The Redeemers
Authors: Ace Atkins
Tags: #Action & Adventure, #Crime, #Literature & Fiction, #Thrillers, #Thriller, #Thrillers & Suspense, #Suspense, #Crime Fiction, #Mystery, #United States, #Thriller & Suspense
The Redeemers
Number V of
Quinn Colson
Ace Atkins
G.P. Putnam's Sons (2015)
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Action & Adventure, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Crime, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, United States, Thrillers & Suspense, Suspense, Thriller, Crime Fiction, Thrillers
Literature & Fictionttt Action & Adventurettt Mystery; Thriller & Suspensettt Crimettt Mysteryttt Thriller & Suspensettt United Statesttt Thrillers & Suspensettt Suspensettt Thrillerttt Crime Fictionttt Thrillersttt
**"One of the best crime writers at work today."—Michael Connelly
The electrifying new novel in
New York Times
–bestselling author Ace Atkins’s acclaimed series about the real Deep South.**
He is only in his early thirties, but now Quinn Colson is jobless—voted out of office as sheriff of Tibbehah County, Mississippi, thanks to the machinations of county kingpin Johnny Stagg. He has offers, in bigger and better places, but before he goes, he’s got one more job to do—bring down Stagg’s criminal operations for good.
At least that’s the plan. But in the middle of the long, hot summer, a trio of criminals stage a bold, wall-smashing break-in at the home of a local lumber mill owner, making off with a million dollars in cash from his safe, which is curious, because the mill owner is wealthy—but not that wealthy. None of this has anything to do with Colson, but during the investigation, two men are killed, one of them the new sheriff. His friend, acting sheriff Lillie Virgil, and a dangerous former flame, Anna Lee Stevens, both ask him to step in, and reluctantly he does, only to discover that that safe contained more than just money—it held secrets.
Secrets that could either save Colson—or destroy him once and for all.
**
ALSO BY ACE ATKINS
Crossroad Blues
Leavin’ Trunk Blues
Dark End of the Street
Dirty South
White Shadow
Wicked City
Devil’s Garden
Infamous
The Ranger
Robert B. Parker’s Lullaby
The Lost Ones
Robert B. Parker’s Wonderland
Robert B. Parker’s Cheap Shot
The Broken Places
The Forsaken
Robert B. Parker’s Kickback
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Publishers Since 1838
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
375 Hudson Street
New York, New York 10014
Copyright © 2015 by Ace Atkins
The author gratefully acknowledges Chris Knight for use of a verse from “In the Mean Time” from the album
Little Victories
.
“In The Mean Time”
Written by Chris Knight
Enough Rope Music (ASCAP)
Find out more about Chris at www.chrisknight.net.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Atkins, Ace.
The redeemers / Ace Atkins.
p. cm.—(A Quinn Colson novel ; 5)
ISBN 978-0-698-19062-7
1. United States. Army—Commando troops—Fiction. 2. Organized crime—Mississippi—Fiction. 3. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3551.T49R43 2015 2015015992
813'.54—dc23
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Version_1
For Tom Freeland
Contents
Render unto Caesar no more than you got to
Keep the Lord in your heart, and keep your powder dry.
But do you good in mean time
While you’re waiting on a good time, draw the line.
—C
HRIS
K
NIGHT
“I
N THE
M
EAN
T
IME
”
If we take prisoners, we keep ’em separate till we have had time to examine them, so they can’t cook up a story between ’em.
—R
OGERS
’ R
ANGERS
S
TANDING
O
RDER
N
O
. 5
1.
M
ickey Walls didn’t bring up the subject until after he’d paid the Huddle House check and was walking out to his red Hummer parked on top of a ridge overlooking Highway 45. His buddy Kyle followed, working a toothpick in the side of his mouth, strolling like a man who didn’t have nowhere to be, leaning against his truck, advertising
HAZLEWOOD CONTRACTING
. It was winter and colder than a witch’s tit, and Mickey slipped his hands into his thick Carhartt jacket. He stood near the truck’s tailgate and said, “I heard you had some problems with Larry Cobb.”
“Shit,” Kyle said, firing up a Marlboro. “To hell with that bastard.”
“You were doing some dozer work for him and he jacked your ass?”
“He says I did a half-ass job,” Kyle said. “That was a goddamn lie. When I come to talk to him, he sent out Debbi to talk. He’s one sorry piece of shit.”
“Why don’t you sue him?”
“Cost more for a lawyer than I’d get.”
“You could whip his ass.”
“Larry’s an old man,” Kyle said. “He ain’t worth it. You can’t just go beating up some ole son of a bitch. That’s like picking on a cripple. What makes me madder than anything is that I thought I was his friend. Me and him used to hunt together. He even took me out to his place in Colorado and introduced me to his high-dollar friends. We’d shoot skeet and drink Coors Light in the Jacuzzi.”
“I thought he was my friend, too,” Mickey said.
“Till you and Tonya split up.”
“I never done a damn thing to that man,” he said. “And he knows his daughter is bat-shit crazy. She takes Xanax like they’re Tic Tacs. Then he sued me for nearly a hundred grand, about bankrupted me just because our divorce didn’t sit well with him and Debbi.”
“Like I said,” Kyle said. “That man’s a genuine piece of shit.”
The Huddle House hadn’t been there long, opening up that summer with all the other places built after the tornado. People in Tibbehah County saying that twister may have been the best thing that happened since the Choctaws sold out. Even though seventeen people died, they now had a Subway, a KFC, and even a Walmart. Mickey leaned over the tailgate of the big truck, watching the traffic speeding by the exit on Highway 45. Kyle flicked away his spent Marlboro, firing up another. His skin was burnt-red, and he wore his graying hair cut long and stylish like some country music singer, along with a thin, wispy beard that was also turning gray. Kyle didn’t know he was old. He still wore a leather puka shell necklace he’d bought down in Panama City Beach.