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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

For the first time I began to be scared of the boy, more than before when it was just his grandfather that he killed, or even after I saw what he did at the Clutter place. Here I was, a killer who had done the same thing, but I was afraid of him. I had done it for the money, but this kid did it for the fun. There’s a difference.

But after that one shout, I got control of myself, I am very good at keeping control, and I kept my thoughts to myself. I knew enough to keep my mouth shut and we drove on.

Fifty–two

Beaufort knew that Carlo would do as he told him to do. It didn’t matter that he held his gun lightly in his left hand while he steered slowly toward Gloria’s house, west on Golder Ranch, then down Twin Lakes to Hawser, only a left and two rights to reach the destination.

Carlo sat mournfully in the passenger seat, probably thinking about how he had no way to defend himself. Probably hoping his wife would save him.

Beaufort pulled onto the gravel drive and said, “Aw, fuck.”

Gloria’s car was there. Beaufort parked behind it and thought. Staring ahead at the house he said, “Okay, I’ve got it. Here’s how it goes. It’s a workday so she won’t stick around. In the meantime you’re going to play nice and not let on that anything is wrong. If you say anything about what’s going on, I’ll leave you alive and kill her. If I suspect for a second that you’re trying to send a message to her about our situation, I’ll leave you alive and kill her. Whatever you do, I kill her. Is that simple enough for you?”

Carlo just sat there, folded.

“Tell me you understand what I just said,” Beaufort said.

Carlo nodded without turning his head

Beaufort opened his door and got out, instructing Carlo to do the same. He put his gun in the back of his jeans with his T-shirt over it, came around to the passenger side of the car, reached in to open the glove compartment, and took out a roll of duct tape. He said, “Walk ahead of me into the house.”

In the meantime Gloria had opened the front door without her usual wide smile that she always gave to Beaufort. She was too old to be on the rag, he thought, but he could deal with her later. Achilles was another matter. Whether he recognized Carlo himself or could smell the pugs on his jeans, the dog went into a frenzy of recognition. Beaufort thought the dog provided a good distraction. He got on his knees and made a show of roughing him up while keeping half an eye on Carlo and Gloria.