The Devil's Only Friend

the long version

Pete Caudill was once a Detroit police detective but resigned after the race riots of 1943. Now he lives indifferently, torn between the ghosts of his past and the bleakness of his future. He reluctantly agrees to look into the murder of a friend's sister, whose body was found mutilated on the grounds of an auto plant owned by the Lloyd family. As soon as Pete asks a couple questions, he receives a beating and a warning to stay off the case. Of course he doesn't, and soon he is working for Jasper Lloyd.