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

“Hell, no! It’s my favorite topic and everyone else tells me to shut up about it already. The semen they found in Christine Walker, the mother, was still viable. That’s how I got permission to exhume Smith’s and Hickock’s bodies. It was all high-profile enough to get me some attention, get my sample into the queue at the lab.”

“What did you find out?”

Meadows’s face fell. “Too bad their DNA was corrupt, but we kind of, kind of, got an analysis that showed it wasn’t them. Hickock definitely excluded, Smith mostly. I still have my doubts, though.”

“I bet you’re right, I bet it was them,” Beaufort said.

“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Maybe we didn’t get a match because the semen from 1959 was too corrupted after all. But there’s evidence somewhere. There’s that thing, too, about matching a family member who has given DNA to research their ancestry.”

Beaufort didn’t bother to ask for details about that. He was just glad that he didn’t have any extended family alive anymore. He grinned to acknowledge his admiration of the detective’s perseverance. “Do you think there’s anyone else in the world as interested in this case as you are?”

“Well, there was the brother who has been suspected all these years. They were able to exclude him by showing it wasn’t his semen. He’s really happy to finally be vindicated after sixty years. Other than that, you get a person now and then who’s interested in unsolved murders. But not too many, not at this stage anymore.”

Beaufort kept quiet for a few seconds, feeling like he was fishing, playing out the line a little so the fish wouldn’t get spooked. He took a slow swig of his beer before saying, “So, okay, you didn’t get a DNA match with Hickcock or Smith. Are there any other suspects someone can run the results against someday?”

“Someday maybe. The profile lasts forever and will stay on file. If anyone cares.” Meadows grimaced and shook his head like he had doubts about anyone caring.

“What about fingerprints?” Beaufort asked. “Seems like with this DNA business nobody cares about fingerprints anymore.”

“Where did you hear about the fingerprint?”

“I didn’t. I’m just assuming. So you say there were prints?”

Meadows looked to his right and left and then leaned toward Beaufort as if he was about to impart something top secret. Beaufort could tell the alcohol had increased the intimacy. Beaufort leaned forward, too.

“Get this,” Meadows said. “It wasn’t a fingerprint.”

“No?”

“It was a palm print.”