GRIMM, INDIANA: LONG COLD WINTER

 

GRIMM, INDIANA: LONG COLD WINTER

by CRAIG DEBOARD 

A BLACKSTAR UNIVERSE PRODUCTION

(Mature Readers Only! Suggested For Readers 18+)

PART ONE

Black Cheetah pulled the sedan to the side of the dirt road. He walked a mile to the agreed upon meeting place. The corn fields on both sides were a lush green and tall. Summer had ended and fall was on it's way.

"You can come out," the police detective said, thinking about his service weapon holstered underneath his sports coat. 

Pierce Charming stepped from between the rows of corn out to the middle of the dirt road. "No one followed you?" He asked.

"No. Where did you park? Don't tell me you walked all the way out here. We're five miles outside of town," Cheetah said, his thoughts on his service revolver. Going undercover as a black man to infiltrate the racist domestic terrorist organization known as The Klan was the most afraid he had ever been in his 45 years as a police officer. 

"I had people drop me off. They'll be back around in a few minutes to pick me up. It's at that point, we never met, we never talked, and we don't know each other until my public introduction to you during my campaign," Pierce said.

"Understood," the undercover officer said, glancing sideways down both directions of the road. There was no car in sight.

"Here's the paperwork," Pierce said, handing Cheetah a gray leather briefcase.

"Insurance fraud and murder is big deal. Don't fuck me on this," Black Cheetah said, taking the case that contained the evidence to put Pierce Charming away for good.

"Don't worry. Your promotion to chief was derailed once. Just keep silent about where you got this and I'll handle the rest once I've won the election," Pierce said.

"And what about Zeus? With him as chief, it can make things difficult. He and Surge are cousins."

"We're setting him up as the patsy. Here they come," Pierce said looking to the left and nodding.

"You'll here from me as soon as these are delivered to the Grimm, Indiana Gazette," Cheetah said walking to the opposite side of the dirt road, disappearing into the rows of corn.

"Remember, we haven't met yet," Pierce said.

Cheetah was gone.

The car to pick up Pierce Charming arrived.

PART TWO

"So we put the heat on Surge?" Zeus asked, leaning back in his chair at his desk in the Grimm, Indiana Police Department.

"Only from The Klan. We pin the murders on Snow Whitney," Black Cheetah said, crossing his legs as he sat across the desk from Zeus.

"And she gets offed while in lock-up?" Zeus asked.

"Correct. Pierce already has the insurance policy on her and someone to deal with her once we have her locked up. It would have already happen had she not taken the plea for stealing the squad car. The Klan will collect the money and it puts Surge out of the way when they deal with him," Cheetah responded.

"It sounds good, and with a new mayor in our back pocket, instead of that old man, Arthur, we run Grimm how we see fit," Zeus said.

"Correct again. The only difficult part is keeping you out of the spotlight. No one will expect me to be involved, being a black man," Cheetah said.

"And you're sure this doesn't conflict with your ethics and morals because of race?" Zeus asked.

"You can call me a black man all day long, but money is green," Black Cheetah said.

Zeus leaned over and put his cigarette out in the ashtray on the desk, "I feel that. Once the two are dealt with and Pierce steps in as the new mayor of Grimm, I promote you up to my new number two. The public sees it as an all new change for a more prosperous Grimm."

"The rally for The Klan is in six months after winter. We'll kick the murders off a week before that. The two issues combined should leave everyone in town confused well enough as to what's going on," Cheetah said, standing from his chair, walking to the office door.

"This is deep undercover shit. You're sure you're in it for the long haul?" Zeus asked.

"We've come too far now. Deciding otherwise puts us in direct conflict with The Klan and we don't have the manpower to fight that sort of problem," Cheetah said.

"Nor would we want to," Zeus said with a wink, referencing the money involved.

"Right," Black Cheetah said, secretly hating every minute of the double undercover op to bring down the crooked chief of police and Greek deity, Zeus, and the evil and corrupt racist politician, Pierce Charming. He shut the office door behind him and left work for the day.

PART THREE

Six months later.

