Jillian Abbott's - Queens Noir

Pine shrugged nonchalantly. “Why? You best ask Edwin’s sister, Janette, yourself. Before he came to us, Edwin had no friends. He had no interests. He had no hope. He was very depressed. We tried to comfort him.”

“He killed himself.”

“No, he didn’t.” Pine took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. “There’s a problem in our society, son, that I’m sure you’re familiar with. Loss of hope.”

I stared at the man, attentive despite myself.

“Let me be clear here.” He held up his hands in a defensive gesture. “I do not advocate suicide. I did not encourage Edwin Stuckey to kill himself. I pray for his soul every day. But Edwin and his family are the reason I do what I do: People do lose hope and not all of them regain it. And not all of them can accept when hopelessness claims one of their own.”

“Look, Reverend Pine, that’s a nice sermon and all, but I’m just here for the facts,” I said.

He opened his arms. “Sadly, those are they.”

To my everlasting surprise, I sat through all three hours of Reverend Pine’s service. It was motivating, it was uplifting, it was hopeful. The tears, the tambourines, the shouting. Most importantly, though, it did not compel me to commit suicide. It made me want to get on with my life.

When the door of Deliverance closed behind me and I stepped onto the cracked sidewalk beyond its front stairway, I decided to phone Janette one final time. I watched a group of middle school girls skip double-dutch further down the street. The clothesline they were using for a jump rope slapped the pavement fiercely and their chants rippled down the block: “All, all, all in together, any kind of weather...”

The father answered, said Janette was out. “Mr. Stuckey, this is Douglass, the reporter,” I began.

“Yes?” His voice rose to an expectant pitch. “Any progress?”

“See the teacher looking out the window. Dong, dong, the fire-bell...” The girls picked up their volume, feet racing the rope.

On the line I let out a sigh, and I heard Mr. Stuckey deflating in the silence. “Unfortunately, sir, I am no longer able to pursue this story.” Across the street, a dude carrying a basketball under one arm shouted after a car rolling past on a wave of bass line.

“That boy who did that to himself was not my son, he was someone else. Somebody did something, or said something that—” Stuckey cleared his throat. “Someone should be held responsible.”

I hesitated, then snapped my phone shut.

“How many ringers can you take? One, two, three, four...” The girls ticked off their chant behind me.

Jillian Abbott'sshort stories have won awards in the United States and Australia. She is a reporter at the Queens Chronicle and her writing has appeared in the Washington Post , the New York Daily News, the Writer Magazine , and many other publications. She’s currently at work on a new mystery series as well as her second Morgan Blake thriller. She lives in Queens.

Megan Abbottis the Edgar Award — nominated author of Queenpin, The Song Is You , and Die a Little, as well as the nonfiction study, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir. She lives in Forest Hills, Queens.

Shailly Agnihotriwas born in India, grew up in Baton Rouge, and now lives in New York City. She is a filmmaker and recently completed a documentary entitled Three Soldiers. Her other projects include a feature film, Sangrita (in pre-production), and a novel, East River. She likes to consult Vedic astrologers, buy silver jewelry, and eat spicy chat in Jackson Heights.

Mary Byrnewas born in Ireland and now divides her time between teaching, translating, and writing. She collaborated with Lawrence Durrell on his final book of essays, and her short fiction has been published in Ireland, England, France, Canada, and the United States. Byrne won the 1986 Hennessy Literary Award and currently lives in France.

Tori Carrington(a.k.a., Lori and Tony Karayianni) has published nearly forty titles, including those in the Sofie Metropolis, P.I. series, which are set in Astoria, Queens.

Jill Eisenstadtis the author of two novels set in Queens, From Rockaway and Kiss Out . She is an occasional contributor to the New York Times , among other publications, and is a part-time writing professor at The New School’s Eugene Lang College. Her Queens Noir story, “The Golden Venture,” is based on a real event in the borough’s history.

Victoria Engwas born and raised in Chinatown and Queens. She is a graduate of Hunter College and holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University. Her work has been published in The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American Writings about New York City . She lived in New Mexico and Costa Rica for seven years, and is currently back in New York working on a historical novel set in Chinatown.

Maggie Estephas published six books and is working on her seventh, Alice Fantastic , which came to be when Robert Knightly asked her to write something for Queens Noir . Her favorite parts of Queens are the Kissena Velodrome, Aqueduct Racetrack, and Fort Tilden in Rockaway.

Belinda Farleyresides in Harlem, not Queens, and is currently at work on a novel.

Alan Gordonis the author of the Fools’ Guild Mysteries, including the forthcoming novel The Moneylender of Toulouse and, most recently, The Lark’s Lament . He has been a resident of Queens’ second oldest co-op since 1987, and is a defender of the borough’s alleged miscreants as a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society. Gordon is the father of one genuine Queensian, and has been a Little League coach for six years, which has taught him all he needs to know about hard-boiled types.

Joseph Guglielmelligrew up in Jackson Heights, Queens. He cultivated his love of mysteries by reading golden age classics found while browsing in tiny bookstores in the shadow of the elevated tracks of the 7 train. For the past thirteen years, Joe has been coowner of The Black Orchid Bookshop, which was the 2006 recipient of the Raven Award given by Mystery Writers of America.