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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

Carlo’s father, Antonio, had a brother in the States who pressed the family for years to emigrate to the Midwest. The DiForenza family, Antonio, Carlo, an older brother, Franco, and Sophia, did so in 1959 when Carlo was only ten. But he spoke Italian at home his whole life, and that accounted for a rich undertone of the romantic accent that still surfaced, especially when he was talking to me. Especially in bed. This was not mentioned in the recorded interview.

The shroud’s influence, added to his mother’s, sent Carlo off to seminary before he graduated from St. Anthony’s High School in Kansas City. This was a great relief to Sophia, who had lost Franco to the gangs several years before. Carlo never said, and I never suggested, that maybe he was making up for the loss of his brother, hoping to ease his mother’s grief by being the best boy possible. Being a Roman Catholic priest. At that time he didn’t realize being a priest would produce its own shame, what it did to his mother when he left the priesthood and married. I knew that part, too.

But back then, the priesthood itself gave Sophia some amount of agita. While in seminary, Carlo volunteered to do part of his chaplaincy in the Kansas State Penitentiary—Lansing—the same prison where Franco had died. Sophia was terrorized by the thought of him entering that prison.

GEMMA-KATE: What about you?

CARLO: I let the warden know who I was, and he checked the records and personally escorted me to the spot where it had happened and had me talk to the chaplain who had been there, and who said Franco was already gone when he arrived on the cell block. It felt like a pilgrimage, only backwards, in the sense that I was following the footsteps not of a declared saint, but of a declared sinner. Still, you learn.

Carlo formed a strong friendship with the head chaplain.

GEMMA-KATE: Another priest.

CARLO: No, actually Mark Listewnik was Presbyterian. I learned a lot from him over many rounds of drinks. And he knew all about my order.

GEMMA-KATE: By order you mean—

CARLO: The religious order to which I belonged. I was, I am, a Franciscan.

GEMMA-KATE: You mean you can’t stop being a priest.

CARLO: No. Once you’re ordained, it’s forever.

GEMMA-KATE: But you married. Twice.

CARLO: Yes, I did.