The long cold winter passed and the ice on the roads had melted. Spring still carried a brisk wind in the air, chill enough for Cheetah to wear a trenchcoat as opposed to only his office sports coat.

"So you really aren't going to tell me what's bugging you?" Surge asked as the two partners sat in Cheetah's sedan.

"It's just a lot of paperwork. Zeus has been up my ass all week to get it done and I'm behind," Cheetah said, feeling guilty from having to lie to Surge. The two had been partners on the force for years ever since Surge transferred from California to Indiana. He knew as an officer that he and his partner had to trust one another implicitly, but he also knew the dangerous situation both men were in, himself especially as a black man dealing with The Klan as an undercover officer pretending to be a ranking member of the organization.

"That dickhead gets off on paperwork more than a pen," Surge said, sipping his YooHoo chocolate drink.

"Well, he can't keep a wife, so he's got to get off on something, right?" Cheetah said with a smirk.

"No shit," Surge chuckled.

"Here we go," Cheetah said, nodding at the trailer the two officers had been casing all week. Big Bad Johnny Wolfe hurried from his Pinto hatchback into his old decrepit trailer in the Black Forest Mobile Home Park that sat on the outskirts of Grimm, Indiana.

"Fucker's a piece of shit. What he did to Red was bullshit," Surge said with a glare toward Johnny.

"She's a working girl. She knows the risk of selling pussy," Black Cheetah said, using his cell phone to take a few pics of the drug dealer.

"You know who he's working on trying to get hooked on that shit and fuck next?" Surge asked.

"Intel says it's Mama Bear, but we're also looking at Missy Muffet. He's been seen talking to her pimp, Spider, lately. Could go either way," Cheetah said, putting his phone away, disgusted with himself over what he knew was coming. They were prostitutes, but they were still people. He did his best to rationalize their impending deaths as being for the greater good of Grimm if it would prevent The Klan from taking over the small Indiana town. He tried his best to view it as the only solution. Without enough officers on the force, he tried to look at it as the only way to save the city. Pin the murders on Pierce. He felt sick to his stomach keeping the murder for money double undercover scheme from his partner, but he knew if Surge found out he would go directly after Zeus and likely get himself killed. Black Cheetah felt trapped. Go undercover as a black man in part of the racist white power organization and kill a few prostitutes in the process, or risk the city itself being overrun by the organization and seeing Surge get himself killed while trying to stop Zeus. His own soul and ethics vs. the soul of the city and Surge's life. It wasn't an easy choice. 

"Fuck, you see who that is?" Surge said with a nod toward the car pulling into the driveway next to Johnny's.

"That's Cindy Rells. Son of a bitch. She works the corner of Main and Magique Avenue. That fucking whore is walking right into a bad situation," Black Cheetah said.

"Part of the gig, right? Cindy is one of the more expensive girls in town," Surge said.

"How do you know that?" Cheetah said, giving his partner a glance.

"A friend of a friend," Surge said, taking another sip of his drink.

"You're fucking Snow Whitney again, aren't you?" Cheetah said, raising his eyebrows.

"We've just been talking on the phone is all. She's taking a plea deal for community service to get out of trouble for stealing that squad car," Surge said.

"That chick is crazy. Be careful," Black Cheetah said.

"The crazy chicks are the hot ones," Surge said with a grin.

Cheetah sat in silence with his thoughts. Snow being involved changed everything. She was the one Pierce had a previous relationship with that was going to die in prison after arrested so Pierce could collect the insurance money. If Surge discovered even a little of the double undercover op to bring down Zeus and Pierce, he would be upset over being kept in the dark. If he knew Snow as involved, he might not only try to kill Zeus, but Cheetah himself. The older police detective hated his job. He felt as if he were betraying everyone and everything, including his own soul. He felt as if it was his only option to protect the small, dirty, crime-ridden town. And he felt as if he was in so deep he no longer had any choice but to commit.

"Cindy's probably gonna be with Johnny for a while. Wanna go get a burger or something?" Surge asked, oblivious to the events unfolding all around him.

"Sure," Cheetah said, not knowing what to do anymore.

