BooksBarbecue
Back We Were Killers Once
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

After a brief time in California we headed east on route I-10 all the way to Tallahassee, Florida, which is where the panhandle meets the main part of the state. When we were getting gassed up at a Standard Oil Perry went into the gas station for some snacks and came back with a map also. We looked at the map and noticed that the only highway in Florida was the Sunshine State Parkway that ran along the east coast. But that was okay. With each day that went by we worried less about being found out, and took our time getting down to Miami.

We stayed there over Christmas, in a nice hotel, reading magazines and swimming in the pool and the ocean. But with Jerry always hanging around I had stopped having any fun. I was feeling pretty much whipped. When Perry said he wanted to head to some place with some action, like Las Vegas, I did not have any will to disagree.

I was afraid to say it is either him or me to Perry. I hated Jerry, but I thought Perry might choose him, and I hated being left by myself even more. People may think that I did not think anything about the Clutters, but I did. I did not want to be left alone with my thoughts. And I did like Perry. I thought he liked me, too, before Jerry came between us.

I sat out by the pool on our last night in Miami and made pretend conversations like, Perry either the kid has to go or I have to go. We cannot keep going on the three of us because that fat assed kid is always riling me. And then Perry said (inside my head) well, you sure make it easy to rile you. And I did not know how to answer that. Even in my head I could not win an argument with Perry. I do not think that imagining conversations makes me crazy.

On the drive north from Miami we stayed in Sarasota for a few days, which is half-way up the coast. Perry was no longer in a hurry to get to Las Vegas, I think he had just been pushing for that to see if I would do what he wanted. Even on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico the motels were very reasonable. Perry bought every newspaper with us in it and read every word aloud. It appeared he was particularly nervous about him being spotted around the scene of the crime, what with being so short and having a limp. I blended in more as my only distinguishing characteristics are some tattoos and one eye that was hurt in a traffic accident when I was younger and never healed properly.