All the things Beaufort had kept to himself, as if the deeds were large things that he needed to keep hidden for so many years. Meeting up with Hickock and Smith, and what happened at the Clutter place, that was just the beginning.

He saw the Walkers in a diner in Sarasota, and heard them talking about buying a car they’d seen: a ’57 Chevy.

He watched them split up. The father took the two small children. The mother went home.

He followed her.

He sat outside the house getting his courage up.

When he finally got out of the car and walked up to the house, he could see her through the screen door. She was putting some groceries away. The screen door was unlocked, but he knocked anyway so as not to alarm her.

He said he had heard them talking and wondered if they’d like to buy his car.

She said her husband was just out getting cigarettes and would he like to wait.

She offered him some sweet tea but he said no.

He sat at the kitchen table. There was mail on the table that she opened. One was a Christmas card which she placed so you could see it on top of the refrigerator.

He surprised her when her back was turned to him, took her into the bedroom, raped and shot her. He dragged her body off the bed and into the front room. He didn’t know why he did that, nor why he covered the blood on the bed with the spread.

He saw a cedar chest where people usually kept things that were important to them. He thought it would be good to take something from it, so the cops would think it was someone who knew the family. He found a majorette’s uniform folded neatly in the chest. He took one of the pieces from it and left the lid of the chest open.

He heard the front door open and ran back into the living room.

He shot the father. It took two bullets.

He shot the older boy because he might be old enough to tell.

The mother was not dead, but had crawled to where her husband lay with his dead son. She was on her knees when he shot her again in the back of the head.

He shot the toddler but it didn’t die immediately. The gun was out of bullets now. He took the baby into the bathroom where he laid it facedown and turned on the tap. It didn’t lift its head.

He turned off the water and didn’t think about whether anyone could pick up his print when he put his hand on the bathtub faucet to get up.

Looking for a wallet, he went through the father’s pockets but only found a pocketknife, which he took.

Finally, he picked up two wrapped presents that were underneath the Christmas tree.