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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

When he stopped in the early evening, in Houston, Beaufort found the library still open and finally got the message he had been waiting for. Someone named Phillip Payne, the Reverend Phillip Payne, wrote that the list of chaplains serving at Lansing prison was quite extensive, and would he be able to narrow down his search by date?

Beaufort wrote back that he could narrow the search to 1960 to 1970.

Payne must have been at his computer, because the answer came back immediately.

DEAR MR. NOLAN: In 1960 during the time in question the chaplain at Lansing had been Werner Krause, and was replaced in 1965 by Mr. John L. Hurld who continued well into the seventies. Does this serve your purpose?

DEAR REVEREND PAYNE: Were either of these chaplains Catholic?

DEAR MR. NOLAN: No, Mr. Krause was Lutheran, and Mr. Hurld was Presbyterian.

DEAR REVEREND PAYNE: Was there any Catholic priest working at the prison during that time?

MR. NOLAN: One was on call when needed, a Father Victor Santangelo. Other than that I can offer that there was a seminarian doing his chaplaincy at Lansing. A note in the file said that he was recommended by Father Santangelo. That was for three months beginning in 1972. I know that’s outside your date range.

Payne gave Beaufort that seminarian’s name. Carlo (not Carlos as Abbot Franklin had said) DiForenza.

Santangelo. Son of a bitch, Santangelo. Santangelo calling him stupid still rankled, would sometimes be the first thing he thought about when he woke in the middle of the night, and it gnawed at him. I gotcher stupid right here, he thought.

It felt good to finally be doing something. When Hickock and Smith were still alive he had lived in fear that they would rat him out. Then he stopped worrying when they died. Then he started worrying again with this whole forensic science business. Meadows had eased his fears for just a moment before telling him about the suspected confession. Then Santangelo had confirmed the confession, and now Beaufort knew where it might be. Having become an expert with internet searches, he found he was headed in the right direction, toward Tucson, Arizona, where this Carlo DiForenza lived. He was a genius, and lucky to boot. Genius and luck put him only a ten-hour drive from his next target.

Common sense told him he didn’t need to worry, he only had to follow the clues and he would find the confession.

He told himself this. So why in the middle of the night would he wake with the fear coiling up from his guts like it was a living thing inside of him, under its own control? As if the fear wanted out, like a monstrous parasite, coming to stand outside himself, beside himself? He didn’t think he could take it much longer.