Walt County

-Chapter One-

Author's Note: First of all just want to say it's so great to be writing fanfiction again. For those who are fans of my previous story "Elsa, the Great" there will be a sequel made within the coming months but I wanted to write this story first. I should also warn that unlike my previous story which was rated "T" this is a hard "M" story. I feel it is important to warn people that this is not a family friendly story despite the characters. Reviews and feedback are always appreciated; hope you enjoy this first chapter.

The morning fog rolled across the plains of Walt County like a thin blanket over a child's bed. The temperature was cool; this winter had been warmer than most but in Wyoming that still meant it was well below freezing. The weatherman seemed pretty confident that a big chill was on the way; just in time for Christmas.

Christmas was on the mind of Pocahontas as she jogged through her favorite hiking trail. It was her routine, every morning she'd go for a quick run before work. It didn't have to be long or even intense in any form. Pocahontas got plenty of fresh air and exercise working up at the ranger station, but she loved this morning run. It was a good way to clear her mind and get her heart racing; it was almost like verification everything still worked.

She had a lot on her mind this day in particular. The state park was in dire need of new facilities and they had already been forced to let four employees go due to budget cuts. They needed a donation or a grant or perhaps just a miracle. A miracle would be easier at this point it felt like.

As she pondered over what proposal she would try and write up for a donation she neared Lake Faded. Named after the midget faded rattlesnake which at one point was prominent in the area the lake was fairly small but it was deceptively deep. At some points the lake was about thirty feet deep; the clear water made it look like it was only a few feet but those trying to touch the bottom would quickly realize their folly. When Pocahontas was little she remembered hearing about a little boy who had gone to swim in the lake. He was going to the bottom to collect rocks with seashell fossils. Or something like that, the story had changed so many times over the years she wondered if it was an urban legend. The way it always ended was the same however; boy doesn't realize how deep it is, he goes down and can't make it back up. The boy panics and swallows too much water; drowning in the clear abyss.

Maybe it was just a story parents used to scare their children out of swimming in lakes without supervision, but it wasn't that farfetched of a tale. Even now as a grown woman she dare not take a dip in Lake Faded. She would however take a nice look at the body of water. It was an elegant sight to behold during the winter as the lake would freeze over. She liked how the snow dust would sparkle off of the hard ice as the sun would hit it just right. As Pocahontas approached the lake however she noticed something odd. She stepped closer, cautiously and finally got a better look. She let out a scream, and backed away. It was horrific she had never seen anything like it before, it was as if the legend of the boy was true. Trapped under the ice with cold eyes looking up and a face twisted to an unnatural near cheshire like grin was a dead body.

Elsa filled up her cup with black coffee and took a quick sip of the caffeinated glory she took in regularity. As she sipped from her mug she made her way into the archives wing of the sheriff's station. It was called the archives wing, but it was really more of a medium-large room stacked with rusted shelves and a dehumidifier that had probably been there since the late 90s. Elsa perused the boxes of cold cases, just staring at the names. There were a lot of slow days working in Walt County so sometimes she would examine old cold cases seeing if she could somehow solve these forgotten mysteries. No luck in all her time here, television made it look at lot easier than it truly was. In real life there was a very good reason why cases went cold; they were lost causes.

Elsa adjusted her badge and then reached for a box when she suddenly heard a voice calling her; it belonged to Basil. "Elsa! Can you get out here for a moment?" Elsa didn't dare keep the sheriff waiting and exited the archives wing to see what he needed. Basil stood in the hall with his overly sophisticated spectacles planted squarely on his face as he read from a time card. Elsa always felt that the Brit had a mousey look to him, which matched his condescending personality quite well actually. Still Elsa admired his brains and in his youth he had been one of the best investigators in county history. There was a reason they didn't need an actual wing of a building for cold cases; Sheriff Basil Baker.

"Deputy Elsa, I was wondering if you could assist me with a certain question I had. It pertains to your partner." Basil didn't even look up from the time card, Elsa knew what was about to happen but played along as she always did. "A question the great Basil Baker can't answer on his own? This must be a real puzzle." Sighed Elsa. Basil didn't even smile, it was if he was bored with his own joke.

"Yes, well you see your partner based on his time card and assigned duties was supposed to be here and signed on with dispatch at 0800 hours. It is now twenty minutes past the hour and he has still not shown up. Now may you explain to me what his problem is?"

