Unstuffed, Chapter 1

The phone rang.
"Yeah?"
"Some poor rube got the big sleep tonight, chief. Better come down right away."

* * *

The crime scene was ugly. All but the most experienced of the detectives had never seen such violence, and the ones who had seen such carnage had to look away. Gangland hits like these could be cold-blooded and ruthless, but rarely this artless. This one seemed inexperienced or careless, or both.

White, fluffy innards were scattered about in a 3-foot radius around the scene. The killer definitely had some fun with this one.

The lead detective came over. "No ID on him, but this crowd of bindle stiffs back there says it's Stretchy Cow." He jerked his thumb at the small group gathered behind him.

"What else you got?"
"Nothing. They're all scared to say anything. There's something here, but nobody's talking."

I looked at the crowd. All neighborhood regulars. Squeaky Bee, Pink Pig, Snowman, Green Sheep, Elephant, Cheers Lobster. They were all under the thumb of the local boss; a sullen, moody character named Sammy.
As I looked at the crowd, things started to click. Sammy had an enforcer, a callous dame named Maggie. A past infraction against Sammy had cost Squeaky Bee a leg and part of a wing. He was lucky, compared to Cheers Lobster, who was down to one eye.

Maggie was good at roughing people up, but wasn't bright enough to know the difference between a regular hit and this massacre, and Sammy knew she was clueless. Still, he had ordered the hit. Stretchy Cow may have crossed Sammy, but this whole scene was for the benefit of the onlookers. The cow got the Chicago Overcoat. The others got the message.