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Once upon a tio to the Nuevo León state prison at Monterrey, Mexico, to interview an A people
I enty-three years old and I thought that covering a police beat in Texas had taught me all about the world
The prisoner was Dykes Askew Simmons, a former mental patient When I sized him up I sahite male, mid-thirties, about five foot eleven, one hundred seventy-five pounds, gray and hazel Distinguishinga cleft lip, and small scars on his head He had the eyes of a fierce turtle These he covered lasses
Simmons introduced me to some of his fellow inmates: one of the court officials fro an estate—and a news photographer as locked up for taking atches frorapher pulled up his sleeve to show the five watches he earing, and offered ood price on a Bulova with a stained band
Si nurse from Ohio who al visits on Saturday nights and had blankets to hang over the front of the cell for privacy
The woman was pleasant and restful to see, an oasis in that place
Siuard to leave a door unlocked and provide him with a pistol Simmons handed over the money and approached the forbidden door, to find hiuard stuffed theheavily into the cracked dirt He did not bleed out because a very skilled prison doctor saved him
When I asked about Simmons’s medical treatment, the warden unlocked the prison medical office and introduced me to the doctor
Dr Salazar was a small, lithe man with dark red hair He stood very still, and there was a certain elegance about him He invited me to sit
The furniture was spare We sat on stools A cabinet against the wall held labeled jars There were few instrue scissors with blunt tips and, curiously, a speculum
The doctor answered unshot wounds and how he staunched the bleeding
Dr Salazar ers beneath his chin and looked at me
“Mr Harris, how did you feel when you looked at Simmons?”
“I was trying to see if he fit any eyewitness description of the killer”
“Did you allow yourself an impression beyond that?”
“Not really”
“Was he responsive to your questions?”
“Well, yes, but I couldn’t tell ot his answers down pat”
“Pat answers to the questions he expects Was he wearing his sunglasses in the cell?”
“Yes”
“Dim in there, isn’t it?”