Elsa shrugged her shoulders and then took a long sip from her cup. "Well Sheriff I reckon the mole people finally got 'im. Want me to call Jasmine and let her know her husband ain't coming home tonight?" Elsa grinned a bit, she had used various excuses throughout the years; alien abduction, fire, bear mauling, mole people was a new one. She was impressed with her own on the fly creativity. Basil was not so amused. "Well then, when your partner does arrive please inform him that he will not be paid for the time he wasn't here. That is all for now, if you need me I shall be in my office." With that Basil turned up and went into his office. Elsa shook her head and then heard the familiar sound of a car pulling up to the station. She went outside to meet her partner who was late, as always.

As Aladdin or 'AL' as he preferred to be called hopped out of his old sedan that was blasting 'Rapper's Delight' loud enough to make the windows rattle Elsa coulnd't help but smirk. Aladdin was dancing to the song and singing along, trying to get Elsa to join in who just stood grinning as she drank from her cup. Finally giving up Aladdin turned off his radio and removed his sunglasses. Elsa knew why Aladdin was always running late, he would swoon over his wife during breakfast and then spend an extended period of time primping for work. Aladdin cared deeply about his image and how other people saw him. Having grown up poor and marrying into money he wanted to prove his worth at every turn. His uniform was always finely pressed without a speck of lint. The collar on his jacket was always popped and Elsa could often see her reflection in his boots. Elsa cared about how she looked as well of course, but she believed if someone timed their morning routines she would be faster every time. Heck, someone WAS timing them; their boss. "Why were you even wearing shades on a foggy morning like this?" asked Elsa as she began to turn back inside. "I've got to keep up appearances Elsa, can't let anyone think I'm not cool." Elsa chuckled as she led Aladdin inside "Al, we live in Wyoming. Take it down a notch."

As Elsa and Aladdin took to their desks they were already ready to drift off into another routine day when suddenly they got a call from Wilhelmina Packard on dispatch. "DAVID-1 is DAVID-2 10-8?" Elsa rolled her eyes and pointed to Aladdin who spoke into his radio. "CONTROL-1 this is DAVID-2 I am 10-8." There was a slight pause "What's your 20 DAVID-2?" Al was quick to respond "I am at HQ with DAVID-1. What's going on?" Wilhelmina hesitated once again which was unlike her "We got a possible 10-35 up at Lake Faded. We need you to get over there, but uh,…you're gonna need some help."

10-35 meant major crime, most likely murder. What was Wilhelmina talking about? "Help? You want us to grab SAM-1?" asked Elsa into her radio. "Nah honey, I mean the body is trapped under the ice. It's gonna take some heavy equipment to get the poor bastard out." Elsa hesitated but then replied "Alright 10-69, we'll be 10-76 soon." Elsa ended the transmission with dispatch and then grabbed her phone.

"How the hell are we supposed to cut through the ice? It's not like we've got picks out in the bone yard" questioned Aladdin as Elsa dialed a number. "What about Kristoff, he should have some sort of ice drill" thought Elsa out loud.

"I thought that thing was broken."

"It was broken last winter, but I'm sure he's fixed it by now. I mean he needs it for work."

"You're wasting your time."

"We'll see about that."

"You just want him to be useful 'cause you think he's right for your sister."

"He's better than her current boyfriend; Hans. Guy is a real sunshine boy, can't stand him."

"Doesn't mean he'll magically have an ice drill that works."

At that moment Kristoff picked up the other end and Elsa kept eye contact with Aladdin as she spoke. "Hey Kris, this is deputy sheriff Elsa with Walt County. Not sure if you remember me." Aladdin didn't have to hear the other end to know that Kristoff was gushing over Elsa as she smiled. "Well that's very kind of you to say, we all had a good time that night. Especially Anna. Anyway I'm not here to talk to you about that need your help. Is your ice drill fixed?" Elsa then just slyly lifted her arm happily; she was right. Grinning she wrapped up the conversation with Kristoff "Thank you kindly Kris, meet us over at Lake Faded as soon as you can will you? Bring the strikemaster with you." Elsa hung up the phone and then adjusted her holster.

"Alright you were right, what do I owe you this time?" asked Aladdin as they gathered their things to leave. "You can buy me lunch, forgot to pack one today." Elsa and Aladdin made their way outside to their car and slipped into the seats with Aladdin driving. "Forgot to pack a lunch again? That's the second time this week, you know if you had a man in the house to maybe make you a sandwich from time to time…" Elsa sighed "Al, not today. We're not talking about this." Aladdin instantly backed off. "Alright, alright! I'll drop it. But we will talk about this some more." And then the two partners sped out towards Lake Faded.

