[European Style] Praying Mantis

For a period of time afterwards, I temporarily stopped investigating the "mantis case".In fact, there is nothing more on the surface that allows me to dig.My investigation has reached an impasse.

Life seems to have returned to the old routine, and my daily itinerary is as simple as a rubber band: apartment, office.Although I am dissatisfied with writing monotonous newsletters, I really can't keep track of Professor Curley's whereabouts.

Dominique continued to talk about his pets on Facebook, and his profile remained deserted.Maybe except me, no one wants to see these hideous arthropods.

Dwayne still keeps in touch with me, though most of the time he complains about work and his girlfriend—recently he seems to be involved in a case involving a church child molestation scandal, and has been working for three days and three nights.I'm really worried that he won't be able to sleep.

"Listen, Robbie, you can't imagine how hypocritical these priests are," Dwayne told me. "We've found pornography in many of the priest's homes in Chicago. Probably 4 to 6 percent of the priests were Allegations of sexual abuse of children. What happened in Boston (①) is happening all over the United States."

"It's terrifying."

"Yes. In a sense, the law and order in Chicago is messed up by these damn guys-most perverted killers have the experience of being sexually assaulted when they were young." Devine said, "Speaking of Those killers, you can never talk to them calmly. Their thinking is different from normal people."

I agree with that.Just like you can never communicate deeply with a severe schizophrenic.

"By the way, how are you and your horse?" He changed the topic and added a smirk at the end of the sentence.

"What?" I was confused.

"Don't play dumb, you think I don't know? Annie said you specifically asked her about picking out presents," Devine said. "Any pics of your new girlfriend?"

"Don't make fun of me. That's just a simple friend of mine, and he's a boy." I typed this sentence dumbfounded.

"Oh, I really envy you. God knows how much I want to be single again. Yesterday, Angelina and I had another fight." Dwayne has various ways to shift the topic to the conflict between himself and his girlfriend, " Do you believe it? It's just because I casually said that her new dress doesn't suit her very well..."

This buddy of mine always makes me laugh out loud.Suddenly, a new message popped up on my phone screen: "Tomorrow I am going to visit my mother. Do you want to go together?"

It's from Dominic.He is simply a little wizard with mind reading skills!God knows how I longed to meet Laura imprisoned in person.This coincidence almost made me decide to look a little differently at the magic wrought by those feisty psychics I had previously dismissed.

It would be of great benefit to my investigation if I could interview Laura.

"However, let me warn you," Dominique added, "that my mother is not mentally stable. She only received psychiatric treatment a month ago."

At first, this sentence did not attract enough attention from me.Instead, on the train to prison, I squeezed my phone so hard I nearly crushed him.Along the way, I stared at the brightly lit screen, double-checking that the questions in the memo were appropriate, precise, and useful.The powerful air conditioner in the car did not relieve my stress well, and crystal beads of sweat still ooze from my forehead.

"Relax." Dominique patted my hand lightly. "She's a kind woman."

I nodded, and finally let go of my fist with bulging veins.At this time, Dwayne suddenly sent a message: "Are you here?"

"Not yet." I typed this sentence after wiping off the sweat stains on the screen.I was so buried in my work that I didn't notice the gaze of the boy next to me.

"Those priests are Satan." Dominic said with disgust on his face, "Pedophiles should go to hell."

"I agree with you." I nodded, returned the phone screen to the main interface, and put it back in my trouser pocket, "It's almost there."

"Lolita (②) is the most evil novel I've ever read." He refused to skip the topic, and said through gritted teeth, "Disgusting."

I fully support the condemnation of pedophilia, but I am noncommittal about the "Lolita", which has been controversial since its publication.In my opinion, literature should be completely neutral.It is a pure and flawless imagery of human pursuit of beauty.Interestingly, I once took a 4-credit Russian course in college. In the Slavic language, "pedophile" means "homosexual".Judging from Dominic's words and deeds, maybe he is very suitable for that cultural environment.

Women's prisons in the Bay Area aren't markedly different from other prisons in the U.S.—of course, as a male journalist, I'd never be able to get to the bottom of it.Convicted of first-degree murder, Laura has a privilege as a felon: a solitary cell to keep her safe.Maybe it will make her family feel better.

The strong male prison guard opened the rusty iron door, and the friction between the rust made a piercing scream.Then, the expressionless female prison guard led us to a small, dark room deep in the corridor. The only thing inside was a lifeless wooden table. Due to the invasion of water vapor, several a wormhole.

"Only 15 minutes." After the female prison guard left this sentence, she stood at the door and lowered her head to play with her mobile phone.

