The Beadle Files: Outlaw Secrets

Book excerpt: Outlaw Secrets, the third installment of The Beadle Files, finds LC Beadle embroiled in an investigation of the criminal underworld in Chicago. The intrigues begin at a construction site on the northside where the journalist is to meet with an informant but gets a surprise that is the beginning of a trail of destruction and murder as a hardboiled enforcer goes on a rampage. Meanwhile in Durango, tension develops between CJ Fralick and Katey Rae Wyant, but for Sonny Trego everything is Jake. He’s advancing his newspaper career, making plans for the future, and carrying on a long-distance relationship with a college girl. In a remote box canyon north of the city, Yaz Lightfoot is on a spiritual quest as he awaits the arrival of his wife. He chops wood, reminisces, is visited by a nightmare, prays, meditates, and in all his contemplations, a thriving sense of hopeful anticipation swells in his heart. Near Wagon Wheel Gap, Mandy Kilmer experiences a great disappointment. In the throes of a meltdown, she gets encouragement from Bethsuelo Weitzel that steels her resolve. With the help of her family she schemes and makes plans to seize and take hold of the bright and hopeful future she’s dreamt about since schoolgirl days. In the midst of the violence and maneuvering in Chicago, Jack Whistler, the master of information and proprietor of the Backdoor Vault, tosses out a throwaway remark that defines the web of conspiracy: “I’ve got a thousand rumors, which one do you want to hear?”