A Darkness More Than Night

seen this before. He can testify to it.”
    There was a note of exasperation in her voice. Bosch thought it was intended for the jury, not Houghton. It was a subliminal way of communicating to the twelve that she wanted to get at the truth, while others wanted to block the way.
    “I tend to agree, Mr. Fowkkes,” Houghton said after a slight pause. “Objections to this line of questioning are overruled. Proceed, Ms. Langwiser.”
    “Thank you, Your Honor. So then, Detective Bosch, you are familiar with cases of autoerotic asphyxia?”
    “Yes, I have worked on three or four. I have also studied the literature on the subject. It is referenced in books on homicide investigation techniques. I have also read summaries of in-depth studies conducted by the FBI and others.”
    “Was this before this case occurred?”
    “Yes, before.”
    “What is autoerotic asphyxia? How does it occur?”
    “Ms. Langwiser,” the judge began.
    “Sorry, Your Honor. Restating. What is autoerotic asphyxia, Detective Bosch?”
    Bosch took a drink of water, using the time to draw his thoughts together. They had gone over these questions during lunch.
    “It is an accidental death. It occurs when the victim attempts to increase sexual sensations during masturbation by cutting off or disrupting the flow of arterial blood to the brain. This is usually done with a form of ligature around the neck. The tightening of the ligature results in hypoxia – the diminishing of oxygenation of the brain. It is believed by people who… uh, practice this that hypoxia – the light-headedness that ensues – heightens masturbatory sensations. However, it can lead to accidental death if the victim goes too far, to the point where he damages the carotid arteries and/or passes out with the ligature still tightly in place and asphyxiates.”
    “You said ‘he,’ Detective. But in this case the victim is a woman.”
    “This case does not involve autoerotic asphyxia. The cases I have seen and investigated involving this form of death all involved male victims.”
    “Are you saying that in this case the death was made to look like autoerotic asphyxia?”
    “Yes, that was my immediate conclusion. It remains so today.”
    Langwiser nodded and paused. Bosch sipped some water. As he brought the cup up to his mouth he glanced at the jury. Everyone in the box seemed to be paying close attention.
    “Walk us through it, Detective. What led you to that conclusion?”
    “Can I refer to my reports?”
    “Please.”
    Bosch opened the binder in front of him. The first four pages were the OIR – the original incident report. He turned to the fourth page, which included the lead officer’s summary. The report had actually been typed out by Kiz Rider, though Bosch was the LO on the case. He quickly scanned the summary to refresh his mind, then looked up at the jury.
    “Several things contradicted the death being an accident caused by autoerotic asphyxia. First off, I was immediately concerned because statistically it is rare that this occurs with female victims. It is not one hundred percent males but it is close. This knowledge made me pay very close attention to the body and the crime scene.”
    “Would it be fair to say you were immediately skeptical of the crime scene?”
    “Yes, that would be fair.”
    “Okay, go on. What else concerned you?”
    “The ligature. In almost all cases involving this that I have been aware of firsthand or through the literature on the subject, the victim uses some sort of padding around the neck to prevent bruising or breaking of the skin. Most often a piece of heavy clothing like a sweater or a towel is wrapped around the neck. The ligature is then wrapped around this padding. It prevents the ligature from making a contusion line running around the neck. In this case there was no padding.”
    “And what did that mean to you?”
    “Well, it didn’t make sense if you looked at it from the victim’s viewpoint. I mean, if you were to assume that she had engaged in this activity, then the scene didn’t make sense. It would mean that she didn’t use any kind of padding because she didn’t mind having the bruises on her neck. This to me was a contradiction between what we had there at the scene and common sense. Add in that she was an actress – which I knew right away because she had a stack of head shots on the bureau – and the contradiction was even greater. She relied on her physical presence and attributes while