Free The Woman Who Married a Bear by John Straley

into the room and sat across the table. His hands were crossed in front of him. He was only a wiry five foot six or seven. He wore wire-rimmed reading glasses. He had the stubble of a recently shaved head and the purple bruises of homemade tattoos on the backs of his hands. His left hand had a symbol for infinity on it and the word “GODS” was written across the knuckles of the right.
    He looked at me, squinting and wrinkling his nose. Either he was curious or he thought something I was wearing would be good to eat. Hawkes had small blue eyes that were deeply set. His jaw muscles flexed as I began to talk.
    â€œMy name is Cecil Younger. I’m a private detective. I’ve been hired by Louis Victor’s mother to find out why you killed her son.”
    Now his smile became broad as if it were clear that everything was funny, including me. He began to chuckle and then laugh. It was a laugh you heard a lot in jail. It sounded like rocks clattering far back in a cave.
    â€œIt was nice of you to come see me.” He stood up and extended his hand. “Why don’t you dial zero, I’ve got to go to the library.”
    â€œYou won’t talk to me?”
    â€œIt doesn’t show much respect, Mr. Younger, to come here and start talking to me about a killing. A killing I have been suspected of committing, arrested for, convicted for, and am now serving a sentence for. Have you talked to my lawyer?”
    â€œNo—would that make a difference?”
    â€œWell. There it is.” And he held his hands palms up with his elbows pressed tightly to his sides. He was smiling. “There it is.”
    â€œI’m sorry. I don’t follow you.”
    â€œWould it make a difference? That’s a good question … to talk to my lawyer, I mean. I don’t think it would. Talking to lawyers has never made a difference as far as I can tell.” He sat back down. “What does she want to know?”
    â€œWhy did you kill her son?”
    â€œShe doesn’t know? She really doesn’t know?” He leaned back and put one elbow up on the back of his chair.
    â€œThere was a time when my lawyers wanted to pursue… I don’t know what you’d call it—a gambit—I don’t know—a strategy, to make the cops believe that I was … unstable—emotionally. They believed that I could gain some advantage. Sentencing consideration. You can see that backfired.” He smiled broadly and gestured around the cell like a character actor in a drawing-room comedy. He paused briefly, then he leaned forward and lowered his voice.
    â€œI played along with them because I got advice, scientific advice, that I should exercise restraint and I should be patient with what the lawyers had to say.” For the first time he looked at me directly and his stare didn’t waver. “I knew you were coming,” he said deliberately.
    â€œHow did you know?”
    He smiled sweetly again, as if he were worried about me.
    â€œI was informed. I understand now that I should tell you the whole truth.”
    I was a little uncomfortable with his choice of words.
    â€œWhat is the whole truth?”
    â€œDo you know much about science? Have you ever heard of alpha wave ionizers?”
    â€œNo.” I opened my notebook and held my pencil attentively: the scribe.
    â€œWell, you can read about them. I’ve read about them a lot. You know, the earth generates energy. Well, most of it comes from the sun, but that’s different, that is solar energy, but the earth generates its own from the dense atmosphere that gathers in the north. You are familiar with the aurora borealis? The energy that I’m speaking of is similar, yet it takes the form of alpha wave particles.” He took my notebook and drew a squiggle on my pad. “Where do you think radio waves go? TV? All of the taxi cabs have radios. We are surrounded by wave particles; it’s like we’re