Let the Devil Out by Bill Loehfelm Read Free Book Online

couple of times, making angry demands.” He shrugged. “It was his son who got killed, peckerwood shitheel that he was.”
    Maureen winced. “Tell me we’re not back to covering up that traffic stop again. I can’t. We did our best with that. It wasn’t worth the lies we told. Not about Gage, not about Leary. I’m exhausted even thinking about it.” She waved her hand. “Atkinson is lead detective on the Gage homicide now anyway. I secured the scene the night it happened, took a quick look at the body. The FBI knows all this. That was it. The father can talk to Atkinson. She doesn’t want to do it, that’s not my problem.”
    â€œWhat I’m hearing,” Preacher said, “is that the feds think the father might be a source of useful intel on the Citizens and the Watchmen Brigade militia and whatever else his son might have been into. The money, the guns.”
    â€œHe’s involved, the father? He’s part of the Sovereign Citizens movement?”
    â€œUnknown at this time. That’s probably the main thing the FBI wants you to find out when you talk to him.”
    â€œWait—what? You’re shitting me. Preach, the Citizens, the Watchmen, they tried to kill me. And the feds picked me for this because…?”
    â€œI don’t have specifics on that,” Preacher said. “But as near as I can figure, while Atkinson is lead on the murder, you’ve had more direct contact with the players.” Preacher ticked off Maureen’s connections to the case on his fingers. “You pulled over the truck with Gage and Leary in it. You took her to jail. You worked the Gage murder scene. Before that, you discovered the Nazi guy’s body, the first victim, what was his name, Cooley.” He raised his hands as if to fend off blame for the FBI’s choices. “Anyways, looks like as far as the FBI’s concerned, you, Coughlin, are the resident NOPD authority on these psycho patriot derelicts.”
    Maureen sat up straight on the bench. Livid, she didn’t know which way to look. “Man, fuck the FBI. Those terrorist motherfuckers in the Watchmen are already pointed in my direction. With guns blazing. Where was the FBI when these guys were stashing guns all over Central City? Where were they when these guys used their guns to try and kill me? They gotta be kidding me. Papa Gage is their problem. I don’t get paid enough for this shit. I’m doing federal work, I want federal pay, and federal benefits.”
    She stood, her legs feeling thick and heavy. She needed to get moving again. She shook her head, turning to Preacher. “The feds knew I’d react like this, didn’t they? They knew I wouldn’t like this idea. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
    â€œYou got it wrong,” Preacher said. “You’re way ahead of yourself, as usual.” He threw a glance at the little girl’s parents, who had started eavesdropping. “And lower your voice.”
    â€œThey sent you out here to soften me up to the idea.” Her tone was derisive. She should’ve known, Maureen thought. She should’ve known there’d be more dues to pay, even after her suspension ended, to get out from under what had happened with Quinn a month and a half ago. She and Preacher, they were the only ones left around and they’d never stop paying. But, wow, she thought, Preacher tasked with the FBI’s foreplay? It stung that he would go along. That he would deceive her on their behalf.
    â€œLook at you,” she said, giving him the up-and-down now, “a fucking butter man for the federales . Who’d a thunk it?”
    Preacher rubbed his palms on his wide thighs. Maureen knew as soon as the last words left her mouth that she’d overstepped, even for her. She thought for a moment he might get up and walk away without another word to her. She took a deep breath. She forced