Confessions of a Gentleman Killer
The papers call me “the gentleman killer.” I wrapped the throat of my first victim in the silk scarf with which I strangled her. That’s what passes as a gentleman these days.
I ask you: How do you reconcile a man who is capable of deep, tender love (because I’ve felt it), a man, who—by public standards—is a health reformer, assistant to the future British Prime Minister ,and the son-in-law of a wealthy industrialist, but who, when the moment overtakes him, kills women? I don’t know what to make of it myself, but that’s me. I’ve been told I have a philosopher’s mind, that I’m ambitious and can do anything I set my mind to—but sometimes my sadomasochistic tendencies get the better of me.
I don’t venture judgement—on myself or anyone else. I’ll leave that up to you.
My name is Kilcairn, and these are my confessions.
Johnny Payne, director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles, is a novelist, poet, and dramatist. He expertly turns his deep and abiding love of history into a passion for historical fiction. His play The Devil in Disputanta was produced on professional and university stages, and his musical The Serpent’s Lover was performed off-Broadway.
