Brian Lane - Mind Games with a Serial Killer

Got some interesting things to tell you about when I next get to talk to you or see you. There’s someone new on the correspondence front for me. Someone new in Ireland. And the gentleman in Australia told me that there is a lady down under that is interested in writing to me and has asked if I want him to give her my address. I don’t know about that. I haven’t answered his letter as yet. I wouldn’t mind writing to another lady, especially if there is a remote possibility of some kind of romance. I miss being allowed to say ‘I love you’ to someone and have them mean it when they say it to me. But I fear that most people want to correspond with me for the infamous prestige of saying they are writing to a death row prisoner, or specifically, to the Bill Suff! So I think I’ll ask that guy to inquire further into her reasons for wanting to write to me. Oh yeah, he also wants to send me some nude photographs that he’s latched on to. I’ll have to tell him that I don’t want them. Besides, they aren’t allowed. I’ve found out that a few people on the bay side have subscriptions to Playboy. But that when the current subscriptions run out, they won’t be allowed in again. Then the officers are supposed to begin shake-downs to take up all “pornographic materials.” So if I don’t have any of that stuff, they can’t take it away from me. Right? Besides, that kind of material doesn’t turn me on anyway. A fully dressed woman, wearing a nice blouse and skirt do more for me than nudity.

One of my next-door-neighbors got his hands on a couple “Writer’s Digest” magazines and sent them over to me. I found some interesting articles in them: “Make Your Novel MOVE”, “How to Write Dialogue”, “Find Your Novel’s Missing Links”, “Get Out And Write!”, and “50 Best Short Story Markets”. Very interesting reading. I kind of wish I had a subscription to this magazine.

When we last talked, you said that you were going to have an interview with Prosecutor Zellerbach. How did that interview go? Did he get upset for your asking pointed questions about some of the ambiguities in the evidence collected in my case? Did he stammer or hem and haw at answering them? Or did you get to ask those questions at all? Did he appear as bombastic as he did at my trial?

Now, on to another, more important matters. I’m in a little bit of a bind here. I relayed your words that you were going to imme-diately send that $50.00 to Jan’s sister. Now Jan is rather unhappy with me because Margery told him the money never arrived. That’s got Jan in a bind too, because Margery was going to use the money to purchase the things she was going to send in Jan’s quarterly package. Now it’s too late for Margery to send a 2nd quarter package. It seems those quarterly packages are something that people here get very upset about when they don’t get theirs. Especially when they’re used to getting them every quarter. My next door neighbor let me know that I can get a bad reputation among the other prisoners if I let things get out of hand. Making good on your word here is what keeps your reputation in good standing. If I tell someone that something is going to be taken care of and it isn’t, my word isn’t worth diddly-squat. To give you an example: a couple of weeks ago a guy on one of the other yards got sliced across his face and forearm. It seems he got something from one of the other guys on his yard and promised to pay for it with stamps. When he didn’t pay for several weeks, he was approached about it. He said he was still trying to get them. A few more weeks went by without him paying his debt, so the second guy came out with a sharpened piece of hard acrylic and cut him. So anyway, if you’re going to send that money to Margery (or Jan) please do so soon. If not, please let me know asap so I can try to find some other way of getting the money for Jan. Please, let me know something soon so I can get word to him. I don’t want to get the reputation that I can’t be trusted or one that is worse.

Well, all of that being said, I guess I’d better close here and get this into tonight’s mail pick-up. Take care and write me soon… unless you’re going to make it up here anytime soon. Take care and drive carefully.

Hello Brian,

Just a quick note to you before you come up (I hope). I’m enclosing a Visitor’s Questionnaire Form for Lee (Lea, Leah, or Leigh, however she spells her name). She can fill it out and send it to the following address:

San Quentin State Prison

Visiting Room Office

San Quentin, Calif. 94974

This way she can come up whenever she wants to (Thursday through Sunday), to have me sign papers, or whatever, as need be. If she doesn’t need it, save it for whomever might come along in the future (Bonnie?). Take care and I’ll see you next Monday.

PS: If you can locate any of this kind of plain paper in a stationery store, would you please send me a hundred sheets or so of varying colors? I can receive up to a hundred sheets per package. Also, from an office supplies store, could you locate a couple specific pens for me? They are the Papermate Flexgrip Roller • Fine point with a gray barrel. One black ink and one blue ink. The pens they have in the canteen here are worthless. They start skipping as soon as you begin using them. If you can do this, I’d really appreciate it. By the way, you cannot bring them up with you to give to me in our visit. Stationery, stamps and envelopes… yes. Pens… no. Thanks. Bill.

Brian,

As to those pens I wanted you to get me… I talked to the legal officer a little while ago and he confirmed that I cannot receive them in a legal supplies envelope. He talked to his boss and was told that. I’m only allowed to receive paper, envelopes and stamps that way. Like I told you today, I will have to get them in a quarterly package. So, what I will do is send you a ‘Quarterly Package Form’ for you to send them in to me. However, I think there is a specific limit as to how many I can receive in any one package. When you look over the rest of the list you will see some of the other items I’m allowed to receive and the limiting quantities of each item. If you want to include some of those other items, I’d appreciate it. However, there are some items listed on the form that I absolutely cannot stand, so there would be no sense in sending them to me. But, I’ll point those items out when I send you the ‘Q.P.F.’ By the way, I forgot to ask when you were here today, but were you able to locate any of this type of paper? If so, you are allowed to send that to me via ‘Legal Mail’, as I’ve already explained.

I hope you were able to make it back to the airport without any trouble. I caught the 4:00 P.M. news a little while ago. They were reporting an auto accident on the Golden Gate Bridge that blocked traffic for awhile in both directions. It wasn’t a bad one, the people involved only received minor cuts and bruises. I think the cars were even able to be driven away. There’s been a big controversy going on these past few months regarding how dangerous it is to drive over it. There have been several rush hour, head-on collisions and people are finally tired of it. Within the next six months, the traffic department in San Francisco is supposed to install a movable, cement barrier as a lane divider across the bridge. During the peak rush hours, there is only one lane open to the lesser amount of traffic. The major amount of commuting traffic gets the rest of the lanes. To date, they’ve been using those red and orange plastic posts as a direction divider. The new divider will be zipper like cement barricades. Too many people have been driving head on into oncoming traffic and getting killed in the accident. But it took the death of some assemblyman’s teenage son or daughter recently before they began to consider serious methods of preventing these types of accidents.