This next month, June, my newest book, Black Yéʼii (The Evil One) goes into production for release in January, though it will be available for presale much sooner than that. This book is a sequel of sorts to an earlier book of mine, Caught in a Web. At the end of Web, a pact was made and a story invented to protect the lives of four individuals. In Black Yéʼii, the secret was broken, and people are dying as a result.
Yéʼii are spiritual deities of the Dine’, or Navajo people. There is one they seldom, if ever, speak of: Black Yéʼii. They consider Black Yéʼii, to be The Evil One. The Dine’ believe that by just speaking the name, they are inviting it into their lives. Black Yéʼii uses the five senses to trick an individual into seeking pleasure in areas of life, but, by doing so, they bring harm to themselves or others. Black Yéʼii interferes with living in the light of inner life and harmony, or Hozho, and Black Yéʼii violates Hozho by creating darkness and evil among people. This is the heart of the story behind my newest, Black Yéʼii (The Evil One).
In this post, I want to highlight two things: first, Detective Pat O’Connor, who you know to be a character in each of my books; and second, give you a snippet from Caught in a Web, highlighting O’Connor’s work and investigative skills, especially, his intuition.
O’Connor is a staple in my books. Dependable, quirky, intuitive, and fiercely loyal, and is a friend to several of the Evans boys, particularly Brian, Brett, and George. The Evans boys, in one way or another, appear in each of my books.
O’Connor’s father walked away from his mom and two brothers, and it became a struggle growing up. His mom, seldom home, had to work two or three jobs just to put food on the table and to pay the bills. His two older brothers dealt drugs, and expected Pat to also join them. He refused because he wanted a better life.
It was on an undercover assignment that O’Connor discovered his brothers running drugs and weapons for a large criminal enterprise and it was Pat who placed the handcuffs on them and read them their rights.
Paul Eiselmann is his partner and is his best friend from elementary school on. Paul’s dad was a father to Pat, and treated him as his own son. So it was only natural that O’Connor “fathered” Brian, Brett and George, three of the Evans boys, much like Paul’s father did for him.
O’Connor is known for working alone, and in this scene, O’Connor is doing just that, searching for a missing kid, fearing that MS-13 has taken him.
CHAPTER 70
O’Connor drove slowly around Waukesha searching. He started with one broken down and abandoned building and moved on to others, all the while knowing where he would end up. He had even checked out an abandoned house or two, but leaving bodies in houses didn’t feel right. That was something he would never have done and the only way he had succeeded and lived as long as he had was because he thought like a criminal.
With each strike out, the thought solidified that perhaps Fuentes and Manny Benevides hadn’t strayed too far from their killing ground.
He drove past the YMCA slowly dreading what he might find. His eyes darting from side mirror to rearview mirror and back out the windshield. Streets were pretty empty. Nothing looked out of place or out of the ordinary.
He turned onto another, darker street and it too was empty. Nothing moved. Snow gathered unimpeded in the street, on the parked cars and on sidewalks like a sparkling white blanket. His car making the only tracks.
O’Connor loved freshly fallen snow. He loved the purity of it. In his world it was the only thing that could be classified as pure.
He parked down the street from the building and sat in his car with the engine off.
Across the street sat the crumbling apartment building. Only a few lights were on behind the curtains. The rest were dark.
Out on the street nothing moved. All was still. That didn’t bring him any comfort though. He knew what he was going to find. He just didn’t know how gruesome it might be. He shook his head considering the irony of the purity and the whiteness of freshly falling snow and the ugliness of what he knew he’d find down in that basement.
He had stalled long enough so at last he opened the door of his car, unfolded his lanky body and shut the door with barely an audible thud. He pulled the .357 mag out of his shoulder holster and held it tightly to his leg, his index finger at first positive position.
O’Connor moved with purpose, his head on a swivel. By the time he reached the familiar doorway, his long hair and his shoulders were covered with big, wet snowflakes.
First thing O’Connor noticed was that the yellow police tape had been torn away as was the sticker warning away any intruders that the building was a crime scene and therefore anyone entering would be trespassing. Fitting, he supposed, that they would disregard a simple warning that would have been effective for most right-thinking individuals. But Fuentes and MS-13 were not right-thinking. No, they were twisted and somewhere around the corner and down the street from right-thinking.
He slipped on a pair of latex surgical gloves and gingerly and carefully tested the door latch on the handle and found it unlocked.
O’Connor took a deep breath, swung his gun up at the ready, opened the door and stepped quickly in and to the side, crouching down and blinking rapidly allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness.
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For your convenience, I’ve included a short description for Caught in a Web, along with a couple of reviews and the purchase link. Of course, you can find it, along with all my books, on my website at https://www.jrlewisauthor.com
“This important, nail-biting crime thriller about MS-13 sets the bar very high. One of the year’s best thrillers.” –Best Thrillers
“…the right blend of tension and intrigue …” Midwest Book Review
The bodies of high school and middle school kids are found dead from an overdose of heroin and fentanyl. The drug trade along the I-94 and I-43 corridors and the Milwaukee Metro area is controlled by MS-13, a violent gang originating from El Salvador. Ricardo Fuentes is sent from Chicago to Waukesha to find out who is cutting in on their business, shut it down and teach them a lesson. But he has an ulterior motive: find and kill a fifteen-year-old boy, George Tokay, who had killed his cousin the previous summer.
Detectives Jamie Graff, Pat O’Connor and Paul Eiselmann race to find the source of the drugs, shut down the ring, and find Fuentes before he kills anyone else, especially George or members of his family. The three detectives discover the ring has its roots in a high school among the students and staff.
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