The Concrete Blonde (hb-3)

time.”
    There was a polite murmur of humor in the courtroom and Locke smiled. He seemed very at ease on the witness stand, Bosch thought.
    “Have you written scholarly articles or books about these subjects you mentioned?”
    “Yes, I have contributed numerous articles to research publications. I’ve written seven books on various subjects, sexual development of children, prepubescent paraphilia, studies of sadomasochism-the whole bondage thing, pornography, prostitution. My last book was on childhood development histories of deviant murderers.”
    “So you’ve been around the block.”
    “Only as a researcher.”
    Locke smiled again and Bosch could see the jury warming to him. All twenty-four eyes were on the sex doctor.
    “Your last book, the one on the murderers, what was it called?”
    “Black Hearts: Cracking the Erotic Mold of Murder.”
    Chandler took a moment to look at her notes.
    “What do you mean by ‘erotic mold’?”
    “Well, Ms. Chandler, if I could digress a moment, I think I should fill in some background.”
    She nodded her go-ahead.
    “There are generally two fields, or two schools of thought, when it comes to the study of sexual paraphilia. I am what you call a psychoanalyst, and psychoanalysts believe that the root of paraphilia in an individual comes from hostilities nurtured in childhood. In other words, sexual perversions-in fact, even normal erotic interests-are formed in early childhood and then manifest in expressions as the individual becomes an adult.
    “On the other hand, behaviorists view paraphilia as learned behaviors. An example being, molestation in the home of a child may trigger similar behavior by him as an adult. The two schools, for lack of a better word, are not that divergent. They are actually quite closer than psychoanalysts and behaviorists usually like to admit.”
    He nodded and folded his hands together, seeming to have forgotten the original question.
    “You were going to tell us about erotic molds,” Chandler prompted.
    “Oh yes, I’m sorry, I lost the train there. Uh, the erotic mold is the description I use to cover the whole shebang of psychosexual desires that go into an individual’s ideal erotic scene. You see, everybody has an ideal erotic scene. This could include the ideal physical attributes of a lover, the location, the type of sex act, the smell, taste, touch, music, whatever. Everything, all the ingredients that go into this individual achieving the ultimate erotic scene. A leading authority on this, out of Johns Hopkins University, calls it a ‘lovemap.’ It is sort of a guide to the ultimate scene.”
    “Okay, now in your book, you applied it to sexual murderers.”
    “Yes, with five subjects-all convicted of murder involving a sexual motivation or practice-I attempted to trace each man’s erotic mold. To crack it open and trace the parts back to development in childhood. These men had damaged molds, so to speak. I wanted to find where the damage took place.”
    “How did you pick your subjects?”
    Belk stood up and made an objection and moved to the lectern.
    “Your Honor, as fascinating as all of this is, I don’t believe it is on point to this case. I will stipulate Dr. Locke’s expertise in this field. I don’t think we have to go through the history of five other murderers. We are here in trial on a case about a murderer who is not even mentioned in Dr. Locke’s book. I am familiar with the book. Norman Church is not in it.”
    “Ms. Chandler?” Judge Keyes said.
    “Your Honor, Mr. Belk is correct about the book. It’s about sadistic sex killers. Norman Church is not in it. But its significance to this case will be clear in the next set of questions. I think Mr. Belk realizes this and that is the reason for his objection.”
    “Well, Mr. Belk, I think the time for an objection was probably about ten minutes ago. We are well into this line of questioning and I think we need to see it through now. Besides, you are correct about it being rather fascinating. Go on, Ms. Chandler. The objection is overruled.”
    Belk dropped back into his chair and whispered to Bosch, “He’s gotta be banging her.” It was said just loud enough that Chandler might have heard him, but not the judge. If she did, she showed nothing.
    “Thank you, Your Honor,” she said. “Dr. Locke, Mr. Belk and I were correct when we said that Norman Church was not one of the subjects of your study, were we not?”
    “Yes, that is