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Just Roarke, as far as I know. Big money there. Kind of guy that touches shit and turns it into gold bricks. --Ryan Feeney

Criminal History[]

  • Patrick Roarke, his father, got him started on a life of crime by having Roarke pick pockets. When Roarke didn't bring enough money home, he was beaten.[1] His father taught him, through abuse, to read the dice, the cards, the odds. "I stole, I cheated, I spent some time learning the smuggling trade."[2]
  • Never arrested or held as a suspect in any crime though, through HSO files, 'suspecteds, allegeds, and probables' are attributed to him.[3]
    • Roarke said tattoos are an identifying mark and the last thing a young, enterprising businessman, with brains, wants is an identifying mark.[4]
    • Roarke asked, "What sort of burke marks himself with an X to announce he's killed? And what sort of killer values ego above his own freedom?"[5]
  • In Glory in Death, Roarke thinks this: What he saw as a harmless business diversion would have weighed on Eve like a stone. It would be less simple and take a bit more time to convert all of those gray areas of his concerns into the light.[6]
  • Roarke said that, at nineteen, he had a lifetime behind him, of being a street rat, of running games, thieving, and aiming toward getting the fuck out. So by then he'd honed some skills, and learned the need for that patience and control.[7]
    • Why Roarke gave up crime:
      • "I wanted something else. More. I'd built my way toward it, with the occasional and often recreational side step. Then I wanted you. There's nothing in the dark I could want as I want you [said to Eve]."[8]
      • Roarke was already shedding his criminal activities when he met Eve but their relationship sped up the process. Roarke acknowledged that he would have, most likely, "kept my finger tipped into a few tasty pies. Habits are hard to break, especially fun ones." He said he wanted Eve more than anything ever before or since.[9]
  • In a dream, Eve said Roarke no longer breaks the law for his own profit, for his own gain. If he does break the law now, it's because he believe in right, in justice.[10]

Assault[]

  • After learning that Siobhan Brody was his mother, Roarke traveled to Dublin to question an abusive ex-criminal associate of his father's, Grogin, about her death/disappearance; he was joined by Brian. When Grogin pulled a knife, Roarke took it away from him, nicked Grogin's throat with it, and asked him about her. When he did not answer, Roarke broke his finger and continued questioning him.[11]

Computer Crimes[]

  • Roarke: "And you're wondering if I have a secured, unregistered system. Of course I do."
  • Eve: "Of course," she muttered. "A nonregistered system is in violation of Code four fifty-three-B, section thirty-five ... It's not funny. And what I'm going to ask you to do is illegal. It's a serious offense to electronically breach the privacy of a state official."[12]
    • Hacked the IRS database.[13]
  • It is a recurrent event, that in every book in the series, both Eve and Roarke commit computer crimes by using the Roarke's unregistered systems to skirt CompuGuard. As such, not all computer crimes are listed.
  • Find Nora's comments Eve and Roarke's bending of the rules here.

Cons[]

  • Running grifts [14]
  • Roarke said he faked an accent now and then, tailoring it to suit the mark. But more often the Irish suited well enough though he might layer it on, switching to a thicker West Country brogue, or posh it up with public school tones.[15]

'Lothario' (seduces to steal/rob)[]

  • He recalled, just as clearly, that they'd plucked the Parisian redhead's – whatever her name might have been – deep purse to the bottom while he'd seduced her.[16]

Forgery[]

  • When asked how many forged IDs he had provided [to others] and/or used in his shady career, Roarke replied with a smile, "It's a good living for a young lad with certain skills and considerable discretion, but was hardly my life's work."[17]
    • Regarding his "suspiciously clean" record, Roarke said, "Of course it is. I paid for it."[18]

Gambling[]

  • Ran an underground dice game at the age of ten [19]
    • Ran games of chance in alleyways; portable casino
    • Floating games (as a boy) [20]

Illegals (Drugs)[]

