Storey

by Eric Cline

About the Author: Eric Cline lives in Maryland with his wife and dogs. His work has appeared in Mystery Weekly, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Analog Science Fiction, and other places.

Excerpt

“If I sell them to you, am I writing the death warrant for Storey Rourke?” Jean-Pierre posed the question quietly.

“I don’t … think so,” Jenna said.

Storey Rourke. Born Francis Xavier Rourke in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen in 1937. A high school dropout who joined a street gang specializing in burglary. Called “Storey” because, small and agile, he made an excellent second storey man.

Several juvey convictions had preceded his arrest at 18 in a department store break-in. It was 1955. At that time, a judge could still tell a young hoodlum to join the U. S. Army in lieu of serving a sentence, to “reform the lad.” This judge did just that; and the Honorable Justice Robert Sedgewick III became immortal as a footnote in countless books and articles.

After two years in the Signal Corps, Storey Rourke was, it seemed, a passably solid citizen. He had earned his General Equivalency Degree. He had married in West Germany to a civilian clerk typist named Gladys Carlucci, a fellow New Yorker, who was a foot taller than he and three months pregnant. The newlyweds went home after his discharge. But absent imposed discipline, he soon reverted to old habits. Even his kindest biographers later conceded he had set himself up as a poverty row gigolo, supported by his wife. She found clerical work immediately, and took only a week off after giving birth to a son. Storey, despite his idleness, did not change the boy’s diapers, letting his wife do that when she got home.

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