When they arrived Kristoff was already on the scene ready to drill through the ice, after getting the okay he began to free to corpse trapped beneath the frozen layer. Pocahontas stood back still a little shaken from finding the corpse. Aladdin got onto the ice with trepidation but Elsa strolled towards the scene with ease. "Be careful Elsa, the ice may be thin in some parts. Don't want to fall in with water this cold" warned Aladdin.

"You know I don't mind the cold."

"That's because you're white."

"Well next time we have a body buried in sand I'll let you lead."

Aladdin laughed with Elsa, though Kristoff was unsure whether he should join in with the politically incorrect humor. "Okay let's get this guy out and check his tags" said Elsa as Kristoff made a rectangle block as some members of the local investigation unit hoisted the block out with a pulley. Elsa and Aladdin began to take notes as they finally got a clear look at the body. "Oh my god, it's one of the dwarves" gasped Kristoff.

Indeed it was, it was the body of Happy one of the seven dwarves. Elsa had never really socialized with any of the dwarves but they were a prominent group in not only the state but they were known throughout the world. They had all gotten rich off of their diamond mines and all being dwarves became somewhat of a gimmick. They had a short lived reality show a few years ago and they even sold some merchandise in a little shop that was operated by Doc and Sneezy. "It's only a matter of time before the press is crawling all over here. Better get to what we need now" advised Aladdin as he tapped his pen onto the block of ice.

"Kinda looks like….he's smiling" whispered Elsa to Aladdin and Kristoff as they noticed that Happy's face had been contorted into some sort of imitation of a smile. It appeared that something had been lodged into his mouth to force some sort of weird grin.

"He does look like he's smiling. What kind of sick person would do that?" asked Pocahontas fighting back tears. "Heh, looks like Han Solo in carbonite!" Aladdin laughed at his own joke, Elsa and Pocahontas just glared at him while Kristoff scoffed. "Oh come on, that was clever. How many times in life do you get to pull that joke out?" Elsa shook her head, then saw that members of the press were already heading towards the scene.

"We need to get ahead of this, or else they're going to have a field day" groaned Elsa. She could see Tinkerbell in her ludicrous winter mini skirt marching towards them ready to bombard them with a bevy of prying questions. They would dodge giving out details and she would push harder in the seemingly endless game of back and forth they were destined to take part in. "Gotta call the Dwarves, don't want them to find out about this on the five o' clock news." Elsa motioned to Aladdin who put his jacket over the face of Happy.

As Tinkerbell got closer Elsa and Aladdin received word on their radios "All units we've got a 10-33. Possible 10-35—" dispatch was cut off by Aladdin "Dispatch we know, we're at the scene." Aladdin was about to put his radio back when dispatch came back on "DAVID-2 you don't understand. 10-35 is related to a Sneezy. Friend found the body just a few minutes ago." Elsa's eyes grew wide "Al, I think we might be dealing with something big here." Aladdin was quick to shut down Elsa's path of logic "Calm down Blondie, could just be a coincidence." Elsa was not convinced but before she could continue Tinkerbell was already upon the group.

"Tinkerbell, Walt Gazette. What have we got here?" Elsa hesitated; she wasn't very good at these things. She often came off a little detached in these interviews. She still could feel the lump in her throat after she had been chastised by Basil for her "casual demeanor" during a televised interview about an armed robbery gone wrong a few years ago. Sensing her fear Aladdin stepped in with his million dollar smile, and based on Tinkbell's body language his charisma was as sharp as ever.

"Aladdin Ali Ababwa, Deputy to the Sheriff. How can I help you?"

"Well for starters has CI been through here yet?"

"They're in route. Should be rendezvousing with them shortly."

"So what's your guess: Accident? Suicide? Foul play?"

"Well Ms. Tinkerbell that'd be speculation at this point. Not my department."

"But you are a part of the Sheriff's investigation unit are you not?"

"Everyone in the Sheriff's department is in that unit. This is Walt County miss, we need all the manpower we can muster. But I can promise you that we are working diligently to find out exactly what happened here with our victim. I'd release the name to you but as you know we haven't informed the family yet so that is no bueno."

"Very well Deputy Ali Ababwa, but I expect you will let me know as soon as you can, correct?"

"Of course. You'll be the first to know. Promise."

"Good, here is my card."

