In Cold Blood (Part Three)

The “detective story” that I had anticipated in Part Two more or less takes place here in Part Three, such as it is.  Identifying the killers, which would seem a more daunting task than finding them, turns out to be almost the first thing that happens in Part Three.  It practically lands in the laps of the investigators.  Again, I had the feeling that the plot was moving along too fast, and that there wouldn’t be enough plot left to complete the second half of the book! 

The search for the suspects, once they are identified, starts off slowly enough, requiring some real field work on the parts of the investigators.  Agent Nye turns out to be the real bird dog here, leaving Agent Dewey comparatively fretting on the sidelines.   Several intriguing questioning sessions take place in the process of following up leads, evoking a more conventional detective story feel.  It’s admirably done, considering that the author’s task was to stick as closely as possible to the facts and events as they actually occurred. 

The leads that eventually led to knowledge of the murderers’ whereabouts were largely due to the carelessness and bad judgments of the murderers themselves.  While a fiction account would have provided a more involved sequence of clue-finding and lead-following with some clever twists and turns along the way, real “sleuthing” doesn’t work that way.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that this is a true account, and to not keep expecting the more entertaining aspects of storytelling, even though the author does a superb job of making it feel like a mystery.

The apprehension of the suspects doesn’t lead to a showdown of any kind, coming off rather smoothly – again, like it generally would in a real life situation.  A nice twist that did occur, one of the investigators points out, is that they inadvertently waited until the suspects had had time to locate and collect belongings that contained further incriminating evidence.  “What if we had nabbed them a few minutes earlier!”  Indeed, there are several minor wrinkles in the story that added some dramatic spice to the plot. 

One ironic detail is that it was the “tough guy” who actually broke down first.  Believing that further denial was useless, the implacable Dick cracked almost too easily and tried to pin everything on his partner.  Perry couldn’t believe he would do that, and was even in denial about it until, on the ride back to Holcombe, the town in which the crime was committed, Agent Dewey repeats something that Dick said about Perry’s sordid past that had nothing to do with the crime.  That’s when it hit him that his so-called partner had really sold him out.  A nice dramatic moment of personal awakening, leading to him spilling his guts and the reader is finally let in on a detailed account of the crime.  Our best guess now is that Part Four is…The Court Room Scene? 

Next segment: Part Four, Conclusion


Also, we hope you'll join us in September with the book, "Legend in Green Velvet" by Elizabeth Peters!