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We Were Killers Once

Becky Masterman
Chapters (65)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty–one
  25. Twenty–two
  26. Twenty–three
  27. Twenty–four
  28. Twenty–five
  29. Twenty–six
  30. Twenty–seven
  31. Twenty–eight
  32. Twenty–nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty–one
  35. Thirty–two
  36. Thirty–three
  37. Thirty–four
  38. Thirty–five
  39. Thirty–six
  40. Thirty–seven
  41. Thirty–eight
  42. Thirty–nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty–one
  45. Forty–two
  46. Forty–three
  47. Forty–four
  48. Forty–five
  49. Forty–six
  50. Forty–seven
  51. Forty–eight
  52. Forty–nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Fifty–one
  55. Fifty–two
  56. Fifty–three
  57. Fifty–four
  58. Fifty–five
  59. Fifty–six
  60. Fifty–seven
  61. Author’s Note
  62. Acknowledgments
  63. Also by Becky Masterman
  64. About the Author
  65. Newsletter Sign-up

Title Page

We Were Killers Once by Becky Masterman

Copyright Notice

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy.

Dedication

For Helen Heller, with gratitude for the idea,
and ten years of friendship and guidance

CLEMENCY BOARD, DECEMBER 1960

I feel that I should be given consideration for clemency because there are circumstances that at the time the crime was committed that I never had any part in doing. I never participated in the killing of any of the people. That is I never did the actual killing. Also I never agreed to it. The first killing happened when I wasn’t in the room. The killing was not premeditated or planned in any way. A witness for the state lied about me, but that I cannot prove. But my main reason is that I never killed anyone.

Signed,

Richard Eugene Hickock, Prisoner Number 14746

Being brought up one way and trying to see another way is very difficult.

Perry Smith

Immaculately factual.

Truman Capote

One

Little Brigid Theresa Quinn, with a Band-Aid on my knobby knee from jumping out of a banyan tree on a dare, and a ponytail of red hair that should have been washed four days ago—I’m only six years old when I first hear about the murder of the Walker family on December 19, 1959. Though the decades pass, and I have witnessed even greater horrors than were described that night, I still can’t see a Christmas tree without feeling the crime scene, the tree with its ornaments, the glittery packages, the bodies in the living room. Then the memory quickly fades and I’m here and now again.

Whenever I go back there I still find that same little girl.

I don’t hear about the Walker mass murder from the television. I get the scoop right in our own kitchen. You know, all the gory details that the news didn’t assault you with in those days before they started showing the body bags coming back from Vietnam. Dad’s friends from the Fort Lauderdale police department gather together on the Saturday nights when they don’t have to work the following day.

I sit on Dad’s lap at the Formica-topped kitchen table while he talks and drinks and smokes with his buddies. He smells of beer and cigarettes. The odors don’t come from the original source as much as they’re channeled through his sweat. December in Florida can be hot and muggy.

Dad’s buddies are Ken, Rory, and Mitch. They all look alike as far as I can tell, with flattop haircuts, big hands and bellies. I’m allowed to call them by their first names despite being just a little girl.