  • "There was a time in the beginning of my career, I couldn't ... No," he corrected, knowing that honesty was vital. "When I wasn't particularly selective in the products I handled. Yes, I dealt in illegals from time to time, and some of those dealings involved Ricker and his organization."[21]
    • He doesn't have particularly strong feelings about most of the illegals; but (Wild Rabbit) is the same as rape, as far as he's concerned.[22]

Murder[]

  • Roarke: "I never killed for him, Eve, nor for that matter, for anyone but myself."[23] (see also Roarke's YANNIs)
  • He'd killed. Brutally, coldly, bloodily ... But even at his worst, he'd never killed an innocent. Never ended the life of a child.[24]
    • "He'd taken lives in his time, Roarke admitted. He'd spilled blood. But always for purpose. Never for profit. Never for sport."[25]
    • Roarke said he never retaliated against Max Ricker for the five hits he had placed on him because "I don't need the blood of my competitors. Or even my enemies." Roarke became convinced that living, as Max is condemned to live now, was worse than death.[26]

Known murders:[]

  • Roarke tortured and murdered the six men who raped, tortured, and murdered Marlena.[27]
    • 1st – Charles O'Malley – Murder by disembowelment (August 5, 2042)
    • 2nd – Matthew Riley – Murder by evisceration (November 12, 2042)
    • 3rd – Donald Cagney – Murder by hanging (April 22, 2043)
    • 4th – Michael Rowan – Murder by suffocation (December 2, 2043)
    • 5th – Rory McNee – Murder by drowning (March 18, 2044)
    • 6th – John Calhoun – Murder by poisoning (July 31, 2044)

Roarke's Perspective[]

  • "I hunted down the men who had done it, and I killed them, in as slow and as painful a method as I could devise."[28]
    • When Eve said he averaged two a year, Roarke said he wasn't in a hurry. He said he didn't brag about it but, "I wanted it known in any case. I wanted to give them time to sweat."[29]
      • In Kindred in Death Roarke said, "So, to your question, Lieutenant. ... Did I threaten or boast or transmit to the men who'd killed Marlena that I intended to make them pay for it? No. Nor did I leave any trace so any of those involved would know the why of it."[30]
    • "I would do it again. Without hesitation or regret. And I would do more if it would spare her what she suffered."[31]
  • About his murders, Roarke said, "I wanted to feel [pleasure], more than anything, I wanted to revel in it. I wanted to fucking celebrate their deaths—their pain, their end. For every second of pain and fear she'd had. For every second of life they'd taken from her, I wanted it. And I didn't. It was duty, when it came to it. Not revenge, but duty, if you can understand that. ... So if I'd felt pleasure from it, I'd say it. Neither did I feel, nor do I now feel, a single drop of regret."[32]
    • Roarke said, "When I went for the men who'd tortured and killed Marlena, it was cold. Cold-blooded, cold-minded. Some might have looked at the results and thought otherwise, but there was no thrill involved in it. None of it."[33]
    • In Kindred in Death, Eve said Roarke's murders of the men was not done out of blind revenge, but - whether or not she agrees - out of a sense of justice.[34] "It wasn't revenge."[35]
    • Roarke said, "If I'd stepped away, if I'd never exacted payment from those who tortured, raped, murdered an innocent girl, Jenny [sic] would be alive. It ripples, and you can never know how or where they'll spread." When Eve said we'd eventually all drown without the law Roarke replied, "Some of us are excellent swimmers. I'm more inclined to believe in the face of the law, since I look at it every day, than I ever did before I saw it."[36]

Possession, Transportation and/or Fencing of Stolen Goods[]

  • Roarke and Mick, when they were barely old enough to shave, relieved a vessel on its way out of Dublin of its cargo of illegal whiskey.[37]
  • Roarke: "... No indeed. I always arranged that quite well on my own [the stealing of property]... I simply assisted another associate with the transportation."[38]