A frail middle-aged woman was sitting on the back chair.Her hair was as disheveled as one of the harmless weeds that clutter the cornfields of the middle plains, and only the dull blond was worth a second of attention.Dressed in a tattered prison uniform and with heavy handcuffs on both hands, she looked like a dying doe in the Alaskan taiga that had been attacked.

"Mom." Dominic stepped forward and sat down, and put the heavy plastic bag on the table, "I brought you some daily necessities and food."

"Thanks, Nick." Laura forced a smile from her deeply sunken face, which made her look like a scary mummy.She stretched out her skinny hand and gently stroked her son's cheek, "How are you doing recently?"

"I'm fine. Grandpa James was going to visit you, but he had some work to do, so he had to go back to Boston." Dominique explained, "This is my friend Robert Lindsay. He is Reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle."

"Hello, Mrs. Curley." I greeted her hastily.

"Reporter?" After hearing this word, Laura's expression suddenly became alert.I could feel her shrink back, "What do you want from me?"

"Mrs. Curley, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just want to know something." I hurriedly explained, "Will you cooperate with me for a few minutes? Just a few minutes."

Perhaps because of Dominique, Laura agreed to my request.Her empty gray eyes stared at me intently, as if trying to pluck a piece of flesh out of my eyeball.

"Do you have any objections to the judge's decision?" I asked the first question cautiously.

"No." She said coldly.

"Listen, Mrs. Curley, the consensus is that you're innocent." I reassured her, "I'm not a policeman, I'm not a prosecutor. I'm just a reporter trying to help you. Where do you think your husband went? "

"Didn't you watch the news? I killed him." Laura answered me like an emotionless machine.

"You don't have to force yourself, Mrs. Curley," I said, "you know you didn't kill him, he just disappeared, and maybe now he's alive and well somewhere in the world - he's just lost his memory .”

"..." Laura bowed her head in silence.

"Don't worry, one day you will get the justice you deserve, although it may be a bit late." I continued to enlighten her, "Just tell me what you really think."

After listening to my words, Laura raised her head slowly, and the corners of her bloodless, chapped lips parted slightly. I thought she was about to let go of her guard and say something, but the development of the matter was completely out of control——

"I didn't kill! My husband was murdered!" Laura burst out in a hysterical scream. "A wicked devil murdered him, as Edgar Cayce told me. A gold A hairy, gray-eyed devil..."

She is crazy.I'm pretty sure of that.

The high-pitched sound of the iron shackles hitting the wooden furniture caught the attention of the prison guards on standby at the door. Several policemen with batons and pistols broke into the door and immediately pushed Laura down on the table roughly.But while her limbs are firmly bound, her mouth is free.So the whole room continued to echo her cry like a ghost crying: "It's not me! I'm a scapegoat! It's the devil!..."

"Sorry, visiting hours are over." The guards took Laura away and kicked me and Dominique out.Accompanied by the loud and chaotic footsteps of police boots on the ground, I heard them discussing:

"Damn it, she's sick again, I think we should keep her in the mental hospital!"

"What kind of devil is living in this woman? She has been insane since the first day she entered the prison, and she hasn't recovered until now."

The accident that happened in just a few minutes left me with lingering fears.At this time, Dominic beside him said softly: "It seems that my mother's mental illness is still very serious."

"Sorry, I..." I just didn't know what to say to express my apology.

"You don't have to apologize, Robbie." Dominic said in a calm tone, as if he was telling some gossip that had nothing to do with him, "Everyone who commits a heinous crime will get retribution."

"Don't you believe her? She is your mother."

"But she is also a criminal," Dominique said. "Criminals cannot be forgiven."

I stared blankly at his calm face, the corners of my mouth twitched for a long time, but in the end I didn't know what to say.The indifference shown by the young man in front of his family is something I have never seen before.

That day, my heart could not be calm for a long time.I heard that Laura suffered from schizophrenia after being imprisoned, and it became more and more serious day by day, so that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for treatment.But in most cases, it is impossible for a person to be entangled in mental illness for no reason, and it is basically certain that she has endured unbearable suffering.

For example... imprisoned for being wronged.

I believe she is innocent.

The author has something to say:

① "Boston thing": refers to the 2002 "Boston Globe" exposure of the Boston priest child molestation scandal.

② "Lolita": a novel written by Russian-American writer Vladimir Nabokov.Most of the book is the confession of death row prisoner Humbert, which tells the love story between a middle-aged man and an underage girl.

③ Edgar Cayce: American spiritual master.