“Parts of it. It is mostly photographs of unusual crime scenes and accident scenes, that sort of thing.”
“Is there anything in there that struck you as unusual or perhaps relating to the killing of Jody Krementz?”
“Yes, there is a photograph of a death scene on page seventy-three that immediately drew my attention.”
“Describe it, please.”
Bosch opened the book to a marker. He spoke as he looked at the full-page photograph on the right side of the book.
“It shows a woman in a bed. She’s dead. A scarf is tied around her neck and looped over one of the bars of the headboard. She is nude from the waist down. Her left hand is between her legs and two of her fingers have penetrated the vagina.”
“Can you read the caption beneath the photo, please?”
“It says, ‘Autoerotic Death: This woman was found in her bed in New Orleans, a victim of autoerotic asphyxia. It is estimated that around the world more than five hundred people die from this accidental misadventure each year.’”
Langwiser asked and received permission to place two more blowup photos on the easels as exhibits. She placed them right over two of the bookshelf photos. Side by side the photos were of Jody Krementz’s body in her bed and of the page from Victims of the Night.
“Detective, did you make a comparison between the photo of the victim in this case, Jody Krementz, and the photo from the book?”
“Yes, I did. I found them to be very similar.”
“Did it appear to you that the body of Ms. Krementz could have been staged, using the photo from the book as a model or baseline?”
“Yes, it did.”
“Did you ever have occasion to ask the defendant what happened to his copy of the book Victims of the Night?”
“No, since the day of the search of his home, Mr. Storey and his attorneys have refused repeated requests for an interview.”
Langwiser nodded and looked at the judge.
“Your Honor, may I take these exhibits down and offer them to the court clerk?”
“Please do,” the judge responded.
Langwiser made a show of taking the photos of the two dead women down first by folding them in toward each other like two sides of a mirror closing. It was a little thing but Bosch saw the jurors watching.
“Okay, Detective Bosch,” Langwiser said when the easels were cleared. “Did you make any inquiries or do any further investigation into autoerotic deaths?”
“Yes. I knew that if this case ever moved to a trial that the classification of the death as a homicide staged to look like this sort of accident might be challenged. I was also curious about what that caption in the book said. Frankly, I was surprised by the figure of five hundred deaths a year. I did some checking with the FBI and found that the figure was actually accurate, if not low.”
“And did that cause you to do any further research?”
“Yes, on a more local level.”
With Langwiser prompting, Bosch testified that he checked through records at the medical examiner’s office for deaths due to autoerotic asphyxia. His search went back five years.
“And what did you find?”
“In those five years, sixteen deaths in Los Angeles County classified as accidental death by misadventure had been attributed specifically to autoerotic asphyxia.”
“And how many of these cases involved female victims?”
“Only one case involved a female.”
“Did you examine this case?”
Fowkkes was up with an objection and this time asked for a sidebar conference. The judge allowed it and the attorneys gathered at the side of the bench. Bosch could not hear the whispered conversation but knew that Fowkkes was most likely trying to stop the direction of the testimony. Langwiser and Kretzler had anticipated he would move once more to block any mention of Alicia Lopez in front of the jurors. It would likely be the pivotal decision in the trial – for both sides.
After five minutes of whispered argument, the judge sent the lawyers back to their places and told the jurors that the issue before the court would take longer than anticipated. He adjourned for another fifteen-minute break. Bosch returned to the prosecution table.
“Something new?” Bosch asked Langwiser.
“No, the same old argument. For some reason the judge wants to hear it again. Wish us luck.”
The lawyers and the judge retreated to chambers to argue the point. Bosch was left at the table. He used his cell phone to check messages at his home and office. There was one message at work. It was from Terry McCaleb. He thanked Bosch for the tip from the night before. He said he got some good information at Nat’s and that he’d be in touch. Bosch erased it and closed the phone, wondering what it was that McCaleb had picked up.
When the lawyers returned through the rear door of the courtroom, Bosch read the judge’s decision in their faces. Fowkkes looked dour, with his eyes downcast. Kretzler and Langwiser came back smiling.
After the jurors were brought back and the trial resumed, Langwiser went directly in for the hit. She asked the court reporter to read back the last question before the objection.
“‘Did you examine this case?’” the reporter read.
“Let’s strike that,” Langwiser said. “Let’s not confuse the issue. Detective, the one female case of the sixteen you found in the medical examiner’s records, what was the name of the deceased in that case?”
“Alicia Lopez.”
“Can you tell us a little bit about her?”
“She was twenty-four and lived in Culver City. She worked as an administrative assistant to the vice president of production at Sony Pictures, also in Culver City. She was found dead in her bed on the twentieth of May, nineteen ninety-eight.”
“She lived alone?”
“Yes.”
“What were the circumstances of her death?”
“She was found in her bed by a coworker who became concerned when she had missed two days of work following the weekend without calling in. The coroner estimated she had been dead three to four days by the time she was found. Decomposition of the body was extensive.”
“Ms. Langwiser?” Judge Houghton interrupted. “It was agreed that you would lay foundation connecting the cases quickly.”
“I’m right there, Your Honor. Thank you. Detective, did anything about this case alert you or draw your attention in any way?”
“Several things. I looked at photos taken at the death scene and though decomposition was extensive I was able to note that the victim in this case was in a posture closely paralleling that of the victim in the present case. I also noted that the ligature in the Lopez case was also used without a buffering, which was the same with the present case. I also knew from our backgrounding investigation of Mr. Storey that at the time of Ms. Lopez’s death he was making a film for a company called Cold House Films, a company which was being financed in part by Sony Pictures.”
In the moment following his answer Bosch noticed that the courtroom had become unusually still and silent. No one was whispering in the gallery or clearing their throat. It was as if everyone – jurors, lawyers, spectators and media – all decided to hold their breath at once. Bosch glanced at the jurors and saw that almost all of them were looking at the defense table. Bosch looked there as well and saw Storey, his face still aimed downward, silently seething. Langwiser finally broke the silence.
“Detective, did you make further inquiries about the Lopez case?”
“Yes, I spoke to the detective who handled it for the Culver City Police Department. I also made inquiries about Ms. Lopez’s job at Sony.”
“And what did you learn about her that would have bearing on the present case?”
