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
“Look at the linguistics. ‘Howsoever’? Bit of archaic elegance. Except for the several misspellings there’s an articulateness here that’s far beyond what I’ve known of Richard Hickock. It doesn’t sound like the voice of Hickock as Capote portrays it. Look, he spelled ‘supersedes’ wrong, but it’s a marvel that the word is in his working vocabulary. Keep in mind I’ve read the book as well, and saw the movies, too, not only because everyone did, but because I was working at the same prison that executed these men. Smith’s style has a poetic lilt to it when Capote quotes him, but Hickock has the voice of a…”
“Depraved, ignorant savage?”
“Yes. That.”
“Well, the interesting thing is that this style actually matches other letters Hickock wrote in prison, which makes the letter feel more authentic. Plus you got it from Santangelo. Santangelo must have got it from Hickock and tucked the letter behind the sketch for safekeeping.” I felt goose bumps rising on my forearms. “Oh my God, I know someone who knew someone who was one of the last people to speak with Hickock just before his execution.”
“Santangelo is definitely the priest who visited Hickock. He told me about it, but he didn’t break the seal of confession. Like I said, when it came up in conversation I didn’t tell you because I wanted to hand you the framed sketch at the same time.”
I felt myself stutter over my next words, aware of what they might mean. “He must have had the confession, too. He didn’t give it to you?”
“No, he didn’t. At least not that I can remember. There might have been something else.”
“Like what, exactly?”
“I don’t know. Some other information he said he couldn’t share. But he would send me things from time to time. Books. Articles he’d written that he wanted me to comment on.”
“And you’ve never wondered about what information he might have on the Clutter case? Probably in the top five homicide cases of the twentieth century? Up there with Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer?”
“Oh, Brigid, stop. Not everyone in the country continues to be obsessed with the Clutter case. It happened when you and I were both kids. When Vic gave this to me it was about fifteen years after the events and he might not have remembered he put the letter with it. And neither of us were thinking about the case.” The corner of Carlo’s mouth went up on one side as he said, “I wasn’t thinking about much of anything except Jane.”
“It had to mean something to Santangelo. Otherwise why give it to you?”