Caveat Ties Chapter 1

A Noir Novel

#noir #mystery

Some say pain begets the deepest beauty. Then maybe, Michael Caveat has done West Willow a favor. The city used to be a hillbilly haven, until he cleaned it up. He restored the rundown historical buildings, added culture, and snaked a recreational trail connecting a series of willow-filled parks. To make it all possible, he simply had to form a mafia; delve into extortion, money laundering, and drug manufacturing; and take control of the city.

Most of the citizens have surrendered. All but a few… Detective Sean Ingram has fought for years to find the right legal snare. Celeste Lewis searches for the acceptable words to expose him. The words that her editor will let her print. The ones the public will accept. Haunted by his raucous past with Caveat, Jamie Jefferson of JJ’s Diner seeks peace. And, Gus O’ Reilly, a beatnik snitch, helps out where he can’t. Their teenage offspring, Spencer, Jewel, RJ, and Rachel witness their failures, birthing a youthful set of frustrations and fruitless cracks at the justice gig.

With as much luck as a mosquito challenging an alligator, they resist his power, until Caveat’s own ghost rises. Able to disappear and reappear, a masked vigilante strikes the Mafia's operations, leaving only bodies and a note behind. As West Willow grows more turbulent, the anti-Caveat dissenters bicker between the bunkers, wondering who is Vigilante, or if they even want to find out.