Tinkerbell pulled out her card and then slipped into the front pocket of Aladdin's shirt patting it and the badge. "I already have your card miss" explained Aladdin trying to avoid the gaze of Tinkerbell. Aladdin was a married man and had zero interest in fooling around, those days were long gone. "This is my new number, had to switch carriers. Call me anytime Deputy" and with that Tinkerbell walked off towards Pocahontas. Aladdin sighed in relief and went back to Elsa.

"We gotta get out of here partner. Figure out what happened to Sneezy. CI will take care of this and we'll meet Jack after lunch." Elsa gagged a bit "Oh please let's not eat BEFORE we go to the morgue. Remember with that guy who got caught in his boat propeller last May?" Aladdin nodded his head "Yeah, I think Egan was his name or maybe Edward."

"Well whatever his name was I ended up blowing chunks the rest of the afternoon."

"Was pretty gnarly. But this guy should be fine I mean he's just frozen. He'll probably still be thawing out by the time we get there."

"He'll still smell."

"Alright fine, we'll get something to eat AFTER the morgue. Geez you are so picky."

"I'm just particular."

"Which is just the long form for picky. Come on let's roll out."

Elsa and Aladdin arrived faster than expected to the house of Sneezy. It was a small cottage style home with a brick chimney. The lawn was bare, there were no flowers or any type of shrubbery around and the grass was pale yellow. The inside of the house was spotless however; free of dust and any other irritants. Sneezy clearly took every precaution to ensure he didn't have an allergy episode while in the comfort of his home. Aladdin examined the clean and polished floors. "Nice little house" he said to all who would hear him. There were already some members of the crime scene investigation unit taking pictures and taping up part of the house. Basil was on the scene, a rarity these days.

"There you two are! What took you so long? Was Aladdin driving?" he growled, he was blocking their view from some sort of walk in closet. "Easy boss, we were taking care of another dead body down by the lake. And I always drive." Aladdin was already on the defensive with Basil who glinted at the deputy "Who was the victim?" Elsa budged in "Happy, one of the seven dwarves." Basil cringed a bit and rubbed his fingers together. He was trying and failing to quit smoking. He had been good enough to limit his smoking to off duty but at this moment Elsa could tell the veteran Sheriff needed his fix.

"Shit. This ain't looking good" mumbled Basil which caused Elsa and Aladdin to raise their eyebrows. Basil stepped out of the way revealing the closet and Elsa gasped a bit. Sneezy was strung up inside of the closet; his face was almost as blue as the frozen Happy's but this was due to loss of air. Sneezy was just dangling in the air his tongue sticking out and laying onto the noose.

"Get him down from there!" ordered Aladdin pointing to the corpse. "No can do, right now we need to preserve the scene. I wanted Elsa to take a good look at it" explained Basil. Elsa with a little hesitation got closer to examine the body. She noticed that there were some scratches on Sneezy's arm, and that a step stool was thrown into the corner and busted up.

"He's a short guy but this ain't exactly a tall closet either; not taller than seven feet. Must have been the only place he could have been strung up. I'm seeing some wounds, they look defensive in nature, I don't think he took himself out. Not willingly at least, I mean looks like he kicked the stool to the side, so I guess he in the end made the decision. But maybe he was under distress maybe someone was pointing a gun at him?"

"Maybe it was guilt" chimed Basil. Aladdin crossed his arms "Guilt?" Basil nodded his head "Think about it, you find Happy's dead body in the lake, who do you think put it there? My money is on Sneezy right now. He kills his friend, basically his brother and then in pure grief due to his guilt he kills himself." Aladdin mulled over Basil's theory for a moment while Elsa stroked her braid a bit. "It's possible, but I want Jack to take a closer look at this before we deduce that" replied Elsa. Basil began to move towards the other areas of the house "Best theory we have to go on thus far. Take your lunch break now you two, then go see Jack." Elsa moved to protest but Basil cut her off "And try and get a hold of the rest of dwarves! We've only been able to reach Doc thus far. Call Snow White she might know where they are." Elsa sighed, looks like she was going to have to hold down her food at the morgue once again. Aladdin was laughing at Elsa's expense.

"It's not funny Al, I have a weak stomach."

"Not funny? Come on you gotta admit it's kinda humorous."

"Get me Snow White's number I think she needs to hear about this."

"On it" said Aladdin as he stepped out of the room. Elsa continued to look at the body of Sneezy, his face was just twisted in such horror that there was no way his death was suicide. No someone had killed him, and that same person had probably killed Happy. She was going to keep it to herself for now; but this had all the signs of a serial killer at work.

Author's Note: Alrighty then chapter one is complete and chapter two will be coming soon any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! More characters will be introduced as time goes on.