Ben points to the revolver, a .38 Special, not too dissimilar to the gun used to kill their grandfathers, and explains that a revolver draws bullets from a cylinder, as opposed to a semiautomatic, which draws from a magazine.
“Pick it up,” he says, and she does, marveling at how heavy it is. He shows her how to open the cylinder—thumb, middle, and ring fingers around the cylinder, index and pinky splayed on top—and load the bullets. Her hand position resembles a deviant peace sign.
The next step—and most crucial—is learning how to fire both single-action and double-action. The names are misleading. Single-action involves two actions: You cock the hammer, then pull the trigger. Double-action is really a single, continuous action: you pull the trigger back until it cocks itself and then squeeze off the shot.
After donning protective eyewear and headset (and buttoning the top of her shirt—just to be safe), she stands at the range table. Ben staples a bull’s-eye target sheet to the cardboard backing.
“Okay, single-action. Aim for six o’clock on the bull’s-eye.” Cupping her left hand under her right, Audrey raises the .357 to eye level. She uses her left thumb to pull back the hammer and then places her right index on the grooves of the trigger. She closes her left eye and adjusts her position until the two rear sights and front sight form a W beneath the target.
“Go ahead,” Ben says.
She fires.
Suddenly there is white smoke everywhere, as if someone has set off a firecracker directly in front of her.
“Good shot,” Ben says. “You’re just an inch below target.” Good shot, indeed—considering a second ago she couldn’t even see the damned thing.
“Go again,” Audrey says, smirking.
The trick, according to Ben, is lining up your shot. Once you know how, you never lose it—no matter if the target is twenty-five, thirty, or a hundred feet away. Ben guides her through forty-nine more shots, varying between single- and double-action, finally giving Audrey a human silhouette to shoot at.
Out of twenty shots at thirty-five and fifty feet away, she manages to put fifteen slugs in Mr. Silhouette’s “kill zone,” plus two decent shots in his left arm.
Ben Wildey doesn’t lie. An hour later, Audrey can shoot better than most guys on the force.
She’s lost thirty pounds since last year and has to admit—she looks pretty fucking good in a uniform.
Acknowledgments
The idea for Revolver was seeded in my previous novel, Canary, in what was basically a throwaway line. (My subconscious mind likes to play games with me, I swear.) And it blossomed into life on March 24, 2014, when I read a Philadelphia Inquirer piece by Barbara Boyer about the 1963 murders of two police officers in Lodi, New Jersey. The bitter anger of their families, even after all these years, was palpable. It brought to mind a murder in my own extended family—that of a Philly beat cop named Joseph T. Swierczynski, who was gunned down by a gangster outside a bar at Ninth and Christian on March 20, 1919. And while the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, wouldn’t happen until I was deep into the writing of this novel, cops and race were very much on my mind from the very beginning.
I’ve dabbled in historical fiction before—my first novel, Secret Dead Men, was set in a 1976 I barely remember, and Expiration Date is about time travel to the early 1970s. And I’ve spent seven (plus) years researching a novel set in Prohibition-era Philly that I’m hoping to finish before I die. But now came an opportunity to write some historical fiction and show its visceral impact on the present. I’m a big fan of William Faulkner’s line from Requiem for a Nun: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”
To re-create that past, I had some homework to do. I’m hugely grateful to Michael J. Chitwood, Joseph R. Daughen, Steven Swierczynski, and Frank Wallace for spending time and sharing memories with me. Their firsthand accounts helped enormously.
I also devoured heaps of newspaper and website articles and books in researching Revolver, but especially useful were Case Study of a Riot: The Philadelphia Story by Lenora E. Berson, “That Long Hot Summer of Rage” by Will Bunch, The Peoples of Philadelphia by Allen F. Davis and Mark H. Haller, Black Brothers, Inc. by Sean Patrick Griffin, Tough Cop: Mike Chitwood vs. the “Scumbags” by Harold I. Gullan, and Civil Rights in a Northern City: Philadelphia, which is Temple University’s amazing digital archive about the civil rights movement in Philly (northerncity.library.temple.edu).
Feedback and advice from my early readers—Lou Boxer, Robb Cadigan, Joe Gangemi, Allan Guthrie, and Robert Kulb—was very much appreciated.
That lovely map at the front of this book comes to you courtesy of Mark Adams and Jason Killinger, a.k.a. Eyes Habit. My writing area is adorned with their maps, which are a constant source of inspiration. (I’m a map nerd.) Take a peek for yourself at eyeshabit.com.
Huge thanks to my editors, Joshua Kendall and Wes Miller, who not only saw the early promise of the idea, but also helped me find my way throughout the writing process. High-fives to the rest of the team at Mulholland Books as well as Inkwell Management and the Gotham Group.
All of my love to my home team—Meredith, Parker, and Sarah—who have to put up with me when I’m staring at a corkboard littered with index cards or walking around the house, mumbling to myself. I couldn’t do this without them.
The idea for this novel came literally the day after we adopted Sherlock, our Aussie shepherd–border collie mix. I plotted quite a bit of this book while walking him. He offered no special insights into the novel or its themes, but definitely thought I should include dead squirrels, if possible.
February 21, 2016
About the Author
Photograph by Evelyn Taylor
Duane Swierczynski is the Edgar-nominated author of nine novels, including Canary, Severance Package, and the Shamus Award–winning Charlie Hardie series (Fun and Games, Hell and Gone, Point and Shoot). He’s written over 250 comics for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Valiant, and IDW, and most recently wrote The Black Hood, the first comic for Archie’s new Dark Circle imprint. Duane has also collaborated with CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker on the bestselling Level 26 series. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and children.
secretdead.blogspot.com
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Books by Duane Swierczynski
Revolver
Canary
The Charlie Hardie Series
Fun and Games
Hell and Gone
Point and Shoot
Secret Dead Men
The Wheelman
The Blonde
Severance Package
Expiration Date
The Level 26 Trilogy (with Anthony E. Zuiker)
Dark Origins
Dark Prophecy
Dark Revelations
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Map
Epigraph
Stan Walczak
Jim Walczak
Audrey Kornbluth
Stan Meets George
Jim Catches a Case
Audrey Saves Her Ass
Stan Punches
Jim Investigates
Audrey Pries
Stan Goes to Church
Jim Kicks In a Door
Audrey Knocks Back a Beer
Stan and the Plan
Jim and His Vow
Audrey and the Old Bastard
Happy New Year, Stan
Listen to Her, Jim
Go Home, Audrey
Stubborn Stan
Sorry Jim
Lost Audrey
Stan Sits and Freezes
&
nbsp; Jim Treads Lightly
Audrey Goes to Church
Stan and Sonny
Jim and John
Audrey and Barry
Dupek
Orphan with a Gun
Baby Blue
Walk the Line
Choke Down the Rage
Fight the Future
Shots Fired
Another Shot
The Final Shots
Stan
Jim
Audrey
Stanisław Kaminski
Captain James Walczak (Ret.)
P/O Audrey Walczak
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by Duane Swierczynski
Newsletters
Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2016 by Duane Swierczynski
Cover design by Allison J. Warner
Cover photographs: Will Brown courtesy of Laurence Miller Gallery (car); Superstock/Getty Images (officer)
Cover copyright © 2016 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First Edition: July 2016
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Map by Mark Adams and Jason Killinger of Eyes Habit (eyeshabit.com)
ISBN 978-0-316-40322-1
E3-20160607-NF-DA
Revolver Page 28