During the writing of this novel a newly discovered manuscript written by Richard Hickock while in prison was discovered, and is expected to be published at some time in the future. Another story surfaces in it, wherein Hickock says that a third person paid Smith and him to kill the Clutters. Why would he say this? Surely if it were true, he would have named the third person and used that information to make a deal for a life sentence. Apparently, in the newly found manuscript, Hickock paints himself as an evil thug, continuing the characterization that Capote created. When Smith shoots Clutter in the head, Hickock says he thought coldly, “he’d like to see the embalmer try to fill that hole.” Why would he write such purple prose about himself? To convince us of his guilt? For what purpose?

Sixty years after the Clutter murders were committed, and after the confessed killers were executed, mysteries still abound.

Acknowledgments

As the dedication to this book suggests, We Were Killers Once would not have been written without the generous sharing of an idea by my agent, Helen Heller. That day on the phone when she said, “I’ve always thought, what if there were a third man at the Clutter house that night?” And I stopped pacing and said, “Wow.” (I’m more articulate on paper.)

Then came not one but three editors who together provided greater depth for the characters, faster pacing, and more believable plotting: In an effort helmed by Kelley Raglund at St. Martin’s Press, with Lara Hinchberger at Penguin/Random House, and Kirsty Dunseath at Orion, all three made this a better book. I’m still humbled and amazed that I didn’t see what they saw. Wow.

Also thanks to Helen Smith, the Marsh Agency, and all those who are stepping in now to guide its publication and champion its distribution throughout the world.

India Cooper, best copy editor ever.

Hope Dellon. You worked with me for nearly ten years and, while you may not have edited this book, everything I write is the better for having been influenced by you.

I’m grateful for an all too brief but exciting phone conversation with Michael Nations, the son of journalist Starling Mack Nations, who interviewed Richard Eugene Hickock two years before Truman Capote got involved. That’s a whole other story that mine doesn’t touch.

Thanks to my brilliant readers, many of whom are authors in their own right: William Bell, Jeannie Johnson, Mickey Getty, Pat McCord, and Rich O’Hanley.

Thank you to Tricia Clapp, a graphologist who helped me to analyze Dick Hickock’s handwritten letters from prison and provided suggestions for his character.

Thank you to Fred Segal, who informed me about the history of the Pompano Park racetrack. I know you told me they had flat racing at one time, but I lied. It’s what we do.