roundabout strategy. Not once
during this interview, now almost three hours old, had either of them mentioned murder — an
omission that kept the prisoner edgy, expectant. They talked of everything else: Hickock’s
religious philosophy («I know about hell. I been there. Maybe there’s a heaven, too. Lots of rich
people think so»); his sexual history («I’ve always behaved like a one-hundred-percent normal»);
and, once more, the history of his recent cross-country hegira («Why we kept going like that, the
only reason was we were looking for jobs. Couldn’t find anything decent, though. I worked one
day digging a ditch . . .»). But things unspoken were the center of interest — the cause, the
detectives were convinced, of Hickock’s escalating distress. Presently, he shut his eyes and
touched the lids with trembling fingertips. And Church said, «Something wrong?»
«A headache. I get real bastards.»
Then Nye said, «Look at me, Dick.» Hickock obeyed, with an expression that the detective
interpreted as a pleading with him to speak, to accuse, and let the prisoner escape into the
sanctuary of steadfast denial. «When we discussed the matter yesterday, you may recall my
saying that the Clutter murders were almost a perfect crime. The killers made only two mistakes.
The first one was they left a witness. The second — well, I’ll show you.» Rising, he retrieved from a
corner a box and a briefcase, both of which he’d brought into the room at the start of the
interview. Out of the briefcase came a large photograph. «This,» he said, leaving it on the table, «is
a one-to-one reproduction of certain footprints found near Mr. Clutter’s body. And here» — he
opened the box — «are the boots that made them. Your boots, Dick.» Hickock looked, and looked
away. He rested his elbows on his knees and cradled his head in his hands. «Smith,» said Nye, »was even more careless. We have his boots, too, and they exactly fit another set of prints.
Bloody ones.»
Church closed in. «Here’s what’s going to happen to you, Hickock,» he said. «You’ll be taken back
to Kansas. You’ll be charged on four counts of first-degree murder. Count One: That on or about
the fifteenth day of November, 1959, one Richard Eugene Hickock did unlawfully, feloniously,
willfully and with deliberation and premeditation, and while being engaged in the perpetration of a
felony, kill and take the life of Herbert W. Clutter. Count Two: That on or about the fifteenth day of
November.1959, the same Richard Eugene Hickock did unlawfully — «
Hickock said, «Perry Smith killed the Clutters.» He lifted his head, and slowly straightened up in
the chair, like a fighter staggering to his feet. «It was Perry. I couldn’t stop him. He killed them all.»
Postmistress Clare, enjoying a coffee break at Hartman’s Cafe, complained of the low volume of
the cafe’s radio. «Turn it up,» she demanded.
The radio was tuned to Garden City’s Station KIUL. She heard the words «. . . after sobbing out
his dramatic confession, Hickock emerged from the interrogation room and fainted in a hallway.
K.B.I. agents caught him as he fell to the floor. The agents quoted Hickock as saying he and
Smith invaded the Clutter home expecting to find a safe containing at least ten thousand dollars.
But there was no safe, so they tied the family up and shot them one by one. Smith has neither
confirmed nor denied taking part in the crime. When told that Hickock had signed a confession,
Smith said, ‘I’d like to see my buddy’s statement.’ But the request was rejected. Officers have
declined to reveal whether it was Hickock or Smith who actually shot the members of the family.
They emphasized that the statement was only Hickock’s version. K.B.I. personnel, returning the
two men to Kansas, have already left Las Vegas by car. It is expected the party will arrive in
Garden City late Wednesday. Meanwhile, County Attorney Duane West . . .»
«One by one,» said Mrs. Hartman. «Just imagine. I don’t wonder the varmint fainted.»
Others in the cafe — Mrs. Clare and Mabel Helm and a husky young farmer who had stopped to
buy a plug of Brown’s Mule chewing tobacco — muttered and mumbled. Mrs. Helm dabbed at her
eyes with a paper napkin. «I won’t listen,» she said. «I mustn’t. I won’t.»
«. . . news of a break in the case has met with little reaction in the town of Holcomb, a half mile
from the Clutter home. Generally, townspeople in the community of two hundred and seventy
expressed relief . . .»
The young farmer hooted. «Relief! Last night, after we heard it on the TV, know what my wife did?
Bawled like a baby.»
«Shush,» said Mrs. Clare. «That’s me.»
«… and Holcomb’s postmistress, Mrs. Myrtle Clare, said the residents are glad the case has been
solved, but some of them still feel others may be involved. She said plenty of folks are still
keeping their doors locked and their guns ready . . .»
