✔Paint Me a Murder | Book 1

Chapter 18: Community Service

Kazimir almost felt claustrophobic amid the sea of cars speeding by. Most of the snow that fell over the week had melted to slush and the main roads had been cleared. He shivered as he parked his motorcycle and removed his helmet. If only there was a shortcut to the underpass. It reeked like rotten eggs and decaying bodies, almost enough to make Kazimir gag. The sewer had to be backed up again.

It was thanks to Samantha that he had to wake up at the crack of dawn for his community service. All because those damn cops caught them spray-painting together and Kazimir thought he'd be a hero by taking the fall for everything.

The cleanup crew in the same community service program as Kazimir already went to work scrubbing artwork away. He walked up to them, stuffing his freezing hands in his hoodie pocket. Their supervisor gave Kazimir a stern glare for not showing up early like everyone else. Kazimir knew the asshole was about to chew his head off again. The old man had a vendetta against him for some reason. Perhaps he just hated artists.

"Did you get lost on your way here?" George asked, furrowing his bushy brows. "Go on now. Get your ass to work. Put a vest on and start scrubbing that shit."

Kazimir sighed as he slid an orange vest on. "Yes, sir."

The artist dragged his feet as he made his way over to the underpass. Atrocious slurs covered the asphalt alongside some creative pieces. Kazimir's favorite was the piece someone made of a young woman with black and red hair. At the bottom, the tagger captioned it as RIP Rosie. Kazimir didn't wash it away. Somebody else did though.

Kazimir worked on scrubbing away a throw-up piece. Throw-up tags were more difficult than normal tags, but still relatively simple. He recognized the tag as one of the Black Vipers. The vandal used bubble letters to spell out; Snake Charmer in crimson and orange. He depicted a cartoon snake smoking a cigar beside the lettering.

"Ah, damn. You're washing away my piece, little man."

"What?" Kazimir whirled around when a hand rested on his shoulder. He stepped back, brushing it away like a pesky bug.

The colossal man grinned, exposing a set of golden teeth. A gold snake earring on his left earlobe stuck out to Kazimir. He wore the same bright orange vest as Kazimir. It was a bit snug on him though.

"That piece you just washed away. It was mine."

Kazimir looked at part of the wall he'd almost scrubbed clean then back at the man. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, don't be apologizing. It ain't yo fault. It's these motherfuckin cops. They wanna get rid of all the graffiti. They've been arresting artists for it too. I got a pal in the slammer for his piece down in Hell's Hollow. It's fuckin bullshit. Like, what the hell's wrong with it? If they're so damn upset, just do what we do and spray paint something else over it. It ain't like any of these places are in business anyway, so the buildings just go to waste."

"Yeah, I agree. I got caught for my work in the old train tunnel," Kazimir admitted, fiddling with the sponge in his hands.

"Oh, those are your works?" Snake Charmer asked. "I've been in there before laying low from the cops before. Real cool shit."

"Thanks. Not all of them are mine though. My friend, Samantha, creates a lot of her works there too," Kazimir replied, peeking back at their supervisor, who scrolled through something on his phone.

"You know Sam?" Snake Charmer asked. "She's a real fun girl to hang around, ain't she? We get together sometimes to smoke or fuck."

Heat crept across Kazimir's cheeks. A twinge of jealousy jabbed him in the heart. What could Samantha see in someone like Snake Charmer? He didn't care about her. It was clear that he just used her for her body. Perhaps Samantha used him too though. Could Snake Charmer have been her ticket to the front lines of the Black Vipers gang? Kazimir had always wondered how she ranked up so quick.