Smuggling[]

  • It was perfectly true that Mercury was clean, but it hadn't always been true. Smuggling, both terrestrial and interstellar, was a profitable and entertaining business. The the truly excellent wines of Taurus Five, the stunning blue diamonds mined in the caves of Refini, the precious transparent porcelain manufactured in the Arts Colony of Mars.[39]
  • Brian Kelly punched Roarke in the face for not coming back with the hundred pounds that was Brian's fair share of the cargo money.[40]
  • Roarke's lips moved into a smirk, and his hand brushed its way down Eve's hair. "I smuggled more than one shipment of French wine in my career."[41]
  • Atlanta smuggling enterprise with federal infractions.[42]

Tax Evasion/Money Laundering[]

  • He helped create Eden before he 'saw the light of truth and justice'. He sold his interests there before he and Eve were married. [43]

Theft[]

  • Roarke said he hadn't found any major heists with the take outstanding or the doers at large. At least, none that he doesn't know of the particulars, personally as, a number of years back he might have had his hand in a few interesting pies. Eve recommended that they not speak about those particular pies.[44]
    • Petty Theft
      • Picking pockets[45]
        • He had a dream he was back on Grafton Street where he would lift the wallet/purse, pass it on to Jenny [sic], she to Mick, and Brian would drop it at their hidey-hole in an alley (see also Grafton Day).[46]
        • Roarke has "happy memories" of December. "December was always a busy month when I was a boy" because "tourists flock in with their wallets practically jumping out into the pickpockets’ hands".[47]
      • Minor items
        • Roarke tells Eve this story: "Brian and I and some others liberated some skates one winter. We must’ve been fourteen or fifteen, around that. We had a go at playing ice hockey, Dublin rules, which means none at all. And yes, my God, the bruises were majestic."[47]
    • Grand Theft
      • Roarke and Mick boosted a lorryload of smokes when they were, possibly, ten years old.[48]
      • At twenty, Roarke stole some jewelry (or jewels) from a London woman's Mayfair home.[49]
      • At twenty-three years old, Roarke and Magdelana stole rubies in Barcelona.[50]
      • At twenty-six years old, Roarke stole two Renoir paintings from Andre Dupont in Nice.[51]
      • Grand Theft Auto – Roarke said he stole rides for fun, for business, and for somewhere semiprivate to bag the girl.[52]
      • Grand Theft Auto – Roarke's first vehicle, stolen at around the age of twelve, ended up nose down in a ditch outside of Dublin; he stored it in Mick's uncle’s garage and had only had it for two weeks before he wrecked it. Roarke said it was a thrill – the stealing as much as the driving. He says, now and then, he misses stealing but not as much as he thought he might.[53]

Weapons Possession/Arms Dealing[]

  • Feeney: "... They stopped making them in about twenty-two, twenty-three, when the gun ban was passed." [54]
    • Roarke frequently carries illegal/banned handguns and has been known to carry boomers. See reference section below several listings. [55]
    • He also buys (bought?) black market weapons. "I buy only through legal sources, naturally." His eyes skimmed down to her shoulder bag. "As long as you've got your recorder on." [56]
    • "At twelve I'd yet to run arms, unless you're counting a few hand-helds or homemade boomers sold in alleyways. And I hadn't ventured beyond Dublin City."[57]
    • When Eve asked Roarke if he could have made a boomer on a timer when he was a kid, Roarke said yes and that he did—he was both handy with electronics and explosives.[58]

Rejected Crimes[]

There are some crimes Roarke has, specifically, stated/thought he has never committed.