Mrs. Hartman laughed. «Oh, Myrt!» she said. «Who’d you tell that to?»
«A reporter from the Telegram.»
The men of her acquaintance, many of them, treat Mrs. Clare as though she were another man.
The farmer slapped her on the back and said, «Gosh, Myrt. Gee, fella. You don’t still think one of
us — anybody round here — had something to do with it?»
But that, of course, was what Mrs. Clare did think, and though she was usually alone in her
opinions, this time she was not without company, for the majority of Holcomb’s population, having
lived for seven weeks amid unwholesome rumors, general mistrust, and suspicion, appeared to
feel disappointed at being told that the murderer was not someone among themselves. Indeed, a
sizable faction refused to accept the fact that two unknown men, two thieving strangers, were
solely responsible. As Mrs. Clare now remarked, «Maybe they did it, these fellows. But there’s
more to it than that. Wait. Some day they’ll get to the bottom, and when they do they’ll find the
one behind it. The one wanted Clutter out of the way. The brains.»
Mrs. Hartman sighed. She hoped Myrt was wrong. And Mrs. Helm, said, «What I hope is, I hope
they keep ’em locked up good. I won’t feel easy knowing they’re in our vicinity.»
«Oh, I don’t think you got to worry, ma’am,» said the young farmer. «Right now those boys are a lot
more scared of us than we are of them.»
On an Arizona highway, a two-car caravan is flashing across sagebrush country — the mesa country of hawks and rattlesnakes and towering red rocks. Dewey is driving the lead car, Perry
Smith sits beside him, and Duntz is sitting in the back seat. Smith is handcuffed, and the
handcuffs are attached to a security belt by a short length of chain — an arrangement so restricting
his movements that he cannot smoke unaided. When he wants a cigarette, Dewey must light it for
him and place it between his lips, a task that the detective finds «repellent,» for it seems such an
intimate action — the kind of thing he’d done while he was courting his wife.
On the whole, the prisoner ignores his guardians and their sporadic attempts to goad him by
repeating parts of Hickock’s hour-long tape-recorded confession: «He says he tried to stop you,
Perry. But says he couldn’t. Says he was scared you’d shoot him too,» and «Yes, sir, Perry. It’s all
your fault. Hickock himself, he says he wouldn’t harm the fleas on a dog.» None of this outwardly, at any rate — agitates Smith. He continues to contemplate the scenery, to read BurmaShave doggerel, and to count the carcasses of shotgunned coyotes festooning ranch fences.
Dewey, not anticipating any exceptional response, says, «Hickock tells us you’re a natural-born
killer. Says it doesn’t bother you a bit. Says one time out there in Las Vegas you went after a
colored man with a bicycle chain. Whipped him to death. For fun.»
To Dewey’s surprise, the prisoner gasps. He twists around in his seat until he can see, through
the rear window, the motorcade’s second car, see inside it: «The tough boy!» Turning back, he
stares at the dark streak of desert highway. «I thought it was a stunt. I didn’t believe you. That
Dick let fly. The tough boy! Oh, a real brass boy. Wouldn’t harm the fleas on a dog. Just run over
the dog.» He spits. «I never killed any nigger.» Duntz agrees with him; having studied the files on
unsolved Las Vegas homicides, he knows Smith to be innocent of this particular deed. «I never
killed any niggers. But he thought so. I always knew if we ever got caught, if Dick ever really let
fly, dropped his guts all over the goddam floor — I knew he’d tell about the nigger.» He spits again.
«So Dick was afraid of me? That’s amusing. I’m very amused. What he don’t know is, I almost did
shoot him.»
Dewey lights two cigarettes, one for himself, one for the prisoner. «Tell us about it, Perry.»
Smith smokes with closed eyes, and explains, «I’m thinking. I want to remember this just the way
it was.» He pauses for quite a while. «Well, it all started with a letter I got while I was out in Buhl,
Idaho. That was September or October. The letter was from Dick, and he said he was on to a
cinch. The perfect score. I didn’t answer him, but he wrote again, urging me to come back to
Kansas and go partners with him. He never said what kind of score it was. Just that it was a ‘surefire cinch.’ Now, as it happened, I had another reason for wanting to be in Kansas around about
that time. A personal matter I’d just as soon keep to myself
Ιt’s got nothing to do with this deal. Only that otherwise I wouldn’t have gone back there. But I did.
And Dick met me at the bus station in Kansas City. We drove out to the farm, his parents’ place.
But they didn’t