they were his children. that was the depth of his mental confusion, i suppose. kleasen was now a man on the edge. his guns had been taken, but his wife remained. as in texas in 1974, everyone around him felt threatened by his presence. i thought the only way he d whack me is if he did it sneaky. he wouldn t come into the front of the shop and do it because he knew there s a good chance i could defend myself. i felt he might well do it to his wife. at one time he d threatened mary that if ever she left him, he would set fire to the house. and we were bothered weren t we? don t you remember that? of course we were. because we were attached to her. the police still hadn t found out about kleasen s murder conviction in texas. but liz butterfield was unnerved to learn that kleasen moved a band saw into the cottage that he claimed to use to cut up logs.