transport the victim and alerted the tunnel operators to hold outbound traffic until first responders could transport the victim. Victim was greatly agitated and demanded I pursue the "monster," which I believe refers to the assailant.

The ambulance arrived and transported the victim, whose statements were becoming increasingly incoherent. I secured the parking lot, photographed blood spatters and other evidence. I also examined the inn's security footage, but obtained only blurry photographs of the assailant, who covered most of his face with a hood and a scarf. Officer Percy arrived next and began looking for footprints or other evidence that might suggest where the subject had gone. He reported the tracks were lost somewhere near the trailhead leading to Portage Lake. A search couldn't be organized due to darkness, but will be attempted tomorrow. Officer Percy then sent a description of the suspect to the tunnel operators and to be posted in public locations.

A transcript of my interview with Ms. Saville will be included below when it is completed.

Transcript of interview with Maggie Saville

The Whittier Inn

Jan. 5, 2022

Approximately 4:45 p.m.

WALTON: To confirm, Ms. Saville, you're speaking entirely of your own free will, and you understand the legal consequences of making a false statement to an officer.

SAVILLE: For Christ's sake, Bob, we've known each other since we were born.

WALTON: Yes, I imagine you know everyone in Whittier. But I need to conduct interviews according to procedure. Okay?

SAVILLE: Yeah, yeah.

WALTON: Okay, tell me what happened leading up to your call.

SAVILLE: I opened up the bar, like usual. Nobody's coming in January, but I do it every day. And that man walked in.

WALTON: Which one?

SAVILLE: The one whose brains are splattered on my parking lot.

WALTON: What happened when he walked in?

SAVILLE: I asked him if he wanted a drink or a room. He said neither, that he was looking for somebody. I told him I wasn't a damn directory, and that everybody lives in the apartments.

WALTON: And what did he say?

SAVILLE: He asked me if I'd heard anything about a wild man, kind of a savage, passing through the area.

WALTON: And what did you say?

SAVILLE: "This is Alaska, sweetheart. You're going to have to be more specific."

WALTON: And was he?

SAVILLE: He said I'd know this one if I saw him. That he's covered in hideous scars and limps along. I was going to say that doesn't narrow it down all that much either, but then he said about the eyes.

WALTON: Eyes?

SAVILLE: Yeah, one blue and one brown. I thought that sounded a lot like my one guest. I wasn't sure if I should tell him that, though. I don't know him, and I don't make it my business to talk about the people who stay here.

WALTON: And did you tell him?

SAVILLE: Didn't have time. Lavenza opened the door, the man saw him, and then it all started.

WALTON: They went outside to fight?

SAVILLE: Lavenza started running, but he didn't make it far. Slipped, even though I'd just put some salt down. And this other one grabbed him and started hitting. I went in to call you, and when I came back, that one was bleeding and Lavenza'd run off somewhere. I didn't see where. And then you showed up and saw all the rest.

WALTON: What can you tell me about this Lavenza?

SAVILLE: He showed up in November. You know I usually close up shop once the summer people leave, but we haven't had so many summer people since this COVID thing happened. And I figured, why not, it's not like he's going to burn the place down. He paid cash, week to week.

WALTON: Did that seem odd?

SAVILLE: Figured he was another drifter, working on a fishing boat 'til he went somewhere else. You know the type.

WALTON: Did you ever have any trouble with him?

SAVILLE: Nope. Paid on time and left out his towels on Tuesdays for washing. He asked me not to clean the room, just to leave him new soaps and shampoos. I went in anyway, just to make sure he wasn't selling drugs or something.

WALTON: What did you find?

SAVILLE: Some clothes in a duffel bag and lots of junk food. And he put the sheet over the mirror. I checked under it, because I was going to charge him extra if he'd punched my mirror. But it wasn't broken. Figured it must be some superstition or something. Not my business, anyway.

WALTON: Did he ever talk to you? Anything that might relate to what happened today.

SAVILLE: Nothing. I'd hear him go to work first thing, and otherwise all I ever heard from him was pacing. Sometimes the TV. Nobody talked to him and he didn't talk to anybody, far as I know.

WALTON: Did he give you any sense of where he might go if he got in trouble?

SAVILLE: Like I told you, Bob, he didn't talk. I don't even know if Lavenza's his real name.

WALTON: All right, let me know if you think of anything else that might help.

SAVILLE: It was strange, that man who showed up today. He said he had to stop this man. To fix his mistake. What could a man mean by that?