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Back We Were Killers Once Save as PDF
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

While Gloria was at work, Beaufort took Achilles to the local dog park and threw the tennis ball he’d bought for the dog. He was still angry about having failed to dispatch the Quinn woman, but it eased his frustration to watch Achilles run on his three legs as fast as any dog on four. When life hands you lemons, Beaufort thought, thinking of another plaque on the wall in Gloria’s house. Dog wasn’t too smart, though. When he got to the ball Achilles looked at it and then at Beaufort as if saying Now what? As Beaufort walked to the ball, threw it, and walked to the ball again, he assessed his situation. He thought he was smart that way. He thought he could look at all the elements of a problem, link them together, and formulate a good plan. Here is where he stood:

With the appearance of that sketch of Hickock it seemed likely that if DiForenza had that much, he had the other thing that could incriminate him.

He had received that thing from Father Victor Santangelo, who was now dead.

Question: Did DiForenza know he had the document? This was not certain.

But if DiForenza knew he had it, and had read it, there was nothing in it to connect Beaufort to either the Clutter or Walker murders.

He must not have read it. He might not even know what he had.

DiForenza was not a problem.

The problem was his wife, Brigid Quinn, the FBI agent.

Brigid Quinn suspected him, but how could she?

Maybe she did without knowing what she suspected him of.

What he did know is that she was harder to kill than he had at first thought.

What should he do now?

A pragmatist, that’s what he was. Not a killer. He sat down on the ground with his back against a mesquite tree, not needing the scant shade that the tree could provide on a summer day. Achilles lay down beside him, panting from his ball chasing, his back pressed against Beaufort’s thigh.

“You know I’m not a bad man, don’t you, boy?” Beaufort said, stroking the bump where the dog’s leg had been. Achilles licked his hand. “If I was a bad man we wouldn’t get along so well. And you’re the only one I can talk to. I can’t talk to anybody else. Not even Yanchak.” Maybe it was screwy, but as he spoke to Achilles just then it felt very natural, talking to a dog.

But Beaufort knew he couldn’t tell even Achilles what he had done in Garden City.