  • Roarke has never been involved in the sex trade.[59]
    • Through Max Ricker, Roarke learned that he (Roarke) wouldn't deal in the sex trade when it involved minors or the unwilling; and that he wouldn't kill on command, or for the sake of spilling blood.[60]
  • Roarke said he was once offered half a million dollars, at the age of twenty, to do away with the business rival of a weapons' runner. A bit difficult to turn it down – quick money – but murder for pay has always struck him as tacky.[61]
    • He never liked the con an acquaintance of his used of posing as a priest and blackmailing those who confessed; Roarke thought it was rude.[62]
  • Roarke never dabbled in black market organ trading.[63]

References[]

  1. Interlude in Death (ISBN 0-515-13109-1), p. 46
  2. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), pp. 236, 237
  3. Divided in Death (ISBN 0-425-19795-6), p. 105
  4. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 105
  5. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 106
  6. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), pp. 22, 23
  7. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 79
  8. Remember When (ISBN 0-425-19547-3), p. 410
  9. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 163
  10. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 161
  11. Portrait in Death (ISBN 0-425-18903-1), pp. 217-222
  12. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 237
  13. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), pp. 242, 243
  14. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), pp. 26, 85
  15. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 79
  16. Betrayal in Death (ISBN 0-425-17857-9), p. 82
  17. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 51
  18. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), p. 126
  19. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 236
  20. Immortal in Death (ISBN 0-425-15378-9), p. 89
  21. Judgment in Death (ISBN 0-425-17630-4), pp. 39, 40
  22. Witness in Death (ISBN 0-425-17363-1), p. 85
  23. Judgment in Death (ISBN 0-425-17630-4), p. 39
  24. Survivor in Death (ISBN 0-425-20418-9), pp. 174, 175
  25. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 84
  26. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), pp. 181, 182
  27. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), p. 121
  28. Immortal in Death (ISBN 0-425-15378-9), p. 92
  29. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), p. 122
  30. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), pp. 95, 96
  31. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), pp. 124, 125
  32. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 104
  33. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 80
  34. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 95
  35. Kindred in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15595-6), p. 96
  36. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 303
  37. Betrayal in Death (ISBN 0-425-17857-9), p. 250
  38. Betrayal in Death (ISBN 0-425-17857-9), p. 261
  39. Glory in Death (ISBN 0-425-15098-4), pp. 22-23
  40. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), p. 243
  41. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), p. 268
  42. Interlude in Death (ISBN 0-515-13109-1), p. 31
  43. Survivor in Death (ISBN 0-425-20418-9), pp. 289-290
  44. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), pp. 110-111
  45. Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), pp. 26, 85; Immortal in Death (ISBN 0-425-15378-9), p. 89
  46. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 225-226
  47. 47.0 47.1 Concealed in Death, Chapter 8
  48. Betrayal in Death (ISBN 0-425-17857-9), p. 253
  49. Remember When (ISBN 0-425-19547-3), p. 340
  50. Innocent in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15401-0), p. 248
  51. Innocent in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15401-0), pp. 249-250
  52. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), pp. 216, 219
  53. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 172
  54. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 8
  55. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 237; Vengeance in Death (ISBN 0-425-16039-4), p. 60; Judgment in Death (ISBN 0-425-17630-4), pp. 341, 346; Witness in Death (ISBN 0-425-17363-1), p. 114; Betrayal in Death (ISBN 0-425-17857-9), pp. 347-348; Portrait in Death (ISBN 0-425-18903-1), p. 218; Survivor in Death (ISBN 0-425-20418-9), p. 347; Origin in Death (ISBN 0-425-20426-X), p. 329; Interlude in Death (ISBN 0-515-13109-1), p. 88
  56. Naked in Death (ISBN 0-425-14829-7), p. 143
  57. Interlude in Death (ISBN 0-515-13109-1), pp. 36-37
  58. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 223
  59. citations needed (Judgment, Betrayal)
  60. Promises in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15548-2), p. 84
  61. Survivor in Death (ISBN 0-425-20418-9), pp. 273, 274
  62. Salvation in Death (ISBN 978-0-399-15522-2), p. 52
  63. Conspiracy in Death (ISBN 0-425-16813-1), p. 33
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