The Dark Side

Hey there, crime kids. Happy Fridaze. It's time once again to take a trip to the dark side, where your most violent fantasies become sins of the flesh, right here, where the hardboiled action is non-stop, at the coolest crime joint in cyberspace ... at That Killing Feeling.

In Chapter 19 of RIDGEWAY (coming soon to a streaming outlet near you), LA exile Cate Salinger has a lunch meeting at one of the quaint burg's mountaintop cafes with local entrepreneur Zane 'Big Boy' Clem, who Cate doesn't realize is also the local Dixie Mob chief.


EXT. ERNIE’S CAFE - DAY
A small clapboard house on a
residential street that’s now a restaurant.

Tables on the front porch.
Red neon sign reads OPEN.

Blackboard reads SPECIAL:
FISH BLT in green chalk.

A green tram with three cars
comes down the street,
half-filled with TOURISTS.

The TOUR GUIDE (50’s), a
portly local with a voice
like honey and molasses
gives his folksy spiel.

TOUR GUIDE
--- now the building on your left
used to be a gas station,
and believe it or not
is now an artist’s studio --
and on your right is a
bed and breakfast that used
to be the home of Carrie Nation --

INT. ERNIE’S CAFE - DAY
A front room with a big picture window.
Surprisingly bohemian cool.
We could be in Greenwich Village.

Only the bearded and beaded
arty-funky LOCALS give it away.

Cate and Big Boy sit at a big
round table in the corner,
feasting on the aforementioned fish BLT’s.

BIG BOY
Got my fingers in a few pies.
Sell some real estate,
gotta motel out on the highway,
an antique store,
used car dealership --
and I told ya about
the bluegrass festival.

CATE
Impressive.

BIG BOY
Probably heard the rumor
going round that I’m involved
in some -- shady activities.

CATE
No, I haven’t.

BIG BOY
Completely blown outta proportion.
I do offer some services off the books --
high-interest loans for
people with bad credit,
run a high-stakes poker game,
stuff like that, but that’s
life in a small town.
People talk shit about you.

CATE
(carefully)
Then I would imagine you know --
the dark side of Echo.

BIG BOY
Hell, yeah. I got stories
that’d curl your hair.
(beat)
If I hire you to write my story,
would you sign a
non-disclosure agreement?

CATE
Of course.
And I’d change the names
to protect the innocent.

Big Boy nods, thinking it over.

BIG BOY
How much you charge?

CATE
Five thousand, paid in installments.
Take me about two, three months tops.

BIG BOY
Got yourself a deal.

CATE
Great. I’ll email you my
standard contract so you can --

BIG BOY
Round these parts
a handshake’ll do.
I trust you.
(strangely)
You gotta nice face.