The Famous and the Dead by T. Jefferson Parker Read Free Book Online

welcome
. “So what does Israel Castro need with stolen drugs and small-time crime-scene guns? These Missouri guys aren’t going to make him noticeably richer.”
    â€œSomething more’s going on.”
    Hood considered. He heard Erin in the back of the house, a door shutting and a sink running. Daisy and Minnie climbed off the couch and trotted down the hallway. The pipes in his adobe were old, and they telegraphed with groans and shudders the presence of those within. Erin was due in weeks but she still refused to see Bradley except for very brief visits, which she only allowed with Hood, Reyes, or Beth in attendance. The dogs invited themselves to all such meetings, positioning themselves between Erin and her husband, always facing Bradley, never quite sleeping.
    Hood knew that Bradley despised him for this arrangement, but the whole thing had been Erin’s idea. Although he did think it was a good thing. He himself despised Bradley’s reckless endangerment of his wife, his prodigious greed and dishonesty, his crimes and arrogance and luck. Just four months ago he’d gotten her kidnapped and nearly skinned alive. Now it looked like LASD was about to cancel Bradley’s ticket, and that was fine with Hood. Still, this was Bradley’s second approved visit in a week. Erin was softening. Maybe ready to forgive, if not forget. He sipped the bourbon and looked out a window at the distant peaks faintly brushed by starlight.
    â€œGot pictures of these new creeps?” asked Reyes.
    Hood gave him his phone and while Reyes pawed back and forth through the pictures with a thick finger, Hood thought of Mary Kate Boyle and her big plum shiner, disappearing into the millions of people in Southern California. He had the nagging bad feeling that somehow she and Skull would reunite.
    â€œWhen bad cops take over, it’s the end of civilization as we know it,” said Reyes. He handed back the phone.
    â€œThey’re not taking anybody over.”
    â€œToo bad the girl won’t cooperate.”
    â€œShe’s done enough if you ask me.”
    Reyes stood and yawned, then limped to the front door. He opened the deadbolt and looked outside for a long beat. Past his round shoulders Hood saw the stars flickering in the desert night. Reyes closed the door and locked up. “Anything new on Mike Finnegan?”
    â€œNot for months.”
    â€œYou’ll find him again.”
    â€œWell, I won’t stop.”
    â€œI believe in evil.”
    â€œI know you do.”
    â€œI saw it in him. You young people might think that’s quaint. But I grew up with idea that evil walks and talks. It’s a good way to see the world and the things that happen in it. And don’t happen.”
    â€œI don’t think of evil as quaint.”
    â€œThey’ll say you’re crazy.”
    â€œWho will?”
    â€œEveryone. The distracted and ignorant public you protect and serve. Your bosses and associates. You’ll have to fight them off. And you still might end up believing them and not yourself. All you have is yourself and your faith.” Hood saw the darkness brush Gabriel’s face. “I like the way you hold on to things, Charlie. I like the way you grab on and worry them over and over again. I don’t know about the diamonds in your tooth, but you’re a good man and a good cop. You’ll find him again.”
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    In their bedroom Hood set the chocolates on Beth’s pillow and put the bottle on her nightstand with the card propped up against it. Then he threw open the heavy window curtains, which left him facing not a window but a heavy steel door built into the wall. He pushed the combination code, then flipped a light switch and went down the stairs, his shoes twanging lightly on the metal steps. Sleek Daisy and stout Minnie impatiently clicked down behind him. At the base of the stairs was another steel door