Chapters (65)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty–one
- Twenty–two
- Twenty–three
- Twenty–four
- Twenty–five
- Twenty–six
- Twenty–seven
- Twenty–eight
- Twenty–nine
- Thirty
- Thirty–one
- Thirty–two
- Thirty–three
- Thirty–four
- Thirty–five
- Thirty–six
- Thirty–seven
- Thirty–eight
- Thirty–nine
- Forty
- Forty–one
- Forty–two
- Forty–three
- Forty–four
- Forty–five
- Forty–six
- Forty–seven
- Forty–eight
- Forty–nine
- Fifty
- Fifty–one
- Fifty–two
- Fifty–three
- Fifty–four
- Fifty–five
- Fifty–six
- Fifty–seven
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Becky Masterman
- About the Author
- Newsletter Sign-up
Dear Father Santangelo:
My name is Richard Eugene Hickock. I was convicted of being an accomplice in the murder of a family by the name of Clutter. My attorney, Mr. Joseph P. Jenkins, has petitioned for a stay of execution. If that is not approved, then I am going to be hanged, so this is my only chance to tell part of the story no one would know otherwise. The truth would not be important if I was the only one involved. I do this because people I love have been threatened and I fear for their lives. These people include my mother and brother, two ex-wives who I do not bear any grudge against, and my four children who at the time of this writing are seven, eight, twelve, and thirteen years of age. I may have done terrible things, and I deserve my fate. But I am not totally vicious the way they paint me, and the way I paint myself.
The confession I have written superceeds any other I provided. If my attorney is successful and my sentence is commuted to life, I will be an ongoing threat to the person who threatens to kill my family. Howsoever, I am caught “between a rock and a hard place,” because if I tell the whole truth now, the appeal will certainly be denied. So I am allowing the lie to continue in order to save my own life, not just my family.
I am going to give the confession for safekeeping to you, under the seal of confession when you come to see me a few days from now. I place this letter here with instructions to share my confession with the authorities if at some time someone in my family feels threatened. I understand this may be useless and even stupid, but I don’t know what else to do and I am half crazy with fear of that boy! Still, I take what steps I can. I have been a bad father, not caring for my children. But I don’t have to die a bad father.
I hope you are a good man who can keep a secret, and share my story if that becomes necessary.
Sincerely,
Richard Eugene Hickock
Kansas State Penitentiary, Lansing
Prisoner Number 14746
Carlo and I both read quietly, maybe two or three times, then just stared at the document.
“What boy?” I finally asked. “And he threatens to kill Hickock’s family? I take it you got this from Victor Santangelo?”
Carlo scowled. “It must be bogus,” he said.
“Why do you think?”