PART FOUR

"So did it hurt?" Pierce asked, sipping from his beer.

"Did what hurt" Annabelle Hitler, also known as Hitler Jr. said, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"Having the face of Adolph's corpse stapled over your own face?" Pierce answered.

"A pride in your heritage is painless," she said.

Pierce Charming gave the leader of what she referred to as, 'The Resistance', a shake of his head and took another swig of beer. "If you say so. From what I've been told, you were a very beautiful woman before taking on the role you have."

"Beauty is a part of a soldier's commitment, not her physical appearance. I'm sorry if I don't better resemble one of the sluts you fuck on a nightly basis," Annabelle said, taking another draw off the cigarette. 

"No need to apologize. At least not as long as you're end of things has been taken care of?" Pierce asked trying to look everywhere he could other than the hideous skin stapled over her own face. He glanced around Misty's Hole, the bar they sat in, he looked at his drink, and then finally settled on staring at her breasts.

"Do you see something you enjoy, Mr. Charming?" Annabelle said, leaning forward and showing off more cleavage.

Pierce felt pressured. Annabelle was a gorgeous woman other than what she had done to her own face. He then felt her foot rub against his leg under the table.

"Yes I do," he half lied and then tried to bring the subject back to business, "all went well with Hades then?"

"Yes," she said, with a slight lick of her lips, "the ruler of the underworld has granted me an army of the undead the likes of which Earth has never experienced before. Between your affiliates and my army of zombies, nothing will stop us." She deftly slid her hand under the table and placed it on Pierce's knee with a smile. The tiny black mustache on the corpse's face stapled over her own face seemed to smile too. She squeezed his knee.

"I have the weirdest fucking boner right now," Pierce said.

"Let's go fuck," she said.

"Okay."

PART FIVE

"Fuck you, Chris!" Snow yelled into phone, before hanging up on Chris Rook, the leader of the rebel group of punks called, 'Forcefed.' She stood, staring at the phone with anger. A small loan shouldn't have been that big of a deal in her eyes. The phone rang again.

"Why did you hang up?" Chris asked before she could say 'hello.'

"I need your help, asshole. I can't cover this parking ticket while doing community service, and I don't want to go back to dancing," Snow said, feeling her explanation was more than adequate.

"If I send you the money, I won't have enough to catch the bus down to Grimm to see you. What am I supposed to do?" Chris asked.

"I don't know, maybe love me enough to give a shit?!" She yelled at him.

"You aren't my girlfriend anymore. You dumped me for that big blue asshole cop, Surge, remember?" He reminded her of their past ending.

She gave a huff into the phone, "He's not my boyfriend either. It was one night and I was drunk."

"If you say so. Look, I'll send you the money and talk to the boys and see if they have any extra cash to help me ride down there. We have business to deal with anyways," Chris said.

"Are you guys playing a show or getting in a fight?" She asked, happy that she would get some help and get to see the man she had feelings for.

"Probably both," he said.

"Same old Chris," she said.

"Same old Snow."

PART SIX

The Bard kicked at the slush on the side of the road as he walked into town with nothing but a backpack and his guitar. The brisk cool air of Spring warming up his bones after the long cold winter in Chicago was a welcome change. No one knew where The Bard had come from in Chicago, and no one would know where he came from in Grimm, Indiana. His was a destiny of singing what he called the Song of Life, and all that transpired within. He was older than everyone he knew, but also maintained a youth about his appearance that led everyone to believe his years were younger than they actually were. The car rolled past him toward the town and the hitchhiking Bard gave the car the finger.

"That fucking jerk just flipped us off," Surge said glancing back at the hitchhiker.

"I'd be in a bad mood too if I was walking and the only the only place I had to go to was Grimm, Indiana," Cheetah said, flicking on his turn signal.

"I'm in a bad mood because we still have three miles to go before we get to The Cow Jumped Over The Moon," Surge said.

"They really do have the best hamburgers in town," Cheetah said.

"You aren't wrong," Surge said.

