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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

“He was very enthusiastic at first, praising my abilities at astronomy, telling me how smart I am to be able to find the deep space objects. But his interest waned quickly. Many people are like that. It can be disappointing. You see these grand photographs in magazines showing brilliant colors, and then find that through a telescope everything is shades of light.”

Carlo focused his attention on the eyepiece for a moment. “Want to see Jupiter?”

“Sure,” I said, and stepped up to the telescope as Carlo moved away.

“Can you see the moons? Only four of them, little pinpricks of light surrounding the planet.” Without waiting for my little hum of assent he went on. “He also seems to have a tobacco addiction. As soon as we got outside he tried to light up, and I had to tell him that the light would affect our ability to see. He seemed incredulous at first, waved the glowing cigarette in front of my face and laughed as though I were making a joke.”

You can only appreciate the moons of Jupiter for so long. I gave up my place at the telescope. “Did he put it out?”

“Finally, yes. It took another ten minutes to get my eyes to readjust. I was mildly annoyed.”

“What did you talk about besides stars and planets?” I asked as I watched him reposition the scope to examine the Orion Nebula.

Not turning away from his gazing he said, “He asked how much I paid for the telescope. Other than blatantly currying favor—”

“Is that like sucking up?”

Carlo gave me that look he gives when he knows I’m just taking him down a peg. “He was very curious about my time as a priest. Whether I worked at St. Anthony’s after I was ordained. More questions about Victor Santangelo, how close I was to him. He kept bringing the conversation back to that time and place, I noticed, but without making it clear why. And he asked questions about you.”

“Like what?”

“What it’s like being married to an FBI agent.”

“How did he know that?”

“Elias mentioned it to him when we met at Starbucks. He also said that you and I seem so different from each other. Asked how we met. He asked if you were a rider, of horses, and I said I thought you had been at one time but had had an accident and your back couldn’t take the jolting anymore. And he mentioned again that ‘my lady was lovely.’”

“Again?”