The Concrete Blonde (hb-3)

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Authors: Michael Connelly
case without him. His answers no longer appeared to be grounded in congenial stupidity but in malice. Bosch bent close to Belk and whispered, “He’s fucking me because he didn’t get to shoot Church himself.”
    Belk put his finger to his lips, signaling Harry to be quiet. He then went back to writing on one of his two pads.
    “Have you ever heard of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Division?” Chandler asked.
    “Yes, I have.”
    “What do they do?”
    “They study serial killers among other things. Come up with psychological profiles, victim profiles, give advice, things like that.”
    “You had eleven murders, what advice did the FBI’s Behavioral Science Division give you?”
    “None.”
    “Why was that? Were they stumped?”
    “No, we didn’t call on them.”
    “Ah, and why didn’t you call them?”
    “Well, ma’am, we believed we had a handle on it. We had worked up profiles ourselves and we didn’t think the FBI could help us much. The forensic psychologist helping us, Dr. Locke from USC, had once been an adviser to the FBI on sex crimes. We had his experience and the department’s staff psychiatrist helping out. We believed we were in good shape in that department.”
    “Did the FBI offer their help?”
    Lloyd hesitated here. It seemed he was finally understanding where she was headed.
    “Uh, yes, somebody called after the case was making a lot of press. They wanted to get in on it. I told them we were fine, that no help was needed.”
    “Do you regret that decision now?”
    “No. I don’t think the FBI could’ve done any better than us. They usually come in on cases being handled by smaller departments or cases making a big media splash.”
    “And you don’t think that’s fair, correct?”
    “What?”
    “Bigfooting, I think it’s called. You didn’t want the FBI coming in and taking over, right?”
    “No. It was like I said, we were okay without them.”
    “Isn’t it true that the LAPD and the FBI have a long-standing history of jealousies and competitiveness that has resulted in the two agencies rarely communicating or working together?”
    “No, I don’t buy that.”
    It didn’t matter if he bought it. Bosch knew she was making her points with the jury. Whether
they
bought it was the only thing that mattered.
    “Your task force came up with a suspect profile, correct?”
    “Yes. I believe I just mentioned that.”
    She asked Judge Keyes if she could approach the witness with a document she said was plaintiff’s exhibit 1A. She handed it to the clerk, who handed it to Lloyd.
    “What is that, Lieutenant?”
    “This is a composite drawing and the psychological profile we came up with after, I think, the seventh killing.”
    “How did you come up with the drawing of the suspect?”
    “Between the seventh and eighth victims, we had an intended victim who managed to survive. She was able to get away from the man and call the police. Working with this survivor, we came up with the drawing.”
    “Okay, are you familiar with the facial appearance of Norman Church?”
    “Not to a great extent. I saw him after he was dead.”
    Chandler asked to approach again and submitted plaintiff’s 2A, a collage of several photographs of Church taped to a piece of cardboard. She gave Lloyd a few moments to study them.
    “Do you see any resemblance between the composite drawing and the photographs of Mr. Church?”
    Lloyd hesitated and then said, “Our killer was known to wear disguises and our witness-the victim who got away-was a drug user. She was a porno actress. She wasn’t reliable.”
    “Your Honor, can you instruct the witness to answer the questions that are asked?”
    The judge did so.
    “No,” Lloyd said, his head bowed after being chastised. “No resemblance.”
    “Okay,” Chandler said, “going back to the profile you have there. Where did that come from?”
    “Primarily from Dr. Locke at USC and Dr. Shafer, an LAPD staff psychiatrist. I think they consulted with some

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