PART SEVEN

The night air felt just as cold as the long winter that had passed. The waning moon was high in the night sky, and Cheetah sat in the sedan, alone, waiting. After an hour, Big Bad Johnny Wolfe pulled into his driveway. He stepped out of the driver side door while Mama Bear stepped out of the passenger side door, carrying a bag from Rapunzel's Adult Exotics. He waited until the front door of the trailer closed and then stepped out of the car.

"Here we go," he said to himself.

Cheetah stood near the back of the trailer listening as Big Bad Johnny Wolfe had his way with the prostitute. After twenty minutes and the noise stopped, he walked around to the front of the trailer. The weeds were tall and the air reeked of the smell of meth. He slowly crept up the steps to the front door. Glancing in the window built into the door he saw Mama Bear sit down on the couch with her purchase from Rapunzel's. 

"Battery is gonna run out soon anyways. Might as well get this over with," he said, feeling his service revolver inside of the sports coat her wore under the trenchcoat. Then he noticed he firepit and lawn chairs sitting in the yard.

"Bullets will be traced back. Won't look like the beginning of a murder spree anyways. This is going to be messy," he thought. He stepped off the porch and walked up to the firepit, taking the ax that sat near it in hand.

"Fuck baby, hurry up, I'm wet again!" Mama Bear yelled from the living room.

"What? Just a minute. Bitch, you better not have smoked all my shit, or shot it up either, ho!" Johnny yelled while sitting on the toilet. 

"Mother fucker needs to hurry, I don't get paid by the hour," she mumbled to herself, playing with her newly purchased toy. The front door slowly opened.

"Thought he locked that?" She said, half-startled. Cheetah stepped in.

"Ooh, you one of his friends?" She said, licking the toy.

"Something like that," Cheetah said as he raised the ax over his head.

PART EIGHT

Cheetah wiped the blood away that had splattered across his face. Mama Bear sat on the couch, dead. He added to the scene to make it seem more psychotic, taking the pile of two dozen hyperdermic needles from the coffee table and inserting them into her corpse. He knew it would lead to a toxicology report and would help cover-up the murder, at least for a few weeks. Tears poured down his cheeks with each needle stab. He knew he had lost his soul and there was no turning back. All he could do to hold his sanity together was think of protecting the filth-ridden town of Grimm, Indiana and his partner, Surge. If dead prostitutes and dead drug dealers would lead to the downfall of The Klan, he summed it up as not being able to make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

"Bitch, you better not have smoked all my shit!" He heard Johnny yell from the bathroom. 

Cheetah pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and took a seat next to Mama Bear's corpse. "I'm sorry this had to happen" he said to the dead body. She silently and lifelessly stared ahead, mouth agape, naked, and needles protruding from her body.

"Fuck, you know, had it been anyone else, I wouldn't have even met you. I really hope this wasn't taken as anything personal," he said taking a drag off the smoke.

"Where's the fucking toilet paper!" Johnny yelled from the bathroom.

"That's my cue. It was nice meeting you," the murderous officer said, putting the cigarette out in the ashtray and standing.

Johnny stood after using the bathroom rug for something to wipe with and opened the bathroom door. The ax came down across his chest and belly, splattering Cheetah with blood.

"Hk!" was the only noise Johnny made. Cheetah swung the ax again. And again. And again.

PART NINE

"What a fucking mess," Surge said inspecting the corpse of Mama Bear four days later. Officers made their way through the trailer taking photos and stretching police line do not cross tape from point to point, cordoning off the crime scene.

"Yeah, this isn't good," Cheetah said.

"This completely fucks our investigation into Johnny. And now we're gonna have a shitload of paperwork and an all-new investigation," Surge said.

"Probably," Cheetah said, feeling completely detached from reality. 

"Are you okay?" Surge asked.

"I'm fine," Black Cheetah answered.

"Are you sure? You don't look fine," Surge said, concerned about his partner.

"Yeah. Let's go get something to eat," Cheetah answered.

"The Cow Jumped Over The Moon?" Surge asked. They were the best hamburger place in town.

"That's fine, but I think I'd rather have a salad," Cheetah said.

TO BE CONTINUED IN GRIMM, INDIANA #1